I think we are really regressing as a nation sometimes, what’s with men lobbying for women to be indoors by six o’clock? We cannot go back to the medieval era when women like children were meant to be seen only and not heard. Giving women a curfew is meant to alleviate prostitution they say. Bakers Inn will cease to bake bread the day the bread does not have consumers. The same way prostitution will end when men stop consuming the female product. If this is passed as a law it is going to be disastrous for women like me whose industry strives at night. I am a musician and performer who will be jobless. What other option of work will I have for a job? If the majority of women whom I know work long hours in offices have to be home by six and have no husbands or any other help to make ends meet, how will they survive? Can you imagine the bulk of women jobless wanting to put food on the table for their children and other persons under their care? Women often have more people to take care of than men do, imagine the pressure that this woman will have? If she is not going to be a commercial sex worker she is going to prostitute to her husband, boyfriend, lover or any other man in her life in the comfort of her house and not on the street corner. Prostitution by my definition is having sex in exchange for money or up keep. Putting a curfew on women will not stop prostitution. Instead it will make it rise. Prostitution is not going to be alleviated by this but is going to come to our homes as our mothers, sisters and all the female relations will sleep with men in their lives just to make him happy in hope he will leave a dollar for bread. Need I remind men out there that prostitution knows no time of the day? There are other ways prostitution can be alleviated. I don’t see how imposing a curfew on women will help.

Calling all young women’s groups!

Mama Cash is an International Women’s Fund, which supports ambitious feminist and women’s rights organisations and initiatives led by and for women and girls. Mama Cash supports pioneering and innovative women’s initiatives around the world, because she believes that social change starts with women and girls.

As part of our grant making we have dedicated some funds to supporting girl-led initiatives. Therefore, we are calling for Letter of Interest (LOI’s) from girl-led groups that work on the advancement of girl’s and young women’s rights in their communities.

Please note that this call is exclusively open for girl-led groups and programmes (girls under 19).

We are looking for groups/organisation/programmes that are set up and led by girls under the age of 19 and that work at the crossroads of Mama Cash’s Money, Body or Voice Portfolio. Focus issues include: sexual and reproductive health and rights, sexuality and gender norms, (gender based) violence, economic justice, natural resource rights, land/property/inheritance rights, fundamentalism, labour rights, political participation and issues of women in militaristic environments.

For a full description on focus areas and priorities, grant making criteria and more information on the application process, please visit our website at www.mamacash.org or contact Lara van Kouterik, Programme Officer Voice at: l.vankouterik [at] mamacash [dot] nl

On World Population Day this year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his speech said, “Women and young people who are in good health, and who have the power and means to make their own decisions about how many children to have and when to have them are better able to contribute to the development of their societies.” This is very encouraging to young people in Zimbabwe. To say young women and girls have no access to family planning is true largely because of society stereotypes and ignorance. Being raised in societies where premarital sex is rejected makes it difficult for one to make use of contraceptives before they are married. Our societies would take a big blow in the face and would find it difficult to call for abstinence if they were to accept that young people engage in sexual activities before they are married. Abstinence is the best and safest method, but on the ground we have young people engaging themselves in risky sexual behaviours. Which places them at risk of unwanted pregnancies, as well as contracting STIs and HIV.

In a survey of 14-24 year old men and women from conducted in Harare it found that 43% of women had premarital sexual intercourse yet 80% of pregnant students did not want to be pregnant. This survey also found that even though 79.5% of the young adults knew at least one method of contraceptive and did not want to fall pregnant, 87% of the sexually active women and 83% of the sexually active men did not use them at first intercourse. Further, 64% of never married women and 71% of never married men who had intercourse in the month before the survey did not use contraceptives. The survey established that the leading reason for not using a method was ignorance.

With increased access to family planning methods made available to young girls and women in the country, we can go a long way in reducing unwanted pregnancies in this era where the number of those abstaining is on the decrease. Yes we can argue for the young girls to abstain, but when they go back to the streets, to their friends and colleges only a few will manage to abstain. So its better that they be educated. I have seen and heard stories of women in colleges and universities who defer their studies after they have fallen pregnant. Some of these never return to complete their studies. PSI believes that, ‘Women have greater access to education and employment opportunities when they control their fertility, which can enhance their own and their families’ economic status.’

Government has put an end to the distress of mothers who after giving birth could not foot their medical bills. Some women who face complications while giving birth at clinics are usually transferred to hospitals and this results in them facing a higher medical bill than they had budgeted for and most likely beyond their reach. Thus after giving birth, the joys of holding your newborn are sometimes not enjoyed by many women in Zimbabwe because of the financial constraints they faced in paying for their medical bills. In some cases women would be detained at the hospital or clinic until their bill was cleared or in the worst scenarios have their belongings confiscated. But alas, this is going to be a thing of the past as rural clinics and hospitals have scrapped maternity fees. Next week this same waiver will be introduced in provincial and central hospitals as reported by Newsday.

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.