"Radically loving each other is the opposite of the status quo" - Mommy feminist Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile speaks out

Episode notes

Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile is a groundbreaking journalist and social media influencer. She writes and thinks about what it means to be a mother and a feminist today. Feminism seems to have forgotten motherhood, when the decision to have - or not to have - a child is a question almost all women face. Gao is a mother to two children, but she is also an activist fighting for women’s right to choose. In 2016, she also founded Abortion Support South Africa, an organisation which helps women access safe abortion clinics online. In 2023 they launched a telemedical service that provides first-trimester terminations, in collaboration with pharmacies, to give women access to safe abortions. Our correspondent Dimpho Lekgeu spoke to her. They spoke about how to bring up children with feminist principles, what the mommy influencer online community is really like, and how speaking out about her own abortion changed everything.