Our latest Mrs South Africa Jaqueline Ferns who was crowned on Sunday night (10 November) on SABC3.
The
Mrs SA pageant has me fired-up because it puts such an exclamation mark on how sexist society still is.
The very fact that women are labelled according to their marital status and that it's socially acceptable is so archaic and insane it's doing my head in and making my heart race with anger.
The fact that men aren't labelled the same way emphasises the depth of society's sexism and yet no-one seems to notice or care!!
I've written about it before, in relation to Miss South Africa a couple of years ago. I felt very flared-up about it during this year's Miss SA and now seeing Mrs SA makes me feel it again ... I'm finding myself getting more and more upset about it as time passes, as if the truth of it is sinking in very deeply.
Women should have ONE title only: Ms, which doesn't define marital status. It's the
only equivalent of Mr, except for Dr, Prof etc.
I recently had to sign a form with my name and title and I was shocked and very angered to see that "Ms" wasn't even a listed option - I was literally forced into stating my marital status in my title so the people on the form could label me in a way they aren't labelling men.
What's to be done? How do we change this?!
I'll start by
insisting on the use of Ms for any titled interactions I have.