INTERVIEW : Brenna Matendere The Gender Commission of Zimbabwe (GCZ) is a constitutional body mandated to ensure gender equality in the country by investigating possible violation of rights relating to gender. NewsDay (ND) senior reporter Brenna Matendere caught up with GCZ chief executive officer Virginia Muwanigwa (VM), to get her views on challenges encountered and milestones covered by the commission since its inception. Below are excerpts of the interview. ND: What’s the mandate of the Gender Commission of Zimbabwe? VM: The commission evolved out of an initial process that advocated for a women’s council, a national body whose key mandate was to work with all stakeholders to ensure that gender equality and women’s rights were upheld. This work would transcend political, economic and socio-cultural spheres informed by the priorities set out in the national gender policy — constitutional, legal and parliamentary affairs; politics and decision-making; economic resources and employment; education and training; health; gender-based violence; the environment; and media, arts and culture. Fortunately, the outcome was a commission, whose mandate is derived from Chapter 12 of the 2013 Constitution. Its objectives are shared with those of the other four commissions established to ensure constitutionalism. Section 246 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe outlines our functions that include monitoring gender equality to ensure parity as provided for in the Constitution as well as investigating possible violations of rights relating to gender. ND: To date, what can you say are the challenges faced by the GCZ and successes scored under the circumstances? VM: As an institution whose focus is to ensure gender equality and non-discrimination as per the Constitution, the key challenge is that of deconstructing the social norms built upon beliefs, values, attitudes and standards that largely undermine women’s rights, especially in personal and family matters. Culture and or religion, while mostly advanced, is negated by the extent to which as Zimbabweans we have transformed some of our traditional social norms to embrace new beliefs. Recognising that social change is not an event but a process. We, however, draw strength from the fact that since 2013, our Constitution outlaws discrimination in favour of gender equality. So a lot of our efforts have been to work with our stakeholders to publicise the Constitution as information and knowledge building. The thinking is that if political will exists, the knowledge will then enable a revisiting of beliefs and practices not just at individual level but within institutions. Culturally, the awareness raised has resulted in some gate-keepers, the traditional chiefs and some religious leaders being partners in spreading the message for transformation towards gender equality and non-discrimination. Key success has been to maintain pressure on public and private institutions, in line with section 2 of the Constitution, which emphasises that it is the supreme law of the land, binding on all persons