{"id":107458,"date":"2026-08-11T09:12:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=107458"},"modified":"2026-08-11T09:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:12:55","slug":"the-women-we-dont-see-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/the-women-we-dont-see-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Women We Don&#8217;t See &#8211; Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Women Who Shaped Us<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Women We Don&#8217;t See<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, we began our Women&#8217;s Day theme for the week: \u201cThe Women Who Shaped Us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And although Women&#8217;s Day was officially observed on Sunday, the truth is that appreciating women shouldn&#8217;t end when the calendar moves.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, perhaps the best time to talk about the meaning of Women&#8217;s Day is after the celebrations are over.<\/p>\n<p>The messages have been sent.<\/p>\n<p>The social media posts have been shared.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cHappy Women&#8217;s Day\u201d messages have come and gone.<\/p>\n<p>But what happens now?<\/p>\n<p>Because if Women&#8217;s Day is really about recognising the contribution of women, then perhaps we need to look beyond the public celebrations and notice something that is much easier to miss.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The women we don&#8217;t see.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The women whose work happens quietly.<\/li>\n<li>The women whose contributions don&#8217;t always make headlines.<\/li>\n<li>The women who don&#8217;t necessarily receive awards, recognition or applause.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But without them, many families and communities simply would not function the same way.<\/p>\n<p>Think about the mother who wakes up before everyone else and goes to sleep after everyone else.<\/p>\n<p>Think about the woman who works a full day and then comes home to another set of responsibilities.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Think about the grandmother who is always there to look after the grandchildren.<\/li>\n<li>Think about the daughter who helps care for an elderly parent.<\/li>\n<li>Think about the woman who quietly supports her husband through difficult circumstances.<\/li>\n<li>Think about the teacher who spends extra time helping a struggling child.<\/li>\n<li>Think about the nurse who comforts someone who is frightened.<\/li>\n<li>Think about the woman in the community who is always organising, helping, feeding, teaching or simply checking in on people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These women may not consider themselves extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p>They may simply say: <em>\u201cI&#8217;m just doing what needs to be done.\u201d <\/em>But sometimes doing what needs to be done, day after day, year after year, is exactly what makes someone extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p>And there is something interesting about sacrifice. The person making the sacrifice doesn&#8217;t always announce it. They don&#8217;t necessarily tell everyone what they have given up.<\/p>\n<p>A mother may give up opportunities because her children need her.<\/p>\n<p>A woman may put her own needs aside because somebody else in the family needs help.<\/p>\n<p>Someone may spend years supporting another person&#8217;s dream without ever receiving credit for the part they played in making that dream possible.<\/p>\n<p>And sometimes we only realise the size of someone&#8217;s contribution when they are no longer there to do it.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s when you suddenly notice the things they used to handle.<\/p>\n<p>The phone calls they used to make.<\/p>\n<p>The meals they used to prepare.<\/p>\n<p>The advice they used to give.<\/p>\n<p>The family gatherings they used to organise.<\/p>\n<p>The person everyone used to call when there was a problem.<\/p>\n<p>And you realise:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cShe was holding so much together, and we didn&#8217;t even notice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>That is why appreciation is so important.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Because people shouldn&#8217;t have to disappear before we realise their value.<\/p>\n<p>We shouldn&#8217;t wait until a mother is elderly before we tell her what she means to us.<\/p>\n<p>We shouldn&#8217;t wait until a grandmother has passed away before we tell our children about the lessons she taught us.<\/p>\n<p>We shouldn&#8217;t wait until a teacher retires before we tell her that she changed someone&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n<p>And we shouldn&#8217;t wait for one day a year to recognise the women who are contributing to our lives every single day.<\/p>\n<p>There is also another side to this conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes society has created an expectation that women should simply be able to handle everything.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She&#8217;s a mother, so she must manage the children.<\/li>\n<li>She&#8217;s a wife, so she must manage the home.<\/li>\n<li>She&#8217;s working, so she must manage her career.<\/li>\n<li>She&#8217;s a daughter, so she must care for her parents.<\/li>\n<li>She&#8217;s the strong one, so everyone assumes she will cope.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But being strong doesn&#8217;t mean that someone doesn&#8217;t need support.<\/p>\n<p>A woman can be strong and still need help.<\/p>\n<p>She can be independent and still appreciate someone standing beside her.<\/p>\n<p>She can be capable and still become tired.<\/p>\n<p>She can smile and still have difficult days.<\/p>\n<p>And perhaps one of the greatest forms of respect is not simply telling a woman:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#8217;re so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes it&#8217;s saying:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don&#8217;t have to carry everything alone. How can I help?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a very different kind of appreciation.<\/p>\n<p>It turns words into action.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where the conversation becomes relevant not just to women, but to everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Because if we want to honour the women who shaped us, then we also have to ask ourselves:<\/p>\n<p>Are we making their lives easier, or are we adding to their burdens?<\/p>\n<p>This question isn&#8217;t about blaming anyone.<\/p>\n<p>It`s about becoming more aware.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Because sometimes the people closest to us are the people we notice the least.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Women Who Shaped Us The Women We Don&#8217;t See Yesterday, we began our Women&#8217;s Day theme for the week: \u201cThe Women Who Shaped Us.\u201d And although Women&#8217;s Day was officially observed on Sunday, the truth is that appreciating women shouldn&#8217;t end when the calendar moves. In fact, perhaps the best time to talk about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[5476],"class_list":["post-107458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-feature","tag-special-feature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-rXc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 14:05:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/129217603.avif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107460,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107458\/revisions\/107460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}