A win for women

Johannesburg - ‘I am a farmer from the Karoo, so I know how to hunt. And I am hunting your head!” said Lillian Andreas, a businesswoman from Carnarvon in the Northern Cape.

Andreas’ comment was spoken to a fashion assistant at Elle magazine, Ayanda Molefe, at the launch of the Precious Little Black Book – A Resource Guide for Women Across South Africa.

What the two have in common is that both have shaved heads, so they set up their selfie together and a connection was made.

Scores of other connections were made during the day as hundreds of women filled the ballroom at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton.

The event got under way as journalist and programme director Iman Rappetti introduced the Motsepe Foundation’s Precious Moloi-Motsepe.

She took to the stage dancing and got the room full of women on to their feet to celebrate a resource that she hopes will be a way to impart information to women from all walks of life.

The name of the game is empowerment – and the collective clout of the women in the room was inspiring.

School teachers, businesswomen, bankers, lawyers, art practitioners, policewomen and doctors hugged each other, exchanged cards and made a commitment to only look down on other women so that they could give them a hand up.

It was a fist-pumping way to spend International Women’s Day.

The event started rather late – probably because driving into the middle of Sandton on a Wednesday morning by 9am is a contact sport that should only be attempted by the brave-hearted.

As a result, the four panel discussions – health, media, education and business – had to be condensed.

Unfortunately, I missed the talk on gender responsive budgeting and former first lady Zanele Mbeki’s remarks.

However, the hope is that this seminar, held primarily to launch the book, is the first of many that will bring women from every sector together to find the action points.

This will have a multiplying effect on women’s participation in decision making and moneymaking.

As Rappetti said: “Access to information should be a basic human right.”

. The Little Black Book is available on themotsepefoundation.org as an e-book