The ManicaPost
Clemence Machadu
Post Correspondent
Howdy folks!
I am sure by now many of you might have seen a video that went viral on social media, showing a man who was booed on the streets as he was walking with his wife.
The man was carrying a sack of potatoes on his head with a baby strapped on his back.
The man was trying to pick his way in the melee.
His wife, on the other hand, was holding her waist with both hands as she walked.
She seemed unwell.
What was supposed to be a normal day for the man and his family became a nightmare as he was booed all the way by people who were following them, taking pictures and videos, shouting and verbally abusing the man.
You would mistake him for a thief caught in the very act.
Some were blocking his way such that he could hardly find his way.
To him, the road was like that of a biblical man who travelled from Jerusalem to Jericho.
His only crime was loving and supporting his family, and for that he was sentenced to public humiliation.
Loud voices of grown up men could be heard in the video shouting, “Zvanyanya izvi (This is getting out of hand)”, “Akadyiswa uyo (He has been given a love portion)” and all sorts of verbal abuses.
According to those who were booing this man, it is not normal for a man to carry a baby on his back and a man who does that would have been given a love portion by his wife.
As all this was unfolding, the question that kept lingering at the back of my mind was, “What example are these grown up men and women setting to the younger ones?”
What has become of our moral milieu?
Some of the men and women I saw there seemed to already have families and children of their own at home, I believe.
And both their actions and words competed to speak louder on how a man should carry himself in public.
They sort of portrayed their “dos and don’ts” for a man and apparently, carrying a baby on his back seemed to be on top of that don’ts catalogue.
Sadly, these are the same “values” that they are probably instilling in their children back home, and those children will proudly carry on with that “heritage” when they get in the streets.
What kind of generation are we raising with this kind of behavior!
Is this the Zimbabwe that we want?
Had it been a woman who was a carrying a big sack on her head, with a baby strapped on her back, with some other stuff in both her hands as she walked down the streets, I tell you it would have been business as usual.
Nobody would have cared, and it would not have invited any public spectacle. She would have just continued to toil her way carrying all that heavy baggage and her baby with nobody noticing.
Nobody would have looked over their shoulders after passing her.
But because it was a human being of a different sex doing the same, it became a public spectacle and the city turned into a circus in no time.
Folks, how do you read this situation? If a man is crucified like that for carrying a baby on his back, what else can he be crucified for?
Is the same man going to sweep the house and mop the floor without “risking” being labelled “akadyiswa”?
Is he going to fetch water for his wife and cook a meal for his family?
Is he going to sweep the yard, bath the kids or change the baby’s diapers? Is he going to buy sanitary pads for his wife or daughter from the shops?
Or he is simply going to refuse to do all those chores in fear that people might see him and unleash an avalanche of attacks on him?
You see, these are the types of stereotypes that people are entrenching and inculcating, leaving women to do all the work while men are just seated or sleeping zvavo muberere.
Even a man who is not going to work will have to wait for his wife who has gone to work the whole day to come back so that she can start cleaning dishes and cooking a meal, and then boil some water for him to bath.
Folks, who defines roles that should be done by women and those that should be done by men?
Is it culture, is it religion, is it the law or some other secret oracle?
If those definitions are anything to go with, then why do we have both men and women doing similar jobs at workplaces?
Why did culture or religion not stand in the way?
I mean we are okay with a man being a chef who cooks at a hotel but he should not cook for his family at home?
We have normalised men being cleaners at different workplaces but they should not clean or kneel down to mop at home?
We are okay with a man being a gynecologist but it should be a taboo for him to talk to his daughter about periods!
We are okay with men manufacturing sanitary pads and packing them in the factory but get embarrassed when they touch them when they are on retail shelves?
How ironic!
Why did culture or religion not stop you from accepting that job as a cleaner, if men are not supposed to mop floors?
Chazoshamisa chii for you to sweep and mop at home?
Let us therefore not hide behind culture and religion, as they definitely have nothing to do with it.
If there is anything to do with it, it is definitely foolishness!
Folks, it is high time we break all that stigma and the labels that we put on roles and work activities.
These labels only exist to overburden women and girls with unpaid care and domestic work, which not only violate their rights but also hinders them from fully participating in rewarding economic and social activities, or from simply just having a break.
Globally, women do three times more care and domestic work than men and this is largely due to these stereotypes and labels that are placed on those roles.
The total value of unpaid care work is estimated to be between 10 to 39 percent of gross domestic product and contributes more to the economy than sectors like manufacturing, commerce or transportation.
We cannot progress as a nation if one gender is not paid for doing work that the other gender gets paid when they do it.
Folks, the man you have labelled “akadyiswa”, “anotongwa nemukadzi” or “imbwende”, simply because you have seen him on his knees mopping the floor, will tomorrow probably refuse to do all that.
As a result, more women will have to do all the work at home, while he is seated there pretending to read a newspaper or playing video games.
On the other hand, men also have a huge responsibility to break those taboos on their own by normalising and accepting any role with pride, and without being influenced by those that may try to label them as not being man enough.
We should also normalise teaching children from a young age that there is no boy’s job or girl’s job at home or anywhere else.
We should start a revolution of normalising that any domestic or care work is any gender’s work.
Folks, the World Bank’s Women, Business and Law report has established that in Zimbabwe, women are denied 13,1 percent of legal rights that men enjoy, constraining them from their ability to get jobs, start businesses or make economic decisions that are best for them and their families.
And one of the areas that Zimbabwe poorly performed in the report was in the “Parenthood” indicator, where women are denied 60 percent of the parenthood rights that men enjoy.
According to the report, the “Parenthood” indicator examines laws affecting women’s work after having children.
Folks, we can’t be having a situation whereby the law, culture and religion gang up to be the Three Musketeers that suppress women when it comes to their right to work.
Our country’s constitution, in Section 17(1a) says that “the State must promote the full participation of women in all spheres of Zimbabwean society on the basis of equality with men.”
But why are we still not still seeing women in most spheres? It’s because they are still busy doing unpaid care and domestic work.
It’s high time for all of us to play a role in changing the status quo!
Folks, as Zimbabwe is progressing towards Vision 2030, it should also address the issue of unpaid care and domestic work.
Even Sustainable Development Goal 5.4 speaks of the need to “recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.”
It is also refreshing to note that the National Development Strategy (NDS1) has accorded priority to implementation of initiatives that confer equal opportunities to women.
For now, let me ride my horse and go to play my role too. I am doing dishes today!
Later folks!
