adminvillages, communities and countries ticking!
This day, therefore, stands out as one of the most important on the global calendar of events.
Even those that may find it repulsive still acknowledge the roles that that their mothers or women guardians have played in their lives.
There is certainly no debate as regards the role women, in their many spheres, play in shaping the world. It is a fact that remains as such from any angle.
The world has certainly remained generally unfriendly to women but let us today celebrate and appreciate the strides made by women in the last decade on the economic, social and political front.
On the economic front, there is need to acknowledge the advances made by women in climbing the corporate ladder, particularly in Zimbabwe.
Of course, the statistics are not very exciting in terms of women’s economic empowerment, but we have noted significant changes and real paradigm shifts in the workplace and in the economy in general to acknowledge and reward efforts by women to get the economy back on track.
Women have largely been considered victims of economic circumstances, but in this instance we want to focus on them as able or equal partners in driving the economy to the next level.
Over the past few years, we have seen women climb the ladder in boards, company management and other such influential positions. albeit at a slower than anticipated pace.
We have also witnessed women venture into such fields as construction, banking, mining, commercial agriculture, welding and other previously male-dominated spheres. We have had a woman deputy governor of the Reserve Bank (Dr Charity Dhliwayo), women board chairpersons and other positions outside the political sphere.
A growing number also occupy middle management levels.
On the political front Zimbabwe boasts a female Vice President (Joice Mujuru) and Deputy Prime Minster (Thokozani Khupe), women ministers and permanent secretaries, woman head of Senate (Edna Madzongwe) and other provincial and district positions in Government and political parties.
This is quite encouraging although I know some women organisations would want to disagree with me. Comparing to the 1980s and 1990s when a woman chief executive was almost unheard of, I think some gaps have been covered in balancing the gender dimension.
We have seen women commercial farmers running viable international standard projects while many run successful companies across all sectors of the economy, be it
information technology, media, manufacturing, engineering, insurance, healthcare and many others.
The playing field is still far from being level, but I believe these are some of the statistics that we should look at as women before we take out our list of grievances. Let us today to celebrate what has been achieved while subtly but effectively conscientising the politicians and other authorities on the need to improve the environment and become more accommodative of women.
In most instances, women have proved that they can do a great job and are sometimes even better at it than their more muscular peers, but I believe the issue goes beyond competition but more of complementarity or co-operative competition.
In schools we have seen more girls, particularly in urban set-ups get equal opportunities unlike previously when it was a great achievement for a bright girl to be accorded an opportunity to pursue her studies at a high school or at tertiary levels.
Women have also migrated from being mere dressmakers to owning clothing companies and running them well.
There are many women executives or business women already in the limelight who have achieved much and there are more who are quietly contributing immensely to economic development.
Some have not made noise about their achievements but they are quietly but significantly making a difference in this country.
We also have many Zimbabwean women spread across the Diaspora who hold highly influential positions in the United Nations and other public and private institutions.
It is such achievements as these that give credence to the fact that women can do it and can play a central role in re-invigorating the economy.
Zimbabwe is presently seized with the desire to keep the recovery momentum achieved in the last three years and it remains a fact that sustainable economic growth must include women in the matrix.
We have tried to tabulate a few instances and a few achievements but women have immense potential to change the complexion of this economy and help it realise better results sooner than anticipated.
The fact that women cross-border traders sustained this economy through their regional escapades at the height of economic challenges in 2007-2008 bears testimony to the key role they play in this country’s economic well-being.
Although this fact has not been fully acknowledged, thousands of women were engaged in trade activities that brought in the millions of dollars that kept the economy going
when all else seemed to have failed.
It was this group of enterprising women that brought food and other necessities when machines in our factories collapsed. It was these women who made sure their children went to school fully clothed and their husbands well fed as they economy was on the brink of collapse.
These women heroes laid the foundation that anchored the recovery witnessed in the last few years and they have the wherewithal to sustain growth once given the latitude to demonstrate what they are made of.
Therefore, the economy will emerge better once the Zimbabwean woman is more empowered as we seek to meet the goals we are party to under the Sadc Gender Protocol of 2008 and many other regional and global agreements we have adopted.
The statistics below show how Zimbabwe fared in the period under review in terms of reducing the gender inequality gap according to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap 2011 Report:
Zimbabwe Overall WEF Gender Gap ranking 2011 was 88 (out of 135 countries)
Zimbabwe Gender Gap Sub-indexes:
Economic Participation 66
Labour Force Participation 55
Wage equality for similar work 15
Estimated earned income –
Legislators, senior officials
and managers 94
Professional and technical workers 89
Literacy rate 87
Women in Parliament 78
Women in Ministerial positions 56
The preface to the 2011 World Economic Forum Gender Gap rankings is instructive:
“Given the complexity of the world today and the economic, demographic, environmental and political transfor-mations we face, we must commit to a new mindset, one that discards old prejudices and inertia and instead commits to new ideas and new solutions.”
Empowering and educating girls and women and leveraging their talent and leadership fully in the global economy, politics and society are fundamental elements of the new
models required to succeed in today’s challenging landscape.
The most important determinant of a country’s competitiveness is its human resource base — skills, education and productivity of its workforce.
Over time, a nation’s competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it utilises its human resource pool. Furthermore, innovation requires unique ideas, and the best ideas thrive in a diverse environment.
Countries and companies will thrive if women are educated and engaged as fundamental pillars of the economy, and diverse leadership is most likely to find innovative solutions to tackle the current economic challenges and to build equitable and sustainable growth.
Governments play an important role in creating the right policy framework for improving women’s education and economic participation.
However, it is also the imperative of companies to create ecosystems where the best talent, both male and female, can flourish. As the world population surpasses the seven billion mark, we are in the midst of history’s most rapid demo-graphic transformations.
Countries are in various stages of demographic transition — while some are experiencing a youth bulge, others are rapidly shifting towards an ageing population. Women — in their multiple roles as work ers, as caregivers, as mothers and as the majority of the world’s older persons — are critical to making this transi-tion a successful one.
We must think with a new mindset about issues of family and fertility. We must also take into account the implications of a shrinking working-age population and consider how efficiently the female half of that population is being leveraged. Some of these issues touch upon the core of the social fabric. However, from both a rights perspective and an efficiency viewpoint, it is imperative that we address these topics. Women have emerged as key civic leaders in the up-rising that launched the Arab Spring. Their role must now be recognised by increasing gender equality in the politi-cal arena in that region and across the globe. In the world today, approximately 20 women serve as elected heads of state or government. At the ministerial and parliament levels, the global average is less than 20 percent. A system where women are not represented at the highest levels is both an unequal and an inefficient system.
We must design new measures to ensure that women are represented in political decision-making. Through the Global Gender Gap Report series, the World Economic Forum has been quantifying the magni-tude of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress over time. By providing a comprehensive framework for benchmarking global gender gaps, the Report reveals those countries that are role models in dividing their resources equitably between women and men, regardless of the overall level of those resources. In 2008, we launched our Global Gender Parity Group and Regional Gender Parity Groups in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. To date, these multi-stakeholder communities of highly influential lead-ers — 50 percent women and 50 percent men—from business, politics, academia, media and civil society have jointly identified the biggest gaps in each region, and have collectively committed to strategies to improve and increase the use of female talent. Our research with the World
Economic Forum, aim to be at the forefront of driving change in mindset and policy. The Global Gender Gap Index was created with the specific intent of being comparable across time. The 2011 Report aggregates six years of data and provides a snapshot of the situation today as well as the changes over time, revealing a positive trend as the majority of coun-tries continue to make progress on closing the gender gap. It also provides unique new information on the policy frameworks that support women’s economic participa-tion. It is our hope that this Report will serve as a call to action to transform the pace of change on an issue that is fundamental to the growth and sustainability of the global economy and society at large.”
In God I Trust!
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