Youth Alliance for Democracy (YAD) joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International Women’s’ Day. A day when, as declared by the United Nations General Assembly, the world takes into consideration the down-trodden status of the fairer sex.
This year’s theme is Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for ALL. This
indeed is a befitting theme, given the reality that women have been and are still second class citizens despite the vast potential in them to make a positive change in their communities and ultimately to the nation.
Imagine the impact of an empowered mother at family level, the punch of an educated woman in the development of our nation and the confidence of a respected woman in our social well being. This undoubtedly stumbles all forms of retrogression in all social, economic and political aspect of our country.
Women in Zimbabwe constitute the majority hence in the spirit of democracy in the exact meaning of the word they should unconditionally occupy positions of influence and have equal share in the distribution of natural resources in the country.
The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development should be taken seriously alongside other pieces of legislation which seek to empower women. These include Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. As Youth Alliance for Democracy we unequivocally support the call for the domestication of such international legal instruments.
We also call upon young women and young men and other civic groups to continue fighting for the inclusion of their rights and fundamental freedoms in the on-going constitutional making process. The new people driven constitution should enshrine laws which protect women from abuse and unequal treatment.
It should be clear in issues to do with property rights, maternity, inheritance laws and statutory instruments that deal with punitive measures of disregarding women’s rights. Gender studies should also be incorporated within the curriculum of our education system from elementary level to the highest level.
This argument is from the perspective that, ‘it is better to build children than to repair men’. Meanwhile Youth Alliance for Democracy supported by Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YET) will commemorate a belated International Women’s Day on the 27th of March in Domboshawa where more than 300 youths are expected to gather. All are invited.
Media and Communications Department
Youth Alliance for Democracy (YAD)
[newsletter]
