Women in Zimbabwe remain vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity at household level because they are disempowered socially and economically, Harare Metropolitan Provincial minister Miriam Chikukwa has said.
By Phyllis Mbanje
Speaking at a Women’s Self-Promotion Movement (WSPM) graduation in Harare recently, Chikukwa said there was need to fight poverty and unemployment in order to empower women.
“Women remain the backbone of the family unit as wives and mothers and they need to be empowered,” she said.
Chikukwa urged women to use the acquired skills to successfully run their businesses.
“This, in turn, will enable them to employ other people in the future and their businesses will expand, well beyond their imagination,” she said.
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According to a factsheet produced by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Zimbabwe has achieved a lot in terms of promoting gender equality and women empowerment.
However, despite the significant progress made in the area of policy and legislation reform, the legal, socio-economic and political status of women remains relatively low.
The government is a signatory to various regional and international conventions, treaties, declarations and protocols that seek to promote and create an enabling environment for the attainment of gender equality and women empowerment.
In the 1998 Human Development Report, Zimbabwe was described as a “highly unequal society”, which is a reflection of the general low status of women in terms of access, control, ownership of economic resources and positions in decision-making processes.
In a speech read on her behalf by provincial co-ordinator in the ministry, Munyaradzi Dzinotizei, Women’s Affairs minister Nyasha Chikwinya said women’s socio-economic empowerment was key to the realisation of their rights.
“Empowering women will also guarantee their inclusion and active participation in decision-making and power,” she said.
The minister applauded efforts being made by WSPM in assisting disadvantaged and marginalised women to venture in income-generating activities for poverty alleviation.
“The initiative by Women’s Self-Promotion Movement is highly laudable and I recommend that this project be implemented in all the 10 provinces,” she said.
A total of 120 women from areas like Kuwadzana, Hopley, Mbare and Mabvuku graduated in various disciplines, which included marketing, business leadership, bookkeeping and entrepreneurship.
WSPM is a registered women empowerment organisation formed in 2001 and plays a critical role in promoting women economic empowerment and leadership capacity-building through training and offering seed grants to disadvantaged and marginalised women and girls.