The irony of seeing so many lengthy messages of support for women and the importance of their contribution to society for International Women’s Day when just a mere two days before a woman was murdered by her partner was aggravating. It feels as if we are constantly gaslighted into thinking things will change only to realise when the branding and marketing of women are disposed of, the harrowing reality remains the same in our communities, jobs, homes and religious institutions for women from all walks of life. The reality is women aren’t seen as valuable, unless they walk, talk, work, look a certain way and even then they are still treading on shaky ground.
Seeing the media constantly and steadily reporting femicide while including suggested reasoning as to why it occurred is infuriating and suggests only that we have all sunk to a place where violence is justified behaviour depending on context. I wonder if we don’t realise that when we make exceptions and room to exclude the rights and protection of women, we add complicated layers of work that become difficult to untangle. A day is necessary to highlight the importance of women but the work is ongoing and constant in every aspect of our lives.
