Basotho women deserve a life of ease too

The festive season is almost over and what a wonderful time it has been. Well, hopefully for all of us. As per every festive season there were events galore. The most eventful one being the All White Party featuring South African artistes such as Makhadzi. I personally did not attend the event but I had hoped to see glowing reviews on social media of the artiste’s performance where I assumed she would jump up and down the stage like she was fired up from a cocktail of Red Bull mixed with Powerade. Imagine my surprise instead when what made the headlines was women being dragged. The issue was presumably that these young women who looked very pretty were being financed by people’s husbands. One “News Publication’” even carried a story on how marriages were falling apart because people’s husbands were paying rent and buying expensive champagne for these girls to look beautiful at events like that one. Of course I paid very little mind to the matter as I assumed it would die down. Fast forward a few weeks later and there is a fight on local social media about young women selling bums because they are seen in pictures drinking Ice Tropez. For those of you not versed in the popular alcoholic beverages of the fay, Ice Tropez is a wine cocktail of French origin. It retails for around M350 to M400 for a pack of six and is very tasty indeed. The opinion of the populace is that women can only drink it if a man, quite possibly an older married one, is sponsoring it. I at first found these assertions that women can only enjoy nice things if sugar daddies are paying for them quite amusing but I realised that this is quite worrying. The majority of women in Lesotho especially in towns have jobs. Those who do not have jobs have endeavored to come up with one way or the other to earn some sort of living. Be it selling clothes, bags, doing make up or even laundry. Women in this country are more often than not resting on their laurels but are out there actively earning money. The type of women who can be found at these events, drinking that quite honestly overpriced French beverage are mostly women who went to school and when the economy of Lesotho did not afford them a chance to work in their chosen careers made do with everything at their disposal to earn money. At no time in history do we have more university graduates putting aside their degrees and hustling with everything they have to make a comfortable living for themselves. Even women who did not go to universities have taken the time to learn a skill and trade to make money. Quite frankly Basotho women work hard. They are smart and industrious and are thriving during one of the worst economic meltdowns in history. Now to look at those women, enjoying the fruits of their hard labour and making assumptions that someone must be financing their lifestyle is quite laughable. I do not know why Basotho think women do not have money when they see us wake up early day in and day out to earn a living. It is preposterous! And if indeed people are having transactional sex for drinks are we really going to pretend that not all sex is indeed transactional? The transaction may be based on affection, a ring or indeed a six-pack of a refreshingly tasty French cocktail but when it all comes down to it, we all demand something. That is however not the point I am making. The point here is that women have jobs and it is quite weird that people think those jobs are not paying them. It has however dawned on me that the problem is not the price of these drinks, or the clothes or the moral decay that comes with a society where young girls sleep with men twice their age for material gain. The problem really is that people have a problem with women living a life of luxury and ease. It is quite offensive to the populations that young women are going around with nails that show they clearly have never encountered a basket of laundry in their lives. That women are saying, I will take this 350 maloti and buy drinks with it instead of staying in the house and living a life of pious quietness. Basotho women were largely raised to serve and cater for the needs of others. There is nothing subservient about dressing up, having long nails and buying champagne with your money. Our society cannot fathom that we are not at home covering our heads and holding the proverbial knife by the sharp end. It is quite a pity because no amount of complaining and jeering on social media or questionable publications will change that Basotho women have at long last discovered that they too are deserving of luxury and ease. We will not be holding the sharp end of the knife anymore and I love that for us. If you are still suffering and being pious in the name of being called a good woman, cross over to the good side sis. We shall be waiting for you. That being said, Happy New Year everyone. Thakane Rethabile Shale