[ 34 ] [ UJ TRANSFORMATION UNIT n APRIL 2024 ] The research aimed to find out what motivated these women to stay, given the many horror stories they narrated around sexual harassment, bullying, victimisation, and the barrier the “old white boys club” presented in terms of their career trajectory. The one thing they held onto steadfast was their triumph over the mindset in the home front in terms of their socialisation as a child into womanhood. That is, being led to believe that their gender sealed their fate, that tinkering with a car engine was bad behaviour because you were girl or choosing to educate yourself was a wasted investment as there was no return on investment for your family − given you would eventually be expected to marry, bear children and be a housewife – barefoot and cooking. Their battle now lay in the space where men saw them as impostors, window dressing, a statistic that makes the scorecard look better – the fight still goes on. What this research did get me thinking about was the socialisation these men have gone through, about roles men and women play that were seared into their mindset and became ingrained in their every thought and action. Afterall, we are not born with these prejudices; they are taught to us in the home, and we are socialised into believing them to be gospel. Strangely enough, some of the participants spoke to this – in terms of how their mothers were against their choice of career and this goes back to the way they (their mothers) were socialised from birth into believing that as a female you were deemed the lesser of the two sexes. As previously mentioned, we have seen great feats in terms of inclusion, we must not lose sight of the battle we still fight to be not just seen but heard, not just heard but more importantly our voices listened to. Let us straighten the crown of our younger sisters, starting their journey down the path we have already treaded, reach out and raise them up so that their paths are not as riddled with hurdles as ours – let us not be selfish with our knowledge – impart to our sisters without reservation and encourage in them to do the same, let us eliminate this ‘queen bee syndrome’ – we are all queens in our own right. You don’t need a prince charming to fight your battles, rise up, wield your sword like the warrior you are and slay your dragons. Remember, you are fearless, beautiful, strong, smart, you are worthy of all the world has to offer. I came across a beautiful saying – a flower that blooms in adversity is the most beautiful of all and women who bloom in adversity are the strongest of all. In response to the question − to be or not to be − our answer is our fight as women to be seen, heard, to matter, be valued, to be ourselves and not what society boxes us into being, because we are fearless, beautiful, smart, strong, worthy – we are unique – we are women of power!
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