They said we are all equal but just not the same. But rarely do we talk about the social imbalances in the context of the demographic dividend. The wave of feminism has opened so many doors and opportunities for most women, but the question remains…is it all women?
Women and men have different needs and access to and control over resources. As of 1 July 2021, the population of Africa is projected to be close to 1.37 billion people (World population prospects,2021). It is not surprising that a more significant percentage of that number consists of women and girls. In sociology, a social imbalance is an observer’s tendency to secular distortion in allocating resources. Social inequality can emerge through a society’s understanding of appropriate gender roles or the prevalence of social stereotyping. Looking at the global statistics population in the world is currently (2020) growing at a rate of around 1.05% per year (down from 1.08% in 2019, 1.10% in 2018, and 1.12% in 2017). The current average population increase is estimated at 81 million people per year (UN Women Statistics report). These numbers reflect that the world is growing in numbers, so space is likely to continue shrinking.
If we cascade it down to social institutions that make up a society, we notice that the fight for social equilibrium is still far from ending. There are important social institutions which have so much bearing on our attitudes and beliefs towards how we view each other. The first one is the economy. Although all people, irrespective of age and sex, consume goods and services, only the working-age population, often referred to as the “employed” population, produces them. Types of economic activity pursued are influenced by the nature of the economy and the level of socioeconomic development (Hull, 2009). In most years, the share of females engaged in the informal economy has been higher than for males. Women’s prevalence in the informal sector could be attributed to various factors such as lack of education and women’s more significant commitment to family responsibilities, which may prevent them from entering the formal sector.
The second social institution is education. I am a recent graduate who had the privilege of passing through primary, secondary and tertiary, but l am one of the few who got “lucky”. Access to quality and inclusive education, especially in my country, is exquisitely on paper (Section 75 of the Zimbabwe Constitution), but the ground reality is heartbreaking. During the 1st quarter of 2021, about 5000 teenagers fell pregnant while 1800 entered into marriages and left school. These numbers are disturbing. What does the future hold for these young women?. Education’s affordability, availability, and accessibility have not been the same for girls and boys, especially during the global pandemic. As if the global pandemic was not enough, women and girls were expected to continue with their everyday household chores as if nothing was happening and still manage to balance school. Living in the city was hard for me, and it was harder for a rural girl.
Politics is another social institution, and over the discourse of democratic participation, we have seen more women taking an interest in governance procedures. Recently, the government of Zimbabwe amended its constitution also to allow ten young people to be part of the National Assembly, and it has raised different reactions amongst the populace. Still, somehow, this was a step also to include young people in critical decision making. However, in a country where over 60% are young people, only ten get to sit in parliament is still a cause of concern and still requires us to answer if we have a balance in governance representation.
Since 2019, we have been living in a global pandemic, and we have seen several players taking part in the health system, another social institution. While most of our governments focused on locking and unlocking the country due to Statutory Instruments on COVID-19, women and girls had to pay the price of not having access to sexual and reproductive health services during the pandemic. My friend and l were forced to explain to every police on the roadblock that we were driving to the pharmacy to get emergency pills because my friend had just had unprotected sex. This was uncomfortable and unethical, but we had to plead our case with every officer for us to pass. The Covid-19 shadowed almost everything, and we seemed to forget that people are still menstruating, and if we lock all roads, how will they get pads or emergency pills or any SRH services. To me, this was a reflection of the dysfunctionality of our society in responding to the urgent needs of women and girls.
The last social institution that l consider vital is religion. I grew up in a Christian family, and there are things l find so hard to refute based on my lack of understanding, but it becomes too complicated because there are pastors and church elders involved. Religion has a unique way of controlling people and how they think, act, dress and view each other. One of the biggest strongholds in our fight for early child marriages and abuse in our country is the manipulation of religion. Because it is a sensitive issue, no one wants to temper with the “anointed ones”. Most discussion around manipulating and abuse happening in the churches is usually unfruitful because there is always a spiritual significance around talking about the religious acts done in the church.
‘A quest for intersectionality’
Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalize people — gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and physical ability. Above, we have raised the situations in different social institutions that show society’s status. The existing imbalances also show that people are on different levels, grades, and points of privilege or vulnerability. The intersections in the community somehow create equilibrium as propounded by the functionalists. Intersectionality is intended to ask a lot of individuals and movements alike, requiring that efforts to address one form of oppression take others into account. Efforts to fight social imbalances would require examining other forms of prejudice. Efforts to eliminate gender disparities would require looking at how women in urban areas experience gender bias differently from rural women and how urban men are different from rural men.
l always disagree with the capitalist and cultural imperialism that comes with having social stratification based on gender, status and class. I believe we all can use our different levels of interactions to speak on behalf of others because we experience life differently and work to our advantage. Intersectionality operates as both the observance and analysis of power imbalances and the tool by which those power imbalances could be eliminated hence Institutions now need to incorporate an understanding of intersectionality into their policies and practices
While l was researching customary law in rural areas, l noticed that period poverty is still a prevalent issue amongst girls and young women. Still, in the city where l stay, pads cost less than a dollar, and many people afford that. However, the main challenge is that we are all not using our point of privilege to speak on behalf of others. We have many young girls and women in the city who have access to social media, the internet, top government officials, and networks. They might not be facing a period of poverty. Still, they might use what they have to address other girls’ issues. This is how GIRLS get EQUAL.
How are you using your point on priviledge.
