A century has lapsed since the first celebration of the remarkable international day when scores of women took to the streets demanding their economic and social right in the abusively male dominated world. The world is reflecting on the past and pondering on the fate of women’s future.

Speaking at a women’s suffrage convention in 1868, citing sternness, selfishness, love of war among other qualities, which she said have seen a record of blood and cruelty in the male led world, Elizabeth Candy concluded that “the male element is a destructive force”. Women are full of love for peace, harmony and order. It is only sad that this heart has not yet been placed fully at the centre stage of development.

Now I need to challenge men to start thinking of a single normal day. Have we ever stopped to think how many women die daily while giving birth, how much a woman takes the family on her shoulders in the midst of difficulties, how many innocent ladies we abuse on the prostitution market today, how all children in the world seek the love and protection of a mother. And then stop to think how many women have been raped today, how many women are crying because of violence now. Yet they never stop to love and smile. The very same people at the sacrificial altar for the continuity of the human race today still cry for recognition in society. Look at a newly born girl child, a poor young lady in the remotest part of a war tone country today and know for sure that she is a symbol of this endurance, this suffering in this world into which we all come in the same means for the same life.

Turning to this day, consider how much we celebrate the turn of the New Year, how much we honour one fallen hero in your country versus how we honour mothers who die giving birth for instance. Do not we get to feel that it is not enough just to celebrate this day doing our daily duties behind our office desks? Do not we also feel that it is not enough to show love respect and honour to women during only one out of 365 days of the year.

All the same, turn to a lady next to you, yes you see that symbol, think of your mother, your own sister your neighbor, perhaps you are lady yourself, yes your are the symbol of humanity, love, care, life above all of this endurance. Your struggle is not a mere demand, its not a political exercise, not a fallacy but goes beyond measurable terms. As weak as you may seem physically, the power of sustaining life is in inherently in your being. For those of you who believe the Bible, consider that, when God wanted to serve the world He neither sought for a powerful King, nor a strongest man of the clan, but a woman in the name of Mary”

I salute you women.

The 8th of March was International Women’s Day and this year was the 100th year since the first Women’s Day was celebrated. As women around the world gathered to celebrate, the Zimbabwe Women Writers organisation took time to mark this remarkable event under the theme, “Promoting equal access to education through literacy”. Women writers both urban and rural, ZWW board and staff, partners and sponsors of ZWW, and the guest of honor Dr Thokozile Chitepo who is the chairperson of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe graced the occasion.

The organisation also took time to celebrate its twenty years of existence. “Gazing at the Environment” was ZWW’s first publication published in 1992. Their latest publication is “The African Tea Cosy” by Violet Masilo. But even in the midst of celebrations the organisation acknowledged that there is a daunting task ahead of them. ZWW believes in women uplifting each other and rejects the pulling each down syndrome. This is evident of the anthologies the organisation publishes – without team spirit these would not have been achieved.

The Zimbabwe Women Writers also launched their Women’s Voices Project. The role of the Women’s Voices initiative will be to advocate the use of hybrid new media amongst women writers and providing a platform for them to interact. The initiative is to take a global stance, thus it will encourage cultural exchange and knowledge sharing. This project is, ‘committed to articulating women’s voices’, as held by ZWW Director Audrey Charamba.

It was uplifting to hear performance of poems by women and speeches from members of ZWW board who have been with the organisation since its inception. Women celebrated victories by singing:

Semadzimai emuZimbabwe takamirira zvakaoma
Kurema kwazvo kunoda madzimai
Azvina mhosva nyango zvorema
Takamirira zvakaoma

A rapist doesn’t have to be a stranger to be legitimate. Someone you never saw. A man with obvious problems. But if you been public with him, danced one dance, kissed him goodbye lightly with a closed mouth, pressing charges will be as hard as keeping your legs closed while five fools try and run a train on you. These men friends of ours, who smile nicely, take you out to dinner, then lock the door behind you.
- Yasmine in For Colored Girls

When people think of rape, they might think of a stranger jumping out of a shadowy place and sexually attacking a woman walking alone at night. The thought of two people who know each other, going for dinner and the male counterpart sexually attacking the female counterpart is rare for some. Rape is an act of aggression and violence so even if the two people know each other well, and even if they were intimate or had sex before, no one has the right to force a sexual act on another person against his or her will.

We have heard, seen victims and read about rape, incestuous rape, and politically motivated rape, HIV infected men raping virgins, ritualistic rape to women raping men. But the cases of date rape being reported are very few and mostly go unreported. A blind eye has been given towards this kind of rape because people simple say it was the victim’s fault. ‘What were you doing in the first place, you seduced him. Don’t worry about it. It happens you might as well continue giving it to him!’ These are the words of our best friends when we share our date rape experiences. Big girls don’t cry but honestly that is so subversive. One would rather cry and not qualify in the ‘big girls’ zone.

I want people to know that date rape can happen to anyone, no matter what age, popularity, race or income group. Date rape is rape. Victims of date rape should not feel guilty. They are victims whose bodies, rights and trusts were violated.

From PlusNews:

NAIROBI — As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, women and girls across the globe continue to be disproportionately affected by the AIDS pandemic – HIV is the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age worldwide.

IRIN/PlusNews presents five important ways to reduce women’s vulnerability to HIV:

Education: According to UNAIDS, illiterate women are four times more likely to believe there is no way to prevent HIV infection, while in Africa and Latin America, girls with higher levels of education tend to delay first sexual experience and are more likely to insist their partner use a condom. Educating girls has the added advantage of delaying their marriage and increasing their earning ability, both of which reduce their vulnerability to HIV. Educated women are also more likely to access health services for themselves and their children, and to oppose negative cultural practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

Access to reproductive health services: In many developing countries, women have very limited access to vital reproductive health services. A combination of biological and social factors means women are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which, if left untreated, increase their vulnerability to HIV. Women living in humanitarian crises are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and require services such as free, easily available condoms and safe blood for transfusions. Improving access to reproductive health services enables women to make informed choices in determining family size and preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Ending gender violence: One in three women has been beaten, experienced sexual violence or otherwise abused in their lifetime, according to the UN; one in five will be a victim of rape or attempted rape. More often than not, the perpetrators are known to the women. Practices such as early marriage, FGM/C and human trafficking all increase women’s vulnerability to HIV, but more accepted forms of violence, such as marital rape, also play a large part in increasing women’s HIV risk. According to UNAIDS, investment in HIV programming policies and addressing gender inequality and gender-based violence will help to achieve universal targets of HIV prevention, treatment and care.

Economic empowerment: In his book, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Richard Robbins states that women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own just own 1 percent of the means of production. Poverty prevents poor women from controlling when sexual intercourse takes place and if a condom is used, and often forces women into risky transactional sex to feed themselves and their families. According to a 2010 US Government study, empowerment activities such as micro-finance give women access to and control over vital economic resources, ultimately enhancing their ability not only to mitigate the impact of HIV, but also to be less vulnerable to HIV.

Involving men: More often than not, men control the dynamics of how, when and where sex happens. Encouraging more men to use condoms consistently has the knock-on effect of protecting their sexual partners from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Men are less likely than women to seek health services; in the case of men involved with multiple women, this means STIs remain untreated for long periods while their female partners are also at risk of infection. Teaching boys and young men to respect women, to be more involved in family activities and to avoid negative behaviour such as gender violence and alcohol abuse helps groom a generation of men who are less likely to take risks that endanger themselves and their families.

Online at: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92135

Yesterday was the 100th commemoration of International Women’s Day.

But after 100 years recognising the need for women’s rights and gender equality, what do women have to show for it?

In Zimbabwe, not much.

Female participants in a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) march in honour of the day were forced to strip by male police officers.

According to SW Radio Africa:

Three women who participated in a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) protest march were forced to strip off their clothes in the city centre of Bulawayo by the police, their regional leader has said. One of the three is heavily pregnant. The women were part of a march to commemorate International Women’s Day, which saw a total of 34 members of the group arrested, despite a High Court order saying the march could go-ahead. Barbara Tanyanyiwa of the ZCTU’s Regional Women’s Advisory Council, said trouble began when the police appeared and began dispersing them, and then three of their members were apprehended. “When they were going to the gathering point, that is Jason Moyo and Third Avenue, they were confronted by plain clothes policemen who said they should remove their ZCTU t-shirts.

Read more from SW Radio Africa

Also in Bulawayo, three members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise who were arrested at a 7 March Women’s Day protest were held in custody for the second night in a row – even though the police had refused to prosecute the case. The three were held in Bulawayo central police station. According to WOZA, “There is no flushing toilets; no food and we have to bring food in to every meal and risk theft of this food by officers; no blankets; no access to medication by those on anti retrovirals; no access to water; filthy cells and harassment by police officers.  They have not had the right to see a lawyer.” Read more from WOZA

What difference has 100 years of women’s days made if even on this one day of the year women continued to be harassed, victimised and mistreated?

This statement from Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) describes the harassment currently being experienced by their members:

Seven members, two beaten, all spending night in custody in Bulawayo and were denied food brought in by relatives.

At noon, today 28 February 2011, three Men of Zimbabwe Arise (MOZA) members were arrested in Entumbane at a member’s house. Police came into the house where the members were meeting. They made the men present; numbering about 15, hold out their hands. They then arrested Proud Pandeya, Noah Mapfuma who they said had black hands, and according to them this is a sure sign that they smoke cannabis. At this point Gift Nkomo walked in and was also subsequently arrested. They were taken by these plain-clothes police officers to their local police station. One of the police officers fisted Proud four times in the face when they were arrested. They were released them after 2 hours. At five pm, police officers then came to re-arrest them and tried to arrest a fourth member who was not at home. The were said to be being taken to Bulawayo Central Police station for questioning but the feeding team could not locate them there.

At 4pm today, another 4 members were arrested, three women and one male.  They were arrested in the Mabutweni suburb of Bulawayo at the home of  Sitshiyiwe Ngwenya. They were sitting in the house and counting burial society contributions. The four who include Joyce Ndebele, Moreblessing Dube, one a nursing mother, and the male member Kholwani Ndlovu were arrested by plain clothed police officers from Western Commonage police station. They were loaded into a white van and taken to Western Commonage police station in Mpopoma south. The lawyer, Lizwe Jamela of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights was unable to see them as they were being relocated to Bulawayo Central police station.

Relatives, who sacrificed to buy food at a food outlet, as there was no electricity to cook food, arrived at the police station to give the food to the activists but were detained for an hour. Police Officer George Levison Ngwenya, threatened to arrest them for bringing ‘bought’ food but another police officer told them to leave with the food. Kholwani was obviously in pain from being severely beaten and him and the three women arrested at Mabutweni were seen by their relatives in the Law and Order department and were being made to answer profile questions and were due to be relocated for a third time to Sauerstown police station along the airport road.

WOZA leaders wish to express concern for members arrested and for the two male members beaten by police. We also express concern about the whereabouts of the 3 members arrested in Entumbane who were not to be found at Bulawayo Central police station.

WOZA is currently consulting members on the introduction of a development programme to be entitled Demand Dignity – Demand Development. This programme is based on the works of Mahatma Ghandi who combined an obstructive and constructive programme to mobilise independence to the Indian people. The CONSTRUCTIVE (productive and practical) Program emphasises on “cooperating with good” whiles the OBSTRUCTIVE (disruptive and defiant) Program’s emphasis is on “resisting evil.”