Young women in Magwegwe speak out on low participation.

Women have often taken the back seat particularly when it comes to participation in national processes and civic programming. This is largely prevalent in Africa where women have blamed culture for silencing them; as women are viewed as inferior and are not accorded space to air their views.

At a young women’s study circle organized by the National Youth Development Trust in the western suburb of Magwegwe, young women spoke out on why they do not actively participate in national processes and civic programming.

The major reason for the lack of participation was that they have no interest in Zimbabwean party politics. Most of the young women have mistakenly assumed that all meetings done by civic organizations are about politics. For this reason this group of young people missed out on the chance to contribute to the country’s constitution.

“The reason why we do not participate in most of these activities is that most of us are not interested in party politics. Young men will often outnumber us as politics is what they are interested in. Politics in Zimbabwe is known to be violent and a cause of great conflict, so we do not want to be a part of that violence,” said Sandisiwe Ncube.

Nonsikelelo Ndlovu a member of NYDT who was facilitating the discussion talked to the young women about the repercussions of not participating in national processes. She highlighted the fact that young men and young women have different needs and these platforms are there for both to lobby so that their needs are catered for.

“It is important for young women to participate in national processes and civic meetings to voice out issues that affect them so that they are addressed at a higher level. For instance young men will not talk about free sanitary wear as they have no use for it, but this is an issue that young women can lobby for and be successful as it affects them,” said Ndlovu.

Other issues raised at this study circle are that their participation in electoral processes is hindered by the fact that they are not informed about the ongoing process of registering. Most of the young women admitted to not knowing where they are supposed to register as voters. Others cited parental control as a factor affecting their participation, as most parents are over protective of the girl child to the point of denying them the freedom to participate in national processes and other meetings that could benefit the socio- economic and political environment.

After learning about the benefits of participation in national processes and civic programming the young women of Magwegwe left more determined to participate in civic spaces and national processes, with the first step being getting themselves registered in preparation for elections in the near future.