BY WINSTONE ANTONIO YESTERDAY, women in Zimbabwe joined the world in celebrating the International Women’s Day, where they highlighted bottlenecks inhibiting them from entering various sectors of the economy. The day is commemorated annually on March 8 and this year’s celebrations are being held under the theme Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World. The theme highlights the importance of challenging biases and misconceptions in the interest of creating a more inclusive and gender-equal world. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Achim Steiner said women should play a key role in decision-making at a global stage. The UNDP works to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities through ensuring sustainable development of nations. He said across the world, women were concentrated in the lowest paid jobs, many in extremely hazardous forms of employment. Steiner said women were nearly twice as likely as men to lose their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis as the pandemic would dramatically increase poverty rates and widen the gap between men and women who live in poverty. “Women must have the opportunity to play a role in shaping the pivotal decisions being made right now as countries respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic — choices that will affect the wellbeing of people and the planet for generations to come,” he said. “To do this, we must break down the deep-seated historic, cultural, and socio-economic barriers that prevent women from taking their seat at the decision-making table to make sure that resources and power are more equitably distributed,” Steiner said, adding that they were working with countries across the globe to address these inequalities. Females in the creative sector, who spoke to NewsDay Life & Style, yesterday called for a women-friendly showbiz environment and equal opportunities with their male counterparts. Dudu Manhenga The Afro-jazz musician said parents should nurture and foster their children’s talent regardless of their sex, adding that it was good for women in the arts to be celebrated. “On an occasion like this (Women’s Day), I would like to encourage parents who have children who are creative to foster and nurture that talent and gift in our children,” she said. “It is time to break away from the stereotype that the arts sector does not pay, because it is us who make it pay. Parents should allow their children to play a huge role in the arts sector, they should allow them go to school. Parents should facilitate or finance the education within the creative sector. If they do so, it means that we will have more and more creatives who would have been schooled for that such that the sector gets the credibility it deserves. It means we have a student who will fuse that education with the gift that they have. I think that will really improve the creative sector.” Sarah Mpofu-Sibanda Bulawayo’s former supermodel and actress said women should not be discouraged by adversity. “If anything, this is the time to be more assertive and crafty in
