FEMINISTS ON CAMPUS PROJECT

Background and Context

As a 24-year-old woman, I would sternly argue that living under lockdown is the most emotionally stressful and physically painful ordeal any young woman or girl could go through. And this is because not only are we shouldering the stressful burden of trying to live through and survive a pandemic but we have to bear the bulk of providing basic home health care and taking care of all the domestic chores within the home. And worse off in my case, given how I proudly announce to anyone willing to hear that I am a feminist, I cannot complain about even the most arduous of tasks, like gardening. “After all if a man can do it you should be able to do it too”. That’s my brother’s favorite taunt! However, the fact that I work and earn some money enables me to contribute some around the household, therefore meaning I have some form of ‘collateral’ that I can use as a way to talk myself out of chores. Only sometimes! But what of the young woman who is still in college and does not earn a living yet? And those being looked after by other relatives and do not have the luxury of talking or negotiating their way out of chores? And those living with ill family members or depending on the salary of one family member? Generally living life as a young school-going adult female is difficult enough without adding the pressures and stress that come with things such as relationships. What more having to live through all this all the while living through and trying to survive a pandemic and secure a degree?

 The advent of the Coronavirus pandemic has not only affected people’s health but overall their way of life, including social, educational and psychological spheres. One such area highly affected by the pandemic is the education sector. Research according to a UNESCO report in 2020 showed that some 1.3 billion learners in the world were not able to attend school or university as at March 23, 2020. UNESCO’s figures show that some 80% of the world’s learners were being kept out of educational institutions by country-wide closures. As such, that is the operating environment in which Katswe Sistahood through the Feminists on Camus project had to work in. Feminists on Campus is a project which creates a platform that enables young women in universities and colleges to come together and discuss the issues that affect them on and off campus, hence, coming up with solutions and raise petitions where they see fit. Katswe’s ambition is to create a safe haven for young women on campus where sisterhood is valued and celebrated and women’s issues are recognized to build strong and vibrant movements that are result-oriented. The absence of policies to address the predicament which the girl child goes through in tertiary institutions and out of steered the commencement of Feminists on Campus in a bid to empower and enhance confidence and ability for female students to stand up for themselves. When we hold the meetings not only do we discuss the struggles they come across within the institutions but out of as well, to cover topics that include dating and relationships, how to secure internships and jobs, how to cope with stress at home etc. However before the Covid era these meetings would be held at the different campuses the project is running or at the Katswe offices but now they had to be shifted to online meetings.

And herein lay the challenge in our advocacy work and most importantly our young women’s education. The temporary end to attending physical classes meant students had to conduct their classes online. This was a global solution however only suitable and feasible to financially stable and technologically advanced economies. In Zimbabwe online classes are and were extremely difficult to manage in 2020 due to a number of factors, including but not limited to the fact that most of the areas in Zimbabwe are rural and do not have electricity reach, not all schools students have access to computers, tablets, IPad’s or smart phones and access to WiFi or the funds to purchase data bundles to connect to the internet. As such many, if not all students lagged behind on school work. During some of the meetings we were able to conduct online through platforms such as WhatsApp and Zoom, we learned that many students were not learning at all and those that had access to resources continued with school whilst those that did not were left behind. Some of the students stated that issues of sexual harassment began to emerge with some lecturers offering to purchase data bundles for them in exchange for sex. Those that have access to smart phones and computers complained that having a daily allocation of data bundles was also becoming difficult given the economic environment that has been brought about by Covid 19. Many breadwinners lost their jobs and some had their salaries cut therefore family heads are not able to provide all their children with the needed allocation for data bundles. This has resulted in many young women looking to boyfriends or older men “blessers” for aid. The challenge has transcended beyond failure to secure data bundles but failure to even have access to basic food.

The problems that our young women faced did not only begin and end with school but spilt over to the more social aspects of their life. Online dating became and still is the new normal and it was a challenge for most of the young people. One of the students said, ‘Not only are you stressed that you can’t meet your partner physically, but you become even more stressed to the point of feeling sick when it takes your partner hours to reply your messages. Paranoia sets in and you start to ask yourself who they might be talking to that’s taking so much of their time and attention. To keep them interested, when they ask you to “sext” or video call whilst you’re in the shower or send nude pictures, you are afraid to say no. You are afraid to risk losing your relationship. And the cycle does not end there, next you are being sent threats of how they will leak those pictures of you if you do not do such and such”.  Another added that. “All the while you are carrying out all the household chores and looking after your old and sick grandparents. You really will not be well mentally but how do you voice that to your parents when they do not believe you should be dating in the first place or they pretend that they do not know you have a boyfriend?” Another risk that comes with this is the fact that many young women have risked catching the Covid 19 virus by succumbing to the pressures of trying to see their partners by sneaking out the house and breaking Covid restriction measures on movement. This too has brought about the influx and rise of cyber bullying and underage pornography as many young women and girls are spending so much time online and are recording themselves in the nude, also risking being in contact with paedophiles.

As a young woman I relate to such concerns. And that is the core aim of the Feminists on Campus Project. To offer solutions to lived realities that young women go through. Some of the initiatives that we implemented to remedy some of the challenges our young students were facing included offering counselling services, wellness sessions on how to deal and cope with the stress of Covid 19, 24/7 free access to someone to just talk to about whatever problems or stress one may have been facing, referral to clinics to access contraception as well as data to attend school lessons as well as to have access to the meetings and sessions we have twice every week to check in on them. Some of the discussions on body autonomy and SRHR helped those who were caught in issues of sexual exploitation by either their lecturers or partners. Those facing sexual and domestic violence at home were also offered a platform in which to report such cases. These initiatives clearly offered some relief in the lives of these young women. Many reached out expressing how grateful they were for being provided with such a safe space where they could talk about everything and anything related to girls and how they were grateful that they could at least access the internet for school as well as having access to sanitary wear. Some of the students tagged the project “a girl’s best friend”.

It is from such findings that we may be able to adopt policies and lobby governments to ensure that students receive improved access to resources needed for online education and mental health awareness. Although the initiatives we introduced could not have a larger impact due to the restrictions in movement and interaction, the Feminists on campus project was able to provide a platform in which the young women could voice out their challenges and be offered some form of help. Due to the new wave and increase in cases, there are still gaps with online learning and sexual exploitation that many young women continue to face and there is therefore need for other organisations and governmental bodies to come in and assist the young women so that they may feel safe and supported.

Article by: Nadene Msekiwa. Project Coordinator (FoC)