Chronicle Editor
Opinion, Yoliswa Dube-Moyo
OUR grandmothers, great-grandmothers and women from generations before them were thought to be good solely for child bearing and taking care of the home.
Their place was within the confines of their husband or father’s household.
Just like children, they always needed to be under the custody of some man.
Many families viewed educating girls as a waste of time and resources, preferring instead to educate boys as girls would eventually be married off and their education would not be of any benefit to the family.
Women could not own properties or open a bank account on their own volition — under the stewardship of the man they remained.
In marriage, theirs was to bear as many children as possible, while the man went off to fend for the family.
Boys were the preferred gender and failing to conceive a male child was considered the woman’s fault.
Some men would marry two, three or more wives, in search of an heir, a male child, who would perpetuate the family name.
Women were called names for yearning to get an education, broadening their horizons and seeking independence outside the expectations of marriage and child bearing.
It has taken decades of advocacy and screaming to be heard for the progress achieved in empowering women so far.
But remnants of times past remain despite the significant strides made in achieving gender equality.
Women are still expected to honour certain gender roles. They are still expected to get married and have children.
Some segments of society still make crude remarks about women who remain unmarried or childless after a certain age.
Girls are still married off young in transactions meant to keep families afloat financially.
Education remains elusive to others whose parents do not see the value of empowering girls.
Harmful practices such as genital mutilation remain unabated.
Not enough women are in key decision- making positions, politics and other fields previously dominated by men.
The Covid-19 pandemic has added to the challenges women were already facing in cementing their position in society.
The pandemic has also brought about a new normal — life is no longer as we knew it.
Various restrictions remain as efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus continue.
While many assume working from home is easier than going to the office, it is in actual fact two times tougher for women who have professional obligations, mothering and wifely roles to play at the same time.
Women now have to work twice as hard to stay afloat in the corporate world and take care of the needs of their families simultaneously.
Some have had the physical and emotional burden of taking care of ill family members.
Many more have had their livelihoods compromised as economies have suffered many vulnerabilities due to global lockdowns imposed to slow the spread of Covid-19.
However, others have become the ray of hope that it is possible to achieve an equal future free from stigma, stereotypes and violence; a future that is sustainable, peaceful, with equal rights and opportunities for all.
To date, women and girls around the world have made tremendous efforts in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the United Nations, women’s full and effective participation and leadership in all areas of life drives progress for everyone.
Yet, women are still under-represented in public life and decision-making, as revealed in the UN Secretary-General’s recent report.
Women are Heads of State or Government in 22 countries, and only 24,9 percent of national parliamentarians are women. The United Nations estimates that at the current rate of progress, gender equality among Heads of Government will take another 130 years.
Women are at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19, as frontline and health sector workers, as scientists, doctors and caregivers, yet they get paid 11 percent less globally than their male counterparts.
An analysis of Covid-19 task teams from 87 countries found only 3,5 percent of them had gender parity.
Women, especially young women, are at the forefront of diverse and inclusive movements online and on the streets for social justice, climate change and equality, in all parts of the world yet women under 30 are less than one percent of parliamentarians worldwide.
This year’s International Women’s Day commemorated on March 8 was a rallying cry for Generation Equality, to act for an equal future for all. The Generation Equality Forum, the most important convening for gender equality investment and actions, kicks off in Mexico City from 29 to 31 March, and culminates in Paris in June 2021.
It will draw leaders, visionaries, and activists from around the world, safely on a virtual platform, to push for transformative and lasting change for generations to come.
Meanwhile, in his statement for International Women’s Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted the need to work together with vision and determination to make equality happen.
UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: “We need women’s representation that reflects all women and girls in all their diversity and abilities, and across all cultural, social, economic and political situations.
This is the only way we will get real societal change that incorporates women in decision-making as equals and benefits us all.” — @Yolisswa
Online Reporter