Gender Controversy in Zimbabwe [By Tapiwa M Gudza]

Despite the fact that women constitute 52.4% of the population in Zimbabwe; women remain under represented in most sectors of the economy, social and political arena. Zimstat (2013:18)  In a bid to achieve equity and equality Zimbabwe has signed a plethora of regional and international treaties such as Development Community’s Declaration to Gender and Development and its addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ECOSOCO) Convention on the Minimum Age of Marriage and Registration of Marriages (Gudhlanga etal : 2012). To achieve equality and equity the National Gender Policy was drafted and implemented since 2004 and currently the second National Gender Policy has been drafted by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. The new constitution has called for propositional representation in parliament for the senators and a quota system to ensure 50:50 representations for both man and women. Despite this fare and pomp gender disparities are still evident in Zimbabwe, this paper tries to explain why this is so.

Primary socialization of children at a tender age is one of the factors that have seen Zimbabwe being ranked number 130 in terms of gender equality and equity. (Human Development Report 2007/2008). Parson (1954) defined primary socialization as a stage when a child is developing personality characteristics, beliefs and values based on their upbringing and these are shaped by the family and parents. Most families have entrenched the patriarchal system by differential treatment of boys and girls during childhood. Different types of toys are prescribed for different sexes for examples girls are given dolls which prepares them for caring, domestic and parental duties while boys are showered with cars, guns and building toys which psychologically prepares them for productive work and the public sphere. Sharma observed that although young women are increasingly choosing typically ` male’ professions, they remain over-represented in traditionally female jobs, such as secretaries, nurses, and under-represented in jobs with responsibility and the professions. (www.yesweb.org/op.inequality.doc.) The Ministry of Health Child Welfare has of late introduced gender insensitive baby cards. These cards are distinguished by colors thus pink resembles baby girl and blue for a baby boy. This mentality creates a conducive environment for the perpetuation of inequality in Zimbabwe. Legislations and treaties do not address issues grassroots issues such as socialization of children at home by their families. Primary socialisation is thus left in the hands of the parents.

Another reason why women occupy less space in the socio- economic and political arena can be ascribed to secondary socialization. Gender bias is perpetuated by communications in multiple media such as print, electronic and broadcast. The media shapes perceptions and attitudes of societies. The negative portrayal of women encourages and entrenches social injustices. Constant reportage and broadcasting of gender insensitive material which depicts woman as sex symbols and ‘instruments’ for male satisfaction, heightens gender inequality. The media in some cases has portrayed modern women as ‘Sara Baartman’ of this age. Sara Baartman was a South African khoi khoi slave woman who was taken to Europe and exhibited for her exotic origin and large buttocks, European men would pay to see and sleep with her. (www.wikipedia/ sarabaartman.com). In Zimbabwe, Zoey Sifelani and Beverly Sibanda are portrayed in a similar fashion just like Sara Baartman . The media has shown graphical pictures of their nudity in the press. Below are images of how Sarah Baartman was exhibited and how the pole dancers of Zimbabwe are depicted in the press.  

Sara Baartman                                                                                     Zoey and Beverly

International and locally women nudity are wantonly shown on print, electronic and digital media. Hollyhood artists such  Jay Z, Eminem and Rick Ross show women dancing naked in their videos, for example in the video Superman by Eminen, Here I am by Rick Ross and That booty by Dupri. Similarly in Zimbabwe the Late Tongai Moyo was using a woman with big buttocks to dance to the ‘Selle dance’. Young artists like Winky D, Stunner and Sniper have used half dressed women in their videos for example Stunner in his vedio called Sele Mama and Sniper’s ‘Mambo ndi mambo’.  Women are portrayed negatively in some music videos and movies. As long as children are also subjected to these videos they are unconsciously molded to accept male domination and female inferiority in the society.

Education is widely recognized as the gateway to economic security and opportunity- particularly for girls and women. World figures in literacy relate a sorry tale. Of the 130 million 6-11 year-old children are not in school - a majority - 60 percent are girls. www.yesweb.org/op.inequality.doc. The figures only go to show how in most regions of the world, specially the developing societies, gender bias impinges on girls' education. In Zimbabwe enrollment of female students compared to males in education shows an unfair disposition. While Zimbabwe boosts of 91.3% literacy rate. Disintegrated data points to the fact that males have 94.4 % of literacy rate, while females have 88.7%. (Zimstat: Poverty Income Consumption and Expenditure Survey 2011/12 Report).

 Source: Zimstat : Poverty Income Consumption and Expenditure Survey 2011/12 Report).

The statistics above show that women have the highest illiteracy rate and this disadvantage them in getting public offices and participation in administrative roles. This might explain why men still dominate the public sphere. Comparing these statistics with those of 2002 census the number of women illiteracy rate has increased. The gap between the illiteracy rate of men women and has widened by at least 4.7 %. It can be concluded that the economic meltdown of 2007 and 2008 impacted negatively of the girl child rather than the boy child. The explanation might be that parents resorted to educating the boy child than the girl child during the economic turmoil of 2007 and 2008. According to Sharma, the foremost factor limiting female education is poverty. Economics plays a key role when it comes to coping with directs costs such as tuition fees, cost of textbooks, uniforms, transportation and other expenses. Wherever, especially in families with many children, these costs exceed the income of the family, girls are the first to be denied schooling. www.yesweb.org/op.inequality.doc. The idea behind this is that the boy child if educated will fend for his family directly while the girl child once married would contribute to her new family (husband’s family).Gender inequality in India in some cases reflects that of Zimbabwe though India is in the extremes, Sharma observed that access to education for girls is limited by the gender roles such cleaning the house, preparing the food, looking after their siblings, the elderly and the sick, grazing the cattle and collecting firewood. In addition physical safety of the girls, especially when they have to travel a long distance to school and fear of sexual harassment are other reasons that impede girls' education. www.yesweb.org/op.inequality.doc.

Expulsions of the girl child from schools due to pregnancies are some of the factors affect their employability in the formal sector. Female students make the majority in Ordinary level dropouts. In some cases in formal education the girl child is expelled due to pregnancy while in most cases the boy child is usually left to attend school. The legislation has tried addressing this by allowing girls how fall pregnant due to rape to take maternity leave and continue with their studies after giving birth. However most girls are shy to attend school after falling pregnant due to stigmatisation and discrimination they are likely to face at school from their peers. Poor performance of the girl child in secondary schools in some cases is greatly compromised by male teachers who abuse their authority by engaging into illicit love affairs with female students. Most child headed families comprises of the girl child, they drop out of school to look after families, the sick and the elderly. This scenario might explain why the public sphere is dominated by males than women. Makota (2003) concluded that female dropouts were more in numbers at Ordinary level than their counterparts. Below is a table from the study by Makota of causes of dropouts in Gokwe South West Circuit.

 Drop outs in Gokwe West Circuit 2001

Form (2001)	Males	%	Females	%
1	45	4.3	42	3.7
2	24	2.3	24	2.1
3	22	2.1	23	2
4	11	1.3	20	1.7
Total	105	10	109	9.5

Source: (Makota 2003, p. 31)

From the table shown above it can be concluded that female students are more vulnerable in completing their education than males as pointed out in the above argument. Females drop out of school more than males hence it affects their employability in the public sphere.

The curriculum in some instances is gender biased thus it contribute to perpetration of gender inequality. The history subject presents gender stereotyping, according to Gudhlanga, the curriculum is gender exclusive it is dominated by patriarchal system, in history males is given prominence than females. Gudhlanga (2012: 4539) states;

Pre-colonial history focuses on powerful men like Lobengula, Chaminuka and Mapondera among others. The only female who is given prominence is Mbuya Nehanda and other women are never mentioned as playing significant roles in Zimbabwean history.

 In addition an icon like Queen Lozikey’s role is glossed over in the syllabus especially in History. Queen Lozikey was Lobengula’s wife who took over when he went into hiding in 1893 after the Ndebele War (Gudhlanga 2012). During the Second Chimurenga , Joshua Nkomo, Ndabaningi Sithole,Robert Mugabe, Leopold Takawira, Josiah Tongogara and Jason Moyo roles are given prominence than that of women. It is in this context the education system is responsible for socializing women to accept male domination. The historians need to objectively narrate accounts of both men and women in their roles in history. Highlighting roles of heroines in history will create role models. The case as it stands is that there are more heros than heroines. However, Early Children Development books have tried to address gender stereotypes.

Christine King cited that there is difference between access and control of resources. She stated that it is also important to differentiate between access (such as being able to farm on someone else’s land) and control (owning that land, being able to decide how that land is used). (www.regional.org.au ). Having women control the means of production or the decision making process is key to bringing about change. In Zimbabwe women have access rather than control of the land due to cultural practices that dictates that men are owners of the land. Household names are referred by the name of the husband e.g. Pamusha pava Gudza or Pava Mudereka (translated homestead that belongs to Mr. Gudza or Mr. Mudeka). Zimbabwe has failed to rise about cultural practices that perpetrate gender inequality and hinder equitable distribution of resources. Below is a graph which shows the direct beneficiaries of the land reform.

Source : Second National Gender Policy February Draft 2013,p 9 .

According to Second Gender Policy only 18 % of the land beneficiaries under A1 were women and 12 % were given A2 farms. Custodians of land in rural areas are chiefs. In Zimbabwe there are only 6 female chiefs compared to more than 200 male chiefs. According to Chief Charumbira “Vakadzi vanoda humambo asi havapihwe mukana, (Women want chieftaincy but they are not afforded the chance”. (Sunday News 10 March 2012). Most chiefs are conservative to the traditions and most of them adamant and immune to change, they still give land ownership to men and do not recognize women control of land. In some cases widowed women are forcibly removed from their husband’s land by relatives. (Gender Based Violence Gokwe South Case Book 2013).  It is in this case the traditional chiefs and their traditional customs are at variance with what they regard as western ideologies of gender equality. According to Matavire (2012: 218) chiefs in Shona culture are the custodian of the traditional beliefs and values. In this context chiefs defend the patriarchal system. An old adage states that whoever holds the piper calls the tune, henceforth those who have control of resources determines policies and decisions.

Since most women do not have ownership of land their access to credit facilities is limited. Banks require collateral security as a prerequisite to give loans and more often than not women do not have property to pledge. According Zimstat (2013:42) 17% of women population access credit facilities compared to 68% of male population. Microfinance institutions such as Women Development Savings and Credit Union (WDSCU) have tried to address women’s access to credit facilities in particular by giving them soft loans. Group guarantee method was used in place of collateral security; it entailed that women would pledge to guarantee each other and in cases of defaulting payment group members would take the burden. However, WDSCU is on a verge of collapse due to corruption and mismanagement. It is another reason why gender inequality continues, due to the absence of funds to empower women economically.

Religion such as Christianity and the Moslem can be attributed to the inequality between men and women in Zimbabwe. The irony is that churches preach of equality in the eyes of the God and paradoxically they emphasis that women should be submissive to man. The biblical story of creation is used as basis of gender imbalances. Adam was created before Eve and man is viewed as the ultimate creation and women are regarded as an ‘after thought’ and mere helpers of men. Ephesians 5 verse 23 is also quoted “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” (King James Version). It is in this context men are given higher positions to administrate while women play supportive roles. In Zimbabwe, there might be only a single church that has been founded by a woman alone. Mai Chaza is one of the female who rose above gender stereotypes to establish Guta RaJehova church. According Lillian Dube in the article Mai Chaza: an African Christian Story of Gender, healing and power,

(Mai Chaza) emerges as a prominent woman who transcends the socio-cultural hierarchy, defying the imposed status of “perpetual minor” to become an elder, commanding respect and occupying a position of power and prestige in the very community that shamed, humiliated and ostracised her as an ordinary wife and mother of six….

Mainstream Christian churches like Methodist, Anglican and United Methodist Church urge married women and girls who are ready for marriage join Ruwadzano, a female composed committee aimed at molding submissive mothers. The concept of Ruwadzo encourages women to be champions of the domestic sphere.

In the Islamic religion a woman’s space is in the private sphere of the home, and a man’s is in the public life. Women are supposed to fulfill marital and maternal responsibilities whereas men are financial and administrative stewards of their families. However the Quran does not segregate males or females or give gender roles. According to the Quran Chapter 49 verse 13 states that Allah created males and females that they may procreate. Despite this in Friday prayers men lead prayers and women and children stand behind the men. (Wikipedia: Gender roles in Islam

In the political arena women do not get full participation due to a plethora of reasons such as political violence, family responsibilities especially in poor rural areas such as child care and agricultural responsibilities, and inadequate education and knowledge of the administration. These factors reinforce the political marginality of women and down play their role in public decision making. According to Witness Org, an estimation of 2000 women were targeted in 2008 political violence, raped was used as weapon of torture to activists by state agents, Zimbabwe National Union Patriotic Front ZANU PF or (Movement for Democratic Change ) MDC supporters. (www.witness.org). Hear Us: Women Affected by political Violence in Zimbabwe Speak Out is a documentary which featured Memory a MDC political activist who was abducted and raped on 11 June 2008. She claims that her and other women were raped and others had their private parts burnt with hot a coal. According to video clip 500 reports of assaults and 700 cases of political intimidation were reported by the Zimbabwe NGO Forum between January and July. Fear of such treatment makes it difficult for women to become political activists in the male dominated sphere. In Bolivia political violence extents to elected women and is perpetuated by male colleagues and most women end up resigning. (Felicity Manson-Visram, Luca Jacopo Uberti etal: “Gender – Based Political Violence in Bolivia: A Barrier to Women’s Political Participation 2010”).

Women, family responsibilities such nursing of children and agricultural practices makes it difficult for rural women to participate into politics. When poverty struck women are hard hit henceforth they would rather be in their gardens than get involved in politics to provide for the family. These point can be collaborated by Zimstat which observed that, women are responsible of doing 61.0% of communal or resettlement farming while men does 39.0%. (Zimstat :2013 p 42). On the other hand women have to walk long distances to attend political meetings. According, to a Local Councillor,Belén, Potosi of Bolivia

“It is very difficult to organise meetings as villages are spread out and transport is very poor. We have to walk 3–4 hours sometimes to get to a road where we can get a lift. This is why more men are involved in politics.” (Mendoza 2010:8)

This scenario also reflects the situation in Zimbabwe in most rural areas for example in Gokwe South a single ward cover large tracks of land and people walk more than 25km to attend ward meetings which usually held at the ward centers. The common mode of transport in rural areas is foot hence women are discouraged by such conditions to participate in active politics.

According to Virginia Muwanigwa , the chairperson for Women Coalition in Zimbabwe in an interview held by 1^st TV on 10 September 2013 , women politicians are unlikely to succeed in politics due to lack of financial resources needed to campaign during elections. Most women are disadvantaged by the fact that the men that they compete with have the financial resources needed to campaign. Using Zimstat 2011/12 survey it can be observed that women have the large percentage of the economic inactive. However when it comes to those in enrolled in schools females has the least percentage. (See graph below). The explanation being that most women are not enrolled in schools hence this disempowers women when faced with educated politicians.  Jessie Majome ( former Deputy Minister of Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development ) in the same interview cited above pointed out that the media negatively covered female politicians and scantly covered gender issues as well trivialized women issues. Attack on personalities like what the females look like and how they dressed was grossly evident during the 2013 elections for Member of Parliaments and this discourages women active role into politics. Furthermore families were not supportive women getting into politics especially married women (1st  TV Interview : Jessie Majome).

                                                Economic Inactive %

Source; Zimstat: Poverty Income Consumption and Survey 2011/12 Report

The existence of habitulized gender routines and lack of egalitarian marriages perpetuate inequality and gender discrimination of women. The marriage culture in Zimbabwe accepts polygamy under the Customary Marriage Act 5.07 however the law glossed over instances where a women can have many husbands. (Customary Marriages Act 5.07). The Marriage Act reinforces the payment of bride price. According to M. Matavire, “Inferior decision making power of women arises from the subordinate position that is created the moment bride price is paid. The husband remains the undisputed head of the household.” (Matavire, 2012) Bride price has a way of reducing women power in decision making in their household. In addition bride price has led to marital rape in most instances. A woman who is abused at home might find it difficult to express her views in public. The missionary sex position also known as the man on top position which is commonly practised transcend to the public sphere.

The contradictions in Zimbabwe constitution encourages reverse discrimination of females. Gender balance is one the founding principles of the constitution. The Constitution Section 3 (f) and (g) recognize equality of all human beings. However Section 48 (c) of the Constitution cites that the death penalty must not be imposed on women. Matavire( 2012) noted that at traditional courts women are regarded as weaker sex hence they are given lighter sentences than man. Reverse discrimination according to Chapman (1991) is where compensation is granted to unjustly treated persons on the basis of morally irrelevant characteristics such as being a woman. This kind of discrimination makes women inferior to men because of this preferential treatment. The contradictions make gender equality ambiguous.

Implementation of women economic empowering programs is flawed due to the absence of funds, personnel and transport for officers in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. The Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development is mandated to promote equality and equity. The Ministry which is supposed to look at gender disparities is the least funded ministry compared to all the ministries.(1^st TV interview of Jessie Majome) Since 2010 the Ministry has been funding women under the Women Development Fund a revolving fund which is meant to achieve economic empowerment through giving them low interests loans at 10% per annum. In Gokwe South only 13 groups composed of at least an average of five women per group have been funded. However only 5 groups have managed to repay the loan and the other groups have died natural deaths. Some of the reasons for the demise of these groups can be attributed to the Ministry’s failure to provide transport for monitoring of the projects to Community Development officers. In addition the burden of monitoring lies on Ward Development Officers who are already short staffed. In Gokwe South out of 39 wards only 18 ward development coordinators are available. (MWAGCD Gokwe South Report July 2013) It is in this context monitoring of women projects is crippled hence the impact of the fund is minimal. This scenario is reflective of what is in Zimbabwe, none of the district offices have transport even motor cycles to monitor the projects. This has led to the demise of women led projects negatively impacting on the emancipation of women.

Gender stereotyping is one of the many factors that perpetuate gender inequality. The research made by Owence Chabaya, Symphorosa Rembe and Newman Wadesango  to find the factors that impede female teachers advancement to leadership positions in Primary Schools revealed that gender stereotyping was one the reason that accounted for inequality. The influence of gender role stereotypes was found to manifest in the form of low self esteem; lack of confidence; women’s perception that their role in the family overrides all other roles; and lack of support from the home and the workplace. (Chabaya etal 2009, p235.) Chabaya’s research made the following conclusions

1)      Women prioritised family roles at the expense of their career ; thus women were not willing to be promoted and posted away from their husbands would have other spouses during their absence hence contract HIV and AIDS.

2)      Low self esteem and lack of confidence: from the focus group discussion women highlighted that women believed that their upbringing and social background modelled them to accept being led by men easily

3)      Lack of Support; Men were not supportive of women taking leadership especially earning more than them, further more allowing them to work non working hours which was associated with the headship position. 

The above conclusions can also explain why males dominate the socio and economic spheres. In Gokwe South there are only 5 female heads and 13 deputy heads mistresses out of 133 primary registered  schools in the District and 1 head and 1 deputy head out 46 secondary schools. In the Midlands Province there is only 1 female who is acting as District Education Officer. (Interview Gokwe South DEO). 

In conclusion Zimbabwe still has a lot to do to achieve gender parity in socio –economic and polical shpheres. This assignment has explained that primary socialization , secondary socialization plays important roles in creating gender disaparities. Unequal treatment of children by denying education to the girl child also explains the domination of males in most sectors. Political violence and gender roles, lack of family support are some of the reasons that affect women representation in the public sphere. The flawed implementation of women projects due to lack of resources and monitoring mechanisms and by the ill funded Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development poses a major blow to women emancipation and development. Religious doctrines also play an important role in enhancing a patriarchal society.  In addition reverse discrimination is also inherent in the new constitution which perpetuates stereotyping of women as ‘weak’.

Bibliography

Dube, L. ‘Mai Chaza: An African Christian Story of Gender, healing and power’ in Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Volume XXIV, April 2008.

Gudhlanga , E. and Chirimuuta C. etal , ‘Towards a Gender Inclusive Curriculum in Zimbabwe’s Education System: Opportunities and Challenges,’ in  Gender & Behaviour,10(1), June 2012.

King ,C. ‘Gender and rural community development III: tools and frameworks for gender analysis’ www.regional.org.au, accessed 11/9/2013.

 King James Version, Ephesians 5 verse 23

Human Development Report 2007/2008, www.hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2007-2008 , accessed  11/9/2013.

 Makota,  S. (2003), ‘An investigation into causes of pupils dropouts in secondary schools in Gokwe South District ; A case study of Gokwe South West Circuit’ an BED Dissertation , ZOU.

Matavire, M (2012), ‘Interrogating the Zimbabwean Traditional Jurisprudence and the Position of Women in Conflict Resolution. A Case of the Shona Tribes in Muzarabani District.’ in International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 3, February 2012, pp218 -223.

Ministry of Women Affairs , Gender and Community Development, Second Gender Policy February 2013 Draft.

Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, ‘Gender Based Violence Gokwe South Case Book 2013’.

Sharma, G.  ‘Gender inequality in education and employment’,www.yesweb.org/op.inequality.doc.,  accessed 11/9/2013.

Sunday News Reporter, ‘ Zimbabwe has only 6 female chiefs’ in  Sunday News, 10 March 2012.

Visram, T. and Uberti L. etal,- ‘Gender-based Political Violence in Bolivia A Barrier to Women’s Political Participation’ in Action Brief ,3 M arch 2010, pp1-20.

Zimstat, Poverty and Poverty datum Line Analysis in Zimbabwe 2011/12, April 2013, Harare

Zimstat, Poverty Income Consumption and Expenditure Survey 2011/12,  April 2013, Harare.

Documentaries

Memory (performer), Rau and Witness org (producers), (2008) ‘Hear US; Women Affected by political Violence in Zimbabwe Speak out’(Vedio Recording).

Ist TV interview Jessie Majome and Virginia  Muwanigwa, 10/9/2013