adminDaisy Jeremani Gender Editor
GENDER activists yesterday hailed the approval of the Gender Commission Bill by cabinet, saying it was a move in the right direction towards attaining gender equality in the country. The Bill will seek to establish a nine-member commission whose role would be to mainstream gender equality in both private and public institutions. The proposed law which was gazetted last Friday is expected to be tabled in parliament next month.
In an interview, Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs chairperson and Harare West MP, Jessie Majome welcomed the development, saying it will be instrumental in the attainment of gender equality in Zimbabwe.
“If it does sail though cabinet we hope the government will equip it with the necessary equipment and human resources,” she said.
Majome said she hopes that the commission will not suffer the same fate as other commissions which had not been properly funded by the government.
“If it’s not properly funded it will amount to nothing,” she said.
Majome said she hopes the right people would be appointed as they will have a Herculean task of overturning centuries of marginalisation of women.
National coordinator of Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust, Slyvia Chirawu echoed the same sentiments saying the gazetting of the Gender Commission Bill is a step in the right direction as it was long overdue.
“Women and men of Zimbabwe are clamouring for the setting up of the Gender Commission as soon as possible because there is so much that is happening in Zimbabwe,” she said.
Chirawu said her organisation would like to see a clear selection criterion of the commissioners that takes into account what is specified in the Constitution and also the inclusion of women with disabilities in the commission.
“We want them to have same conditions as a sitting Judge of the High Court so that this underscores the seriousness within which the commission is taken,” she said.
She also underscored the need for adequate funding saying it was key so that the commission does not collapse.
“If a funder other than government provides funding, we want to see mechanisms put in place so that such funding does not compromise the work of the commission,” she said.
According to the preamble of the Bill, the commission will perform specified functions, including investigating and making of recommendations on the removal of barriers to the attainment of full gender quality; and to provide for matter connected with or incidental to the foregoing. The bill also seeks to meet the country’s international obligations.
“It also seeks to fulfil international and regional instruments that Zimbabwe is a party to, namely: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,” reads the explanatory memorandum of the Bill.
The functions of the commission would include monitoring issues concerning gender equality to ensure gender equality as provided for in the Constitution, investigating possible violations of rights relating to gender, advising public and private institutions on steps to be taken to ensure gender equality and recommending prosecution of criminal violations of rights relating to gender.
Online Reporter