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One step forward…two steps back

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I recently attended a Gender symposium organised by the Gender Forum as part of the their programme for 16-365 Days of activism against gender Based Violence. Various presenters and discussants were invited to share academic papers concerning gender-based violence in Zimbabwe.

The presentation by Ms. Edith Maziofa got me thinking. She began by pointing out the alarming number of headlines that report sexual assault, murder and violence against women, girls and most distressingly infants.

I remember vividly reading about the case of the man who raped his friend’s four-year-old daughter in a collapsed grave. The man was found by his friend’s wife, who reported the matter to the police. At the time of reporting the man had escaped apprehension and was on the run. Discussing the article with some friends, we concluded that it had to have been some sort of ritual, burial sites being sacred in our culture. But what disturbed me the most was that the four year olds father was not to be found anywhere in the story. He was not reported to be outraged, or disowning his friend. It was the mother who reported the rape to the police, the mother who stood outraged at the gravesite with a crowd, the mother who was going to court to seek justice for her child. But where was her husband?

In her presentation, Ms Maziofa noted that the high incidence of these articles, spoke to an even higher prevalence of abuse against women and children.

She discussed the decline of the women’s movement, which reached its peak in the 1990s when it influenced the drafting of a new constitution, the drafting of a national gender policy, and the promulgation of the Domestic violence act.

Despite the remarkable laws protecting women and children, the high media reportage of GBV shows that gender inequality is still deeply entrenched in Zimbabwe. Ms Maziofa queried how well these laws actually worked in protecting vulnerable women and children.

She went further to point out that the gender imbalances in our society impact negatively on income distribution, and noted that despite the widely publicised women’s empowerment movement, economic control and ownership is still male dominated.

Politically this imbalance has serious ramifications. Take for example the unquestioning endorsement by the ZANU PF Women’s League of Robert Mugabe. I have yet to be made aware of any debate regarding the suitability of Amai Mujuru for Chairperson of ZANU PF or indeed, any woman for any government or party position that is responsible for making any real political or national decisions. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, and in particular from this quarter, women are still underrepresented in politics, yet they have the loudest voices when it come to endorsing decisions already made by men.

Are women in politics not capable of making decisions on their own?

3 comments to “One step forward…two steps back”

  1. Comment by JP:

    you were doing so well up until this point
    “Discussing the article with some friends, we concluded that it had to have been some sort of ritual, burial sites being sacred in our culture. But what disturbed me the most was that the four year olds father was not to be found anywhere in the story. He was not reported to be outraged, or disowning his friend. It was the mother who reported the rape to the police, the mother who stood outraged at the gravesite with a crowd, the mother who was going to court to seek justice for her child. But where was her husband?”

    Did you care to find if the father was still alive, still involved with the mother, in the country etc. what you have just done there is one of the problems with these gender issues. more than likely it is turned into a man bashing session. In your blog you fail to address the cases of women bashing men which are becoming more apparent. and what does zanu pf womens league have to do with GBV? i failed to understand that point, please clarify

  2. Comment by Upenyu:

    For some men, the knee jerk reaction to any discussion of gender issues or more specifically gender based violence is the emotive label ‘man-bashing session’. Are you reading the blog carefully or was your mind made up the moment you read ‘GENDER BASED VIOLENCE? How is asking about why the father was not mentioned in the article putting men down?

    What interests me about your response is your use of the term ‘bashing’, relative to the reality of women being physically assaulted and sometimes even murdered. I find your tit for tat implication that women also physically abusing men somehow makes it ok for men to abuse women insulting. I do not condone abuse of any kind (as you will no doubt argue after reading this) but I do think we should look at the facts as they are. Violence against women and children, whether you acknowledge it or not is a real problem in Zimbabwe. Women commiting acts of violence against men does not negate this.

    As for the Women’s league, this is an examination of the gender imbalances that are prevalent in our society. (Again read the post, don’t just skim it!)

  3. Comment by JP:

    at what point did i say that it was ok for men to [s]bash[/s] sorry assault/murder women. I do not condone violence.

    As for my point on the father, you draw up an assumption that he did nothing, or lead readers to draw up an assumption that he did nothing, here i was thinking that journalists had some code of conduct. i feel it was just slightly misleading/mischievous.

    Your topic was on GBV, so i do not know how the women’s league came into your article. Considering that Mai Mujuru is the VP, and that the womens league and Government have come along in leaps and bounds to try ensure equal representation by women (for example, correct me if i am wrong but one position in the presidium is reserved for a woman, the acting president at the moment is mai mujuru), also parliament has quotas for women or is working on that, my memory is a bit fuzzy, so the point is, that the womens league is a bad example.

    [insert sarcasm here]Anyway forgive me, i’m a man so i dont understand these issues.[/insert sarcasm here]