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Women's lives: Zimbabwe 30 years on

25 June 2010

Throughout Zimbabwe, women are struggling to provide food and education for their families, often forgoing some of their own basic needs. Action for Southern Africa is campaigning for change

Much has changed in the 30 years since Zimbabwe gained independence – the early days of success, when the country was regarded as the ‘bread basket’ of Africa, have all but ended as Zimbabwe has in more recent years slid into political and economic chaos.

As the 2008 power-sharing government involving ZANU PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) struggles to overcome these political and economic difficulties, women continue to bear the greatest burdens.

Politically, women are marginalised. Only a handful hold positions of key responsibility despite accounting for 52% of the population. With women’s representation in parliament at around 16%, Netsai Mushonga, national co-ordinator of the Women’s Coalition, says: “There is a scandalously low representation of women in the new set-up”.

Unless there is a significant improvement in the next election, Zimbabwe will not meet the gender equity protocol set by the Southern African Development Community, which aims to see women to hold the same positions as men in both public and private sectors by 2015.

Health, education and violence

Women face real inequality in access to healthcare – 21% of adult women in Zimbabwe are HIV positive compared with the national average of around 15%. Although more men are using condoms, a lack of affordable contraceptives has led to high infection rates among women as couples practise unprotected sex.

Without medical assistance during pregnancy, women risk infecting their children through mother to- child transmission (MTCT). Zimbabwe has begun to address the issue of MTCT, but much of the progress made is in danger of being reversed.

Girls are increasingly forced to leave school before boys due to financial constraints – families have to pay school fees in Zimbabwe – which leads to a lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases. Girls aged between 15 and 18 who do not attend school are five times more likely to contract HIV than those who stay in education.

Women are common targets of domestic and political violence. Rape was used as a political weapon against MDC supporters by ZANU PF during the 2008 elections. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Women of Zimbabwe Arise have highlighted the frequency and seriousness of domestic violence and rape.

Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS-Free World, states: “The politically-orchestrated and systematic campaign of sexual violence unleashed against women who supported the opposition MDC carves yet another chapter in the annals of Robert Mugabe’s legacy of depravity.”

Lives in poverty

Zimbabwean women are also suffering the effects of the country’s economic crisis. A case in point is Plaxedes Chironda, who works for a rose grower. She earns just $1 a day. It takes her three days to earn enough to buy one bottle of cooking oil. But with unemployment currently standing at over 90%, to some Plaxedes is one of the lucky ones.

Throughout Zimbabwe, women are struggling to provide food and education for their families, often forgoing some of their own basic needs. Many, for example, have resorted to using improvised sanitary protection as they can no longer afford to buy sanitary pads or cotton wool. Some insert scrunched up newspapers or rags during their periods, while others line their underwear with bark or leaves. Many women develop infections or sexually transmitted diseases through the cuts and sores the materials cause. Others cannot leave the house while they have their periods as they are unable to rely on their sanitary protection.

Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) believes every woman has the right to proper sanitary protection. The Dignity! Period. campaign, launched by ACTSA in 2005 with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, has distributed over six million free sanitary pads and helped restore dignity to the women of Zimbabwe.

Visit www.actsa.org/dignity for more information about the campaign and details of how you can help