#Be Bold for Change
and Claim It Up!
The 2017 International Women’s day theme: #Be
Bold for Change sets the right tone for advancing the struggle for women
globally. While the women’s movement has
made tremendous progress especially in developing national, regional and
international frameworks for advancing women’s rights significant challenges
mores o in a country like Zimbabwe. Pursuant to commemorating International
Women’s Day and advancing and deepening debates towards the progressive
realization of women’s rights and equality, Gravitas Dialogue Series Issue 3 is will entirely focus on Women in
Zimbabwe.
At Gravitas, we are calling for articles that
seek to encourage women to heed to the 2017 International Women’s Day theme: #BeBold for Change, but
also step it up and claim the 2013 Constitution.
Guest Editor.
Ms. Grace Kwinjeh, an internationally
acclaimed journalist and celebrated women’s rights advocate, and democrat is
our Guest Editor.
The Zimbabwe Case: An Aerial View
Zimbabwe has had one of the most
sophisticated women’s movement which has made significant social and political
influence. Beginning historically with the participation of women in the liberation
struggle. Secondly women led the charge to repeal the then repressive legal age
of majority act; women contested exclusion of women from inheritance and women
also led the push back against women being arrested for ‘loitering’. Most
importantly women made a critical contribution to the movement for
constitutional reform through the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
Some of these gains can be seen in the
following areas:
(a) Constitution of
Zimbabwe especially Section 80 outlines the rights of women
(b) Section 17 of
the Constitution speaks to the question of Gender Parity.
(c) Section 245-247 of the Zimbabwe Constitution
establishes the Zimbabwe Gender Commission and the
(d) The government
developed a National Gender Based Violence (GBV) Strategy
However, there are some unsettling
facts:
a) No major party has ever fielded a woman as
President (ZANU PF, MDC, ZUM, ZAPU, and the list grows.
b) No woman has ever been appointed to be a Spokesperson for the major
political parties.
c) No woman has ever been appointed a Finance
Minister.
d) No woman has ever been appointed to be
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor
e) The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Midlands State University (MSU),
with exception of the late Zimbabwe Open University’s Dr. Primrose Kurasha
(MHSRIP) – Zimbabwe’s biggest traditional universities have never had women
Vice-Chancellors and this prompted other women to form Women’s University in
Africa.
Themes for
Consideration
· Gender
Based Violence and its effects on political participation and representation
· Progressive
Constitution but limited impact
· Political
party fissures and women in leadership
· Prospects
and challenges for the Zimbabwe Gender Commission
· The role
of women in the economy and development
· Public
leadership positions and women
How to Submit?
· Deadline
for submission of articles is Monday 27 February
· Length of
article is 1500-2000 words
· Each
article should have a brief profile of the author of not more than 50 words
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