Women, most victims of social-economic effects of COVID 19- UN

By ANN ZULU

Lusaka, Zambia

COVID-19 is increasing poverty particularly among women and girls, Special Envoy of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region Huang Xia has observed.

Mr Xia said women were the most victims of the social-economic effects of the pandemic.

He said this when he chaired the 12^th session meeting of the Advisory Board for Women, Peace and Security for the Great Lakes Region which was conducted via video conference with members from several countries.

The meeting set its agenda to include mobilization of the regional and international community to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 and to preserve the achievements recorded in relation to the Women, Peace and Security component; participation of women in the political and electoral process in the region; and engagement of member states to ensure prevention, protection and economic recovery and implementation of the Regional Action Plan.

It also reviewed the operationalization of the Regional Action Plan of resolution 2000 of the Great Lakes Region and examined the role of Gender Ministers in national, regional and international response to the ongoing health crisis as well as participation of women in forthcoming elections.

Participants of the 12^th session meeting of the Advisory Board for Women, Peace and Security for the Great Lakes Region

Mr Xia urged members of the board to redouble their efforts to stimulate advocacy actions at local, national and regional levels towards not only prevention and protection, but also socio-economic transformation which would take into account the priorities of women and girls in all countries of the Great Lakes region during the COVID 19 pandemic.

And Members of the Advisory Board pledged to champion the interests of women and girls.

Gender in International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Director and member of the advisory board Eliane Mokodopo noted that most women in the great lakes region could not provide family basic needs such as food and health services during this period.

“Women are the most active in business, especially informal sector. When borders are closed, and movements restricted, they cannot generate income," Ms Mokodopo said.

The board also made recommendations to Governments in the region to sensitize men and women to share responsibilities and tasks at home to reduce the heavy domestic work normally done by women.

They also suggested putting in place strategies to secure fund for women in order to allow them restart their financial activities when countries start the new normal.

The Advisory Board for Women, Peace and Security for the Great Lakes Region which Zambia is part of, was initiated in 2013 under the support of the office of the UN special Envoy to provide recommendations on issues related to women, peace and security.

A Zambian Female Journalist's Perspective

ANN ZULU Writes Despite having more female Journalists than men in Zambia, majority of people who hold top positions in the media are men, while women are the assistants or nothing.

In the Zambian media, It really doesn't matter whether the females are better, being female makes them only good enough to assist the male and be juniors.

As a matter of fact, “senior” positions are exclusively reserved for the best man, while the best woman is always his assistant or nothing.

In many cases, the best journalists are women, but hey they are still made to aspire for the second best position or nothing, NO MATTER how good they are.

This brings me to women in politics...... There are fewer females at the top because the enthusiasm to succeed, compete and beat the male counterparts has been killed.

Only a few women are able to break free from this societal-inflicted mental incapacitation, and go higher. And these few are most of the females you see at the top.

There are even cases where people have refused to vote for a particular candidate just because she is female.

I know we have come a long way from where we started the cause to break the gender barriers, but there is still a lot to be done.

We are still very far away from where we should be. We can do more as individuals and as people, we can start in our little capacities.

*Let us stop giving boys the impression that being males automatically entitles them to be better than half the world’s population.

*Vote the people who you genuinely believe are best suited for a particular position, irrespective of gender.

*Encourage girls as much as you encourage boys to aspire for top and leadership positions.

*Do not give female children the impression that the best they can be is second to a man.

*Let every individual have a fair chance to compete, and let the best person (not best male) win.

*When it comes to choosing, appointing or electing a leader, we stand a better chance of choosing the best from a whole population than we do from choosing from half the population.

Leadership is a human quality which actually cuts across both genders!!!!!

My Story, Every Curvy little Girl's story

Ann Zulu

ANN ZULU Writes I was 12yrs old when I came to understand that Men felt entitled to my body. My natural instinct was then to hide it, so it doesn't get taken against my will, but with the attainment of puberty, came broader hips and a bigger backside.

The stares I got and constant cat calls I received from Men, filled me with a sense of fear and shame over my body parts. I began to envy my mates who had no hips and flat asses. They could wear whatever they wanted without attracting unwholesome attention.

But No!! my body won't let me move about in peace. It kept bringing trouble my way. It was because of my body Grown Men kept staring at me that way, a lot of them old enough to be my father. It was because of my hips, they cat called. It was because of my ass, they dragged and pulled at me and tried to touch me indiscriminately.

It was my body's fault and invariably my fault that Men felt aroused around me and wanted to take advantage of me. My body had betrayed me and kept betraying me and so I had to hide it. It was my duty to conceal my hips, to hide my back side, to cover my curves with big T.shirts and bogus clothes.

But what did it change? Nothing!!! My world dictated to me how to present my body in protection of Mens' sexual desires. They wrapped it in the word "decency" and yet it changed absolutely nothing.

They wanted me regardless and would stick their hands under my bogus T-shirts to grab my ass the first chance they got. Then I understood that "decency" was a hoax. My body wasn't indecent. My clothes weren't indecent. These idiotic randy irresponsible men were the indecent ones. So I LIBERATED myself by defining decency on my own terms.

Dear curvy girl child, I conquered  and trust me you can too......

Zambians, stop the GBV hypocrisy!!!!!!

Ann Zulu writes

12-year-old girl battles for her life after being 'set on fire' by mom

By ANN ZULU

A 12 year old girl (name withheld) is battling for her life at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) after her she was burnt by her mother for allegedly stealing K40.

According to witnesses, the victim’s mother identified as Prudence Phiri of Lusaka’s old Kanyama Compound poured Kerosene on her daughter’s body and set her alight because she allegedly stole her money.

The victim’s grandmother, only identified as Bana-kulu Blessing who is also the mother to the suspect said she is devastated by her daughter’s act.

She told this reporter in an interview yesterday, that she did not really know what transpired, as she was not present when the incident occurred.

She said she was just informed by neighbors that her granddaughter had been burnt by her mother for allegedly stealing K40.

“I am very confused right now. I don’t really know why my daughter did that to her own child because I have not sat down with her since the incident happened to find out what went wrong. I was just called on Thursday by some people who took my granddaughter to the hospital that she has been burnt for stealing money.

Bana-kulu Blessings lamented that her granddaughter was in pain and that she only pray for God’s intervention.

“I can’t help seeing her condition. She is in pain, confused and she doesn’t know what is happening around her, I only pray to God that He heals her. The wounds are too much,” she said.

And Police Spokesperson Esther Mwata Katongo confirmed that the suspect has been arrested.

Ms Katongo said the suspect has not yet been charged, as police are still investigating the matter.

She however, disclosed that the suspect is likely to be charged with either assault occasioning actual bodily harm or assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.

Meanwhile, the Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) Chairperson Beauty Katebe has described the incident as criminal.

Ms Katebe charged that it was horrendously barbaric of Prudence, the mother to the victim, to set on fire her own daughter even if she did stole the money.

She has since called for justice to prevail regardless of the relationship between the victim and the suspect. 

“If she is found guilty, then she must be jailed. It doesn’t matter whether she is the mother to the child, what she did is totally unacceptable and barbaric. Even if the child stole that money, she shouldn’t have gone to that extent.

“Such a person does not deserve to live with people in society, jail is a place for such people, because if is she can do that to her own child, what about other children and people who are not related to her? This shows that she can do worse than that,” She said.

Ms Katebe further counselled women to use appropriate methods when disciplining children.

“Torturing a child is not the solution, it does not change the child nor bring about appropriate behaviour. There are correct methods of disciplining a child, you don’t have to be brutal or use an object. You can correct a child, just by talking to them and they will listen,” Ms Katebe said.

And Media Network on Children’s Rights and Development (MNCRD) director Henry Kabwe has called on government and stakeholders to scale up their efforts in ensuring Child protection in Zambia.

Mr Kabwe said the growing trend of children being abused and tortured in the country was worrisome and needed to be addressed urgency.

“The increasing number of cases of Children being abused and tortured especially by people close to them should be a wakeup call to us as a country, the fact that this incidents have continued to occur shows that we have not done enough,” Mr Kabwe said.

Women access to Digital Financial Services made easier

By ANN ZULU

WHEN it comes to financial inclusion in Zambia, women are financially excluded across both formal and informal services.

Compared to their male counterparts, women in Zambia are at a disadvantage in accessing financial services.

Although women make up 51 percent of the Zambian population, only 58 percent of women have access to formal or informal financial services (this includes banks, mobile money, savings groups combined) as opposed to 61% of men who have access to these same services.

To help address the situation, the United Nations Capital Development Fund’s (UNCDF) , which is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries has launched the Mobile Money for the Poor Programme (MM4P) in Zambia and recently held a workshop.

The UNCDF creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital and the MM4P is a programme launched by agency in partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation.

MM4P provides support to Digital Financial Services (DFS) in a select group of least developed countries (LDCs) to demonstrate how the correct mix of financial, technical and policy support can build a robust DFS ecosystem that reaches low income people in LDCs.

One of the key objectives of the programme in Zambia is to support DFS providers in the country to adopt a method of service delivery that suits women’s needs and wants.

At the workshop, UNCDF and representatives from various financial organizations including Airtel Money, FINCA Zambia, MTN Mobile Money, Zanaco and Zoona met to discuss one innovative approach, human centric design and iterative testing, that is changing how DFS providers approach product/service design and implementation to improve access of women to their products.

According to UNCDF Zambia Knowledge Management Specialist Uloma Ogba, for financial services, specifically DFS to be accessible and useful to women, they must be designed taking into account the needs, wants and aspirations of women, including low-income and rural women.

“At UNCDF, we believe that by adopting a human centric design approach which elevates the women to the “queen” status, we can promote increased financial inclusion for Zambian women.” said Ms Ogba.

And Airtel Zambia Sales Manager Alfred Phiri emphasised the need for increase in the uptake of digital financial services by women in the country.

Mr Phiri notes that with the support of UNCDF, Airtel Mobile Money has conducted product tests to address issues such as liquidity management and is taking steps to implement the results of these tests in its operations.

During the workshop it was also learnt that other corporations in financial services performed similar tests and research where the prevalent finding was that the process of understanding the customer mostly women was often neglected.

The UNCDF’s programme will not only improve women’s access to financial services, but will also promote financial inclusion for women and bring human-centred design to DFS which will improve the provider’s ability to provide services according the needs and wants of women. 

Condom use now more open

By ANN ZULU

THE use of condoms was in the past considered as immoral among Zambians because it promoted sexual promiscuity.

However, the perception has changed due to publicity and sensitisation by stakeholders that mostly focuses on the safety that condoms provide to users.

Condoms are now sold everywhere unlike in the past when it was difficult to find one.

A survey by the Daily Nation uncovered different brands of condoms, including, Rough Rider, Durex, Gold, Love, Be Safe, Maximum, Icon and Kiss among others.

The prices of condoms on the market ranges from K5 to K30 per pack at most of the shops visited.

Ms Karen Mwewa, who owns a drug store in Lusaka noted that due to high publicity and sensitisation in the past years on the use of condoms for safe sex and protection, customers boldly come to buy the product.

She said the price of the condoms was based on the quality, texture and brand names, adding that the purchases were based on customer’s financial situation, satisfaction and other personal experiences.

Ms Mwewa appealed to pharmacists to educate customers on the proper use of condoms to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

She also disclosed the demand for condoms goes up during Valentine, Christmas and public holidays.

“My customers mostly buy Maximum because of the publicity and affordability, condoms are highly patronised by both the young and the old. People walk in to buy irrespective of who is at the counter.

“At times some women even walk in to buy, every day is a market day for the sale of condoms, but weekends are special,” she said

Ms Mwewa however, noted that there were a few who still feel shy when they come to the store to buy condoms.

“Some customers feel shy so they write the name or type of condoms they want to buy on a paper and send children to buy for them. All the same the condom business is doing well,” she said.

The Daily Nation survey also revealed that the female condoms were not in the market due to lack of sensitisation.

Mr Kelvin Kalumba, a Pharmacist, observed that most people preferred the male condoms to the female ones.

“Pharmacies have stopped selling the female condoms because people don’t buy them and it is very difficult to get on the market these days.

“Even ladies who occasionally go to stores to buy male condoms don’t buy female condoms,” Mr Kalumba said.