Women Don’t Need a Month to Matter
August is Women’s Month in South Africa.
I used to mark it.
These days, I’m not so sure.
Women don’t need a month to matter.
But this week it made me go looking.
Through old photographs.
Through portraits of women I have made over many years.
And then I found something I had almost forgotten.
Their words.
A few years ago, for a project called Luminance, I photographed women over 40 and asked them questions about their lives.
I asked what inspired them.
What they thought about getting older.
And what Oscar Wilde’s words, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken,” meant to them.
I have been reading their answers again.
They wrote about kindness.
Family.
Freedom.
Curiosity.
Being comfortable in their own skin.
And caring less about what other people expected of them.
One woman wrote about losing her son, her brother and her mother.
She said those losses had made her realise how important photographs were.
Another wanted a portrait with her daughter before she was completely grown.
Another came with her mother and daughter.
Three generations of women.
Another travelled from Germany to be photographed with her sister.
I photographed them laughing.
Still.
Alone.
Together.
Some loved being photographed.
Some absolutely did not.
Looking at these portraits again, I don’t see women who needed to be celebrated because August arrived.
I see women getting on with their lives.
Raising children.
Losing people.
Growing older.
Learning things about themselves.
Laughing.
Living.
Women don’t need a month to matter.
I think they already know that.
JOHANNESBURG PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER
One Moment. One Portrait. Forever
© 2005–2026 Bridget Corke Photography
Blairgowrie · Johannesburg · South Africa
International Master's in Portrait Photography
One of only two in Africa.