You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock

So I've been sick (not with Swine Flu) all week, and thus low on posting, but luckily my friends have been keeping busy. I sent out a call a few days ago to urge everyone, especially those of us women living in South Africa, to consider what it means to 'celebrate' National Women's Day on August 9th - in a way that means more than being able to get drunk on free shooters on a Sunday night.

So remember:

On August 9, 1956, 20,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act (commonly known as the pass laws) of 1950. They left bundles of petitions containing more than 100,000 signatures at prime minister J.G. Strijdom's office door.

Outside they stood silently for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. Those who were working for whites as nannies were carrying their white charges with them. The women sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion: Wathint'Abafazi Wathint'imbokodo! (Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock.). In the 54 years since, the phrase (or its latest incarnation: "you strike a woman, you strike a rock") has come to represent women's courage and strength in South Africa.

The march was led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn.
>Since 1994 August 9 is commemorated annually and is known as Women's Day in South Africa.

With this in mind, I will be posting more thoughts on the subject over the weekend and on Monday, and I hope everyone else will be too. In the mean time, consider KDEVG's report on the risks of womanhood in South Africa, Hugh Upsher's drawings of 'The Best Pussy Shot on Web' and Miggi's ponderings on masculinity and desire.