Zimbabwe Gender Commission comments on dress code for girls makes you wonder why it exists

In what was a startling move, the Zimbabwe Gender Commission has been quoted as saying that students should have a dress code to avoid sexual harassment.

By students, of course, it means women. You know those girls who are adults and according to basic human rights have the right to free agency and thought.

A clever representative of the organ Delis Mazambane was quoted by Cite.org.zw as saying:

To make life easier for the lecturer the university needs to have a dress code policy, of course, the constitution talks about freedom of expression but institutions are allowed to cascade such provisions to their own needs

‘To make life easier for the lecturer’, it is up to the students to change not the warped twisted beings who see girls in their care as prey.

In essence, the comments imply that it is up to the potential victims to change and not the psychos they might meet.

And the scariest thing in all of this is that it is out of sync with where the fight against violence on women has gone. That even if women are fully clothed, dressed as nuns, it will not mean that they will not be subject to sexual harassment.

And yet the ZGC has its mandate in the constitution of Zimbabwe in section 246 and we quote two parts:

to conduct research into issues relating to gender and social justice and to recommend changes to laws and practices which lead to discrimination based on gender;
to recommend prosecution for criminal violations of rights relating to gender;
to secure appropriate redress where rights relating to gender have been violated

And funnily enough, those particularly to do with social justice, criminal violation and securing redress are all ignored here.

If anything, the recommendation seeks to undermine the constitution by not dealing with prosecution and engaging in a bias based on gender. It says because one is a woman, they have to dress in a certain way or else no one, not even the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, whose job it is foster equality and safe spaces, will rather not do anything to protect you.

And you wonder, why they exist…