As the world celebrates 2022 International Day of Rural Women on 15th October, Zimbabwe joins with a launch at John Landa Nkomo High School in Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North Province on Friday, there after they will be commemorations in all provinces and districts.
“The International theme for 2022 is “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All” and our national Theme this year is: “Rural Women Cultivating Food for All ” , Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Dr Sithembiso Nyoni told the press Thursday.
Speaking at the national press conference to launch the 2022 International Day of Rural Women commemorations Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said the day was adopted by the United Nations Conference for Women in Beijing , in September 1995.
According to the 2019 Women and Men in Zimbabwe Report (ZIMSTAT), 80% of women live in the communal areas where they constitute 61% of the farmers and provide 70% of the labour.
Women have traditionally been assigned the onerous role of caregiving in their families. Rural women work 16 to 18 hours a day and spend at least 49% of their time on agricultural activities and about 25% on domestic activities.
They play a leading role in the provision of essential needs which include food, care for the sick, and conducting all the household chores. In fact, globally, one in three employed women work in agriculture, collect biomass fuels and manually processes food materials, and more than 80% of households rely on women and girls for water collection.
“Despite women and girls’ critical contributions to rural communities, they lag behind rural men and urban women on almost all global gender and development indicators for which data is available. Women face gender disparities in access to and control over resources such as land and finance and participation in spheres of life”, Minister Sithembiso Nyoni told journalists.
Studies show that rural women have very little or no time left for their own leisure or rest and this has a negative impact on their health. They are busy all day long and also take care of the elderly family members.
Minister Nyoni bemoaned the gender disparity faced by women in access to and control over resources such as land, finance and participation in spheres of life.
“They encounter numerous constraints in accessing affordable, adequate health services for example services at clinics and hospitals, reproductive health/family planning and counseling. This is because of lack of affordability, restrictions on their mobility, and lack of access to transport. They face difficulties in accessing credit, equipment, machinery and technology which are essential for them to work less labour time”, she added.
“The gender disparities in ownership, access to, and control of livelihood resources such as land, water, energy as well as credit, knowledge, and labour negatively affect women’s food production”, said the Minister.
” For instance, failure to access land often means that women obtain lower yields than would otherwise be possible if household resources were allocated more equitably”, she highlighted.
” In security of tenure for women thus compromises their production potential and increases food insecurity. Greater food security would be achieved if women had access to needed assets and resources and had a voice in the decisions that have an impact on the lives of their households and communities”, urged the Minister for women to be empowered.
Rural women often face constraints to market their produce due to factors such as lack of mobility and knowledge about markets, capacity, and technical skills.
Female agro- based entrepreneurs can play important economic roles that have positive effects beyond the micro level, for example, supplying food, contributing to value adding activities and creation of employment opportunities. Women are often hindered by discriminatory and harmful traditional practices and gender stereotypes from accessing opportunities to expand their economic activities.
Agricultural and rural non-farm employment plays a critical role in rural development, food security, poverty reduction and rural women’s economic empowerment. However, in many rural areas, agricultural wage labour is often the only employment option available to poor rural women.
“My Ministry has put in place some programmes to ensure that rural women effectively participate in the following sectors: agriculture, mining, tourism, trade and manufacturing. These are being implemented under the Broad Based Women Economic Empowerment Framework which calls for the participation of women in key economic sectors”, she said.
The significant hindrance to women’s potential to participate in the mainstream economy has been financial exclusion and this led to the establishment of the Zimbabwe Women Microfinance Bank by my Ministry in 2018. The Bank provides financial literacy and affordable financing to enable women carry out income generating activities. These rural women have been traditionally side-lined in accessing funding from the conventional banking system.
The Ministry has also established the Women’s Development Fund and the Zimbabwe Community Development Fund to enable women access affordable funding. These funds are revolving loans aimed at promoting economic empowerment of women through the provision of collateral free and low interest loans.
Women also generate revenue from programs supported by the Ministry such as Internal Savings and Lending Schemes and the Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS).
The Ministry supports women to participate at local shows and exhibitions in order for them to expose their products and acquire markets. Efforts are underway to engage local authorities to ensure that women are allocated safe trading sites.
“My Ministry has also played a critical role in empowering women through skills development, technology transfer and value addition of local resource endowments”, she added.
Concluding her statement on the International Rural Women`s Day, she wishes to express her great concern over reports of young girls dying whilst giving birth, which is evidently more prevalent in rural communities.
“The Ministry notes with distress another recent sad incident of a girl child, Nokutenda Hwaramba of Norton who died at a shrine in Bikita while giving birth. This is clearly another case of rape, which unfortunately resulted in her death. This is one of the many incidents of maternal deaths occurring among children and still fresh in our minds is the death of Annah Machaya who also died at a shrine in Marange area in 2021”, she said.
In both and most instances, parents and guardians are found at the centre of concealing these despicable incidences of abuse. As a nation, there is need to make some serious collective introspection of the efforts in place to protect these young people and the effectiveness of such interventions.
She said 11 October, was the Day of the Girl Child, as declared by United Nations. so a nation, we also take stock of all the commitments we have made on most of the issues that affect the girl child. ” We want to be celebrating the girl child on this day but we find ourselves faced with such saddening scenarios, which I implore all of us reflect and introspect if this is the kind of life we want for our girl child. This introspection is not limited to any organisation or individual, it calls for collective action”, she added.
She also said as Zimbabwe, there is need to be alive to the fact that these are gross violations of the girls’ rights. “The Ministry condemns, in the strongest sense, such harmful practices and calls upon all stakeholders to be proactive in the fight against Gender Based Violence and harmful Practices of Child Marriages”, she revealed.
The Marriage Act clearly state that the age of marriage is 18. Families and communities, religious and traditional leaders need to spring into action against such contemptible acts.
“The Ministry calls upon all actors and responsible authorities to take action against such criminal acts that are happening in most communities. The law must be implemented in its totality to ensure that girls are protected from abuse”, said Minister Nyoni.
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