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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke and Mutsawashe Mashandure
While a great deal of progress has been made in giving women and girls equality in Zimbabwe and globally, there is still a lot more that needs to be done, with the new State of the World Population (SWOP) Report 2023 launched by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) last Friday stressing this.
UNFPA made it clear that growing populations were not the problem, but rather failure to allow women full control over their own rights.
It has been found around the world that as women receive full educational and other rights, when decent health care is universal, and when women are able to choose how many children they want; birth rates tend towards the replacement levels.
The report was launched during the commemoration of World Population Day under the theme: “Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities”.
Speaking during the official launch, Permanent Secretary for Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Mr Moses Mhike said women should be able to choose if, when and how many children they would like to have.
“The SWOP report shows that people today are still unable to achieve their reproductive goals due to unplanned pregnancies, lack of access to contraception or quality obstetric care, infertility and economic instability, among other serious challenges. The solution is that it is possible to build thriving, inclusive societies regardless of population size. To do so, we must radically rethink how we talk about and plan for population change,” he said.
Mr Mhike said to unlock women’s potential, women had to be empowered to make choices about their bodies and lives for them to thrive along with their families and societies.
According to the report, about 44 percent of women and girls in 68 reporting countries, including Zimbabwe, do not have the right to make informed decisions about their bodies when it comes to using contraception and seeking health care.
It also showed that an estimated 257 million women worldwide have an unmet need for safe, reliable contraception.
Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council executive director, Mr Ben Chikati, said the Government on its part had demonstrated its commitment to ensuring women had choices through budgetary provisions for the procurement of family planning and sexual reproductive health commodities.
“In view of the stated proportion of women and girls in the global population, it is of great necessity to develop and implement programmes that advance and widen informed choices for health and progressive lives,” he said.
UNFPA executive director, Ms Natalia Kanem, said commitments made 30 years ago at the International Conference on Population and Development to achieve a world in which people lived longer, healthier lives and enjoyed more rights and choices than ever before, were being realised.
“When we unlock the full potential of women and girls, encouraging and nurturing their desires for their lives, their families and their careers, we galvanize half the leadership, ideas, innovation, and creativity to better society. Realising sexual and reproductive health and rights for all is the foundation for gender equality, dignity and opportunity,” she said.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing high rates of child marriages while teenage pregnancies also remain high and the unmet need for family planning for young people is also high at 12,6 percent.
The report clearly stated the need to include women and young people in the decision making processes to ensure that their rights are respected.
SayWhat executive director Mr Jimmy Wilford, who was represented by Ms Vimbai Mlambo, said the 8 billion mark in global population coincided with the presence of the largest generation of young people in history.
At least 60 percent of the 1,3 billion people in Africa are under the age of 25.
“As the global population continues to expand, young people continue to face an unprecedented array of challenges to their health and well-being. It has become even more crucial now to ensure there are comprehensive sexual reproductive health services, expansion of youth friendly services and the addressing of the family planning requirements of the young people,” she said.
She called for the inclusion of women and girls in all aspects of society.
The SWOP report states that gender inequality is at the root of this problem which keeps women and girls out of schools, the workforce and leadership positions thereby limiting their agency and ability to make decisions about their health and sexual and reproductive lives.
Zimbabwe Gender Commission chief executive, Ms Virginia Muwanigwa, said the country had done very well in terms of trying to address the challenge of unhealthy power over women through the constitution.
“It is important that we recognise that for us to be able to have gender equality, we need to have a balance between what our constitution and legislative framework says, with what the culture prefers our people to believe in and in terms of representation and participation in decision making. If we do not have that, then it means women do not have the voice that they need,” she said.
Online Reporter