24 3.2.9 Patriotism and Loyalty “Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” (Nehemiah 2:3). These are the words of a patriotic man called Nehemiah. Although he held a very good job in the office of the Persian Emperor, it was the welfare of his own country that became his driving force. He was like other exiled Jews who sat down and wept by the rivers of Babylon when they remembered Zion (Ps 137:1) Patriotism is a love of one’s country and allegiance to its state institutions. This necessitates that we cultivate a sense of belonging which should override sectional, tribal, ethnic and other loyalties. Some Zimbabweans have unfortunately become very unpatriotic in their thinking, words and behaviour. They refuse to see any good in their nation, or to work for the welfare of that nation. This may be in part because we have not taken the development of national values seriously. In order to develop patriotism certain features of the nation must be regarded as a common heritage of all Zimbabweans. These must include our history, our heroes, the national constitution, flag, national anthem, defence forces, the civil service, national holidays etc. None of these must be seen as the preserve of one party or one sectional interest. A national approach to those institutions and national events would unite us as a nation in the Zimbabwe that belongs to all of us. Patriotism does not mean that we develop uniformity in our thinking, culture or political party. Citizens should be able to constructively criticize their government without fearing that they will be accused of being unpatriotic. That is the Zimbabwe we want. 3.2.10 Gender Equity By gender we mean “the expectations and norms within a society with regard to appropriate male and female behaviour and roles, which attribute to men and women different access to status and power, including resources and decisionmaking power”. Women experience systematic oppression. They are excluded, marginalised, and rendered invisible in language and public life. They are stereotyped as mindless, emotional and weak; and that stereotyping is then used to legitimize their subordination to men. UN statistics show that while forming onehalf of the world’s population, women do three-fourths of the world’s work, receive one-tenth of the world’s salary, and own one-hundredth of the world’s land. Over three-fourths of starving people are women and their dependent children. Furthermore women are bodily and sexually exploited, used, battered, and raped. Thus sexism both oppresses and marginalizes women – hence negatively impacting on their sense of identity.