Whispers Trains 75 Young Women On Voter Education
By Gracious Nyathi
In an effort to increase the political participation of young women, a local feminist movement, Whispers conducted a voter education session with 75 female virgin voters from Mashonaland West recently.
Owing to the poor voter turnout among young people during the March 2022 by-election Whispers educated, young women aged between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five about the importance of voting.
During the training, it emerged that some young women had never voted and others had not registered to vote a position Whispers Director Sibonokuhle Buhlungu vowed to change ahead of the 2023 polls.
“We launched the virgin voters projects to raise awareness on the importance of participation as voters and candidates.
“We are here as an ally for young women so that we push for an increase of their sphere of influence in the political discourse and adequate representation.
” We can not chant the leadership mantra unless we exercise our civic rights. There is a strong need for comprehensive educational campaigns if we are to achieve heightened political interest among women.
“When we go to vote in numbers and put other women in administration, we push back against a lot of barriers that are placed for the girl child in society, ” Buhlungu said.
#Whisper’s campaign will be rolled out in phases, targeting women in different parts of the country.
As the campaign is rolled out chapters are set up in the provinces led by young women who have been empowered to educate and mobilize other young women to exercise their civic rights.
Whispers coordinator for the Chinhoyi Chapter Bertha Mutakina said that after the training, she has overcome the fears she associated with political participation.
“We went through vigorous training and now we are able to impart the lessons to our peers.
“We were very skeptical at the beginning because we know it can be risky to be involved in politics and it is that fear which induces voter apathy in most Zimbabweans but we have managed to mobilize other women to join the movement and the response is positive, ” Mutakina said.
Another beneficiary of the training program Emily Nyabinde(22) from Alaska said “As an aspiring female leader, I am being equipped with so much knowledge that will come in very handy when I run for office. I believe there are a lot of women like me out there, who only lack motivation and support but with such initiatives, we are given a hand as we go up the ladder”.
The nonpartisan campaign covers election basics including how to register to vote, what a ballot looks like, the importance of voting, what happens at the polls on election day, and how to become a candidate.
Whispers Trains 75 Young Women On Voter Education
