Being a woman is an interesting experience. When we look at the women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956, some with children strapped to their backs – it’s wild to consider that you can participate in a mass march, then be back home in time to make supper and put your children to bed. I imagine the discussions at lunch on 10 August were lit and mixed in with a lot of yawning too.

Of course, this is applicable to non-binary and AFAB (assigned female at birth) persons too – if you’ve been socialised as a woman, you’re checked into a lot of experiences and expectations that are exclusive to womanhood.

It’s 2022 and there is still a long way to go on women’s issues but, I want to go about this piece a little differently: we have so many achievements that South African women have made since 1956, despite the challenges that we often don’t get breaks from. As women, past and present, we’re constantly present in our own lives and in the lives of the people who lean on us for support – our families, friends, intimate partners, co-workers… However, when we put ourselves first, we’re still called angry, selfish or unreasonable.

With the amount of leadership roles that women inhabit, I just don’t think that’s fair. According to the 2021 UN Women’s Count report on South African women, 45.8% if seats in parliament are held by women. Additionally, 30,5 million people in South Africa, are women. Women who lead households (the highest volume of women headed households is in the Eastern Cape, standing at 50,6% as of 2021).

Earlier in this article, I mentioned that women and AFAB individuals often don’t get a break from the difficulties that they are faced with, which is true but why I’ve titled this piece, “Another Year of Angry Women,” is because I believe we need to re-word how we respond to women’s pain.

Dismissal isn’t appropriate anymore because it just validates a sentiment which is dangerous in our society: that, women are disposable and merely exist to make life easier for men and their needs.

This isn’t a lie – women banded together, and continue to band together, so that men might see that some of the tasks that seem bigger than them can be achieved – 20,000 women in 1956 proved that and they took notes.

It is because they took notes so thoroughly and chose repeatedly to write us out, but still need us, that we’re angry women.