In a play titled “Vagina Monologues”, which recently premiered at 7 Arts Theatre, the group highlighted the hardships faced by women in all aspects of life.
The director, Rudo Chigudu, said it was high time society understood the plight of women. The performers were drawn mainly from Harare’s high density suburbs.
“Katswe Sisterhood is a group of women advocating for the emancipation of women and those who performed did it for free. What is so encouraging about this project is the passion the women showed as they only rehearsed for two weeks to come up with this masterpiece,” said Chigudu.
The play showed women being reduced to second class citizens – even while giving birth, because nurses have their own frustrations making them fail to deliver their duties diligently.
One woman who gave a presentation after the play said as women they also suffer abuse when they move around at night.
“We are constantly harassed by the police, many of whom demand sex, even forcing us to have unprotected sex,” she said.
Tendai Garwe, the facilitator, urged women to engage parliamentarians to address their plight. Other people who spoke at the event blamed the way in which the boy child is socialized when they were young as the root cause of women suffering.
“We teach our daughters how not to get raped, but we do not teach our sons not to rape,” he said. “Boys are not socialized to respect women.”
Katswe sisterhood, which was founded in 2007, staged the show in conjunction with the Gender Challenge Initiative.
Post published in: News