The annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign is approaching, which reminded me of something I wrote in 2015: “The trouble with male allies of feminism is that they are often so busy critiquing sexist behaviour outside of themselves, leaving little time for self-critique and analysis. And there, we find the unexposed privilege of sexism.
“Privilege by design is aimed at entrenching power systems, in this case patriarchal behaviours and patterns. They are often so deeply ingrained, making them invisible, that you don’t even see yourself participating in them.
“That is why the tendency is to look outward as opposed to questioning your own patterns of engagement that are problematic. For example, you do not believe that a woman’s place is just in the home performing domestic duties, and yet you do not participate in the upkeep of the home... You feel vindicated because you haven’t mandated it, but you enjoy its benefits.”
Years later, in 2020, I attended the launch of an Oxfam report on unpaid care work titled Time to Care: Unpaid and Underpaid Care Work and the Global Inequality Crisis. The briefing paper stated: “Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people.
“This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of the privileged few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most essential work – the unpaid and underpaid care work done primarily by women and girls around the world.
“Tending to others, cooking, cleaning and fetching water and firewood are essential daily tasks for the wellbeing of societies, communities and the functioning of the economy. The heavy and unequal responsibility of care work perpetuates gender and economic inequalities.”
Yet, here we are in 2025 with little that has changed for the better in this regard. In fact, we are witnessing a backsliding of women’s rights and equality and, as a result, epidemic levels of violence against them. UN Women lamented the regression of women’s rights earlier this year, noting that “globally, women’s human rights are under attack. Instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we’re seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny.”
How does inequality equate to violence? Well, violence is a primary tool to assert dominance over another. And as the world is mesmerised and entertained by the antics of the superrich, like the Donald Trumps, Jeffrey Epsteins and P Diddys, surely the picture starts to become clearer?
This is why the social media-driven culture of materialism and consumerism is so dangerous. Although most people may denounce the outward violence against women perpetrated by these men, some secretly wish to be them because of the power and access they represent. The trade-off, though, is that to ascend to such levels, your ticket is participation in the violent system of capitalism underpinned by patriarchy.
True allies would be repulsed by this and be the ones leading the charge during the upcoming 16 days campaign, starting by taking accountability for their personal participation in this unjust system. DM
Zukiswa Pikoli is Daily Maverick’s managing editor for Maverick Citizen and news.
This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.
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