Latest news with #SophiaWilliams
Mail & Guardian
09-08-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Misogyny is in a smirk, a meme or in violence
Graphic: John McCann Every year, when 9 August rolls around, we parade Women's Day like a trophy. We are reminded of 1956, when thousands, including Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia Williams and Rahima Moosa, confronted the apartheid status quo of racial discrimination and female oppression. We are reminded to be awed by those women who challenged injustice, but not so inspired to become them. This Women's Day, we need to reflect on how the echoes of misogyny are reverberating around the world, with the rise of anti-feminist movements, the rolling back of women's rights, affecting us all. It appears the 'we' who hate women is growing and our socialised passivity allows the echo of misogyny to be deafening. Misogyny isn'talways overtly violent; we don't always call it hate, it's advice, it's a smirk, a shared meme. But the hate is there, unexpected, subtle and inherited. From the day women are born, they are socialised into being the other, being treated as defective, dirty and hysterical. Women in liberal constitutional democracies today are told to be grateful — we have rights, programmes, seats at the table. Yet research suggests that, although the inclusion of women in leadership positions has increased, they hold less institutional power than men. Women are disproportionately confined to people-centred roles, while men consolidate their power on golf courses, over whiskeys in cigar lounges, free to let loose, be 'politically incorrect', express their distaste for equality, feminism and women's rights movements. I had better clarify that it is not all men, before I am labelled as a problematic woman, a misandrist, just more fuel for the effigy of female hate that incels and men's rights activists love to burn. On the other hand, it is these same men who claim to be the ones marginalised. We are reminded that it could be worse — look at the women in Iran — as if formal equality cancels out inequalities in practice. So, we women remember our place — not to destabilise the system, to be grateful that we are in the room at all, quietly holding our breath so as not to exhale too loudly, disturbing the misogyny in the air out of fear we will be kicked out of the room altogether. As misogyny seeps into our pores, we women start to internalise our inferiority, as thinkers such as bell hooks, Roxane Gay, Luce Irigaray and Naomi Wolf have pressed on over the years. Religion, the handmaid of misogyny, socialised the previous generations. Traditions masquerading as cultural truths linger over society today. Misogynistic cultural truths became, and still are, the expectation: female suffering is graceful, female sexuality is shameful, men are natural-born leaders and women are completed by marriage. The familiar tropes extend to secular society: the martyr wife, the submissive daughter. All women who don't internalise these cultural truths are branded as 'other', are labelled deviant, dangerous and shameful. These problematic women are living cautionary tales used by others to warn their daughters of the dangers of being too loud, too wild, too free. Loud, wild and free women are good fantasies, good TV and good memes to send. The patriarchy allows us women to admire, to be inspired by the Miranda Priestlys, Olivia Popes, Annalise Keatings, June Osborne, Lindiwe Dikanas, Beth Harmons, as long as their empowered persona stays in our offices, books we write or on our mood boards which we never act on. We women are encouraged to be inspired to cosplay these characters at Halloween but not to become them. Emulation is threatening, disrupting business as usual. For that reason, people of all genders are socialised to be the patriarchy's antibodies, policing women, judging, criticising, trolling or excluding them, attacking anyone who is too loud, too different, neutralising the threats that challenge the patriarchal norm. Because we women are holding our breath so as not to disturb the misogynistic air, the presence of more women, women who are freer, wilder, louder than ourselves, makes us uneasy. That is the skill of the misogynist system; its internal mechanism has taught us how to divide ourselves. White women troll black women, cis women judge trans women. It works so well that not only is it so easy to hate women, but the default is for us women to hate ourselves. The cultural pushback of women's rights globally (such as the overturning of Roe vs Wade, the rise of anti-feminist movements) and the drive to push 'traditional values' is the latest swing of the pendulum of patriarchy. From the tradwife making homemade jam to the day-in-the-life-of-a-stay-at-home-girlfriend reel, the soft girl aesthetic, embracing passive femininity, to the cottagecore wife and her domestic rituals. These whitewashed heteronormative aesthetics create an online space for misogyny to thrive. Online spaces where little girls and women are moulded to dream of submission and exhausted girl bosses toy with the daydream of trading in their laptop for a sourdough starter. We are free only to exercise a curated femininity; we get to decide what kind of cookie-cutter female tropes we wish to embody — the Karen, the Pick-Me Girl, the Girl Boss or the Slay Queen. As we remember our women struggle heroes this year, let their resistance inspire us to find new ways to resist social injustice. Paige Benton is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Johannesburg, based at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NCR Atleos Research Reveals Security and Complexity Management as Top Drivers for Network Infrastructure Investments
ATLANTA, June 09, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NCR Atleos Corporation (NYSE: NATL) ("Atleos") Telecom & Technology (T&T) Division today announced results from its recent survey that explored the factors IT leaders consider when making investment decisions about enterprise networking, including domains like LAN, WAN and network security. Data was obtained by Technology Business Research from an enterprise networking survey conducted in Q4 2024. For more on the survey, its findings and industry implications, download the whitepaper here. The study surveyed IT leaders and a broad cross-section of senior IT professionals from 120 U.S.-based organizations across industries such as manufacturing, retail, banking and energy. Key findings from the survey include: The top challenges with enterprise networking are security concerns (48%) and the complexity of network management (46%). Security and compliance, technology innovation and flexibility of network solutions are the main drivers influencing the surveyed enterprises' decisions to address network challenges. 63% of the companies surveyed use a mix of internal resources and third-party service providers. The more complex tasks tend to be outsourced with 66% of the activities performed by third-party service providers, including network testing and optimization. For most industries, a common challenge is bridging Operational Technology and IT domains to drive transformation. Security is a persistent need and a top priority for enterprise IT departments, with half of those surveyed (55%) planning to invest in it in the next 12 months. Enterprises continue to face mounting complexities with the convergence of cloud, on-premises, and legacy infrastructure, along with new technologies like AI, edge computing, private 5G and IoT. In such complex environments, to overcome key challenges it is imperative for businesses to have the expertise to prioritize network and security investments. "Enterprise leaders need a better understanding of how their investment decisions affect users who rely on their network," said Sophia Williams, EVP, Customer Service Management & GM, Telecom & Technology, NCR Atleos. "The findings of this research further underscore why we're laser focused on enhancing customer experience and dealing with complex requirements. With automation, efficiency, optimized cost and simplifying network management we give customers the best value for their investment." The T&T business of NCR Atleos is a global provider of managed network services, supporting telecom companies, network technology OEMs, and enterprises in over 160 countries. T&T offers comprehensive services, including field services, remote services, professional services, and managed network security services across various domains, such as LAN/WAN, wireless, SD-WAN/SASE, optical networking, and data centers. T&T supports more than 100 OEM brands and delivers exceptional services to over 200 clients globally. For more information visit the T&T web site: Telecom & Technology | NCR Atleos About Atleos Atleos (NYSE: NATL) is a leader in expanding self-service financial access, with industry-leading ATM expertise and experience, unrivalled operational scale including the largest independently-owned ATM network, always-on global services and constant innovation. Atleos improves operational efficiency for financial institutions, drives footfall for retailers and enables digital-first financial self-service experiences for consumers. Atleos is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with approximately 20,000 employees globally. Web site: X (Twitter): Facebook: LinkedIn: YouTube: Instagram: View source version on Contacts Media Contact Scott SykesNCR Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
