Being a scientist is hard sometimes. Especially when you have to sit in a 45minute long kombi ride to work 5out of seven days in a week. Trust me, it can get frustrating. From hearing laymen try and explain wether a crocodile is a snake or a frog. To listening, and quietly too as they argue that ice is denser than liquid water, hence why doesn ' t it float. When you in fact know that liquid water is denser than ice. And you know that this is because the hydrogen bonding between oxygen and hydrogen is more closely spaced than the one between liquid water. And this happens to be because in low temperature the bond angle is less than in high temperature. As they tell each other that dragons might have existed but dinosaurs are mystical creatures! smh!!! I ' ve been shaking my head too many times on all too many mornings and I have 7 more months of this. Urrrgghh I can ' t handle.
But being a woman is harder, having to listen through the ideologies that men have spoken so loud and clear, each day and have no-one questioning them, that is hard. I ' ve sat all too many times, silently, in a kombi listening to man diminish women and in the presence of women. It makes me wonder what culture this is? I thought a man was meant to love and protect a woman, not trample upon her and look down on her in disgust. I really wonder who taught men that it was right to use their power to pull down a woman. I mean were sitting in a kombi, 3 men deliberating on how you should beat a woman to make your point come across, 7 other other men, sitting silently as if they do not hear the injustice being rendered, and 9 woman, laugh hilariously as the stories unfold. I sit and look around, I wonder if I ' m the only one feeling a cringing pain in my belly.
What monsters has this society created? Someone said the worst people are not those committing an injustice but those that watch as the injustice is being committed and say and do nothing. Those are the real problem. Cause fine, we see that person E is horrid, and is making person Ls life miserable but hey, I ' m not part of the equation. I shall move on with my life, I ' m V. And insted of working together with O to fix each other. We ignore it. Cause we fail to realize that L, O, V and E, when they work together and form the most beautiful thing ever, LOVE.
The real problem with society is not entirely the fact that men disrespect women. Or that women are not treated as equals to men but it ' s the fact that we lack humanity as a whole. Sadly though, the women in the world have had to suffer more than men because of the lack of UBuntu, Hunhu in us. Just because everyone around you is fighting for women to be heard doesn ' t mean that enough is being done. Just because everyone is crying foul and a lot is being done doesn ' t mean it ' s enough! I realized that it ' s been less than a century since women have been allowed to vote. Yes, it hasn ' t been that long since someone started doing something. It will take more than campaigns for the patriarchal system to be broken. So don ' t sit back, don ' t relax, and don ' t enjoy. Just cause your world is is harmony doesn ' t mean someone else ' s out there isn ' t upside down.
I came across a thread that had several different women fromfro different places in the world. See, I ' m a woman yes, but it doesn ' t mean I haven ' t been mistaken too about the troubles different women face. One was a model in a country of the world where that is totally unacceptable. Another was fighting against the system of forced and planned matriages, she ' d divorced her husband and fought a tough custody battle to get her child. All in a society were leaving your husband was a taboo.
But did they really want her to get out of that marriage in a coffin? I sae another woman who carried vegetables to sell each day over a long distance so that she could feed her 3 children. Another story was that of a woman who had watched 2 of her children die from a water bourne illness and each day she prayed to God not to take her other 3. Tears cane trickling down my eyes as I realized something. DON ' T TAKE THE LITTLE YOU HAVE FOR GRANTED. See, it sounds cliche when they say someone out there wants the life that you ' re so tired ofiving, but it ' s true. I saw the stories all these ladies had to tell and realized one important thing. We are all the same. We have different struggles yes, but we all have a struggle.
Out there there ' s a woman who can ' t do the job I do cause it ' s a man ' s job and my only struggle is getting the right size of a worksuit. Which still is a struggle of it ' s own. Let me elaborate more on this. A few weeks ago I went to the shops to buy a worksuit. So I kept asking if they had it in my size and they kept saying no. So I finally asked how come? See all this while I ' d thought it was cause well, I generally struggle to. findI right size clothing cause I ' m bigger than most people but no, that wasn ' t it. It was because when they make worksuits they make them with a man ' s body in mind. Wide shoulders and small waist, no hips and literally no backside.
That was a very disappointing discovery for me. In a world where we ' re encouraging young girls and women to take up sciences we still aren ' t accommodating them in the same protective clothing that those of the opposite sex put on. I started to think of how many women surveyors I knew, how many SHE officers I know, how many chemical engineers I knew.
How many of us they were. So what they ' re saying to us is we can go to school together, get the sane qualifications, get the same job but you won ' t have to do the work, you ' re not dressed for it! After doing 4 years of college and I can ' t get the proper protective clothing I need for the job and that simply implies I ' ll have to sit it out. Saddening.
The struggle is too real. The war is still raging. From custody battles down to being able to show your facr in public and to being able to find the right fitting clothing, we have a long way to go. Women, everywhere still need to unite for one cause, to be set free!!! To fight against injustice till the last thing is addressed. Don ' t watch others suffer just cause you ' ve arrived. Fight still, with your fists clenched! I refuse to play the victim anymore. I have the fight in me, do you?