MARTIN MAWAYA
HARARE-Zimbabwe women have been urged to harness the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance politically related engagements during the election period.
The call was made by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) in a statement to mark the International Women’s Day held under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.
The day was set aside to commemorate women’s achievements in economic, social and political spheres.
According to the Commission, the theme aims to bring on spotlight the gender gap between men and women in terms of access and use of digital technology.
It says ICTs are important tools for the advancement of gender equality and women participation in political arena.
“As Zimbabwe prepares for the 2023 national elections, the ZHRC notes the importance of using digital technologies in political landscape, since mobile phones, the internet and social media platforms and applications enhance political participation. Therefore, the ZHRC urges women in politics to intensify their use of digital Communication tools like Facebook, Twitter, SMS, WhatsApp, promotional videos, podcasts and blogs.
“These tools eliminate the use of intermediaries in communication and allow women themselves to be “the news makers so as to improve their political participation,” reads part of the statement.
The national human rights institution and public protector for Zimbabwe pointed out that there is limited coverage of women in the traditional media during elections which resultantly affects their political campaigns and outcome of election results.
In pursuit of peace and justice, ZHRC encouraged all Zimbabweans to use digital technologies appropriately during and after the elections period.
It says cyber bullying have been extended not only to women in politics but also women in leadership positions related to business, politics as well as their spouses.
The Commission added that it is against the law to use “digital technologies to intimidate, harass, threaten, bully, humiliate, degrade or demean another person” hence “citizens must refrain from using digital technologies to perpetuate online technology -assisted abuse such as on-line hate speech, excessive scrutiny of contestant’s private lives, online body shaming,”.
It implored the government and key stakeholders to ensure protection of women and girls from abuse as well as working towards creating a conducive environment so that they can have access, and make maximum use of the technology.
According to the global statistics from the United Nations (UN), 62% of men use the internet, as compared to 47% of women.
The statistics further revealed that 21% of women in Africa have access to internet, while the internet use by boys is four times greater than girls.
