Monday morning blues for a UNFPA Senior Transport Officer

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this blog are the author's, they do not necessarily represent the views of UNDP or United Nations Member States, or of any organisation mentioned in this article.

It’s a Monday morning - fully loaded with its blues, and I am walking softly as a cat through the corridor into my office. I don’t want my boss to catch me coming in 45 minutes after the start of a normal working day. It was a busy Sunday, and I am still reeling from the hangover of the Champaigne to bid farewell to a sister accredited Ambassador to 3 European countries. What an achievement for a woman from the Zimbabwean women’s movement! I manage to enter the office without being noticed, and although I know the attendance register at the door will tell it all on me - it is always better that way if you respect your supervisors.

I share office space with a Junior Professional Consultant from Canada, and her name is Farah. Whether this sharing was by coincidence or by design, our love for women's emancipation has same levels. She is on her desk as I walk in, and she already has an early Monday morning visitor – a man. The man’s face is very familiar, I have seen him driving official cars on the complex. I cannot avoid not paying attention to their conversation, because I am a citizen journalist, and part of my pre-occupation is ‘listening’ to conversations by whatever legal means possible and use them later to try and put sense to reality for the development of my country. This passion to develop my country has suddenly overtaken me, and is a product of so many processes, both good and bad.

The man says he is losing sleep, so he also has his own Monday morning blues like me! I press my ear closer to their conversations, and yes, I get it. He enunciates his problems clearly, and I get to know why he is losing sleep.

“I always feel I have a role to play as a man to end violence and abuse of women in my society. I know there is an organisation working with men to end gender violence, but I always feel they could do better,” the man visitor says.

Farah is nodding in agreement, and at each nod the man goes on. I am listening, and quickly settling in so that I can type-record their Monday morning conversation for this space. I have not asked the visitor for permission to listen and type-record, because I am a citizen journalist dear reader, and sometimes I depend on rumours and eavesdropping for sources of information.

“Women cannot achieve gender equality and all rights without the cooperation and participation of men. It is us men who mostly decide on issues, including on sexual and other relationships. Women do not have the power and choice to protect themselves. Women do not even have money to buy their freedom, sometimes they are beaten for not providing meat on the table, “says the visitor.

Farah nods, I listen and the visitor talks on.

“In my community I try to provide safety solutions to women by waking up at night at every desperate call for help, but I cannot do it alone. I need to inform other men around me and coalesce efforts towards this important work. We need to influence processes from our homes, communities going upwards until we reach national level processes. We need to enlighten all strata of men: political or religious leaders, heads of state and government ministers, leaders of religious and faith-based institutions, judges, heads of armies and other agencies. All of them are husbands and fathers in their small units, and as human beings they often wield enormous power over many aspects of women’s lives.”

Farah nods, and I listen with my ears, and continue typing away on my computer. I still have not asked this visitor for permission to listen and type, because I am a citizen journalist, and sometimes I depend on rumours and snooping to feed issues into positive constructive processes.

“I work as a transport assistant for UNFPA, and I know I support a lot of gender equality work indirectly. However, my passion has always been to be practically on the ground doing this work, but I have never gotten a chance to do that, or even to mention it to my bosses. I believe that without involving us as men in a more direct and rigorous manner gender equality and reproductive health programmes may not succeed as much as they are supposed to. It takes a man like me to inform other men that mutually satisfying relationships built on trust and communication are progressive. What I see lacking in the communities is knowledge and data. I need to be more involved in working with men to spread awareness and conscientise them to live, breathe, think walk and talk gender equality.”

Farah nods some more, and I continue to snoop and type, as the reader talks on.

“I have come to UN Women because I want to know the focal point for Gender. I want to present my worries to them and get advice on how I can make myself more useful and more effective in partnering women to end women’s insecurities.”
The moment he says insecurities I become more alert, and without thinking I jump into the conversation, uninvited. You know reader, sometimes I cannot help looking introspectively inside myself and judging myself harshly for being too passionate about this work. I must teach myself to slow down or risk landing myself in trouble one day. So, in no minutes I have given him a breakdown of my gender, peace and security programme and how it envisages working with men and boys in the communities to strengthen women’s security sector involvement.

Farah nods on, smiling. I type along, and he talks.

“During my time driving for UNFPA, I have learnt that as a man I have to be responsible, caring, and non-violent to my partner and to women in general. I struggle every day with what men in my country are socialised to as they grown up. Ideas about manhood are deeply political, and have deep and strong roots. From an early age, many boys are exposed to living examples of processes meant to keep men in power and in control. As a result they grow up believing that forceful behaviour towards the powerless is part of being a strong.”

Farah stops nodding, and she also talks about the UN HeForShe Campaign. Like Emma Watson she extend a formal invitation letter to Zimbabwean men through this early morning visitor.

“You are very right, gender equality is your issue too. There is no way we can end this war of gender based violence without involving you men in a more effective manner. If 51% of Zimbabweans are women, 49% are men. Work seeking to empower 51% of the population can obviously not succeed without including the 49% of the same population. The United Nations HeForShe campaign intends to mobilize one billion men and boys as advocates and agents of change in ending the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls globally. The premise is that inequality is a human rights issue, the resolution of which will benefit everyone - socially, politically and economically. Every man’s voice is powerful, and you men must raise it to tell the world why equality for every woman and girl is worth fighting for,” says Farah.

I nod, smile and type away. I find this Monday morning early encounter really orgasmic.

Since the Beijing Declaration, adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, a number of intergovernmental platforms, such as the World Summit on Social Development (1995), its review session (2000), and the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS (2001), have fixated on this issue. The importance of education systems in modelling the gender perspective of boys was underscored in the momentous Dakar Framework for Education for All (UNESCO, 2000). An unequivocal goalmouth (goal 5) of the Dakar Framework is to ensure that education systems contribute to and promote gender equality, instead of underpinning gender stereotypes. In its 48th session in March 2004, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women explicitly focused on the theme: The role of men and boys in attaining gender equality.

Well reader, the concept of gender equality is not new. What is advanced is the concerted effort to redefine men’s roles in order to significantly increase their involvement in working towards gender-equal societies. There are some success stories coming from around the globe on how men have worked to score for gender equality in their respective spaces.
In the Dominican Republic barbers were the conduit for getting messages about prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections to almost half a million men. www.unfpa.org/gender/men.htm

A project in the Philippines targeted an educational campaign about reproductive health issues to men, who are often the gatekeepers to their wives’ access to health services. Seminars and workshops gave men a chance to talk more openly about sensitive issues with their partners. www.unfpa.org/gender/men.htm

In Uganda UNFPA has successfully partnered with male opinion leader leaders in the country’s complex culture – including elders, kings, bishops and imams – to promote healthier behaviours and end harmful traditional practices. www.unfpa.org/gender/men.htm

In Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania et al, UN Women has successfully partnered with male opinion leaders including traditional leaders, church leaders and elders, as well as with security sector service providers such as the police and magistrates to fight for women’s inheritance rights in the context of HIV through their SIDA funded Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights Project (WPIR). www.unwomen.org

When I finally spoke to him to ask for permission to do this story, and to get his photograph, I learnt that his name is Lesley Masiiwa, and he is Senior Transport Officer with UNFPA.

My analysis says if a man who is losing sleep over gender equality or lack of it finds refuge in our spaces, UN Women in Zimbabwe really has a duty of ensuring that processes for GEWE are effectively coordinated within the UN system as a whole, but all UN Agencies in Zimbabwe also have a role to ensure working hard to deliver as one on GEWE.

Onward Zimbabwe, and this space is looking for more men who lose sleep over women’s rights like Wesley Masiiwa.