The inaugural concert was held in March 2010 and the second inception in March 2011 lasting three hours of networking, live music performances, theatre, Mbira and marimba ensembles, choirs, drama, debates, speeches and a stand up pledge. The Concert is held in the school hall and has to date been attended by Girls High School Harare, Prince Edward Boys High, Dominican Convent Girls Harare, Churchill Boys High School, Roosevelt Girls High School, Mabelreign Girls High School, Ellis Robins Boys High School, Borrowdale Primary School, Alfred Beit Primary School and St Giles Special School. The Concert has also worked with established female artists: Chiwoniso Maraire, Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, Hope Masike, Carmen Nelly Hwarari and Mai Chisamba who are invited as guest personalities. The Concert has worked with community organizations who work in the gender and equality field: Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education (WILSA) and PADARE who assist the girls and boys in discussions on gender issues and promote equality. The Concert works with other arts organizations that input in the creativity and artistic presentations done by schools: Music Crossroads Zimbabwe and National Commission for UNESCO.
But why all this?
Well, the world today is led and lived in by individuals who were at one point in the lives ‘school students’. Be it in any field, success and development has been a result of someone who has, at the minimum, been through primary school, secondary school or high school. It is therefore correct to claim that schools are central and pivotal in creating the kind of leadership and citizenship any country would want: institutions nonetheless. What a school student is made to experience and participate in influences the future. It is also therefore correct and prudent to involve schools in development issues and let schools rally along, input and participate in activities that make and create a better society. In this manner, it is important and right to involve schools in gender equality education, occasions, initiatives and celebrations. As such many activities do take place in Zimbabwe and the world over to acknowledge and promote equality between males and females as a tool for development chief among them: International Women’s Day and 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women in October. It is with the above situation that Mabelreign Girls High School and Mbira Society set out in 2010 to create and hold the International Women’s’ Day School Concert. The Concert has received a great response from the communities and schools involved and the Concert will ‘grow out’ and be connected to other celebrations in 2013.
It is important to remember that gender inequality and gender based violence has been described as one hindrance that has cut and suppressed development in the world by 50%. Inequality in the society has created an unequal distribution of resources between men and women and undermined the social and economic development in Africa. Our society is described by violence towards women, non-schooling for young girls leading to early marriage, high women dependence on men, spread of disease and poverty. It is with great strength and will to abate this problem that today Zimbabwe is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW (1979) and Optional Protocol to the Convention (1999) that creates, promotes and fights for equality between males and females in Zimbabwe. Education on equality must be inculcated into the young school going students so that they grow with the knowledge and right attitude towards each other and towards the world in a ‘catch them young’ manner. Schools are right to be part of any initiative to promote and support gender equality.
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