Nthatuoa Koeshe
WOMEN need to have the fortitude to walk out of abusive relationships as they not only affect them, but also impede them from achieving their full potential.
These were the sentiments of 2017 Finite Women Appreciation Awards guest speaker, Rethabile Posa, in her remarks yesterday at Manthabiseng Convention Centre.
Hosted by the BAM group of companies, the awards honour outstanding women and men in various fields. The awards ceremony is held on an annual basis in August, a month regarded as women’s month on the continent.
This year, outstanding women were recognised in 11 categories, while men were honoured in five.
Dr Posa, who is a University of Cape Town lecturer, said as a victim of abuse herself, she knew that many women often suffered in silence, being afraid of reprisals if they speak out.
She said many women spent many years tolerating emotional abuse and behaviour in the vain hope that their husband would change, while others stayed put for the kids.
“We as women need to know that we are stronger than we think. It takes strength and courage for a woman to walk about of a relationship that she has been into for years but this should not be the reason,” Dr Posa said.
“We need to learn to bounce back and when pushed down and be brave enough to walk out of abusive relationships.
“The topic of abusive relationships usually doesn’t come up in most casual conversations. It’s like a dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about.”
BAM group of companies’ CEO Ntšepeng Tšita said they decided to honour men since they also supported women.
“Our country has beautiful strong women who have made the country proud and it is with these awards that we appreciate them while at the same time appreciating men who are supportive of these women,” Ms Tšita said.
She said the awards had 16 categories which included most gender focused leader, political activists, most gender focused CEO, most gender focused entrepreneur, women’s rights male advocates and Lesotho’s first innovative implementation
“We also included the disability and disadvantaged category, community builders, political advocacy, beauty, health and wellness category, industry leaders, entertainment, organisation leadership, entrepreneurship and organisation leaders and media,” added Ms Tšita.