Hundreds mark Women’s Day

the rest of the world in commemorating International Women’s Day.
This year’s universal theme is “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: A pathway to decent work for women”.
Addressing the gathering mostly made up of women, Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said: “Women are nation-builders because without them there would have been no one in this world, so they should be respected in anyway an individual can.
“That is why I always insist on them getting free maternal healthcare because they are flowers of this world.
“Thus education should be a right and equal opportunities should be given to women so that they can excel in their full potential because when you educate a woman you would have educated a nation.”
Zimbabwe Women’s Association chair, Ms Emillia Muchawa, said women had always been underdogs.
“Most women are not educated simply because it is a male-dominated society and men have got all the privileges.
“But I am saying that every individual has got full potential and women should desist from disengaging themselves from the technological world as the man’s world.
“Cultural practices are there and it is okay to consider them but they are demolishing the ambitions of women,” she said.
Regional Integration and International Co-operation Minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said women should unite for development and stop looking down upon themselves.
“We have wars because of these men who cannot work together. So ladies should stand tall and help in building this nation since they give birth to it.
“What women need now is education because if we are not educated we will never put a point across and be heard.
“Just like the signing against sanctions, which saw millions of people gathered, so should women sign for their freedom,” she said.
Ms Kundai Chambara, representing tertiary institutions, added: “It is high time ladies are given an equal opportunity.”
Women interviewed by The Herald yesterday said there were many social and economic imbalances that should be addressed.
Mrs Tecla Moyo said, “Women have this challenge of being taken as inferior in society and this dates back to our forefathers who failed to recognise the importance of the girl child.
“This syndrome of inferiority needs to be redressed.”
In a statement, Southern Africa HIV and Aids Information Dissemination Service executive director Mrs Lois Chingandu also bemoaned the issue of women’s perceived inferiority.
“We, therefore, see International Women’s Day as an annual launching pad to set agendas for change which will thereafter drive the operations of plans,” she said.