Zimbabwe women from all walks of life gathered in Harare last Friday to celebrate the International Women Day where they demanded to have equal economic opportunities with their male counterparts at one day conference hosted by the Corporate Social Responsibility Zimbabwe, PROWEB and UN Women.
Running under the theme: – I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”, the conference came out with resolutions which the women say will be tabled and shared with all stakeholders in Zimbabwe.
CSRNZ convened this conference as its 2020 World CSR Day commemorations. The organisation notes that women play a pivotal role in economic development and their contribution cannot be underestimated.
CSR Network Zimbabwe’s strategic vision is to encourage the private sector to play a lead role in the promotion of the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard our focus in 2020 is Sustainable Development Goal Number 5 (Gender Equality)
The conference theme was also aligned with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generation Equality, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, the Beijing Platform for Action is recognized as the most progressive roadmap for the empowerment of women and girls, everywhere.
The emerging global consensus is that despite some progress, real change has been agonizingly slow for the majority of women and girls in the world. In this regard this one-day conference is set to explore challenges and find lasting solutions for Zimbabwe to realise gender equality.
The minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Hon Sthembiso Nyoni graced the occasion as the guest of honour. In attendance was also the UN Women country representative Delphine Serumaga as well as the Cuban Ambassador to Zimbabwe who was a guest speaker.
Below are the resolutions that came out of the meeting
- There is need to have engagement platforms with parliamentarians to check on progress and implementation of policies dedicated for women and to hold them accountable
- There is need to strengthen an apex board for all women groups (WABAZ) so that women can talk with one voice
- There is need to push for a provision of a women quota on boards, not just in politics
- There is need to have an all stakeholder women conference which is bigger and inclusive every year
