Let us take pride on the achievements we have made

By Spiwe Hellen Chihwanda

As I celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), I take pride in the work done by women who went before me and fought for my rights as woman. In this millennial, I am enjoying privileges that women in the past only dreamt about.

Today I am living in a generation where women are achieving greater things. An empowered generation that is standing for itself. Surely what a privileged generation of women we are.

I had an opportunity to talk to different women who lived in different generations so that I can really understand where we came from as women and where we are headed. I also wanted to assess the impact of the women’s rights campaigns.

My first talk was with Andile Ndlovu (85) who lives in Lobengula. Andile says the lives of women and girls in her community has vastly improved from the days she was young. She reveals that at the age of 12, she was openly married off to an elderly man who had four other wives who were all in the same age group as her mother.

“It was common those days. Women had no voices to challenge such practices. At that time it all seemed normal. Patriarchy was so entrenched that even women would actively support such evil practices. My aunt who accompanied me to my husband even told me how lucky I was to be married to such a hardworking man,” says Andile.

Andile adds that her daughters also went through the same fate. She says neither she, nor her daughters were ever consulted on marriage issues. She adds that although women actively participated in such systems, they were never happy and never dared openly challenge because patriarchy seemed invincible.

“Marriage is when two people who love each other perform cultural rites in order to live together as husband and wife. It is not a case where you are told to pack your bags and follow a strange man with who you will live with for the rest of your life,” says Andile.

I then had an opportunity to talk to Grace Khumalo (56) from Mpopoma suburb in Bulawayo metropolitan province. Grace says she grew up in a family of 7 children. She says when she was young, most parents preferred to send boys to school. She says she and her two sisters never went to school while all her brothers attended school. She says her father believed that educating a girl child was a waste of time and resources. She reveals that she only learnt to read through her brothers when they were playing during the weekends. Grace says she was lucky to get married to a man of her choice.

“My family did not organize a marriage for me although some of my friends had organized marriages. I worked hard to start the family with my husband. We did not have much but I worked to ensure that we had a beautiful home. My husband worked in town and would come home every weekend,” says Grace.

After several years of building a home, Grace says her husband passed on. She says that this opened challenges for her. She says since she had established her home on a land given to her by her in-laws, they wanted her to marry one of her late husband’s brothers. When she refused, they tormented her until she left everything.

“There were no clear laws to protect widows and orphans. Decisions were made by the families without consulting the affected children and wife,” says Grace.

Grace says inheritance laws have vastly improved, giving women opportunities to chart their own future in the event of losing a spouse. She says opportunities for girls to go to school and get good paying jobs have also improved. Her sentiments were reflected in Elizabeth Ncube (27), a young woman who has blazed through her education to Masters level and got a job as a lecturer at one of Zimbabwe’s teacher training colleges.

When I talked to Elizabeth, she revealed that she was grateful for the opportunities that were opening up for women.

“At the age of 17, I completed my secondary education and at 18 years I enrolled at a teacher training college. After qualifying as a teacher, I quickly enrolled for a degree in education. At the age of 25 I had obtained my Master’s degree in Education and I got a job as a lecturer.

Elizabeth says women have made great strides although more still needs to be done.

As Isaac Newton once said “ If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”. Looking back, I thank the sacrifices that those who came before us made. As women, let us not forget to pass on the baton to the next generation and honor our living legends. Women who made it all possible for us to enjoy the privileges that we are enjoying now.