'Use your voice': Raihanna Amod urges women to take up space

South African women are navigating a complex mix of social, financial and personal pressures, according to the founder of FEMME Magazine, Raihanna Amod.

While issues such as safety, gender-based violence and financial inequality remain important, she believes greater attention should also be given to the quieter pressures women face.

These include expectations to succeed professionally, look a certain way, maintain relationships, build families and make it all appear effortless .

Amod also believes the media needs to tell more nuanced stories about women, rather than defining them only as victims, entrepreneurs, wives, mothers or “inspirational women”.

As a woman working in media, she said she has also had to learn to take up space and overcome doubts about whether she was experienced enough or whether her ideas would be taken seriously.

Building FEMME from scratch has required her to make decisions, take risks, make mistakes and learn along the way.

“I never want to create an environment where another woman feels like she has to prove that she belongs in the room,” she said.

She said she believes women are stronger when they champion one another rather than compete, and aims to foster a collaborative environment.

While she once associated success with bigger titles, platforms and numbers, she now defines it more personally.

For Amod, success means building something she is proud of while maintaining a life outside work, creating meaningful content and working with good people.

She also sees success in knowing that the work she and her team continue to build can make another woman feel seen, inspired or more confident.

She believes success does not have to look the same at every stage of life.

“Sometimes success is growth and ambition, and sometimes it’s balance, peace or simply giving yourself permission to enjoy what you have already achieved.”

For young women entering journalism, publishing or media, her advice is simple: do not wait until you feel ready.