Accelerating Gender Equality in Student Leadership through SRC Reforms

About This Project

The FSN – CFLI project aimed at promoting effective participation of female students in decision making processes within higher and tertiary education institutions of Zimbabwe and beyond through transformative leadership, voter mobilization, policy review, and information dissemination.

Female Students Network Trust through the support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) Project seeks to amplify female students’ voices in advancing gender equality in student governing structures in Tertiary Institutions of Zimbabwe. Currently, 48 % of students enrolled at institutions of higher learning are female students and only 16% of student leaders in Student Representative Councils (SRCs) are female students. Zimbabwe’s institutions of higher learning have seen marginal female student representation in decision-making and very low voter turnout during SRC elections, a situation that also reflects participation in national elections. Hence, this project endeavours to rectify the aforementioned anomaly by influencing policy formulation of institutional statutes that promote gender equality in students governing structures through dialoguing with those at the epitome of power and responsible for policy formulation, enhance the capacities of female students to navigate through patriarchal hurdles and contest for critical leadership positions that will allow them to push for feminine issues at the helm of authority and finally increase the dissemination of electoral and women’s rights information through modern channels to female students so that they are well vested with the available leadership opportunities for their advantage. Long-term expected results: at least 50% female students’ representation in SRC by 2024 who will push for gender equality within the corridors of power, reviewed and or formulate gender-sensitive policies that will level the electoral ground for female students to participate in the electoral process the same way their male counterparts do. Through Transformative leadership coaching sessions, female students will be able to unlearn some of the myths and beliefs that hinder them from taking leadership roles and advancing gender equality in Zimbabwe. Therefore, the project will contribute towards sustainable goal 5 which seeks to promote gender equality by 2030 thereby upholding constitutional rights towards achieving 50-50 and cascading it down in tertiary institutions.

Proposed Project Activities

• Policy Dialogues involving college authorities, SRC leadership, and female students on the review of institutional electoral policies to accommodate gender equality.
• Transformative Leadership Training and Coaching Sessions for female students
• Social Media Blitz

Immediate Results

• Reviewed institutional SRC electoral policies to be gender sensitive in the targeted institutions thereby promoting gender equality.
• Enhanced skills in effective advocacy, debate, leadership, and increased capacity to use social media for influence and advocacy purposes for aspiring female student leaders in Tertiary Institutions of Zimbabwe.
• Informed 5,000 female students on elections, leadership, feminism, and women’s rights ready to break all odds and participate in leadership processes in Zimbabwe.