GOVERNMENT says it has all hands on deck to ensure women have access to key decision -making platforms as the country grapples with mitigating and ending gender inequality.
Speaking during the Women Leadership High Level Summit held in Harare, Vice-President Kembo Mohadi said government already had interventions in place to ensure women were not sidelined and that challenges such as gender-based violence were nipped in the bud.
“Our own National Development Strategy 1 recognizes gender equality and women empowerment as key imperatives in driving the achievement of inclusive growth and development,” said Mohadi.
“In view of this realisation, Zimbabwe has ratified a number of instruments on promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and these include the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Maputo Protocol and the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development,” he said.
Zimbabwean women’s participation in leadership and politics remains low at 35% in Parliament, 16% in local government and 11,5% in Cabinet.
Mohadi said in fulfillment of these instruments and protocols, the government had developed the National Gender Policy and the National Strategy for Women in Leadership and Decision Making as guiding documents for implementation of gender equality initiatives in all sectors.
“Resultantly, a number of initiatives have been undertaken by the government in partnership with development partners, civil society and the private sector towards the achievement of gender equality.
“Some of the measures include extending the quota system for women parliamentarians from 2023 where it was supposed to end to 2028. In addition to the parliamentary quota, we have also expanded the quota system to the local government seats. This level of government is close to the people and inclusion of more women will ensure that their issues are brought to central government,” he said.
“Additionally the chairperson of the Mutapa Investment Fund, chairperson and chief executive officers of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission and the chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission are women. In addition to these appointments, boards of parastatals are required to uphold gender equality.
“To ensure that the same is extended to the private sector, the government is continuously engaging captains of industry and commerce.
“On the economic front, the government is aware of the critical role women are playing in key sectors such as agriculture, mining, tourism and manufacturing and has implemented various support initiatives to strengthen this position.”
He said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe through its national financial inclusion strategy had strengthened easy access to bank loans by women through establishing the collateral registry, which provided for the use of mobile assets to secure loans.
Speaking at the same event, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the women of Zimbabwe were excited by the position assumed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and were optimistic of leveraging on Zimbabwe’s Sadc chairmanship to drive regional momentum on gender equality and women empowerment issues.
