‘A GIRL with a dream grows up to be a woman with a vision,’ is an often heard quote in developmental circles.
It is in this vein 30-year-old Linda Munetsi, driven by her love of children, did not let circumstances stop her from working on achieving her dream of establishing a school.
Starting out as a pre-school teacher, Munetsi had to save her meagre salary and channel it towards her dream.
Nothing was going to stand in her way.
Despite hassles to register a school and meet the requirements stipulated by Government, Munetsi did not back down.
This was a fight she was not willing to give up.
Her resilience paid off.
In May 2017, Little Eagles Pre-School was birthed.
Situated in Southlea Park, Harare, the pre-school has an enrolment of 25 pre-schoolers aged between one-six and drawn from local areas including Ushewokunze and Amsterdam.
“It was not an easy journey but my passion in child development made me not give up till I opened the pre-school,” said Munetsi.
“My goal is to grow the pre-school into a primary school and also establish a boarding school.”
Munetsi’s story is just but one of the numerous stories of local women who are not letting their humble backgrounds hinder them from achieving their dreams.
Last week, Zimbabweans joined the world in commemorating International Women’s Day, a day that has been set aside to celebrate women’s achievements.
Local women have not been left out in marking their space in the country’s history.
Driven by hard work, determination and the zeal to develop the country, young and old women have ventured into politics, business and the arts.
The idea is to make a difference.
Indeed, history is being made as women from different social backgrounds continue to find their way up the ladder of success.
It is said: ‘History remembers the brave and victors.’
Female ground-breakers are re-writing the story of Zimbabwean women.
This, however, is not an entirely new phenomenon.
Women have always played a pivotal role in society.
Women have the capacity to work, be it in industries or corporations.
Even those living in rural areas have been given equal opportunities as their urban counterparts.
Calls were made, and continue to be made, for women to create an environment for their development and empowerment by taking part in activities that promote their growth.
History shows, from the First Chimurenga to the Second Chimurenga, women were not left behind in the quest to liberate the country.
Women like Mbuya Nehanda, Ruth Chinamano, Victoria Chitepo, Vivian Mwashita and Joanna Mafuyana Nkomo, among many others, took part in the fight.
Had these women and others used the excuse ‘we are women, we cannot do anything’ probably the war would not have yielded expected results.
Instead, they felt, just like their male counterparts, they too could stand up against the brutal Smith regime.
From these luminary women, fellow females can draw several lessons; the most important one being they can achieve whatever they set out to do.
In traditional African societies women, participated not only in developing the country’s economy but its social structures.
Women played the nurturing and advisory roles in society.
As such, they held special positions in society.
They were society educators.
Traditional societies had numerous ways of storing indigenous knowledge which included proverbs and folklore.
In an article titled “Women and Ecology in Shona Religion”, Isabel Mukonyora highlights that the onus was on women to ensure knowledge was passed down to younger generations.
“It is clear that women had time to develop a more intimate relationship with nature than men,” she writes.
“Neither is it a coincidence that women were the custodians of ngano.
(Folklore stories) used to encourage harmonious relations between human beings and the animals and of myths that accounted for the origins of life on earth.
“Put another way, women in traditional Shona culture fulfilled roles that can explain the development of earth-centred myths, folk stories, and associated religious beliefs.”
Women, through their various societal roles as aunts and grandmothers were mandated to educate young women.
Young women were not only taught about marriage, as widely believed, but also how to engage in economic activities.
Prior to colonialisation, traditional society’s economy was hinged on agricultural activities.
Women played a key role in producing crops that were consumed by families.
Mukonyora writes: “Growing crops, looking for firewood, fetching water from wells, searching for wild fruit, fish and other small creatures highlight women’s constant involvement with nature; men had little or no time for this.”
Anthropologist Angela Cheater in an article The Role and Position of Women in Pre-colonial and Colonial Zimbabwe points out it was the duty of women to
guide young women in economic activities.
“Shona women did exercise authority in other role; as mothers, especially over their daughters; as vatete, particularly over the education of their brothers’ children; as ancestors, over the reproductive capacity of their female descendants (although the degree to which women were able to control their own fecundity is less certain); as producers or service-workers possessing special skills (in pottery or healing, for example), over the proceeds of their own work; as mothers of married daughters for whom roora had been paid, over property,” she wrote.
During colonisation, men were forced to move to urban areas where they had to work in industries and mines that had been established by white settlers.
Women were left in the rural areas.
Again women were found playing a leading role in agricultural activities.
As a way of rewarding the women for their duties, women commanded respect from society.
In the traditional African societies, it is taboo for one to beat up a mother as it would result in one being cursed (kutanda botso).
A curse is, however, not attracted when one beats up his/her father.
Even when it came to the payment of bride wealth in the Shona society, mombe yeumai was paid as a token of appreciation for the role the mother would have played in grooming the young bride.
Unlike other tokens constituting the bride wealth which are meant for the fathers, the ones meant for the mother have to be paid at once.
Mukonyora writes: “Moreover, as an expression of the gratitude of the patrilineal family to the woman as child-bearer, the custom of giving mombe youmai (motherhood cow) goes on to this day.”
African societies, before the coming in of white settlers, had their own religion.
Through their religion, Africans expressed their spirituality.
African tradition religion (ATR) is punctuated by different traditions and rituals that promoted and still promote, unity in societies.
Agriculture, history teaches, has always been a source of livelihood for indigenes.
As such, the agricultural calendar was punctuated by rituals signalling the beginning or end of different seasons.
After harvesting, societies, under the guidance of chiefs and village elders, held mapira echando to thank Musikavanhu for good harvests.
To prepare the summer cropping season, societies engaged in what have been termed rain-asking ceremonies or bira remvura, as part of preparations.
The ceremonies were held between July and September.
Such rituals are not peculiar to local societies but are also practised throughout Africa.
Women played a pivotal role in the conducting of these rituals.
Mukonyora explained some of the roles and duties of women during rituals.
“Madzitete (aunts) and madzimbuya (grandmothers), for example, brew the beer for drinking at ritual gatherings,” she wrote.
“Sometimes women function as spirit mediums. Mbuya Nehanda gained respect among the Shona as a heroine spirit-medium for a ruling lineage.
“While she was, indeed, a woman, the importance of her gender is reduced, because, under possession, Mbuya would have been perceived as a mere channel of communication of the ancestor spirit of her patrilineage.
Nevertheless, Nehanda and other female spirit mediums gained respect among the male members of the lineage who, to this day, sometimes have to listen to these women’s advice in running the affairs of the family.”
Women were also spiritual leaders in society, as such, they commanded as much respect as their male counterparts.
Cheater wrote: “Arguably the most interesting and ambiguous role of authority occupied by women in the pre-colonial period was that of spirit mediumship.
“Those spirits who play a prominent part in the public domain, both autochthonous spirits such as Chaminuka and the Mhondoro spirits of deceased chiefs, are predominantly male.
“But their mediums, who relay the spirits’ messages to the living, were and are as likely to be women as men.
“The most famous example is, of course, Charwe, the medium of Nehanda, who was executed by the colonial administration in 1898 for her role in the death of a Native Commissioner during the first Chimurenga.”
With efforts continuing to be made to ensure women reclaim their status and position in society it is hoped they will be inspired by history and be like their forebearers.