Comments on: Gender and Black Consciousness

By: Khomotso

Khomotso — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:38:44 +0000

Sibeko, it’s work that has to be done,ideas that need to be re looked at and some discarded. This response was supposed to be long ago, please be as kind as to accept my gratitude madala.

Fende, thank you for the comment sir. I do however feel that our points of departure are a bit different, with you feeling that the issue has been dealt with and me on the other had being overwhelmed by the amount of work that still has to be done in terms of gender based injustices. I think there are parallels that can be drawn between retributive measures like BEE and Cell C’s Take A Girl Child To Work. I do appreciate the context in which they can be seen as measures that entrench a state of victim-hood. The problem however is that, with the assumption that the issues have been dealt with, we may ask whether the abuses we have been seeing of late are by chance, in what context does rape come about and whether women empowered as men are? I think these are quite relevant questions that can be fairly dealt with upon engaging the statistics and a wider range of women, from the village to the city.

By: Fende

Fende — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:26:27 +0000

Not to step on holy grounds, but hasn’t this issue of gender discrimination been taken care of already. I cannot imagine another man in this decade looking down at a woman as an inferior creature. The woman today can be respected as a leader as well as a character of her own. The thing with going on about ‘discrimination against women’ even when it does not exist anymore only serves to marginalize ‘the other gender.
I was raised by strong women who fended off everything against their families, and has learnt to accept women as people of character as I am. Reiterating the issue of ‘discrimination’ actually keeps its principles alive. Choosing to focus all energy on one gender while ignoring or suppressing ‘the other gender’ is something of a reverse discrimination. I think it only serves to teach children that they are not equal as human beings. One glaring example is the ‘Take A Girl Child to Work’. the first time I heard of that in middle grade, I was obliged to think of girls as ‘needy’ beings who always wanted special treatment and expected things to be easy for them because they are girls. It almost completely dissolved the image of a strong African woman who always stood her ground for her family. Now picture this: all children, boys and girls, are taught that the only difference between them is their bodies; otherwise everything between them is the same. They are individuals who can be described by their characters and NOT their gender.They are taught that each one of them has a potential to be the great people they always aspired to be, regardless of their gender. No special treatment, no discrimination, every child, every man, every woman is equal in the eyes of the law, nature and God.

By: Khaya

Khaya — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:54:20 +0000

Ntuli,brilliant piece you’ve penned.The progress of every black woman ought to be celebrated and not seen as a threat to men because such progress is an antithesis to a historical truth of black women oppression.