WOMEN’S organisations have said women should not look down upon themselves and suppress each other in order for them to achieve development.
OWN CORRESPONDENT
At an International Women’s Day celebration at a Bulawayo hotel organised by the National Youth Development Trust held under the theme Inspiring Change, women blamed the syndrome of looking down upon each other as their major setback to development.
They said women had a tendency of undermining each other in all sectors of development by promoting men.
Women generally stereotypically believed that high-ranking jobs were for men when they had the capabilities of doing them.
Nanzile Nyathi from Young at Heart Foundation Trust said women should stop undermining each other and work together to achieve development.
“Women have a syndrome of pulling each other down. You will find a woman saying, ‘I can’t vote for that woman, but I’m voting for that man’ because of jealousy. This leads to situations whereby you will find a man as the director of women’s affairs, but doesn’t know anything about women issues,” Nyathi said.
A Bulawayo Agenda official said women should know their rights and stand firm to show their importance.
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“You should know your rights, but don’t abuse them. The fact that you have rights doesn’t mean that you should disrespect your husbands,” she said.
Christian Legal Society’s Nanziwe Tshuma said some women did not know their rights, especially on inheritance, and some were denied the opportunity to participate in the developmental programmes by the patriarchal ideology.
“We are willing to help women know their rights because the Constitution empowers women to participate in developmental programmes,” Tshuma said.
