PsySSA Commemorates Womens Day 2022!
9 August 1956. 20 000 women, representing the voices of over 100000 women who signed petitions marched to the Union Buildings in protest against the extension of pass laws to women who were categorised as black. Bundles of petitions were left at the door of Prime Minister Strijdom’s office, and thereafter the women stood in silence outside for 30 minutes, promoting an ideology of non-violence. The pass laws regulated freedom of movement and migrant labour, and promoted segregation. The impact of this law was that families were deprived of the basic right to live together as a stable family unit. To commemorate this march, and pay tribute to the other forerunners of the women’s movement in South Africa, the first National Women’s Day was celebrated in 1995 (National Women’s Day, 2022; Schmidt, 2019).
Over the years the historical significance of Women’s Day has become somewhat diluted, with this day now focusing on celebrating women as well as highlighting present-day challenges that South African women still need to grapple with. Despite the strides made in narrowing the gap between men and women in all spheres of work and society, women are still confronted with gender-based challenges and atrocities, and these have been compounded by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The consequences of lockdown varied across genders. Women reverted to traditional gender roles assuming responsibility for childcare and domestic chores while still working remotely, and gender-based violence (GBV) emerged as a shadow pandemic. One vital skill that appeared to be critical to surviving the pandemic was resilience. Within this context, it is apt that the theme for Women’s Day and month in 2022 is ‘Women’s Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment: Building Back Better for Women’s Improved Resilience’ (Women’s Day, 2022).
The empowerment of women is a complex phenomenon that demands a comprehensive cross-cutting approach. As mental healthcare practitioners and researchers, we are essential and indispensable in the construction of resilience in multiple systems. Whether we are working with individuals in consultation rooms, empowering groups, and communities, addressing employees and processes in organisations, facilitating developmental programmes with learners and students, or conducting research, we have the potential to enhance resilience at various levels. Through influencing policies and creating and implementing high-impact individual and systemic interventions, professionals in the field of psychology may alter narratives, skills and behaviours.
We need to actively contribute to transforming our system to a space where it will never again be said that a woman is lucky to have been raped by only one man.
References
National Women’s Day – August 9, 2022 (2022). National Today Retrieved from https://nationaltoday.com/national-womens-day/
Schmidt, E.S. (June 10, 2019). African Women`s Resistance to the Pass Laws in South Africa 1950-1960. South African History Online. Retrieved from https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/african-womens-resistance-pass-laws-south-africa-1950-1960-elizabeth-s-schmidt
Women’s Day 2022 (2022). South African Government. Retrieved from https://www.gov.za/WomenDay2022#:~:text=We%20will%20celebrate%20this%20year’s,achieve%20gender%20equality%20by%202030
‘Still I Rise’ – Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Celebrating Women’s Month with PsySSA’s Women in Leadership
INVITE: Online Consulting psychology Conference (2022)
PsySSA Launches its Interest Group, Decolonising Psychology!
On Wednesday, 27 July 2022, PsySSA launched its Decolonising Psychology Interest Group.
The launched was chaired by PsySSA President, Prof Shahnaaz Suffla, with inputs offered from President-Elect, Prof Floretta Boonzaier, Past President, Prof Saths Cooper and Student Chairperson and Treausurer, Ms Bridgette Mogoje and Ms Genevieve Burrow.
PsySSA looks forward to decolonising psychology through its Interest Group!
Should individuals be wanting to join the Decolonising Psychology Interest Group, kindly complete the membership form below:
The voices of concern over our failing health care system
On 21 June 2022, the Maverick Citizen published a unprecedented open letter from more than 130 senior health professionals addressed to the Minister of Health and the Premier of Gauteng.
The article stated: “the health professionals include senior academics, senior specialists of major public hospitals and heads of department, a former director-general, deputy director-general, deans of university health faculties, former heads of provincial health departments, the chair and CEO of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, the president of the Medical Research Council and the CEO of the board of Healthcare Funders.
Each person signs “I am” followed by their name, as a direct challenge to authorities to discipline them if they dare.
The letter is written in solidarity with Dr Tim De Maayer, whose own open letter about the dire conditions at Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital earned him the support of many – and a suspension from work. The resulting outcry saw him being reinstated, but there were reports of ongoing victimisation at work, which provoked another groundswell of support.
The “I Am” movement arose spontaneously in recent days.”
In light of this movement, PsySSA has written to the Department of Health’s Director General, Dr Sandile Buthelezi and its Gauteng Head of Department, Dr Nomonde Nolutshungu, expressing our concern over our failing health care system and joining the multitude of health professionals in condemning the health authorities’ negative responses to Dr Tim De Maayer who sought to highlight the poor conditions at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital.
Consistent with Dr De Maayer’s assessment, many of our members working in government health care can confirm that “things are falling apart”. In this context, it is important to recognise the wider ethical duty of health professionals. They have a professional imperative to do everything possible to improve the health and wellbeing of their patients, which includes raising the alarm regarding contextual factors that militate against patient care. In other words, health care workers, including administrators, who fail to do this may be considered to be failing in their ethical duty to serve humanity and advocate for patient care.
We urge the government health authorities to acknowledge and address the failings in the health care system, and listen to the voices of citizens, health workers and anyone who has an interest in improving our health care system.
Assessment Standards South Africa Launch
Today marked a historical moment when Assessment Standards South Africa (ASSA) officially unveiled the test review system to assess the quality of psychological and non-psychological assessments. ASSA was founded in 2015 with the aim of promoting ethical and responsible use of assessments in South Africa. Representatives from PsySSA, SIOPSA and ATP collaborated to form a robust, streamlined online test review system benchmarked against international standards but with a strong focus on adapting these for South Africa.
In line with other similar organisations internationally, ASSA is not a statutory body. Rather the organisation is “an independent non-regulatory external assessments evaluation organisation working collaboratively with the support of local organisations to assist in implementing a robust, best practice and technology enabled process that can be used to review people assessment instruments and tests”. ASSA focusses on assessing the quality of psychological and non-psychological assessments to promote best practice in the country.
Speaking at the launch event, PsySSA President, Prof Shahnaaz Suffla, congratulated ASSA on this milestone achievement. She recognised PsySSA representatives on ASSA, Professors Sumaya Laher and David Maree, for their committed and excellent contributions to ASSA. Prof Suffla highlighted the importance of the work being undertaken at ASSA, especially in light of the abuses of psychological assessment in South Africa during apartheid. Further, she congratulated ASSA for the collaborative efforts across sub-disciplines and organisations, indicating that more such partnerships are required to build psychological innovations going forward. Prof Suffla concluded by emphasising the need for transformative and epistemic justice in psychological praxis and the role that ASSA could play in contributing to this within the assessment field. Other guest speakers at the event included Prof Hennie Kriek, President of the Association of Test Publishers-South Africa, who extended his congratulations to ASSA on behalf of the ATP members. Prof Cystal Hoole emphasised the importance of the work done by ASSA, especially as it pertains to the field of Organisational Psychology. Prof Dragos Iliescu extended congratulations from the International Test commission and reflected on the relevance of ASSA work in relation to the global context.
PsySSA extends it congratulations to Assessment Standards South Africa!