ON THE SPOT

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked the first wave of feminism. We are now in the 21st century and the fight for feminism continues with more women fighting towards the same cause for gender equality. The main goal across continents has been to dismantle partriachal systems, however, the differences in geographical location have made the rates of attaining gender equality difficult to judge. The rate at which Africa is advancing the case for feminism is much lower than other continents and this can only be attributed to differences in context and location. Feminism has proved to be a contextual movement which should be tackled accordingly. Women in different societies are subjected to different challenges: women in North Africa fight more against traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), whilst women in Europe fight more to enter political spaces. These are both fights against patriarchy but their intensity differs according to region. “Gender ...

In such a patriarchal community, where women are seen as objects undeserving of any power to lead in any sector, it is close to impossible to find a significant number of women with power over land. The processes of acquiring land are simply too long and tedious to complete. With corruption, Chiokomuhomwe in Shona, being the talk of the century, women in desperate need of this asset go to great lengths to access it. Those who are well off pay the humongous amounts requested by officials, some sell their bodies in exchange for land. It all happens behind closed doors, but there is one event which made me realize that as a continent, we have a long way to go till we appreciate the value of women, let alone acknowledge their power of ownership over land. What would you do if you lost your property because of someone’s death? “I regret the day my father, Papa Jo, took his last breath. That very day marked the beginning of decades of toiling and suffering, an end to my short period...

Out of the 1.8+ billion young people in the world, how many have been empowered to participate in civic processes? There has been a huge difference in the way young people in developed countries and those in less developed countries react to the political and non-political affairs of their countries. Many reasons have been brought about to highlight reasons why young people in less developed countries have been less engaged in civic processes. Civic participation or civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in one's community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference”( Erlich ). Civic participation is simply taking ownership of the affairs of the community and contributing towards its development. The United Nations defines youths as people between the ages of 15 and 24, whilst the African Union regards people between the ages of 15 and 35 as youths. Age is a major factor in civic participation. According ...

Never in a million years would l doubt the power of education in developing an active citizen . Peter Brougham was definitely right when he stated that, "Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave." Education has become an awakening tool for citizens to participate in civic processes. The more they learn about their rights and how government policies affect their livelihoods, the more they engage with policymakers on what they desire as citizens. If it wasn't for educated citizens (the independent, responsible, well-informed, critically minded, and empowered citizens), there would not have been any ‘Breaking News Headlines’ of citizen protests, strikes, or uprisings against governments and colonizers. It was those with intellectual strength through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and virtuous disposition, who saw it right to act against injustice and end civic apathy. Indeed, education has been the dr...