By Kouthar Sambo
“You strike a woman, you strike a rock.”
These words are derived from the iconic 1956 march on 9 August where over 20,000 women from various ethnicities marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand over a petition to the former South African Prime Minister Hans (JG) Strijdom in their fight against the Apartheid era.
The phrase symbolizes women’s strength and became the lifeblood of the nurturing yet resilient nature that women embody – whether it be activism, professionalism, or the myriad of roles women take on as mothers, daughters, sisters, counselors, and teachers.
Ironically, the very “rock” being struck today are the women and children in the Gaza Strip who endure horrendous conditions due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment leveled against Palestinians.
Numerous women and children have used that very ‘rock’ as a weapon against armed Israeli forces and in turn, they are detained or shot dead.
In addition to this, early reports revealed that Palestinians have tied rocks to their bellies to manage the pangs of hunger as thousands of babies and females die of malnutrition and starvation.
For mothers, hushing their children to sleep it is the only way to distract them from the aching hunger gnawing at their bellies.
According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, the Israeli occupation forces murdered almost 11,000 females, of which 9% of the victims are children and women.
Women in Gaza
A rock in her own right, Bisan Owda, is a woman first and a journalist second, who wakes up every morning in the bitter ruins of Palestine ready to risk her life to share the unfiltered story of her people and its land.
Providing insight into the grim reality of Palestinians to VOC News, Owda said the most impacted individuals during a time of genocide or war conflict areas are the people with disabilities, the elderly, children and women.
“Before the genocide in Gaza, we were fighting for women’s rights and we (women) were collaborating with international organisations, through Western feminists, but now at the peak for women’s needs in Gaza, Western feminists are silent,” said Owda.
“We will continue to advocate for our rights as women, and for the rights of our people as Palestinians. However, I don’t believe in this idea of Western feminists because they are selective when it comes to Muslim/Arab women,” remarked Owda.
If I am not white and blond with blue eyes, she remarked, then my rights as a woman do not matter.
“Dozens of Palestinian women are raped in Gaza, and the Israeli ministers and soldiers, including Israeli women, are silent, and deliberately failed to prevent the soldiers from harassing Palestinians women.”
“There are claims alleging that Hamas raped women and the world spoke out against the resistance and Palestinians at large. When the world saw legitimate reports of Palestinian women being raped by Israeli soldiers, they were silent,” she argued.
Furthermore, the Government Media Office in Gaza reported that approximately 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to a lack of healthcare.
“There is a lack of healthcare and women are birthing under awful conditions, getting sick and dying. The few hospitals that are still functioning are doing so under minimal capacity and the rest is non-existent. Those who survive through birth suffer the loss of their children because their babies sometimes die during this genocide,” detailed Owda.
“There is no time to process trauma because women in Gaza are trying to meet basic needs such as food for their children (before seeking food for themselves) and a place to live. Women must step into various roles – roles they are unfamiliar with – they have to become teachers, journalists, mothers, fathers, providers, caregivers, and heads of their households immediately after losing their male counterparts,” reiterated Owda.
Women supporting women
The Chief Co-Ordinator of the South African Women United for Gaza (SAWUG), Shamshad Sayed, said South Africans are fortunate to enjoy freedom of expression (which many women have fought for) as female voices are stifled in Gaza and other parts of the world.
She added that it has been a long journey of activism with women from various backgrounds and races but the women in Gaza are the main source of inspiration.
“We need to continue making noise to international communities and remind them this is Women’s Month in South Africa and we resonate with what women in Gaza are enduring. In the same way, the international community stood with the women during the Apartheid era, and women of Gaza require the same support,” she appealed.
“We call on women from all walks of life to come to the struggle because it is an indictment to watch other women suffer without taking a stance, speaking up, and assisting the Gazan women,” asserted Sayed.
Common ground
While the challenges of Palestinian women under genocide and South African women fighting the struggle against Apartheid cannot be measured to the same degree, Sayed continued to draw parallels through a common ground shared by both groups of women.
“Women during Apartheid were marganisiled and with liberation, women were brought to the forefront in South Africa and their voices became heard. Women and children in Gaza however, are deliberately being attacked and killed, and what started as a genocide is now a holocaust.”
“However, both groups of women under different circumstances fought against a struggle that stripped them of their dignity and deprived them of their basic rights. Both groups of women displayed immense resilience under severe circumstances and they teach us life,” emphasised Sayed.
Whether you are a woman in South Africa, Gaza, or any part of the world, you are seen, recognised, and admired for your resilience. May the future hold a space where the hardships dissipate and women across the globe are able to reclaim their essence of nurturing, tenderness and liberation.
Photo: ridabintm/Pinterest
