Young Women Stand Up (I am Woman)

Just because we do not undergo obstacles measuring to those of women from past centuries, it doesn't make us less women. Just because we favour career before instant marriage, it doesn't make us less deserving of the term 'woman'. The things we fall for as young women today are not what define us. It is how we get ourselves out of bad situations, bad relationships and be confident enough to try again in things that are viewed meaningless is what  makes us proud to be women of the 21st century.

 We are young women who want to be better.   We live in a time where everyone is wondering what positive thing we would be remembered for. But time has made it impossible for us to be remembered just as Lillian Ngoyi or Sophie Williams will always be renowned for. As the little things we do such as fight against the breast cancer epidemic or the fight against women and child abuse are easily put aside. Our great virtues and capabilities are overlooked when a young girl of 16 is seen with a 35 year old man or 15 years old girl commenting to her friends about how government grant will get her through. Now I ask, are we being judged because of our younger sisters? Have we become so driven by that need to be career women that we have become terrible role models?  

 I am not perfect but I do consider myself wise. Wise enough to believe that these predicaments can be changed. There will be a time when we young women are known for more than just being pretty or having sugar daddies. We are capable of more than that. It’s the society we live in that trashes us by feeding that idea of having material things to be happy. We use up so much energy chasing after the fab lane, putting aside careers that can challenge us mentally. We favour people like Khanyi Mbau and often wish for the easy party life, however she isn't all that she seems, frankly she is on the route to changing her life. I respect young ladies who are following a career that doesn't require them to take their clothes off or starve themselves. However, I don't judge those who do, as there is so much to modelling than what meets the eye.

Nevertheless, a person like Bonang Matheba is more than just a pretty girl. Young women view her in two dimensions. She is known as this beautiful radio DJ, sexy presenter and one of the most gorgeous young women in the world. While this information is railed to us young women we get mesmerised by this life that seems flawless without considering how she got there and is able to stay there. Bonang went to school and has a degree from the University of Johannesburg and she currently has her own company Bonang Matheba Entertainment. This has proven to me that there's nothing greater in life than having that brain power to go further in life. Education is truly the key to success. Our generation of young women needs to have this drilled into their heads “Education is truly the key to success”. The phrase might seem like a cliché, but its use can get you far beyond your known capabilities.

 In this time of social media and technology, we young women get stuck in meaningless things. We strive to be known for things that don't really better someone else’s life except our own. Even so, our selfish doings lead us to become people that we hadn't pictured ourselves to be. Pictures on Facebook and Twitter that portray us as cheap attention seeking women who don't even have a diploma at least, with your excuse being what exactly?  

 There isn't really much to complain about these days. There are countless opportunities available to women, young women especially. We live in a time where you can even be a president one day, so the only person in your way is you. There is no space for saying 'I am from a township' NO! Or 'I am from a disadvantaged family' or ‘I have two kids’ NO! What government gives us might not be enough, but the fact that there is something to be received only means that you need to get up and go get it.

We might not be remembered as heroines of this time or renowned for shaping the present for the future. But there is something special about us, and that is WE CAN LEARN, WE CAN CHANGE. We can be our very own role models and have an impact on our little sister’s lives. What’s up with bitching on each other and pointing fingers about who is pregnant more or who doesn’t have a kid must have had plenty abortions, it’s ridiculous! These are your sisters. No man should be of flavourable amount to your fellow sisters, maybe shoes, but not men.

The thing is we are women and we go through pretty much the same things. We are all beautiful in our own

special ways and accepting this difference amongst each other is our strength. Help another sister out, advice not in an attempt to mess up someone else’s life but to better it. We are smarter and wiser; you should want to be known for these qualities. You have a kid? Take responsibility, don’t just lie down and make another one rather educate yourself and want to do better for yourself and your baby.

Now I don’t see us gathering in thousands to march to the Union Building for any reason at the moment but it’s our courage and strength in the many challenges we face as women that makes it exciting to be a young woman today. Like the way you dress and being judged for that, or the way you wear your hair, or not getting that promotion at work because you are a woman, there are a lot of challenges. And it's our strength to keep going after the bad mouthing that should inspire us. I am inspired by my two lovely sisters, my best friend who got pregnant had a gorgeous baby boy finished school and now works and is a single parent she inspires me. Now look at the woman close by you, you should inspire her.