Name: Violet Polelo Selwana

Province: Eastern Cape

Facebook: Polelo Violet Selwana

Twitter handle:@Violet­_pvs

Instagram: violet_selwana

What is the essence of being a woman to you?

The essence of being a women lies in her, faith, caring heart, kindness, and wisdom. Being a women is a blessing and a gift from God. A woman is fearless, she is the source of love, compassion, sincerity, sacrificing patience and attention.

What is your super power?

Self-Motivation and My God are my super powers. In hard/good times I pray to God to strengthen me , so I can be able to stand strong and motivate myself to keep going in life.

What words would you use to describe yourself?

Generous, Active, Powerful, Cooperative, Cheerful, Patient and Goal-Orientated.

Do you relate to Women’s Month? If yes, why is it significant to you? If no, why is it not significant to you?

Yes, I totally relate to Women’s. In remembrance of 9 August 1956, many woman went through tough time, fighting against unjust laws enforced on woman in South Africa. Many things were achieved in the power of women’s unity and strength. So this is a special month to remind woman the opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements and the important role that women of all races and religions have played and continue to play in South African society.

They say behind every man is a strong woman, is this a statement you relate to?

Yes. According to Science, it has been proven that women grow and mature faster than man. So in most cases my brothers will always want advice from my mother and us sisters to help in their decision making, not that they cannot decide on things but they need women support and wisdom to get things going for them. Practically, men will leave us but will find a women still remaining strong for them, not giving up, waiting with a beautiful smile on their faces. Looking at my mother support towards father proves a lot that women are not so easily broken by Circumstances in life.

How do you think society perceives women?

In Today’s time women are living a tough life. As the society perceive them as weak, and are used in all sorts of bad things, like they being abused, raped and discriminated against the gender roles. In most cases women in order to be taken serious in leadership positions or be in power, they have to suffer and always fight to prove themselves that they are capable, even when they meet all requirements are still to be critised to their strengths and abilities.

How are you #CommittedToChange in your role as a woman?

Change in the sense of changing the community in building a better society, to show commitment I am engaged with BEAUTY I OWN, is a non- profit organisation that mainly focuses on empowering and inspiring young women thus allowing them to acknowledge the power they possess and the beauty that lies within them. In this case “beauty” is referred to as a single word covering knowledge, behaviour, physical appearance as well as attitude. As a way of achieving this, the organisation aims at playing a tremendous role and helping create change in today’s society, improving mind-sets, self-esteem and helping build confidence. The Beauty I Own has been in operation since 2014. We have grown so much that we have branches in Johannesburg, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. Behind The Beauty I Own, is its principle of giving back to the community and what better way to impact a community than to target the young people hence our events are subject to take place in communities we working. We offer motivational speaking, empowerment and help out in providing and asking for donations sanitary to young women.

What do you think the role of women is in developing the country?

It is to educate and guide each other. For example, women who are successful can come back and share experiences, information and resources, to other women so that they can grow and build a better change in developing the country.

In a world that favours men, how are you fulfilling your role as a woman?

I believe in equality and social justice, so gender roles sometimes are problematic because they create a division amongst the nation as, men now see themselves as superiors and ignore women capabilities in power. However, as a women my role will be to keep embracing the sense of dignity, respect, not allow to be undermined, strive for good leadership and continue to fight the system in regards to gender equality.

In your words, what would South Africa look like if it had a female president?

Reference from above with all those qualities of women being strong, making things to happen, working hard, warmth and good leadership skills etc., I believe they will try to make sure that people in the country are happy and also improve in changing the social perspective of the country. In general the country will still be operating fine just, the good thing of it will be that women will be highly respected and their dignity.

Given what you know now, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Love yourself, Never stop dreaming, believe in your dreams and ambitions, always keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Do not forget WHO YOU ARE, do not shut out your inner voice it is Very Powerful and lastly always tell yourself you are Beautiful do not wait for others to tell. Everything starts with you because it’s all about you and your life.