I was really moved by the boldness of an girl pupils who protested against their school authorities right in front of their nearest Ministry of Education offices in Zimbabwe. The pupils who are all boarders at Mukaro High School in Gutu, walked for 20km, taking four hours to reach to the district’s Ministry of Education offices. They sneaked out from the dormitories as early as 2am and reached the offices at 6am. Their aim was to protest water shortages and poor food at the school. A big round of applause ladies! The girls at school are said to number 700 and one can only imagine the health implications of having water shortages with so many children.

With the Ministry of Education now aware and doing an investigation into the plight of these pupils and the school authorities knowing well that they are now under scrutiny from the different stakeholders involved, like the parents, the education ministry, health officials and other concerned parties, these pupils are guaranteed of some change and provision of a basic necessity – water. Not only will this benefit them until they complete their studies but it will also benefit future generations of pupils to come to that school. They have not only protested their rights at this particular school Mukaro High, but they have been a voice for other pupils around the country who due to varying circumstances are not able to take up such high levels of boldness. Also this a big warning to school authorities that misuse school funds meant for the welfare of school children. They should change their ways before such protests occur at their schools.

It is such small acts of resistance and protest that bring about change in the bigger picture. It is high time we emulate these pupils and make those accountable for discrepancies in the provision of our society’s daily life needs.

It really sad when we learn that police officers manning road blocks lose their lives or get injured by drivers who fail to stop at their signal to do so. It is sad to lose life in such ways. This issue of how police officers man roadblocks needs serious attention because it can develop into an order of the day to hear such sad news. And I can bet that with ZINARA canceling its vehicle licensing deadline extension, there is likely going to be trouble on the roads as police officers try to check new license discs on each vehicle…as defaulters try to escape from these ‘points’ of check…as police officers try to make an ATM transaction with each defaulter.

If the truth were told our police force has turned into thugs on the roads. They sprout out on each road the ‘movie style’, I saw you and you didn’t see me kind of stuff, which is really silly and dangerous. Some of these ‘road blocks’ are located at blind spots and some police officers have a pompous way of putting themselves in front of moving traffic. What do you expect when every few minutes there are cops jumping from bushes or alleys into the road trying to stop cars?

What happened to the ‘Police Ahead’ signs? Have they been phased out by some new law or amendment? Wherever these are hiding they should be taken and made use of to avoid the loss of life of our police officers. It’s funny hey. Its like driving without a seat belt on, one is putting their life at risk. So can we safely say those officers who set ‘instant’ roadblocks (except in the case of speed traps) are placing themselves at risk?

An open gender forum organized by UN Women last week, hosted Shamim Meer’s presentation on her research paper titled, ‘Struggles for Gender Equality: Reflections on the place of men and men’s organisation’. The presentation comes at a time where men are organizing themselves to support gender equality. Notably in Zimbabwe is Padare/Enkundleni and Varume Svinurayi/Vhukani Madoda. From the names these two organisations have chosen to use, it reflects much about their agenda in the women rights equality struggle. Shamim paper’s sought to really bring out the agendas of some of these men’s organisations in the struggle for gender equality and explore where men fit in women rights struggles.

Her major concern is that these formal structures being created by men give men a leading role in the struggle for gender equality of which that should not be the scenario – women should lead themselves. She gives a warning to say, “They are operating in a field where women are seen as subordinates and by making men key actors then you could be reinforcing the subordination.” Thus she argues for the separation of men from the women’s struggle. She also mentioned that the depoliticised understandings of gender as ‘men and women’ went further to strain donor relations with existing women’s organisations. As most women organisations are now being asked, ‘If you are working on gender, where are the men in your organisation?’

In her paper, Meers refers to this new idea of donors funding men as the ‘silver bullet’. In the paper she said, “Working with men from the donor’s point of view, could reduce costs to the health care system, and thus meet efficiency goals prioritized by development organisations. This seemed to be the new silver bullet, which would give ‘more bang for the buck!” To Meer the power that men have over women and the possibility that it may not be in men’s gender interests to transform gender relations or achieve greater equality were ignored. Thus clearly spelling out her debate.

It is from this background that she strongly puts out her belief that women need to take back the lead in the struggle. To support this statement she said, “… the oppressed in any system are best placed to lead their own struggle because they know the issues, their active leading challenges the notions on their lack of status and lack of ability.” Support for men in the struggle for gender equality is greatly appreciated but as Meer insisted it should not interfere with who gets to lead the struggle.

It is sad to be reminded that negotiations for the Zimbabwe Independence Constitution held in 1979 at the Lancaster House in London were made without the inclusion of women. According to one woman activist the only female present had gone solely for the upkeep of the men, like to make sure they were fed on time. Various movements and efforts by government and civil society have brought about a change in the order of this. One body that has greatly worked for the inclusion of women participation in constitution making matters is the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe. They have worked to ensure women’s rights are met and have took a step further to advocate for women’s inclusion in governance.

The WCoZ according to their website is described as, “A network of women rights activists and women’s organizations with national structures. The WCoZ is a forum where women meet to engage in collective activism on issues affecting women and girls in Zimbabwe. Its central role is to provide a focal point for activism on women and girl’s rights”. Among the commendable work they have done is to fight for the increase in participation of women in the constitution making processes in Zimbabwe.

The Inclusive Government, which agreed to pen a new constitution before electing a new president, saw the formation of COPAC, which is co-chaired by three representatives from the three parties that are signatories to the Government of National Unity. Speaking at a FFT session at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section Netsai Mushonga, a representative of WCoZ, gave an analysis of the organisation’s work in pushing for the inclusion of women in both the constitution making process and in the constitution itself. One of COPAC’s steps in the constitution making process was that of getting information of what Zimbabweans need included in the constitution. They created outreach teams but men outnumbered women in these teams. This led to a petition being made by the women’s movement for the engagement of more women in the outreach teams and the figures rose from 10% to 25%. They went on further to advocate for women engagement in the Thematic Committees and managed to get 37% representation of women.

Moving to the constitution itself, the WCoZ clearly spells out its demands for women in the constitution and they list five minimum demands on their site which include: the quota system for women’s political participation; socio-economic rights; non-discrimination (all forms of disability); customary law subject to the Bill of Rights; and access to and control of resources. Netsai Mushonga indicated that the current draft constitution by COPAC had met at least 80% of their needs. She said the forum had vowed to continue advocating for the remaining 20% to ensure full achievement of women’s rights in the constitution. Their decision to vote for or against the constitution will only be made when they have the constitution in their hands. She likened the constitution-making process to a train that moves from New Delhi to Bombay in India, which is overloaded with people entering through the windows, but still makes it to its final destination. Likewise, the constitution making process might not be the best ride in town but one day it will reach its final destination.

Most countries reserve a date on their calendars to celebrate Mother’s Day and it occurs on various dates and goes with distinctive names. In Zimbabwe, as with some other countries like the USA, the celebration is on Sunday 13th of May. This year marks my first celebration as a mother, and of course, I will continue to observe it as a daughter. Being a mom is very difficult especially in developing countries where the availability of resources is limited for mothers to provide for their children. Some mothers actually do not get the right nutrition they require during pregnancy and as such the child will fail to get good nutrition too when they are born.

In a report on world rankings released recently by Save the Children, on the Status of the World’s Mothers, Norway tops the list and Niger is the last on the list. Norway is therefore ranked as the best place to be a mom in the world. It is important to note too that in 2010 Norway was ranked the best place to live in the world. According to the Status of the World’s Mothers Report, Norway ranks among the very best on contraceptive use, female education, political representation and has one of the most generous maternity leave policies. Niger is last on the index and is regarded as the worst place to be a mom in the world. Niger, a country in West Africa is faced with hunger thus a posing major threat to children’s lives.  In comparison of the two countries, the child mortality rate in Niger is one in six, versus one in 333 in Norway.

Save the Children is an international organisation dedicated to creating lasting change in the lives of children in need around the world. The report, which reveals the Best and Worst Places to Be Mom examines165 countries, with 122 being developing countries. Factors used to determine the rankings were examination of maternal care, education of mothers, economic status of the country, health and nutrition of children, lifetime risk of dying from childbirth, mortality rate of children and maternity leave policies among others. According to Save the Children concentration was turned to mothers because, “the quality of children’s lives depends on the health, security and well-being of their mothers”.

In the 2011 report, Zimbabwe in Tier II of less developed countries was ranked 70 out of 79 countries. Other African countries in Tier II of the 2011 report include Nigeria, Namibia, and Botswana. According to the Status of World’s Mothers Report 2011, the lifetime risk of maternal death is one in forty-two. The percentage of births attended by skilled health professionals was 60%.

The 2012 report did not only focus on rankings but it went further to offer solutions and recommendations. Where hunger is rife in developing countries, Save the Children recommended the solution of breastfeeding. Regularly breastfeeding newborns helps to combat malnutrition in children and lives can be saved, said the report. Other recommendations in the report included investing in frontline health workers, investing in girls’ education, maintaining better hygiene and supplementing meals with iron foliate, zinc and vitamin A.

In my own personal experience in Zimbabwe, I have met mothers who give birth without having seen a doctor or a nurse and the worst scenarios being that of mothers who give birth outside the health system. This is largely due to a lack of money to pay for maternity services rendered at health care institutions. However, with the launch of UNICEF’s Health Transition Fund for Zimbabwe which will see pregnant women and children under five years receive free medical health care at government hospital and clinics there is much anticipation for an improvement in the maternal health care of the country. With this initiative and others taking place in the country we should see Zimbabwe climb a step or two up the rankings.

The difficulties experienced by rural women include water and sanitation challenges. It is therefore with much delight that I note that rural women were the main talk at this year’s United Nations, Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This is a platform created by the United Nations and is held annually at the UN Headquarters. According to the UN, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global policy making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. In this regard, each year member states gather at UN Headquarters to create various platforms to enable the advancement of women rights through discussions and exhibits among other means of communication. This year two ZUSAA Alumni members, Grace Chirenje and Lucy Mazingi where sponsored by the US Embassy in Zimbabwe to attend this annual event. Grace is the Director of Zimbabwe Young Women’s Network for Peace Building, and Lucy Mazingi is a director at the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust thus they participated as members of the civil society in Zimbabwe.

This year’s theme of CSW focused of rural women and it was interpreted as, “The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges”. The theme was in full support of MDG number 3 that states the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.  Rural women are believed to be the medium for economic progression in the world.  On justifying the importance of the theme the UN clearly stated that, “Rural women’s economic empowerment is key. If rural women had equal access to productive resources, agricultural yields would rise and there would be 100 million to 150 million fewer hungry people.”

This week’s Food for Thought session at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section gave a platform for Grace and Lucy to give feedback on their experiences at this year’s CSW. Both the participants alluded that it was a learning curve for them as they got to interact with government representatives and civic society members from different parts of the world. Lucy Mazingi supported this year’s CSW theme as she said, “In agriculture, rural women are economic agents that can help reduce poverty thus they require empowerment”. Both women work with rural women and girls and empowering them is one of their mandates.

Grace Chirenje highlighted that rural women are no different to urban women as they face the same issues. Also the challenges and issues being faced by women in developing countries and the developed world are similar. She did point out that some countries in the developed world referred to rural women as ‘indigenous women’, but there was no difference in the aspects regarding these women, it was just a matter of different expression. Asked on why they did not take any rural women with them to the CSW, Grace replied saying that the US Embassy on the basis of being ZUSAA members sponsored them but it would have been ideal to have physical representation of rural women from Zimbabwe. The government representatives at CSW did not bring rural women with them either instead they showcased a video of rural women in Zimbabwe from Binga. Other countries including our neighbours South Africa managed to bring rural women with them. With this in mind Grace Chirenje and Lucy Mazingi highlighted the need for close networking and collaboration between government ministries and civil society.

One attendee at Foord for Thought urged women activists not to waver in their fight for women’s rights especially when it comes to holding the government accountable in implementing policies they have signed and promised to adhere to. She also highlighted that the early fighters for women rights fought not only for themselves but for us too.

To conclude, the call for boys and men to be engaged in gender equality and women rights issues was brought up. Engaging men in the conversation for women’s rights not only helps enlighten them about gender issues but gives them a platform to air their views too. Removing them from this picture is not going to yield results. Youth participation was also considered to be vital and it was resolved to include youths in delegations representing the country at such high profile and important events.