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Constitutional democracy: Credit to the women who paved the way for us to enjoy the winds of freedom

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Lwando Xaso is an attorney, writer and speaker . She is the founder of Including Society. She is also the author of the book, ‘Made in South Africa, A Black Woman’s Stories of Rage, Resistance and Progress’. Follow her at @includingsociety.

When I look at my life today, I understand how it is a product of the world opened up by the Constitution. Colonial and apartheid laws had an agenda to subvert women.

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

I came of age during the 1990s, the same time that my country was wrestling itself loose from the choking grip of apartheid. My generation witnessed, but were too young to partake in, a stunning era of our history which impressed upon us that freedom was a cause for which to risk it all.

At that time, it was still rare to see a woman driving her own car, let alone a black woman. I remember my favourite car of that era was a Fiat Uno. This was not a family car. In my mind this car was made specifically for the single woman and nothing would thrill me more than seeing a black woman driving one and vowing that that would be me one day. I dreamt of driving down the highway in a yellow Uno in a free South Africa with the wind blowing through my braids.

As the idea of what life could be like for women as this new era set in, I started dreaming big for myself. Here was freedom beckoning me to define myself for me with parents who wanted nothing more than for me to exceed their efforts in pursuing a full life. I have told the story elsewhere of how I already knew at 12 years old that I wanted to be a lawyer, having witnessed on television how Marcia Clark, the prosecutor in the OJ Simpson trial, exuded a power I had never seen before.

This all meant that in this burgeoning constitutional democracy my focus and drive was my education, my work and the world. Women around me were choosing different ways of being. Our constitutional democracy means more and better options before us. The path of marriage to adulthood was not the only one, or central to our lives. I am not against marriage but it is not primary. As a constitutional scholar and lawyer, I came across a number of cases brought by women bravely attempting to undo a history of exclusion that limited their education, work and worlds. In these cases, I learnt about an unforgivable way of life that subjugated women in the smallest and biggest of ways. When I look at my life today, I understand how it is a product of the world opened up by the Constitution.

There was the time when the only acceptable path that would have been available to me was marriage and children. There was a world created by the Natal Law of 1891 that would have considered me a perpetual minor unable to move freely, enter into contracts, to inherit, and one who could be chastised by her guardian or her husband even at 40 years old. A world created by the Black Administration Act of 1927 denied black women their share of marital assets by stating that all marriages of native couples were out of community of property and excluded them from land ownership by declaring that any land belonging to a native would devolve upon his death upon one male person, among many shameful provisions. There was a time when a woman who sought an abortion could only do so under very limited circumstances and with many administrative hoops she would have to jump through, which made abortion almost impossible, even in the worst circumstances, such as rape.

There are many more examples of how the law disabled us and tied our hands. Colonial and apartheid laws had an agenda to subvert women. Today, although still a perilous time, I credit the women who shoved back, who pressed forward and who demanded more. I also do not take for granted our Constitution’s affirmation of equality, justice and freedom. Today, although the horizon is broader and our sights are set higher and our lives are richer, we need to ensure the promise of freedom is realised for all young women who do not feel the winds of freedom. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.

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