adminsurprised.
I am sure I was not the only one. Not only is the young lady pleasing on the eye but she is also well educated, proving that beauty can definitely come in the same package with brains and that not all beauties are “dumb” if you will excuse the pun. Like it or not, these are some of the stereotypes in society, which need to be dismissed.
At 25, Varaidzo is already a holder of a Masters Degree in International Relations. And while other 25-year-olds are still dithering about what they want to do with their lives, she already knows the path she would like her life to take.
She wants to represent the people of Harare West as a Member of Parliament.
For me, these are strong points that got me thinking about other matters. In the past women were not this assertive or is it just that they did not have room to be this daring at such a young age.
I am thinking of a time when achievement for a 25-year-old was to snag a man capable of providing for her. Women, especially the attractive ones, were known to be decorative pieces for successful men.
In fact, many a literature book will tell you women were there to be looked at and not to be heard from.
Those who were not very attractive, by the standards of that particular society, as a result found the going very tough and had to take up jobs as governesses or enter convents.
Many who also knew they had it in them to be a success in different pursuits often found themselves sacrificing their dreams because the world was just not ready for women to come into their own.
It was even worse with politics. Women did not really occupy space in the political sphere. Where they did, it was almost as if it was just to add up the numbers. It was almost as if women were largely viewed as the ones who support the politicians to get to the top.
Women dressed in their colourful doeks and mazambia were known and viewed as mobilisers of support for politicians. They were known and seen as those people who stand in queues to get seed and grain from the politicians. They were largely seen as the faces beside the politicians as they went on their rounds in their constituencies (as wives.)
But today with the likes of Varaidzo and her other young colleagues like Tendai Wenyika and others whose names may not easily come to mind now, coming to the fore, I take it the women are saying it is time to claim their spaces and for once be accompanied on their rounds by their supportive partners.
In time we hope to see husbands and male partners accompany their female partners on the campaign trail. It is possible.
The young women have spoken. While veteran female politicians like Vice President Joice Mujuru, and others of her time who came before Varaidzo and her colleagues (youths) have lit the torch ahead of the woman of my generation, seeing the young women of today take up their rightful spaces alongside the other more mature and experienced women in politics has been long overdue.
After reading through Varaidzo’s story in the Thursday Herald, I began to think quite a bit about other spaces that women today have the opportunity to occupy and take up especially in line with the Sadc Gender Protocol which is all about ensuring that women are empowered to take up decision making positions within society.
If one wants to be an academic, there is room for that. If one wants to be a pretty face with substance, there is room for that. If one wants to be a cheer leader, there is room for that. Where the room is not big enough, there is space to demand that it be made bigger.
It is no longer good enough to stand by the sidelines and cry ‘because I am a woman.” Yes, there are still boardroom battles to be fought but the point I am making today is that girls and women have to be willing to fight. It will be interesting to watch while Varaidzo battles it out with yet another woman, Jessie Majome of the MDC-T.
What I like about the example set by Mupunga, Wenyika, Majome and others is that a woman can be anything she sets her mind to.
Varaidzo’s case is even more apt in that through her, young women can see that an attractive woman can have substance too. It takes me back to when I was growing up and my father always used to say “do not reply on your looks but on what you know.”
To the young girl who read Varaidzo’s story, it is clear now that while looks are important and I myself will go down trying to look my very best on any given day, at the end of the day, there is more to women that how we look.
Varaidzo did that which matters. She followed through and got an education and now she is pursuing her political ambitions.
So hopefully girls who have been made to believe that if you are attractive, you do not have to think much about your life, will realize otherwise.
Girls will also realise that dreams can be achieved and one has to try, irrespective of their gender.
So all the best to the sisters!
Online Reporter