Nicolette Mashile talks about the need for women to be independent

TV presenter and author Nicolette Mashile, who is popularly known as the Financial Fitness Bunny, has shared what Women's Day means to her and how she joins the festivities.

In a Q&A with TshisaLIVE, she elaborated on how August 9 grew to have meaning for her.

“I watched a movie about civil rights and women’s rights in the 1960s and what was clear was that it was believed women needed to be protected and taken care of. Even though we’ve made progress in terms of rights and legislation, I think it’s time that the mindset changes — women don’t need to be protected, we ought to be protected but the protection is about arming us with rights, arming us with legality, arming us with information.” 

Nicolette shared how she wishes women could use the freedom they have to pursue their ability to be independent so that they may be “protected” financially and not depend on men.

“So I think every year when we celebrate Women’s Month we need to remember women have the capability to protect themselves, but they need to be armed with the right resources. Translated into financial education, women can protect themselves financially.

“Women don’t need to depend on a man for financial stability or financial wellbeing. Mind you, I said don’t “need to” not “don’t want to”. A woman can want that but she shouldn’t need it.”

Nicolette added Women’s Month, for her,  is a reminder that women have a huge responsibility to make sure the information they have that can change the life of another woman must be shared.

“In your circles, whatever information you have — a simple thing like explaining what cost-to-company is to another woman, a simple thing like explaining what a balloon payment is to another woman, a simple thing of explaining what patriarchy is to another woman. It doesn’t matter what field you’re in — If you understand light bulbs, you can explain to another woman how light bulbs work so the next time she needs to change her light bulb she doesn’t need to depend on a man. She can if she wants to, but she doesn’t need to, and I think that’s how we ought to be celebrating women.”