Female diplomats on gender parity

 Barbara Joziasse( Netherlands) and Lisa Stadelbauer( Canada)

Canadian ambassador Lisa Stadelbauer and Netherlands ambassador Barbara Joziasse to Zimbabwe, last week held that the respect for human rights and equality, were the driving concerns to augment the gender parity conversation in the media during a Ladies Night discussion in commemoration of Women’s Month celebrated during the month of March at Harare’s premier journalist meeting place, the Quill Club.

Speaking on Thursday, ambassador Lisa Stadelbauer, said the recognition for the respect of human and equal rights could enable the fight against discrimination of women in the local media. “In Canada the reason, we have gone this far is because we have start on the basic point of respect of human rights and equality, I would like to see fewer stories about female rapists, promiscuous women and witches and more stories about strong women who are doing brave things.”

Dutch ambassador, Barbara Joziasse, noted how the media politically skewed developments. “The way developments are portrayed in the media, generally sometimes I feel they are an insult to the reader, some of the accusations and insinuations are so obviously used for a political platform,” she said.

“I think it is very unfair to the women and men portrayed wrongly in the media, I would be happy if all the women would fight for the portrayal of women in the country and were portrayed more positively,” ambassador Joziasse said who had initial postings in the Hague and Cairo.

Canadian ambassador Lisa Stadelbauer speaking at Ladies Night  

Ambassador Stadelbauer, who joined External Affairs and International Trade in Canada since 1990, echoed the same sentiments, noting that it was the responsibility of every woman to fight against discrimination, “close minded people will always exist in society, it is our responsibility to push back when others are discriminating.”

Women’s History Month commemorated in March, whose origins in the United States dates back to 1981 was allocated weekly recognition until 1987, when the celebrations were designated to the month of March. Since 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”

“If you raise your children to recognise the core beliefs of respect for human and equal rights, those beliefs will permeate through society and the new constitution does a good job of doing that, if it is implemented the way the draft constitution was intended to, then it is a very good start.”