Vusumuzi Dube
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
GENDER activists have applauded the world football governing body FIFA for lifting the ban on Zimbabwe’s participation in international football, saying the normalisation committee that has been set up is gender balanced and a step in the right direction in ensuring women of excellence are recognised.
The committee chaired by former Dynamos player and chairman, Lincoln Mutasa is made up of former Mighty Warriors coach Rosemary Mugadza, Nyasha Sanyamandwe a legal practitioner and Sikhumbuzo Ndebele, a former Highlanders player.
The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development which Zimbabwe signed and ratified states that Member States must provide for the empowerment of women, eliminate discrimination and achieve gender equality and equity through the development and implementation of gender-responsive legislation, policies, programmes, and projects.
This football development has been hailed by a legion of women empowerment and gender activists who said the move shows that even in the world of sport, there is a deliberate move to ensure there is gender balance and equality across sectors as pronounced by the SADC Protocol.
Dr Sibongile Mpofu, a gender and media expert based at the National University of Science and
Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo said the appointment of the two women shows that inclusion is taken seriously now in Zimbabwean sports.
“Sports generally, and soccer specifically, has been a male-dominated and regulated sphere. Therefore, the appointment of Rosemary Mugadza and Nyasha Sanyamandwe is a welcome development as it challenges the societal accepted norm that sports is a male sphere. It is important for us to understand that sport is more than competition.
It is in fact big business and therefore there is a need for women’s participation in sports development and especially in decision-making,” said Dr Mpofu.
The Protocol further states that Parties shall ensure the equal participation of women and men in decision-making by putting in place policies, strategies and programmes for building the capacity of women to participate effectively through leadership and gender sensitivity training and mentoring, providing support structures for women in decision-making positions and also the establishment and strengthening of structures to enhance gender mainstreaming.
The appointment of Mugadza and Sanyamabwe is testimony that Zimbabwe has indeed heeded the call to ensure equal representation of women in positions of leadership. Kumbirayi Kahiya from Girls and Women Empowerment Network (GWEN) said she hopes for a collaborative way of doing business moving forward.
“Having women as part of the committee is a welcome move, the fact that two are male and the other two are female shows that we have hope that the football fraternity is recognising the power and impact that women have on the game. I am sure we have seen the disadvantage that the Mighty Warriors had suffered under a board that was gender blind.
This is a great move and it is also my hope that whatever decisions will be made from now on will be consultative and engaging with both men and women as players and also as supporters of the soccer space in Zimbabwe,” she said.
She, however, said more can be done to ensure further participation of women in influential positions even in sport.
“I want to celebrate that we have women excelling in male-dominated areas but they are still insignificant in a population where over 52 percent are women. It’s a disappointment and also worrying for a country that is supposed to be gender-responsive and progressive.
“We are, however, disappointed in other spaces we had CEOs and managing directors in some parastatals being women but the drop that we experienced in 2018, 2019 and in the Covid-19 era was so huge and the reversal of the gains that had been made in previous years both in the political and economic sphere, are too big.
To recover from them we do not need to just say we have increased the number of women in the football space and then we keep quiet. We need to do more for our women and girls. We celebrate what has happened at Zifa,” she added.
Samukeliso Silengane a football administrator also weighed in saying the move shows confidence in women as football administrators. She said they were behind the duo of Mugadza and Sanyamandwe.
“We applaud the placement of women at the helm of football in Zimbabwe, it’s a show of confidence in women’s leadership in the country.
It is a very big job ahead of them and we are happy that they have the expertise and brains in the fraternity to steer this team. It is true that if you uplift the status of women, you uplift a whole nation,” she said.
Silengane added that there is hope that women’s soccer also gains more traction. She said it was a milestone to have women in the normalization committee as women are also coaches, administrators, referees, and football players that deserve recognition.
“These are the results of the Beijing Conference that we have always made noise about that speaks of women empowerment and equality, we are proud of the women,” she said.
It was the hope of gender activists that the selection of the committee by Zifa will apply and continue to recognise principles of gender equality and the different capacities of women who have the interest of Zimbabwe at heart.
Online Reporter