Here's why women's month means 'nothing' to actress Mona Monyane

Mona Monyane has set the tone for women's months and says that she wants to challenge the notion surrounding the holiday.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, the actress said she will not care much for women's month if the rates of women and children going missing or being abused in SA continue to rise.

“We can't just be given a month but then the whole year gender-based violence and all of that is blatantly ignored,” she said. “What significance does women's month have if leadership or formal structures don't step up to give us safe houses for women who are abused or convictions against men who are abusive and [who] rape,” she added.

Mona went on to say that she had deliberately deleted her Twitter and Facebook apps because of her frustration at all the issues that are constantly highlighted with no viable solutions to match.

“Do you know how many times I had to delete my Twitter because it was too much for me, every day there's a girl go missing and what not ... and yet as a nation, we are not sure what can we do to be of support or where the systems to protect us are ... so until women's months become a conversation about how to protect the mothers, daughters and queens of the nation, it means nothing to me.”

After making failed attempts to approach production houses to interrogate the conversation of wellness and healing for women, she is using her social platform.

“I'm very deliberate about what it is that I share on Instagram ... there are very limited platforms for us to show up but I will not sit at home and fold my arms, come as you are, there are many conversations we can have as women.”

Mona says that she'll be using her platform as a public figure for conversations about her journey of healing as a woman with the hopes of sparking long-lasting conversations that can bring about change in society.

“I've been taking years to interrogate healing for myself ... and prioritise it ... and I've implemented certain ways of thinking and questioning that have helped me get myself out of depressive states and spaces of anxiety. It's a wellness movement, it's been a journey,” she concluded.