Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Picture: KIM KULISH/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES
In situations where domestic violence and physical abuse prevail, often aggravated by male spouses who have lost their jobs and are fast becoming frustrated and feeling emasculated, women are facing more than a “double-double shift”: they are becoming silent, second-round sufferers of the pandemic and an outlet of the anger and frustration.
It is fashionable to eulogise women during August but acknowledging, mentoring and promoting them is a dread I recently heard a story of an executive who asked one of our few female CEOs why her children and husband are in another country while she is in SA running a big entity. The comment was obviously made by a man who did not see anything wrong with asking his principal such an intrusive and personal question. He obviously thought it irresponsible for her, as a woman, to delegate the child-rearing duty to the father of her children.
This is why I support the objectives of the Women of SA movement, a nonpartisan, woman-led advocacy initiative formed to demand women’s fair share of the SA economic dividend.Criminalise gender-based remuneration disparities for equal work.Establish an annual gender barometer to measure women’s participation in the economy.