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Blessings Chidakwa Municipal Reporter
The Second Republic has been actively working hard to give more prominence to issues affecting women and allowing them a voice plus a heavy presence in local communication systems, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa has said.
She said this last night while addressing an International Women’s Day high level stakeholder engagement in Harare.
This year’s International Women’s Day ran under the theme, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.
“We know that traditionally, women have been symbolically annihilated by being denied a voice and a presence in communication systems in our society.
“We are pushing back against this injustice as we now have ample evidence that this sort of lop-sidedness against women in the sphere of communication and elsewhere has had negative consequences especially for sustainable development,” she said.
Minister Mutsvangwa said by excluding women’s voices, Zimbabwe would be denying the critical mass of the societies from participating, developing solutions and developing resilience against challenges they face globally.
“This will make us unprepared to encounter the compounding challenges of tomorrow. We have witnessed how women have been made to bear the brunt of extreme weather conditions and other socio-economic hardships,” she said.
It is important that people do not reinforce inequalities and gender stereotypes, but rather see both women and men as equal consumers and generators of information, said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said in terms of media management of state-run media outlets, her ministry had tried to ensure that women were represented in the top echelons of these institutions with ZBC, Manica Post and The Sunday Mail being run by female editors.
Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni said the economic, political and social achievements of women should be highly celebrated.
“It is also a day to reflect on challenges being faced by women including issues on gender based violence and progress made in the advancement of women in pursuit of gender equality,” she said.
Minister Nyoni said her ministry was alive to the effects of climate change and disasters and works closely with relevant partners on policies and strategies that address the effects of such under the adaptation and mitigation measures.
“It is imperative that we economically empower women and girls as a sustainable way to achieve gender equality and this can be achieved through various empowerment programmes that my Ministry and partners provide, such as access to finance and markets, capacity building, provision of technology and workspace, amongst others.
“My ministry administers the Women Development Fund, a vehicle for provision of affordable loans to women,” she said.
World Bank Zimbabwe Country director Ms Mara Warwick said women were critical as agencies of change including climate change, hence the need to find innovative ways to identify their skills and talents.
United Nations Women country representative Ms Delphine Sserumaga said there was a need to increase gender responsive policies that empower women and girls for sustainable development.
Several top Government officials and development partners attended the event.
Online Reporter