Women's Day

On August 9, 2008 I celebrated being a woman and the millions of women that support the world. Women's Day is a HUGE deal in South Africa, and the day was full of festivities and sisterhood. Consciously Rebuilding is a woman-operated organization, but gender was never emphasized or stratigized, despite us dealing with sexism in certain situations. My research for the past 2 months has been geared around women farm workers and health disparities. I must say that it has opened my eyes to gender in that work, health, and life is NOT gender-neutral; however policy, government, rights and even some NGOs treat these issues as such. This experience and these tools from my research at the University of Cape Town School of Public Health and Family Medicine will be applied to the strategic plans Consciously Rebuilding. We will take advantage of women-hood and gender-specific outreach plans will be made in terms of outreach. Specifically, our Health Expos and Action Plans can take advantage of women's household roles especially since our target population includes many single-parent mothers. These issues will be acknowledged, as they have a disproportionate impact on socioeconomic indicators of health, indoor health, health access, prevention, and treatment for women and their children. As on the farm, women in our target population have a grave responsibility to their job and their home. They also have duties that make them vulnerable to gender-based violence, (i.e. gathering water in un-lit areas in townships, travelling alone at night or dealing with domestic violence in the States) and these parallels alow Consciously Rebuilding to tailor our programs.

On Women's Day, we visited the Slave Lodge, Company's Garden, The Planetarium, The South African Museum of Art, and the District Six Museum.