Each year during the month of August, there is a flurry of activity and hype about womxn, their lives and their experiences. Popular celebratory events include business breakfasts and spa day competitions for a privileged few.

These celebratory events are often accompanied by talks that speak to some of the challenges that womxn experience, such as gender-based violence, and illness, and talks that aim to inspire and motivate. After being in lockdown for two years, many individuals are likely to welcome the opportunity to indulge in such celebrations.

However, the devastating impact of the past two years of pandemic living has also meant the (re)surfacing of critical questions that ask: What happens beyond the traditional August celebrations? Who are the womxn that we celebrate? And how, if at all, do their lives change after the August celebrations?

August then marks an opportune moment to reflect on what we have learnt about the lived experiences of womxn over the past two years. And, importantly, how do we take forward what we have learnt, in meaningful ways, so that womxn’s lives are valued and advanced?

One of the remarkable features of the pandemic was the visibilisation and accentuation of the inequities within our society. The unevenness within the healthcare systems, as well as the economic, social and educational contexts resulted in varied responses to the pandemic.

Despite our progressive legislation, our society remains a highly patriarchal one in which womxn are socially, culturally and economically positioned as being inferior to men. This positioning and construction as “less than” in an unequal system served to increase womxn’s vulnerabilities during the pandemic.

More than ever, the pandemic has shown us how womxn’s bodies continue to be sites of resistance and resilience, but also sites of oppression and suffering. The alarming increase in incidents of gender-based violence during the pandemic confirmed the home as a primary site of violence against womxn.

Sexual violence within the home continues to be regarded as acceptable, supported by social, cultural, and economic scripts that permit access to womxn’s bodies. Violence against womxn continues, unabashed. As I write this piece, we are processing the horror of the gang rape of eight womxn in Krugersdorp.

Ironically, while the “home” was identified to be a safe and protective space to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus during lockdown, the “home” as a hotspot was aggravated for many womxn. Public health policies which informed lockdown restrictions often failed to recognise and respond to the vast socioeconomic disparities of the “home” environment, as well as the social and cultural architecture of the “home”. 

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

Many womxn from poorer communities were employed in service industries that shrank significantly during the pandemic, resulting in a decrease or loss in income. How was the “home” as a safe environment (for womxn) sustained in the context of unemployment and violence? How did womxn navigate these tensions?

Within the context of rapid and drastic changes brought about by the pandemic, womxn, to a large extent, have carried the burden of ensuring continuity and stability of daily living and a semblance of “normality” within private and domestic spaces.

The centrality of womxn’s positioning in caregiving roles within private and domestic spaces might account for the increased demands that were placed on womxn during the pandemic. As work, schooling and tertiary study migrated into private spaces, there seemed to be an assumption and an expectation that womxn and girls would perform the roles of caregiver and teacher, while also attending to household chores and formal work and learning tasks.

Indeed, media reports and research studies that have documented the lived experiences of womxn during the pandemic have described the draining effects on womxn’s physical and mental health due to the multiple roles that they have had to fulfil.

In reflecting on the significance of space and how it has shaped womxn’s experiences during the pandemic, we must also consider the lived experiences of womxn who reside in public spaces.

Womxn living in spaces that are not recognised as private spaces, such as public streets and shelters, have been even more vulnerable during the pandemic due to a range of factors that included increased risk of exposure to the virus, violence and discrimination, and the lack of access to healthcare and vaccination programmes. These womxn and their lived experiences are often not considered in policy development that targets womxn.

Likewise, there is a need to interrogate our definitions of “womxn” and who is included and excluded from this category. Language is gendered in ways that limit definitions of “woman” to traditional constructions of gender. Such myopic definitions have implications for the lives of gender non-conforming womxn.

Additionally, homophobic and transphobic attitudes mean that transgender womxn and gender non-conforming womxn are often excluded from conversations about womxn and their lives, because they do not conform to traditional notions of being a womxn.

Throughout this piece, I have made conscious use of the term ‘womxn’ to remind us of the diversity and fluidity of the gender category, “women”/“womxn” so that we may also be encouraged to reflect on our own notions of womxnhood in our everyday practices and language.

Finally, we must also reflect on the lives of girls and young womxn who navigate most, if not all, the challenges mentioned thus far. What paths and opportunities are provided to girls and young womxn? As a society, what (cultural) scripts do we communicate to girls? How are girls and young womxn included in conversations about gender equality?

As we begin to navigate a post-pandemic way of life, we must be mindful of the multiple and complex intersections that impact the lives of womxn. Womxn constitute a diverse grouping, characterised by significant social and economic disparities that are rooted in our political histories.

Conversations and thinking about gender and womxn must also include our contexts. Policies and programmes that seek to advance womxn must be cognisant of the intersections of health, economy, politics, culture and history in the lives of all womxn, in both the public and private spaces. 

How do we ensure that the “new normal” is indeed a shift from the old, for womxn and girls? DM