Girls in US and Zimbabwe Face “Almost the Same” Issues

Nyaradzo Mashayamombe, Executive Director of Tag a Life International Trust (TaLI), is no stranger to the struggles girls around the world face: from early marriages, to limited access to education, to societal pressures and constraints on their futures. In her own country of Zimbabwe, 21 percent of women report that their first experience of sexual intercourse was against their will, which is part of the reason she is such a fierce advocate for girls’ safety and empowerment. She works to “make the world a safe place for the girl child, focusing on the whole environment in which the girl child develops … and educating would-be-perpetrators and custodians of girls of their rights and the need for support from their immediate family, boys, men, and communities.”

It was Mashayamombe’s passion for improving the lives of girls that brought her to the U.S. as a Community Solutions Program Leader. She is working with the Women’s Crisis Support Team in Grants Pass, Oregon on outreach initiatives to area high schools, targeting young women and men in an effort to educate, raise awareness and prevent violence and sexual assault among area youth. When she first arrived, Mashayamombe expected to find that violence against women and girls would be far less prevalent than in her native Zimbabwe. “In the USA, it is surprising to me that there seems to be a lot more abuse against girls and women than I expected. Almost one in every three girls has been sexually molested at some stage by close family. That is worrisome.” In the end, “the issues facing girls in the USA and Zimbabwe are almost the same,” reflects Mashayamombe, and so are the solutions. “Duty bearers and law enforcement officials must provide conditions that enable girls to claim their rights and safety by providing an enabling environment for the girls. The government should also acknowledge the vulnerability of girls and the need for urgent action like the United Nations has done in proclaiming the first ever annual International Day of the Girl Child on the 11th of October 2012.”

The Day of the Girl Movement calls for girls to be seen as equals in the eyes of others and their own eyes. Mashayamombe echoes this and hopes it can be achieved through “empowering, mentoring, and building capacity in girls through education, engagement, and confidence-building, because knowledge is power.”

The Community Solutions Program is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and is implemented by IREX.