Flashback – March 1997
A couple of weeks before March 8th 1997 the international women’s day, several women were angered by some letters published in local newspapers. The authors of the letters were men. They charged that women could, and would never, capably take supreme authority over men. The authors argued that women, especially those in Zambia, will always have to depend on men to succeed in whatever goals they hoped to achieve. The chain reaction that followed saw some men agreeing with the argument while many women regarded this as one of the major reasons why women were perpetually down-trodden.
On March 8, the argument grew more intense as some women turned against each other.On that day, thousands of women in various parts of the country organised marches to commemorate the day with general calls for equal opportunities.Many of them cast aside their political differences and walked side-by-side in the quest to talk with one voice to prove that what women were demanding went beyond the artificial barriers of politics.
In Lusaka, the march was crowned by a speech by Nakatindi Wina, the chairperson of the women’s affairs committee in the ruling MMD party. She said the occasion was important to remind people of the continued fight by women for equal rights, international peace and social progress. Some women also called on government to declare the day an annual national holiday.
Edith’s Nawakwi’s response to marching on Womens Day
But, not all women saw the need to mark the occasion by marching on the streets or to be addressed by some dignitary or other. Thousands of other women were either ignorant of the occasion or chose to ignore it by going about their daily business. These included street venders, women who crush stones on road sides and women who do the cooking in makeshift restaurants. So it could be said that the women taking part in the marches were the more enlightened ones.However, among the enlightened women who chose to keep away from the occasion was Zambia’s only woman cabinet minister, Edith Nawakwi. She chose to spend the day working on a farm. Nawakwi, who was Agriculture, Food and Fisheries minister, condemned the tendency of women to mark women’s day by marching in the streets rather than working. She contended that “Zambia lags behind in development because of such attitudes, by not finding a positive manner in which to mark the day.”
[pullquote]For many women, however, political positions are not the issue. All they care about is being able to raise enough money to buy food for their children and to send them to school. [/pullquote] Nawakwi was a guest at a Field Day organised by 65 women engaged in agriculture production who chose to celebrate the day by demonstrating what they were capable of achieving in the field.Nawakwi’s condemnation of the march drew a sharp reaction from Wina and other women. Wina referred to on Nawakwi’s remarks as “indiscipline” and said she would table the issue before a national executive committee meeting of the MMD, to which both belonged . But, Nawakwi’s remarks also drew support from other women, who said that she was right in calling for a new perspective by women in commemorating their day.
Such bitter differences among Zambian women are not new. In 1995, Zambian women were split on similar lines when they differed over how to present their case and on who was to lead their delegation to the Beijing Women’s Conference.Zambia ended up having two delegations, each travelling separately with its own agenda. Against this background, and two years on, the one point all women seem to agree on is that the status of women has not improved.
As Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) committee secretary Judith Chomba said, poverty and unemployment had risen while economic and political power is still concentrated among men.The 150-seat Zambian parliament has only 13 women, with Nawakwi the only minister. And, although virtually all political parties proclaimed in their manifestos that they would strive to enhance the status of the woman, this was not reflected in practical terms.
What women really want
In the previous November’s parliamentary elections,the MMD fielded no more than 20 female candidates. The highest figure was fielded by the Zambia Democratic Congress with 25.For many women, however, political positions are not the issue. All they care about is being able to raise enough money to buy food for their children and to send them to school. It is the inability of some of their husbands to support their respective families, that has forced many of them into such jobs as stone-crushing and the street vending of foods. And, despite AIDS and the renewed efforts of the police to curb prostitution, for some women, this has become the solution to their money needs.
The then Deputy Minister of Health, Professor Nkandu Luo, believed that despite the harsh economic climate, women could still find a “decent” way in which to earn a living, and that women should be seen to be helping their fellow women.Professor Luo, Zambia’s first female professor of medicine, is a founder of a prostitute’s rehabilitation centre.Organisations like the Women’s Lobby Group, contend that one of the solutions for inequality is ensuring that girls are given the best of opportunities and incentives for being in school. Girls’ pass marks in government schools are lower than those of boys, as a deliberate government policy to ensure that more girls advance in school and eventually get into college or university.Some principals of privately-owned schools, however, argue that setting lower pass marks for girls could eventually work against the same people in the future because they would be advancing through the stages without being fully prepared for an independent and competitive life.Others, however, argue that more should be done for the female pupil saying that government should also protect girls from early marriage.
In rural areas,many girls are married before the age of 16.For women like Cecilia Makota, however, the solution lies in farming. She noted that most women in the rural areas of Zambia are already engaged in farming and that this is what should be enhanced to improve their status. She contended that mere talk or “walking the street in marches” would not draw the support and sympathy of the government. Ms Makota, a successful farmer and business woman, says that if women are seen to be making personal efforts to succeed, government or foreign support would be easier to source.Cultural barriers have also been identified as a major drawback in efforts to enhance the status of the Zambian women. In virtually all Zambian tribes, the woman must be submissive to the man. This often means that the woman does not have much, if any, say on issues like the number of children a couple is to have. Organisations like the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ)has been lobbying government to pass a law that would limit a couple’s number of children to four. The effort has so far drawn a minimal response. Zambian women have evidently identified areas they would like to tackle in an effort to bridge the gap between themselves and the men. In some cases they have also offered steps that could be taken in getting solutions. In many cases, however, implementation of the proposals has been slow. And now, given what could be seen as this problem of differences amongst themselves, some men could just take advantage and reiterate that women will always need the guidance of men to achieve any goal.
