Gospel artist Patience Namadingo says artists have a role to play in the maintenance and sustainability of gender equality in the country.
The artist made the sentiments on Saturday night at Chancellor College in Zomba during a gender balance awareness campaign organised by the United Nations (UN) Women movement.
Namadingo, who mesmerised the audience with his Msati Mseke hit, stated that artists should compose songs, short stories, folklores, poems as well dramas and comedies that address the essence of gender balance and evils of oppressing women.
“Artists have sharp voices that touch the souls of many people for action hence need to use their talents to rescue women from the pangs of abuses,” said Namadingo.
“Artists can group together to sing one song as a symbol of solidarity that we are for gender balance owing to the fact that empowering the women we empower the rest of the society.”
On his take, Gwamba, who jumped into the stage with his Bola Kusache track, kneeling beside Namadingo who played the guitar and backing vocals to the song, said songs are like a seed that gradually grows in the hearts of listeners.
He said girls, such as Natasha in his song, are exposed to various harsh survival conditions and abuses whereas most of these girls are voiceless hence artists have a role to speak for these overlooked individuals.
“We have a mandate to make sure that every person enjoys their birthright so let us maximise our talent by speaking for the voiceless,” he said.
One of the partakers at the show, Rodney Likaku, described the event as motivating to the students as the artists musically addressed gender balance in their performances.
“It will be easy for the students to implement gender balance each time they remember the live performances of these two artists,” he said.
UN Women advocacy assistant Limbani Msiska urged youthful artists to be ambassadors of gender balance among fellow youths. He said things are better understood when shared among people of same age and ideologies.
“We are optimistic that if artists incorporate gender balance issues as they do with love songs or artworks it will be easy for the country to achieve a gender balance society,” he said.
