BY STEPHEN CHADENGA
WOMEN who want to run for political office in 2023 should change strategy if they are to win more votes than men, a government official said yesterday.
Midlands provincial development officer in the Women’s Affairs ministry, Sithembile Dube, said female political candidates needed to economically empower themselves if they were to face men in the elections.
“The time for continuous discussions that women are sidelined by men because they lack resources is over,” Dube told a Women Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) Midlands chapter meeting in Gweru.
“As government, we have put in place mechanisms to make sure that women access funds to economically empower themselves. We have loans from the Women’s Bank as well as other development funds. It is time women who vie for political office access these funds.”
Dube said women should not wait for 2023 to start income-generating projects as contesting in elections needed time to prepare.
Most women who attended the meeting agreed that economic resources were the major hindrance in women competing against their male counterparts during the election campaign period.
She encouraged women political aspirants to start taking action now, rather than continue to be cry-babies in politics.
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Speaking at the same meeting, WCoZ Midlands vice-chairperson Florence Guzha said women should team-up and start income generating projects so that come 2023, they would put together adequate resources and mount a formidable challegnge during elections.
Dube said women needed to change attitude and believe in themselves if they were to challenge male dominance in politics.
“More to that, we should support each other as women and desist from the pull-her-down syndrome,” she added.
