SALUTATIONS:
I want to acknowledge your presence and to welcome you all to this very important Symposium. This is a time when the ZCTU and its Affiliates reflect on the Status of women’s Rights and the situation of Gender Based Violence in our workplaces and communities. While we have some good laws and policies on women’s rights and prohibition of GBV, we still have gaps regarding the enforcement and enjoyment of those rights.
The theme, “Towards Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and A Violence Free Society” resonates well with our aims and objectives as an Organisation and our aspirations as Women who are an integral part of this Great Nation.
Zimbabwe has ratified international and regional conventions that seek to promote women’s rights. Sections 17, 56 and 80 of the Zimbabwe Constitution also promote the rights of women in all spheres of life. However, the rights of Women can never be fully enjoyed if the challenges facing women are not addressed.
Women in communities are denied their voices and are treated as second class citizens because of the patriarchal nature of our society. There are a lot of harmful cultural beliefs and practices that suppress women and girls, hinder their ability to rise up or make decisions and choices about their lives thus suppressing their capacity to realise their full potential in life. There are also a greater majority of women who are mothers, daily burdened by Unpaid Care Work, which is not recognized at law and not compensated. These women do not get opportunities to gain economic skills and to access credit for better rewarding economic activities.
Women in trade unions face gender-based discrimination, denial of information, sexual harassment and patriarchal attitudes hindering them from accessing positions of authority. Those few women who are brave enough to fight for leadership positions, face resistance, name calling and sometimes insubordination.
Women in the workplaces are also denied opportunities to take up positions of authority and are concentrated in clerical jobs, cleaning and other subordinate jobs where they earn far below the poverty line. As if this is not enough, comrades, women have suffered the brunt of sexual harassment and gender-based violence most of which can be attributed to power imbalances that include less economic power for women.
Looking at our country context we see that gender-based violence is at the heart of human rights and is in fact in many ways a determining factor as to whether we can ever have a just society. Sexual Harassment and Gender Based Violence are now the order of the day in our workplaces and communities. Zimbabwe has a very high rate of sexual and gender-based violence with one in three women being affected. Harmful traditional practices, religious beliefs and the entrenched patriarchy perpetuate the subjugation of women in all spheres of life. In political spaces, women face multiple challenges including politically motivated violence preventing equal representation.
The girl child has been exposed to sexual violence, economic abuses and discrimination. The level of intolerance for all aspects of gender inequality, including violence against women, sustains a narrative that almost accepts that you can oppress half of society and life goes on, as if nothing has happened. My fellow comrades we must unite as Organisations and as communities to eliminate violence and harassment against women and girls. We must create a society where our children are not afraid to walk the streets and where our workplaces are places of joy and economic progress rather than places of sorrow and pain.
Therefore, on behalf of the Working Women of Zimbabwe I want to demand the following: -
- Invest in Women through Economic Empowerment and ICT skills,
- Gender responsive national budgeting that prioritises gender equality and inclusion.
- Respect and Enforce Rights of All Women, including those working in vulnerable sectors and in digital spaces.
- Enforce a culture of ZERO Tolerance to Gender Based Violence including Cyber Violence for A Violence Free Workplace
- We Demand Ratification & Enforcement of ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work.
- National awareness & rehabilitation programmes for abused women and girls;
- Free sanitary ware for women and girls;
- One day off per month for all women during menstruation period.
- Measures to end child abuses, child marriages and drug abuse.
- The ZCTU demands a new social contract that prioritises equality, inclusion, peace and democracy.
In a country facing serious economic decline that is putting immense pressure on citizens, we urge government to embrace economic empowerment of women and girls as a measure to secure a prosperous and just economy for Zimbabwe. We owe this to our future generations.
Lastly, I would like to urge you all to Advocate for Women Empowerment and an end to Glass Ceilings. I Urge You All to Report Gender Based Violence wherever you witness it. On behalf of the ZCTU Leadership, General Council and ZCTU Women’s Committee, I wish you all great discussions. On this note I Allow me to declare this symposium officially open.
REMEMBER WHEN YOU EMPOWER A WOMAN, YOU EMPOWER THE NATION!!!
SHINGA MUDZIMAI SHINGA!!! QINA MAMA QINA!!!
