Make a Difference: Will men ever play netball?

women/men can do and not do, what are known as gender roles.
The argument in gender equality is gender roles can change. Indeed they have been changing with changes in society. So much has happened over the years and still is happening in the gender equality arena.
Gender equality is about equal opportunities for women and men. Some milestones have been achieved towards equality of women and men. Generally the status of women has improved.
There is improved access to education and information by females. Today we see women, some of them mothers, graduating from colleges. This shows that families have become increasingly understanding and let women off domestic schedules to study.
We now see women occupying positions of leadership in the corporate world, churches and politics. Furthermore women have gained some degree of freedom in self-determination as they can make choices on critical issues that affect their lives.
There is an increase in women getting into business and owning properties in their own right. We have seen women occupying spaces that were a preserve of the male folk. In the field of sport we have women in rugby, cricket and soccer to mention but a few.
We have seen governments putting up laws that uplift the status of women and also protect them and their space. Whether the laws have been translated to address the issues on the ground is something else. It is a subject on its own that needs separate energies.
I think we all agree that this is good but . . . In my view these developments have come in with a number of changes that touch on norms and values as well as the way women relate to their environment.
Of course these changes had to happen to reflect the new thinking. Long ago, the sitting posture of a woman was important. It was almost everyone’s responsibility as brothers young or older took it upon themselves to enforce the unwritten rule.
I think those of the older generation recall the boys calling on their sisters to sit properly — “iwe gara zvakanaka.” Now the story is different especially that more and more women wear trousers. Times have changed people care less about sitting postures.
We see women’s fashion changing — slacks and tie with shirt tacked in and belt around the waist in the way the men do. I think this is meant to project an image that says what men can do, we can do. An image of seriousness that can help to get things done.
These days women are liberated and they can voice their opinions in public. I have also seen women dance with so much abandon and some outdoing men to their games. In my opinion men are gradually being reduced to spectators. Let me digress a bit and say in the long run this will create another problem that we need to address.
We cannot afford to have men on the sidelines; we really have to move together as partners in development. As women try to create space for themselves in the world that has the male model of a leader they try by all means to fit into that definition. It appears difficult to be feminine and be successful in the public arena. I have heard people, including women, mourn about the way some women discharge their duties when in a position of authority such as at a security checkpoint.
I, however, agree with some of the sentiments as some of us women get to excesses just like what other men do. The struggle is the fear of being considered a walk over (kudheyererwa). Some of the women can become aggressive instead of assertive as a survival mechanism. But also if a woman implements policy in the same manner a man does, people can find that hard to accept.
Society finds it hard to accept due to perceptions about women. It expects a woman to be lenient thus they complain and say “akaoma moyo kunge murume (she is hard hearted like a man). It means it is fine for men to be hard hearted and get things done.
Do we really have to do what men do to earn respect in the male dominated arena? Do men aim to be like us women? Do you think a time will come when men will play net ball?
Usually our society likens those women who have made it to men. As women we should not be proud when the world associates women who break the ranks to the men. My dear reader, you must have heard people say “mukadzi uyu murume pachake” (this woman is a man in her own right).
I think what women need first and foremost is to have a positive self-image and belief in self and also see other women in the same light. What is important is for us women to define ourselves to the world. We should be proud to be women and project our God given qualities such as emotional intelligence and use these in the public arena.
As the Bible says “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” As my friend puts it women should be able to talk about babies and still be in the boardroom.
We do not have to be like the males but we can promote our own model of a leader. A woman should gain acceptability as a competent leader and still be feminine.
I am inspired by the words of Queen Elizabeth I that she said at Tilbury in 1588 when England was going to war with Spain. She said, “I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too.”
It is time women believe in themselves and create a feminine model of a leader for the world to marvel at.