Posted inEquality

A woman’s work is never done…

By Mary Otieno When I was a child, it was taken for granted that during my school vacation visits to relatives in Nairobi, I would spend much of the time doing household chores in exchange for little more than food, transportation, and the excitement of being in the city. Not until years later did I […]

Posted inEquality

Gender equality progress is mainly all surface

You’d be forgiven for thinking this International Women’s Day is different from the others. In recent years, we have seen some apparently radical changes in the way women are seen as well as an expansion of opportunities. This year, it will seem to some, we can use the day to remember recent triumphs of female […]

Posted inEqualityGender violenceHealthLifestyle

Normalising intimate partner violence among Soweto youth

By Matamela Makongoza, Mzikazi Nduna and Janan Dietrich One of the greatest challenges facing young people today is intimate partner violence. This is usually perpetrated by young men against their female partners. For instance, three out of 10 adolescent males in the Eastern Cape reported beating or raping their partners, and this type of intimate […]

Posted inEqualityGender violenceGeneralHealthLifestyle

Fantasies of binaries: Why are we so uncomfortable with difference?

By Pierre Brouard By Sunday May 17 I would have participated in a panel discussion on LGBTI migrants and asylum seekers at an Idahot event organised by the Alliance Francaise in Sunnyside, Pretoria. Idahot is the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and is intended to celebrate sexual and gender diversity. This celebratory spin […]

Posted inEqualityGender violenceGeneral

Truth: Ruminations on a photograph

By Dr Thirusha Naidu TRUTH Ruminations on a photograph of a woman and her malnourished child at the Apartheid Museum Johannesburg, South Africa Standing amidst signs proclaiming her “Yesterday’s TRUTH” Pot-bellied, gasp-eyed child slung across her hip A white ’n black portrait against a brick wall Strewn, like gold dust onto mine-dumps, from early eGoli […]

Posted inGender violenceGeneralNews/Politics

Why I criticise the government, intombazane and other degrees of equality

As someone recently told me, “it’s very easy to criticise the government”. That is true, but deserves further thought. The reality is that this is exactly what our current political dispensation fought for. The lives lost, families torn apart and the blood shed was all done in the hope of creating the very freedoms that […]