The ManicaPost
Catherine Murombedzi
THERE is need to celebrate success and for Zimbabwean women we have cause to celebrate a number of issues. International Women’s Day is marked the world over on March 8 and this year’s theme is: ‘Pledge for Parity’. The International Community of Women living with HIV in Zimbabwe (ICW) commemorated the day in Harare. Young women spoke of why they love themselves and the impact they have made in their country.
Celebrating womanhood brought light moments as each of the participants had a story to tell and the impact their lives had had on their families and communities.
A young woman, Annah Sango, proudly talked of her family of three and a loving husband.
“My name is Annah Sango and you can call me Mummy Yummy. My disclosure has helped many young people to pick up their lives and move on after a status diagnosis. For me that diagnosis no longer affects me, rather I control it and I tell it that it has no place in me,” said Sango.
“I love life. I love myself. As young women in ICW Zimbabwe, this year we are running with a theme: ‘Take 5 moment’. This is a moment to breathe and rediscover ourselves. So we are inviting partners and stakeholders to come on board. We will be knocking on your doors with our programme. All women “Take 5 moment’ you need it,” said Sango.
This pledge to parity has to be put into action as every man and woman takes concrete steps to help achieve gender parity by helping girls achieve their goals, have gender balanced leadership, respect and value differences, develop more inclusive flexible culture as workplace bias is rooted out.
Everyone is a leader in their sphere of influence be it at home, the church at work or community and at school.
Janet Tatenda Bhila, a young woman, said she was happy with the progress achieved so far in Zimbabwe, but would not rest to push for equality.
“There is need to celebrate the successes scored so far. Women are no longer treated as minors and there is equality in colleges. I wish to see more women take up leadership roles in the workplace,” said Bhila, a leader in her own right in her community.
“I am happy that I am a free woman. I do not need a man to open a bank account, nor does the law see me as a minor. I am a woman of age and am happy to celebrate this day,” said Bhila.
Bhila hailed the recent Constitutional Court ruling that banned child marriages.
“I applaud the recent ruling that puts girls at par with their male counterparts. A girl Under-18 is a minor and I am happy that this has been made law as marrying an underage girl is now criminal,” said Bhila.
The Con-Court outlawed child marriages. The court ruled that no male or female may enter into any marriage, be it unregistered customary law union or any other union, including one arising out of religion or a religious belief, before attaining the age of 18.
The ruling followed an application in 2014 by two victims and survivors of child marriages, Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzi who took Government to court arguing that the Customary Marriage Act was unconstitutional. The two were represented by Mr Tendai Biti.
This is cause for celebration as it means any girl below the age of 18 is not ripe for marriage. However, the age of consent for sex remains at 16 and this does not make sense as it has to be aligned with the age of marriage.
In this scenario a girl can be abused and a man argues I was not going to marry her. This has to be done as a matter of urgency if girls are to be totally in a safe space. Young girls have to get support to go back to school.
A journalist, Robert Mukondiwa, once wrote that if the two ages are not harmonised then there is a problem.
“We can celebrate that no girl under 18 is ready for marriage, but if the age of sexual consent is left at 16 then men can ravish the girls with impunity and say they are not marrying them any time soon. There is a problem there,” wrote Mukondiwa on his Facebook wall.
As we celebrate the above landmark ruling, more still needs to be done for women’s health.
No woman must die while giving birth. Maternal mortality rate is still too high.
In 2010, it was indicated that 960 women died while giving birth per every 100 000 live births recorded.
In 2014, there was a marked decrease, but still too high to be celebrated as we lost 614 women giving birth per 100 000 births.
The maternal mortality report was given in a report titled ‘H4+’ by UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO and the World Bank.
“H4+ strives to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases which are Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6,” the report noted.
H4+’s objectives are to deliver equitable health services in emergency obstetric neonatal care, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, post natal care, adolescent sexual reproductive health services along with improving quality of data and community engagement.
As the nation gathered in different centres on March 8, the International Community of Women living with HIV (ICW) observed the day in Harare in solidarity with women the world over with laughter and ended the day with lunch prepared by the young women being served.
In Shona, they say ukama igasva hunozadziswa nekudya. (Friendship is empty if not fulfilled by a hearty meal).
Let everyday be a celebration of women and say no to gender based violence.
Feedback:[email protected]
