By far the most dangerous thing to be in SA is a female child. And it’s fitting to talk about this again on the first day of Women’s Month today.
It is truly sad to be saying this about one of the most powerful countries in all the international clubs to which we belong - the African Union, SADC and Brics.
We still see far too many stories of rape and murder of women, teenage girls, children and even frail grannies.
It’s so sickeningly regular, that we have become desensitised to it. But it may not be pure, senseless violence that lies behind it all.
Human history has proven that we tend to direct injustice at those we fear the most.
I believe this is true for how Europeans treated native people they colonised and I believe it is true for how men have been treating women throughout the ages.
Ladies, we fear your power, your innate compassion and maternal instincts. It’s strange, but I believe it to be true.
The very things that we cherish about our mothers, are also the things we fear.
I don’t think it’s because we believe those things will be harmful.
I think we fear how it will disempower us as men; how it may emasculate us and relegate us to a gender whose sole worth will be as sperm donors.
I truly believe that the world’s leaders are deliberately keeping women suppressed as they are scared of what would happen if women took over.
I reckon the world would almost instantly become a better place to live in.
There would be a strong focus on all the things that make society better, like education, nutrition, social services, healthcare and so on.
The result of that will be that voters will get a taste of the good life and would then never vote for a man again.
I think most men fear this, which is why they try and keep women out of politics.
But this is where we as voters come into the picture.
We can change the status quo so easily, by ignoring the brainwashing that makes us believe men are better leaders.
Our entire world is based on this nonsense.
We have three strong female presidential contenders - Lindiwe Sisulu, Baleka Mbete and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma - so there’s no excuse.
We see it pretty much in all the movies, in the magazines and in our daily lives.
Men promote and support other men, which is why the whole cycle is perpetuated.
And when that one woman does eventually crack through the glass ceiling, she is forced to play by men’s rules, so we never get to see her true leadership abilities, how she would do things if she felt comfortable to lead as a woman first and foremost.
This Women’s Month, I want us to think about where the world is heading with men at the top.
We have constant wars, star-ving children, violence on the streets, hospitals that are in disrepair and state coffers that are looted.
We seriously need to start thinking about handing our society’s fate over to capable women.
Anybody who objects to this is either a man with a hidden agenda, or a rapist.
Because the only time I see a woman leader being completely merciless is when she is dealing with a rapist.
As men, we have an awful track record of leadership. So it’s time to see what the ladies can do!