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Ruth Butaomoche Gender Forum
In recent years, most countries have been using sport and physical activity as a strategy for empowering women and girls in impoverished communities. The strategy has been gaining recognition across the world, where countries like Angola, Benin and parts of South Africa are providing support and promoting physical activity programmes to advance the cause of women. They also seek to promote a strong women’s movement.

It is within these sporting activities that women from across the social and political divide can meet and share their trials and tribulations.

There are already positive stories to tell from these programmes, because the meeting point will not remain in the football pitch or netball ground, but will go further to form other networks such as income generating projects, support groups to care for patients who are suffering from various ailments and the formation of united communities.

Those groups that already have sporting activities within their communities will attest that involvement of women in sport and physical activity at community level can actually build life skills, confidence and create social networks that can positively change existing gender norms and help girls and women move into public spaces.

Because over the years girls and women have faced disproportionate number of life challenges, which reduce their ability to achieve their full potential, sport and other physical activities become another way of trying to create a balance, especially building life skills that are not part of formal education.

Depending on the specific needs and life circumstances of participants, life skills education can range from health education, addressing basic personal hygiene and or HIV/Aids to discussion groups, which teach and encourage decision making, leadership skills and financial literacy.

It was such initiatives which gave birth to Manyame Queens, a netball team based in St Mary’s, in Chitungwiza.
Sometime in 2010 a group of unemployed girls and young women from the St Mary’s community woke up one day and decided that they needed to change their lives and that of their families through sport.

With a measly budget and the support of family and loved ones, they bought one ball, assembled a makeshift uniform and started playing netball as a pastime activity during the weekends.

According to the coach, who also doubles up as a player, Gladys Murisa — mother to legendary footballer, Stewart Murisa — the idea was to encourage women and young girls in that community to build life skills through sport.

She recalled how each one of the 10 female players would donate whatever they had from their family coffers towards hiring transport to away fixtures in neighbouring suburbs like Mbare, Mufakose and Highfield.

With time, Manyame Queens developed from just being a netball team to become an establishment where women and girls could share their problems, assist each other when they had life challenges and mentor those who needed life skills in different social spheres.

Eunice Ndhlovu, one of the active members of the Manyame Queens, remembers with nostalgia how they would scrounge for resources to ensure they would host another team or fulfil an away match. They could not dream of paying themselves any allowances because there was no money.

It was not been easy for the women, they conceded. However, faced with myriad of problems among them lack of uniforms, transport, food and other amenities, Manyame Queens buckled under financial pressure and folded, beginning of last year. Naturally the young girls and women, who had one day hoped that their team would contest in the national league, were devastated.

It was an end to dreams they had nurtured for three years.
They had also hoped that one day, Manyame Queens would become a source of livelihood for themselves and their families.

They also harboured ambitions of turning Manyame Queens into a big team like the Australian Garville netball Club, in the hope that they will one day represent Zimbabwe at mega events like the annual Bali Netball Competition, held every year in Indonesia.

Manyame Queens’ dream crumbled like a deck of cards, right in the eyes of the local business community who failed to share the national vision of empowering the girl child.

But of course the girls have not lost hope of living and walking their dream as netball players.
They are already in the process of reviving the structures so that they entertain the community like what they used to do.
But the same problems they faced three years ago, are still there.

They still want a netball kit, transport and other amenities to keep them going. In addition they will now want to start an income generating project, to which they will hinge the activities of Manyame Queens on.

They are hoping that a Good Samaritan will help them achieve their dream and rekindle their passion for netball.
But I can attest that there are a lot of sporting activities by women that are failing to get funding within the communities they are, furthering hindering the advancement of women in sport and other physical activities.

It cannot be over-emphasised that the involvement of girls and women in sport and physical activities can have a significant potential to make to development agendas, particularly in the achievement of third goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, “Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women Goals.

In its 2000 report on Women, Gender, Equality and Sports, the United Nations noted that, “The participation of women and girls in sport challenges gender based stereotypes and discrimination, and can therefore be a vehicle to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. In particular, women in sport leadership can shape attitudes towards women’s capabilities as leaders and decision makers especially in traditional male domains. Their participation in sport can make significant contribution to public life and community development.” Let us support our women and let us support Manyame Queens and help them realise their dreams.