Monday 25 January 2016

Orange day

FSNT would like to commemorate the orange day!

The orange day is part of a campaign started by UNiTE to put focus on Gender based violence and to ensure that violence against women is at the top of national and global agendas. The Orange day is a day to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls, using the color orange to symbolize a brighter future without violence.

According to UNwomen a staggering one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence can negatively affect women’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health, and may increase vulnerability to HIV.
In September 2015, a new global agenda was created; the Sustainable Development Goals, which takes over from the MDGs. The SDG is a set of 17 global goals that applies to all countries and will guide policy and action. These goals makes gender equality and women’s empowerment a key priority and includes specific targets to end violence against women and girls.

SDG 5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls"
Some of the targets includes 
  •  End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
  •  Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
  • Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic and public life
  •  Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

-    The SDGs correlates with the work of Female Student network Trust.
We work to empower female students through capacity building and leadership trainings. We think that female students have the same capabilities as their male counterparts. We want to see more females as leaders of student unions and SRCs.

We also work for the implementation of Sexual Harassement policies at TEI’s. 
In 2015 we conducted a national baseline survey on Sexual Harrasement in Zimbabwes tertiary institutions. The research was done in 21 institutions across the country. Only 4 out of 21 institutions had sexual harassment policies in place!

The findings reveal that SH is very rampant in TEIs. Many female studenst reportet to have encountered Sexual Harassment in different forms, like unwanted and uninvited physical contact (touching, patting, hugging), inappropriate remarks, wolf whistling and offers of favors, unwanted unprotected sex and even rape. The perpetrators are mostly male students, male lecturers and non-academic staff at campus.

Findings suggest that many female students fail to live their college lives fully, making life style adjustments because of fear of SH in their living and learning environments. Many avoids participation in SRC and other institutions because of fear of being victimized and harassed by fellow students. 

Absence of SH policies means there are limited gender sensitive formal frameworks for use in interventions aimed at creating a violence and harassment-free learning environment for male and in particular female students. Having a SH policy will make it easier for students to report issues relating to SH and will contribute to creating a safe learning environment for students. 

Men and boys also have a responsibility and a role to play as agents of social and cultural change, and in speaking out against violence against women and girls. FSNT encourages male (and female) students to be supporting towards your fellow female students in order to create equal opportunities for participation for leadership positions and decitionmaking processes. 

In 2016 FSNT is committed to continue our work for the empowerment of female students and to work towards all institutions implementing a sexual harassment policy!

HAPPY ORANGE DAY
 


#Orangeday #VAW #orangetheworld #female students #16days #endVAW #GBV