Breaking the Silence - Raising the voice of Zimbabwe's Women

As we  come together to celebrate Women's day today,the title of the theme for the year 2015 called"Make lt Happen" a campaign that is directed at encouraging effective action for empowering women,l urge all women to remember that this struggle for equality belongs to no single woman nor organisation but it belongs to the collective efforts of everyone in Zimbabwe including men. The oppression of women is comprehensive and aside of the fact that men benefit from it, they must be roped in to play a role in speaking out concerning these issues.Women's voices are not heard enough and even when they are heard they are taken less seriously than men. The direction of my article will briefly highlight a new dimension to adopt going forward as Zimbabwean women in achieving our goals for equal recognition.

The government is painstakingly aware of its mandate to make it explicitly clear that discrimination and violence against women and girls has no place in the 21st century,but it is sad to note that we still live in a world where a third of all women will experience violence in their lifetime,we therefore must begin to ponder seriously in redoubling efforts and to invest more in these issues as a nation and as women. Men must now be targeted for  consideration in terms of joining the fight for women's rights, since men are the most in representing the nation and passing laws,we find that even national debates are usually shaped by them and most issues that are prioritised its a result of their push.On closely examining most African systems of government and power structures one can pick up easily that access to institutional power lies with them and so their support might be useful indeed in the long run of any serious mission. The introduction of quota systems to increase participation of women in governance has indeed been vital in securing gender equality,but as much as that has changed the figures in terms of representation, inequality still persists in the country mainly due to cultural beliefs and nomatter if there are more women in parliament they have mainly been important for the symbolic effect that makes societies accustomed to women leaders however no real strides have been made by them in changing attitudes towards women. A good case study is our neighbouring country South Africa,which has had more than 30% of women legislators since 2004.These high numbers of female representatives has not made women in that country less vulnerable to Gender Based Violence and sexual offences against women there.

It is therefore pertinent for us women folk of Zimbabwe to then redirect our thinking so that we can show the difference via adoption of newer and better strategies in our quest of gender equality by looking at how our 34% in parliament can be made 100% effective. We must aim to pull a greater focus on education as a mechanism to challenge prevailing gender norms,there must also be a renewed push  in terms of equality in all policies especially on those related to parity in education,income and labour participation. We must not take it lying down that we are the lowest paid,most insecure and often have to be the ones to do demeaning forms of work, the ones to be stuck with the vaste majority of unpaid housework and childcare .Our drive should be to push for international action on preventing and eliminating our appalling circumstances,where services are focused on marginalised groups,such as indigenous women,older women,women with disabilities and women living with HIV . Men should then logically be identified as the key partners and co-participants that they potentially can be in a quest that says as Zimbabweans collectively,we believe there is no place in ANY society for acts of violence and oppression of any kind against women and girls. Failure to this,judging from current scenarios,the rate things are going we will soon end up like poor Afghanistan which had to see its own parliament last year  vote to pass a bill that in essence protected the perpetrator rather than the victim in child abuse and sexual assault cases.

The 21st century for us as Zimbabwean women is about inclusion and advocating for our full and equal rights in participation. We are an irresistible force that must not be denied these rights and we therefore should keep moving forward up to the day where we can live free of fear,violence and discrimination. Every woman must thtand this Women's day so that we begin to make things happen in the true sense.

M. Gumede is the Secretary General of the Young Women in Politics Forum(YWPF) and National Youth Assembly Secretary for Gender in the UMDC