Equity campaigns are yielding fruits for women

By Spiwe Hellen Chihwanda

Cynthia Banda (32) is a student at a local teacher training college. Cynthia says it is difficult to understand how women survived in the past in light of the glaring patriarchy that deprived them freedom to stand on their own. She says she is thankful for the work that has been done to promote the rights of women.

“Once upon a time, in all societies, women were treated as sub-human. They could be exchanged for labour, beasts and even land without their consent. In that era they were mere objects and in our Shona culture a father would refer to his girl children as “Danga rangu” translating to “my cattle- the main form of dowry payment”. In that era women were just as good as slaves with no rights at all. A lot of sacrifices were made by women’s rights activists to educate people that we are all equal and women should be treated the same as men,” says Cynthia.

Cynthia says these campaigns for women’s rights brought forth the dawn of a new era where women can pursue careers of their choice and that various institutions that were once dominated by male students are now accommodating more women.

“I have noted that the advances in women’s rights and the struggle by women to make themselves heard is now showing the fruits. These campaigns led to quite a number of policies being formulated. For example leadership roles are no longer entitled to men only but they are now awarded based on merit. In colleges they ensure that both men and women are treated equally and they do not hesitate to enforce the law whenever a student violates any policy. I have seen women campaigning for positions in the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) and winning votes indicating that these campaigns have raised awareness that women we are equally able,” says Cynthia.

Cynthia reveals that men used to take advantage of women in work places and women would suffer in silence due to fear of stigma and not being taken seriously. However through these advances in women’s rights campaigns, we have seen women becoming more bold and not ashamed to speak up and take back their power. A lot of women were subjected to sexual harassment in their work places but the dawn of organisations that stands with women providing counselling and legal expertise to women have seen women being treated fairly in the work place.

What I have observed and admired about women’s rights campaigns is that they do not segregate but seek to achieve equity. They also seek to involve everyone, including women in remote rural areas. In these areas they target village heads, chiefs and other decision makers. These are the custodians of our culture.

Women in the remote rural areas are now aware of their rights and can get justice even in our customary courts. This is a result of the women’s rights movements working together with local and national authorities.

While great strides have been made. There are some pockets of resistance from patriarchal proponents who have enjoyed patriarchal privileges. We need to continue the work so that we achieve women’s human rights for all.