Update on women candidates
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has completed the final list of House of Assembly and Senate candidates for the March 2008 harmonised elections, Local council nominations have still to be officially announced.
Female political leaders in Zimbabwe have been campaigning over the last five years for at last 30 per cent of candidates to be women and indications so far are that this target may have been met.
The result, say campaigners, is also down to the hard work of women’s organisations who have been working to empower women and the Women’s Trust for their Women Can Do It campaign.
Protocol waiting to be signed
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development has now completed the necessary paperwork for Zimbabwe’s ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women.
Parliament approved the Protocol on Rights of African Women at the end of last year.
The paperwork is currently with the office of President Mugabe awaiting his signature. As soon as it is signed, it will be sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs who will forward it to the Ambassador to the African Union to lodge on behalf of Zimbabwe.
New York meeting for women’s reps
Women from Zimbabwe are attending the 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, being held in New York from February 25 to March 7.
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development and NGOs
including Padare, Women’s Aid Support Network, ZWRCN, ZWALA and the Coalition, have all sent representatives.
The Commission is considering the priority theme of Financing for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women as well as the emerging issue of Gender Perspectives on Climate Change.Â
The Commission is also reviewing implementation of the recommendations on Women’s Equal Participation in Conflict Prevention, Management and Conflict Resolution and in Post-Conflict Peace-building.
Historic turning point for CEDAW committee
The just-ended 40th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has marked a historic turning point in the work and status of the Committee. The Committee watches over the progress made in countries that signed or acceded to the CEDAW and, for the last 25 years, has been in the UN division of the UN Advancement of Women.This was the Committee’s first session to be held at the United Nations in Geneva, and the first session to be served by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The significance of the move and the enhanced status of the Committee were highlighted by Kyung-wha Kang, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, who assured the Committee that its work on CEDAW would enjoy the highest status, visibility and authority.She said: Your presence in Geneva will greatly contribute to the strengthening of the treaty body system, and the current endeavours towards a harmonised, well-co-ordinated and integrated approach. We believe that your Committee will also push the entire human rights agenda forward by prioritising women’s rights and gender mmainstreaming, in particular through your future relations with the Human Rights Council.In her concluding remarks, Dubravka Simonovic, Chair of the Committee, reminded signatories to the Convention of the need to check compatibility of their legislation with the Convention. In many States, she said, the CEDAW Convention should be rediscovered and used as a central legally-binding instrument for the development of policies for the advancement of women, as well as the elimination of discrimination against women.
International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate sisterhood.Remember Women’s Day
International Women’s Day takes place on March 8 – an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world.The United Nations also commemorates the day and, in some countries, it is designated a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate the day, they are part of a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
Mother-to-be beaten by police
A visibly pregnant student leader who was beaten by police was reported on Thursday to be in labour with complications.Privilege Matanga, ZINASU’s Gender Secretary, was assaulted by riot police when students marched in the streets of Bulawayo two weeks ago.Matanga was said to be in need of a caesarean, but the provincial general hospital she was in had no surgery facilities. Her fellow students were trying to collect money for her transfer to a private hospital.
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