Miniskirt-clad Women Protest Rape of Woman by Taxi Drivers
Johannesburg, South Africa may have ended Apartheid, but women’s rights are still progressing slowly…
Anyone care to take a stab at what religion the Taxi drivers might be?
Castrate taxi drivers, says miniskirt protest
March 04, 2008 - iol.co.za
Hundreds of men and women protested in Johannesburg on Tuesday against a recent attack on a miniskirt-clad woman at the city’s Noord Street Taxi Rank.
One of the protesters, Wendy Morgan, said she thought the taxi drivers needed to be castrated.
Radio personality Redi Direko, dressed in a miniskirt, orange strap top, and high-heel sandals, led a group of miniskirt-wearing women in a march from the Art Gallery.
They demanded an end to assaults on women who chose to “dress up and embrace their femininity.
“Drivers need to be taught how to behave, this doesn’t end here, there is no dress code for women who frequent the taxi rank, and we say to the drivers ‘mind your job’,” Direko said.
She was speaking to taxi association bosses once the mass of people reached the taxi rank.
The protesters wore T-shirts saying “Pissed off women” and chanted songs while holding placards reading “We love our minis”, “We aren’t road signs, you need to respect us”, and “There are no shortcuts to women’s rights”.
The march was the second this month in reaction to an attack last month by taxi drivers and hawkers on a 25-year-old woman, Nwabisa Ngcukana, for wearing a miniskirt.
Taxi drivers and hawkers allegedly tore off her clothing because she was being “taught a lesson about wearing a miniskirt”.
They also allegedly put their fingers in her private parts while others poured alcohol over her head and called her names.
Taxi drivers gathered at the rank, screaming and whistling at the women who were wearing miniskirts.
A nearby woman was asked to translate what they were saying and said: “They are saying that women need to be taught a lesson, they should not wear skirts or short tops at the rank, because they are provoking the men.”
Said protester Wendy Morgan: “I have a daughter, and if she had to go through what that girl went through, I would hunt down those who are responsible. We want this abuse to stop right now.”
Another elderly woman watching the march (who did not want to be named) said that women should dress more appropriately.
“There is no African culture left these days… Women should not be wearing such short skirts,” she said.
A Muslim store owner from Pakistan said he agreed women should not wear short skirts and walk on the street, and that women from his religion were not allowed to do so. – Sapa
5 March, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I lived in Kenya before independence and can remember patrols on the outskirts of Nairobi stopping women dressed in little but their scant loincloth, tits hanging down to their navel, from entering the town. A few years after independence, mini skirts and trousers were condemned as contrary to the high African morals. Go figure!
24 July, 2008 at 5:13 am
the issue of mini skirt is barbaric to address, it is a common knowledge that most of women who have been raped is because of the attire. simple as that. but we would like to encourage respect in this world. men must learn to control the sexual behaviours and womn must learn how to respect the other gender’s sexuality.