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Anesu Tonde Herald Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) and other stakeholders have called upon tertiary colleges to put in place formal sexual harassment policies that will protect students and staff.
Most colleges do not have such formal policies.
ZGC chief executive Virginia Muwanigwa said the commission was on a drive to curb sexual harassment that was rife in some institutions of higher learning countrywide through advocating a national policy on sexual harassment. She called upon all institutions, public and private, to adopt comprehensive sexual harassment policies as strategies to minimise cases of sexual harassment.
ZGC has conducted awareness campaigns at eight institutions, since October last year and reached out to 1 665 students and staff members. The engagements with tertiary institutions covered unreported sexual harassment with many victims infected with sexually transmitted diseases or falling pregnant.
“We should engage the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to cascade the lectures to young people. We should also engage Public Service Commission and Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare on the need to work towards the amendment of the Labour Act to provide for a wider definition and mechanism to prevent, detect and resolve sexual harassment cases efficiently and promptly,” she said.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter