Today is Women’s Day in South Africa. Which means that tomorrow, we have a public holiday. Hooray for women.
Women’s Day in South Africa commemorates the march of 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 1956, protesting against amendments the Urban Areas Act by the National Party Government. And thus, in celebration of their efforts, and in celebration of women generally, we have Women’s Day.
One should not confuse the South African version Women’s Day with International Women’s Day, of course. That is on 8th March each year. And of course, that is different to Mother’s Day, which falls on different days depending on where you are (or where your Mum is) in the world.
It’s good to be a woman.
Now – I’m all for the celebration of Women’s Day in South Africa. And not just because of the day off. What those 20,000 women did 53 years ago was incredibly brave and principled and deserves to be remembered. And obviously, women contribute in so many ways to our daily lives and their achievements should also be celebrated.
I’m also all for Mother’s Day, because there are few positions which hold such responsibility and require such hard work as being a mother. Obviously, being a father is one of those few positions and that’s why we have Father’s Day. All good so far.
But when is South African Men’s Day? I await the sarcastic “Every day is Men’s Day!” reply, which wasn’t even funny first time I heard it.
Seriously – why isn’t there a Men’s Day? By inference, that suggests that no South African man ever did anything to fight the Apartheid regime. It suggests that men have not achieved anything worth celebrating, that they play no valuable role in South African society. Because those are the things which we are (rightfully) asked to acknowledge in women on Women’s Day.
Ironically, we even have Youth Day (June 16th) which commemorates the beginning of the Soweto Uprising in 1976. So kids and women did their bit – but nothing from the men? Really?
It’s not fair – and sure – I’m old enough to recognise that life isn’t fair, but then that didn’t stop 20,000 women protesting about it in 1956, now did it?
And yes, some clever clogs will point out that South Africa celebrated International Men’s Day on December 6th last year (even though the actual date is apparently November 19th), but – forgive me for saying this - a couple of thousand blokes walking from a taxi rank to a community hall in Thembisa doesn’t really cut it as far as I’m concerned. You may have missed this joyous celebration of Saffa manhood as well, right?
Of course, it’s frowned upon to celebrate the achievements of men. After all, they had every opportunity to succeed while the women were at home popping the kids out and bringing them up. It’s no wonder they managed to get so much done and still be home in time for the wife to have the dinner on the table. Or something.
But does that really mean that they don’t deserve some recognition for any of their accomplishments? I don’t think so.
The way that men are discriminated against these days through the realignment of gender balance in the workplace and beyond (in South Africa and around the world) means that we will surely see a better recognised Men’s Day in the future: celebrating the triumph of men over the adversity of political correctness and negative bias in the job market. It will happen.
And I’ll be at the front of that march up to the Union Buildings when it happens.
9 Comments
Bl**dy cheek!
Fancy wanting a Men’s Day… it was men who made all that segregation mess in the first place! Women were considered second class citizens by those eejits in the National Party… ‘sides… isn’t Christmas Day when Santa comes? He’s a bloke… 
Helga Hansen´s last blog ..Vetting the petting
What happened to the red and white wizards by the way?
Aw, poor 6000. But you know the pattern of history, you shall have to endure centuries of opression, abuse, and discrimination before you shall be celebrated in a Day.
po´s last blog ..Card anxiety
Helga > Pah. You’re deliberately missing my point, aren’t you? I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a Women’s Day – I just think there should be a Men’s Day too.
Reflex > Creditably 0-0 draw. Quite an exciting game and quite a promising performance. I was excited and promised.
Po > Feels like I’m well on my way, believe.
We do have an informal Men’s Day – it’s called National Braai Day!
Hanlie´s last blog ..Weekly Check In
I thought the 14th of March was meant to be some sort of men’s day?
And while on the subject of PC’ness, how come there aren’t any days celebrating those people who are trans-gender? Post or pre-op and those who might just be confused.
I am sure you could take any of the days that are making up 10 weeks of school holidays for next year’s world cup as some form of a man’s day.
Hanlie > Hang on a sec “National Braai Day” exists as a result of it hijacking Heritage Day. I think us men are worth more than a part share in a second-hand Public Holiday, don’t you?
Reflex > I like the idea of celebrating everyone’s gender, sure. But I think you need to recognise 48% of the population before you recognise 0.048% (or however many TV/TG/confused individuals there are).
As for your World Cup idea, I might just do that. (I fully support the school break for the tournament, by the way). So – what are your ideas for SA Men’s Day 2011? Or is it just going to be a one-off?
2011 also neatly coincides with Rugby and Cricket World Cups.
The rugby is in New Zealand and so the games will more than likely be broadcast at some unsociable hour and so negate the lie-in factor that any self-respecting man’s day should have.
The cricket is in India so should be broadcast from around mid-morning to mid afternoon, which is perfect.
2012 is of course the Olympics, which used to be the celebration of men’s physique and prowess, until they allowed women to compete (bear in mind though that some of the athletics women have to undergo gender testing just to make sure they are indeed women).
Haven’t checked to see what’s on in 2013 yet.
Reflex > I can see you’ve thought this through thoroughly. Good work.