♥If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies♥

This weekend (in South Africa) we celebrate National Women’s Day. Men’s noses are often out of joint, around this time of the year, “What makes women so special that they get their own public holiday” some say, or “If there is a women’s day, then why can’t we have a men’s day too”, our usual response to these questions would be “But its men’s day every day of the year, you don’t need a special day” or “When was the last time you gave me flowers!”

So it got me thinking, how many of us actually know why we celebrate this day, as it’s not just, women being recognised for their strength, beauty, intelligence and sensitivity (although, that would be enough), there has to be another more important reason. After a bit of research, I discovered, that there is-

9th August commemorates the national march of women, when in 1956 they petitioned against the legislation that required African persons to carry the “pass“, special identification documents which curtailed an African’s freedom of movement during the apartheid era.

On this day, women stood silently in protest outside the Union Buildings for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. The women sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion: Wathint’Abafazi Wathint’imbokodo! or: Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock! In the 54 years since, the phrase or its latest incarnation: “you strike a woman, you strike a rock” has come to represent women’s courage and strength in South Africa.

http://www.topblog.co.za/blog1.php/2009/08/09/national-woman-s-day

So, now you know. Next time when a man asks you why women are so special, you can ‘tune‘ him, that women played a small but vital role in the process of eradicating the apartheid regime in South Africa… oh and where are my flowers? or better yet - where are my cupcakes?

So, this one is to you - all the mommy;s, the gogo's, the tannies, the sista's, the nanny's, the friends, the support system, MY mom and my sisters - i salute you all on this special day - not for what just happened in 1956 - but just to celebrate this day as being your own unique person, you're smart, you're special, caring, creative and soooo sexy! so go ahead, bake a few cakes this weekend, lay a table with fresh linen, some flowers and the BEST cuttlery or papercups you can find and invite all your female friends for "womens day high tea 2010" YOU DESERVE IT