Cape Town - In commemorating National Women’s Day, the Castle of Good Hope on Tuesday held a programme to encourage women to speak out and empower themselves.
The event was organised by the Cape Heritage Museum and invited Muslim women to join the discussion.
Cape Heritage Museum Director, Igshaan Higgins said, "Our event is not about the plight of women and about making women strong because they are already strong. It is about changing the way South African men perceive their strength."
The event covered a range of issues facing Muslim women such as the implications of the recent Constitutional Court judgment which compelled government to change legislation to recognise and regulate Muslim marriage, gender based violence and the importance of women.
In addition the event also featured performances by songstress Nazneen Leeman, a yoga session and an art exhibition.
Setting the mood for the flowing discussions, Higgins said: "The chauvinistic, abhorrent idea that our women and girls’ place is in the kitchen, need to be rejected with all the contempt it deserves.
“This evil misconception sits at the heart of all the gender-based violations contaminating our society today. The time is right for South Africa to be led by a female president.”
As part of the Castle’s efforts to get more people inside its walls, CEO Calvyn Gilfellan said: “Too often we forget that despite our progressive Constitution and democratic governance structures, the daily struggles of women and girls today remain the same as those of yesteryear.”
Veteran journalist, author and special guest Zubeida Jaffer engaged with the room of mostly women discussing the significance of the day and how they can use their voices in the face of a social system that sees them as lesser, while Acting Judge Rhaadiyah Wathen encouraged women to organise against injustice.
“The mere fact that we are gathered here today tells me that 1956 is a long time ago.
“That was the first opportunity that women’s voices were heard. We are decades along and we still are talking the same talk, fighting the same struggle, and we are still needing to work towards similar goals.
“It’s not about equality. This is a fight for equity and there has to be equity in how we live our lives as humans and South Africans who have a constitution to uphold,” Wathen said.
She spoke at length about gender-based violence (GBV) being systemic and how women and girls were disproportionately disadvantaged. The discussion moved into fervent engagement between women who spoke about how the generational gap also played a role in the way women address GBV.
Yumna Edries, 22, said: “I feel like the older generation isn’t in touch with the younger generation. I think there is a missing a link between us. Parents are not filtering what their kids are watching like the rampant violence in video games, so I think the youth and the older generation need to connect better to address the problem.”
Zulfah Abrahams, 40, said: “Today’s programme was very insightful because it shows women’s strength and what we can achieve together. Two important topics were unity and GBV. Women need to start pushing each other up and stop pushing each other down.
“With GBV, we shouldn’t do root cause analysis on why this happened to a woman, we need to support and build.
“Oftentimes you will have various opinions but none of those opinions address how we can assist that woman, so it’s an eye-opener,” Abrahams said.