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Fidelis Munyoro Senior Reporter
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday urged Parliament to play an active role and speed up alignment with the Constitution of laws that deal with child marriages
Speaking during the official launch of “Girls Get Equal”, a girl-led global campaign for gender equality, the First Lady pledged her commitment to emancipate the girl child from the vagaries of the male-dominated society, that has for a long time seen girls and women as objects of abuse.
“Girls Get Equal” is a global campaign demanding power, freedom and respect for girls and young women.
Plan International is backing the multi-year campaign to inspire and drive support for the fight for equality around the world.
The First Lady said girls in the contemporary world were still facing many challenges that were a culmination of years of sustained suppression of power and freedom, leading to the gender inequality between men and women.
“This resulted in the girls being undervalued, undermined and under educated,” she said, calling all stakeholders to play their party to ensure the girl child is given equal opportunities in the socio-economic and political panorama.
“We all need to play our part as communities, churches, civil organisations and traditional chiefs to achieve our goals,” she said.
“That is why I have included the chiefs’ wives as key allies in the fight for women emancipation.”
Young women all over the world say they do not feel their views are heard or taken seriously. They are now calling time on inequality.
The First Lady , whose philanthropic work targeting vulnerable people in the society, including the girl child and women, spoke volumes of her passion to unshackle the girls and women from gender-based violence and abuse from the patriarchal society.
She has made inroads in uplifting their standards of living through her charity programmes countrywide.
“I pledge to help build a world where girls are equally seen, heard and valued,” she said. “I will defend their right to be safe wherever they are, and speak up without fear of harassment or violence. I will support girls to become leaders and take part in all decisions that affect their lives.”
The First Lady bemoaned the high prices of sanitary pads and said a lot needed to be done to ensure access to sanitary wear.
“Though duty on sanitary wear was removed, prices have gone up, making menstrual products beyond the reach of the poor girl child,” she said.
The First Lady urged Government to consider scraping the prices for sanitary wear.
Chief Mutasa said traditional leaders were doing their best to champion the rights of the girl child and women in their societies.
“We are playing our role as traditional leaders, but our biggest let down is the delay in aligning laws that deal with early marriages with the Constitution,” he said. “The judgment that outlawed child marriages in 2016 will remain an empty threat without criminal sanctions.”
Teenage girl, Masline Gaipiko, who spoke on behalf of the girls, called on Parliament to prioritise and pass laws that prohibit child marriages.
“Three years after the Constitutional Court nullified child marriages, there is still no law in place and girls continue to be married off,” she said. “We demand seriousness on this and a law to end this.”
Gaipiko said as girls, they wanted sanitary wear to be availed free of charge.
Online Reporter