International women's day

 

The first International Women’s Day occurred on March 19 in 1911. The inaugural event, which included rallies and organized meetings, was held  in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. The March 19 date was chosen because it commemorated the day that the Prussian king promised to introduce women's votes in 1848. The promise gave hope for equality, but he failed to keep the promise. March 8, the date we know today as International Women’s Day, came about after the International Women’s Day demonstration in Russia in 1917. February 23  in the Julian calendar  that  Russia was using was the equivalent of March 8 in the Gregorian calendar that we are using.

The UN drew global attention to women's concerns in 1975 by calling for an International Women's Year. It also convened the first conference on women in Mexico City that year. The UN General Assembly then invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for Women's Rights and International Peace in 1977. The day aimed to help nations worldwide eliminate discrimination against women. It also focused on helping women gain full and equal participation in global development.International Women’s day is held annually on March 8 to celebrate women’s achievements,acknowledge their peculiar challenges and focus on women’s rights and gender equality.

In line with global trends in Zimbabwe we celebrate pacesetters among women such as Divine Ndhukula @DivineNdhlukula a  businesswoman, founder and Managing Director of DDNS Security Operations (Pvt) Ltd she is also the President of Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce since 2017,Zodwa Mnkandla  a successful entrepreneur who is the managing director and the owner of Traverze, a leisure and business travel Management Company.Maud Chifamba  @maud_chifamba  who is an auditor at Deloitte,she acquired her first degree at the  age of 18 and Musawenkosi Saurombe who
 became the youngest female PhD holder in Africa  at 23 years after she received her PhD in Industrial Psychology from the North-West University in South Africa. Although we gain inspiration from these pacesetters it is paramount to note that International Women’s day celebrates women for who they are ,the struggles that they come across each day the milestones that they have to achieve in the male dominated spaces.Halala bafazi halala we salute you.

Socio-economic Impact of Covid 19 in Zimbabwe

 

  Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic in early 2020,In that short space of time it has extensively altered the global political and socio-economic landscape. The pandemic has forced nations to implement various measures aimed at curtailing its effects. Communities have been affected with churches, beerhalls and schools being closed. Freedom of movement is now restricted as people can no longer go out as they wish within and between cities. In the worst cases, some countries have closed their borders. Recently in Zimbabwe , the Ministry of Health and Child Care imposed restrictions on the movement of bodies for burial in the country. Such measures by Government indicate that it is indeed no longer business as usual. Desperate measures  for desperate times. While vaccines for the virus have been developed, primarily in the United States, they are yet to be effectively rolled out and the average person can only wait in hope and live with a pandemic that is threatening every aspect of human existence. As the world is waiting in hope and positive anticipation, a new variant of Covid-19 seems to have hit the world again. Experts say that the variant is more dangerous than the earlier one and people should be more careful. In Zimbabwe, the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened and recent statistics confirm this claim. As of Tuesday the 26^th of February 2021, the cumulative number of cases was 35315.A total of 1414 deaths have been recorded to date. More worrying is the recovery rate which has plummeted to just above 60 percent. These statistics reveal a sharp rise in cases and mortality, which is a cause for concern. On January 2 this year, the Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga announced a 30-day lockdown for the country to address the pandemic. Predictably, there has been debate as to the effectiveness and relevance of this move with some arguing that complacency still remains a challenge as people break down lockdown regulations.

Others lament the social and economic effects of the lockdown on the livelihoods of the majority of people as the major driver  of disregarding lock down rules.