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Daily Maverick
7 hours ago
- General
- Daily Maverick
Kind and responsible, women rule the world better than men
The patriarchy has had power for centuries and the results speak for themselves. Isn't it time for change? The poem Wisdom by Helen Moffett begins: 'I'm inclined to trust her, / this woman with a child's clear vision / who points out the scabrous sores / on the emperor's bare bum.' It appears in her 2016 collection Prunings (uHlanga). In my view, women often possess a clearer vision than most men, along with a natural ability to notice and call out nonsense. This seems to hold true in households as well as in public or governmental settings. Moffett dedicates the poem to Antjie Krog, a poet I regret discovering too late. Krog's book Bereft has had a marked influence on my approach to poetry. The stanza in Moffet's poem ends with the line 'she sees magic in unpropitious dust'. The point, of course, is not to suggest that trustworthy men don't exist or that they're incapable of speaking uncomfortable truths. Nor that untrustworthy women do not exist. That would be an unhealthy suggestion. What I mean is that more women than men seem to embody the qualities in question instinctively, whereas most men, myself included, have to work at developing 'a child's clear vision'. Is this a natural trait that is, or has been, selected for? I'm inclined to think so. There is considerable evidence that women, on average, tend to display more kindness and responsibility, likely because of influences both natural and social. However, these are broad trends rather than fixed destinies. Everyone can develop such characteristics, and individual differences in this respect are often greater than group differences. Nevertheless, it remains the case that women generally have to work less hard than the average man to become kind and responsible. Gender roles are rapidly changing, though, and both men and women are being encouraged to develop a full range of emotional and social skills. Women have indeed come a very, very long way. In the US, they gained the right to vote nationally with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. In South Africa, white women were granted the right to vote in 1930, though universal suffrage for all women, regardless of race, was only achieved in 1994. This trend spills over to or borrows from what we've always been taught and brought up with: people with more testosterone are mightier in most aspects and shall therefore lead. In dominant Western Christian culture, the concept of God is traditionally framed using male pronouns – He and Him – and God is often referred to as the Father. This usage reflects both scriptural language and centuries of theological tradition. In contrast, many other cultures and religions, particularly polytheistic ones such as Hinduism, ancient Greek and Roman religions, or Egyptian mythology, include powerful female deities who play central roles in their cosmologies. It's worth noting that not all Eastern religions focus on personal gods; for instance, systems such as Buddhism and Taoism often emphasise impersonal forces, principles or states of being rather than a single divine figure. Conceptions of divinity – and whether it is gendered at all – differ widely across the world's spiritual traditions. In traditional Sotho belief, for example, ancestral spirits (badimo) play a central role, acting as intermediaries between the living and a more abstract, distant creator – highlighting yet another model of the divine that differs from both monotheistic and polytheistic systems. Poet Maya Angelou begins her famous Phenomenal Woman with the line: 'Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.' I instinctively read a great deal into this. Some women are considered pretty, others are not. Society often fixates on conventional beauty, and many people openly admire – even gape at – those who fit that mould, often reducing them to eye candy. But the voice in Angelou's poem knows it doesn't conform to those conventional standards of beauty. Still, it recognises its own power – something that 'pretty women' don't understand. The poem continues: 'I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size.' And later, with quiet confidence: 'Now you understand / Just why my head's not bowed. / I don't shout or jump about / Or have to talk real loud.' The speaker's strength lies not in external validation, but in qualities that go far beyond surface beauty. Women often prioritise empathy, collaboration and long-term problem-solving – traits linked to effective governance. Companies with greater than 30% female leadership are 12% more profitable. Women's participation in peace talks increases agreement durability by 35%. Mixed-gender teams make smarter decisions 73% of the time. Women leaders are statistically more cautious with fiscal policy, reducing financial crises. Policies addressing healthcare, education and inequality improve when women legislate. These statistics are openly available online. Remember how nations with female leaders had much lower unnecessary deaths and faster economic recovery during Covid? Have you noticed how female-led countries experience fewer conflicts and higher GDP growth, when institutional barriers are low? In general, women leaders often combine participatory governance with crisis competence – focusing on social welfare and fact-based policies. The bottom line is that inclusion isn't just fair, it's strategic. Although systemic barriers remain, data and experience show women's leadership correlates with stability, innovation and equitable growth. How I wish I'd come up with the Timothy Leary quote which says: 'Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.' DM Rethabile Masilo is a Mosotho poet from Lesotho who lives in Paris, France. Confession By Rethabile Masilo I stay strongest when I'm with prostitutes, letting their tempest admit mine; at dawn I watch them turn from being bitch and choose to be queen and fiend no more, but come down from the rafters and take off their costumes, their false pride, bare their hearts for all and say 'this is what happens in our velvet rooms' – I'd like to live in there, if there's a way, for I need a place where there's no mercy more than what one feels, and awards, and must keep soft; these women are no heresy; across the street some sing hymns to a host; I wonder if I'd enjoy such a place, whose pity comes in teaspoonfuls of grace On a Gare St-Lazare platform By Rethabile Masilo The way she stood on that platform that morning made me guess that she was approximately fifteen, waiting for a train to pull in, her profound beauty saying, while I stiffened and continued to stare at her profile, that she would be queen someday. She knew too well how to absorb men's looks, breathe their aura in, and salt the charge away in breasts of her flesh and in valleys of her form. The world was entering an era of great distress. I thought she might be a fallen angel, standing there taking our lust in, savouring it and hoarding it, like some good-looking robot telephone sucking in the electricity of men. Such type of force can destroy a world and break the matrices of its unfortunate hearts. I wanted to know if the volts of my thoughts had affected her. But I was late, so I made haste upstairs, and caught my connection. But I'll never forget the atmosphere of danger around me, on that platform at Gare St-Lazare This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Today in History: June 4, the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Today is Wednesday, June 4, the 155th day of 2025. There are 210 days left in the year. Today in history: On June 4, 1989, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pro-democracy demonstrators and dozens of soldiers are estimated to have been killed when Chinese troops crushed a seven-week-long protest held by occupying demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Also on this date: In 1812, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its first war declaration, approving by a vote of 79-49 a declaration of war against Britain. In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which said that the right of Americans to vote 'shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.' (The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.) In 1940, during World War II, the Allied military completed the evacuation of more than 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France. Also in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared in a speech to the House of Commons: 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Midway began, which resulted in a decisive American victory against Japan and marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific. In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver national defense information to Israel. (Sentenced to life in prison, Pollard would be released on parole in November 2015.) In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer's patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in Oakland County, Michigan. In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. Today's Birthdays: Actor Bruce Dern is 89. Golf Hall of Famer Sandra Haynie is 82. Singer-actor Michelle Phillips is 81. Jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera is 77. Actor Parker Stevenson is 73. Actor Keith David is 69. Singer El DeBarge is 64. Opera singer Cecilia Bartoli is 59. R&B singer Al B. Sure! is 57. Actor Scott Wolf is 57. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 56. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is 54. Actor Noah Wyle is 54. Actor Angelina Jolie is 50. Actor-comedian T.J. Miller is 44. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Evan Lysacek is 40.
Chicago Tribune
04-06-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Dr. Jack Kevorkian carries out his first publicly assisted suicide
Today is Wednesday, June 4, the 155th day of 2025. There are 210 days left in the year. Today in history: On June 4, 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer's patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in Oakland County, Michigan. Also on this date: In 1812, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its first war declaration, approving by a vote of 79-49 a declaration of war against Britain. In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which said that the right of Americans to vote 'shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.' (The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.) In 1940, during World War II, the Allied military completed the evacuation of more than 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France. Also in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared in a speech to the House of Commons: 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Midway began, which resulted in a decisive American victory against Japan and marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific. In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver national defense information to Israel. (Sentenced to life in prison, Pollard would be released on parole in November 2015.) In 1989, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pro-democracy demonstrators and dozens of soldiers are estimated to have been killed when Chinese troops crushed a seven-week-long protest held by occupying demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. Today's Birthdays: Actor Bruce Dern is 89. Golf Hall of Famer Sandra Haynie is 82. Singer-actor Michelle Phillips is 81. Jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera is 77. Actor Parker Stevenson is 73. Actor Keith David is 69. Singer El DeBarge is 64. Opera singer Cecilia Bartoli is 59. R&B singer Al B. Sure! is 57. Actor Scott Wolf is 57. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 56. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is 54. Actor Noah Wyle is 54. Actor Angelina Jolie is 50. Actor-comedian T.J. Miller is 44. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Evan Lysacek is 40.
Boston Globe
04-06-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Today in History: June 4, the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Advertisement In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which said that the right of Americans to vote 'shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.' (The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.) In 1940, during World War II, the Allied military completed the evacuation of more than 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France. Also in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared in a speech to the House of Commons: 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Midway began, which resulted in a decisive American victory against Japan and marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific. Advertisement In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver national defense information to Israel. (Sentenced to life in prison, Pollard would be released on parole in November 2015.) In 1989, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pro-democracy demonstrators and dozens of soldiers are estimated to have been killed when Chinese troops crushed a seven-week-long protest held by occupying demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer's patient from Portland, Ore., end her life in Oakland County, Mich. In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Two Sevier County schools honored for 100% voter registration
KODAK, Tenn. (WATE) — Two high schools in Sevier County were honored for registering 100% of eligible students to vote. Northview Senior Academy and Sevier County High School were presented the Anne Dallas Dudley Gold Award by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett on Monday. The award focuses on increasing voter registration among students who will be 18 or older on or before the next election. Schools that register 100% of eligible students earn the Anne Dallas Dudley Gold Level Award, while those that register 85% earn silver-level status. Deputies search for missing man who was headed to Grainger County boat launch 'I just think the most fundamental way we participate in our form of government is by registering to vote and then going and casting our vote. And so these students really are an inspiration to the rest of the community. They're showing how easy it is to register, and hopefully, they'll be regular voters and good citizens for years to come,' said Hargett. Hargett went on to say that this is not the first time Northview has won the award, and he hopes it creates a tradition of civically-engaged students in the community. 'I even heard some juniors on the way out say, 'Well, now it's our turn next year.' So the expectation has been set, and what we have to do is set the expectation around the rest of the state and throughout this community that you need to be registered to vote. It's been easier to register, it's never been easier to vote in the state of Tennessee,' said Hargett. Student Ambassador Lucas Weaver was a leading force in getting his fellow students registered to vote. The senior at Northview Academy told 6 News that winning this award was exciting. 'It's important for students to be able to exercise their right to vote. And I was really wanting them to all be able to get that first part of registering out of the way,' said Weaver. Applications for Tennessee's new school voucher program to open on May 15 A total of 59 high schools earned the award in 2025, with 41 earning gold and 18 earning silver. In East Tennessee, 11 schools earned gold including Bristol Tennessee High School, Clinch School, Grainger High School, Greenback High School, Harriman High School, Loudon County High School, Monroe County Virtual School, Sequoyah High School and Sweetwater High School. Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute, Happy Valley High School, Sullivan East High School and Tellico Plains High School earned Silver. The award was open to all public, charter, private, and home school associations. It was named in honor of Anne Dallas Dudley, a Tennessee suffragist who helped lead the effort to get the 19th Amendment ratified. Her efforts helped lead Tennessee to become the 36th and final state needed to pass the amendment giving women the right to vote. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
