Balance for better, everyone’s responsibility

Youths have implored their peers to uphold unity of purpose, as it is one of the key facets in the drive to achieve this year’s theme “Balance for Better”.

This was revealed during an International Women’s Day commemoration that attracted young people to deliberate on the significance of celebrating women who have made their contributions in history. The meeting that was held at Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) offices sought to define this year’s theme and also deliberate on Zimbabwe’s progress.

‘Women should have a unity of purpose and be able to support each other and not pull each other down as is the norm,” said Andile Tshuma, a local journalist. “We should learn to celebrate each other’s success and not see each other as competition,” she added.

“Some women actually still support patriarchy and this calls for behavioral change if we are to accomplish balance for better.”

Women were also encouraged to make use of opportunities availed to them. This was revealed in light of the economic aspect where loans availed by the government specifically for women yet women are not taking advantage of such initiatives.

In defining balance for better, participants agreed that this was something that Zimbabwe should strive to achieve from policy level as this will also facilitate for development in general and reduce cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV).

However, there was skepticism on the success of policies as there seems to be little interest in enforcing and implementation gender equality.

“Government policy seems not to reach implementation stage and as such it therefore, appears as theoretical as opposed to being practical,” said Aaron Thawu, a young man who was present at today’s IWD 2019 Youth Talk. “There should be full enforcement of gender equality policies for us to achieve measurable progress.”

Source: Women’s Institute for Leadership Development

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