People speak about diversity and representation like the world is ready. But when it actually happens, people can't take change. They can't deal with it. Which is why we have things like cyberbullying, which is why people will send you nasty DMs, say nasty things in your comments. Because they're just not dealing with it, they're not ready.
Interpretation
Change and diversity can provoke negative reactions in society, revealing a lack of readiness for acceptance.
In this quote, Zozibini Tunzi addresses the tension between the ideals of diversity and representation and the reality of people's reactions when these ideals are enacted. She points out that while society may advocate for inclusivity, many individuals struggle to accept this change, leading to negative behaviors like cyberbullying and harassment as they fail to cope with the new realities.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about the importance of fostering a diverse workplace to encourage acceptance.
I think the most important thing... is leadership. It's something that has been lacking in young women and girls for a very long time, not because we don't want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity.
I think we are afraid to take up space. We are afraid to be amazing. As soon as that fear leaves us and we start building that confidence of being unapologetic about being great, then i think we can get into that space of having a lot of women leaders who are just fearless.
We should be teaching young girls to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself.
I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful.
Women are constantly being taught how to defend themselves against attack from men. I would like to shift the perception. I want to say that that responsibility should no longer rest on the shoulders of women alone.
I didn't enter Miss S.A. because I thought I was the most beautiful woman in S.A., I entered because it's one of the few platforms that give women the ability to lead and I knew I had a powerful voice and message to send out.
If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.
After the clouds, the sunshine; after the winter, the spring; after the shower, the rainbow; for life is a changeable thing. After the night, the morning, bidding all darkness cease, after life's cares and sorrows, the comfort and sweetness of peace.
There came a time when you realized that moving on was pointless. That you took yourself with you wherever you went.
Women have to work much harder to make it in this world. It really pisses me off that women don't get the same opportunities as men do, or money for that matter. Because lets face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define our values and to define what's sexy and what's feminine and that's bullshit. At the end of the day, it's not about equal rights, it's about how we think. We have to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.
Probably the single-most concrete and substantive thing an American, young American, could do to lower our carbon footprint is not turning off the lights or driving a Prius, it's having fewer kids...we'll soon see a market in baby-avoidance carbon credits similar to efforts to sell CO2 credits for avoiding deforestation.
If we all act together - business, governments, NGOs and citizens and, especially, the young - just imagine the good we could create.
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