Zimbabwe

Johannesburg, 9 December: Sixteen Days of Activism against gender violence ends tomorrow. This is very a poignant time: International Human Rights Day, the same day South Africa will hold the official memorial service for one of the world’s most respected human rights icons. Sadly, every call for equality and justice seems so trite and less profound each time, but our walk to gender equality is forced to continue. Ending gender-based violence remains a 365-day struggle.

This dissertation explored perceptions of the link between religion and the feminization of poverty amongst research participants attached to the Johane Marange Church of Seke area in Zimbabwe. The study sought to explore whether the practices in the Johane Marange church exacerbated the feminization of poverty. A qualitative research approach was selected. Data included documentary sources, notes from observation, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. It is found that according to the research participants, some of the church’s traditions may drive the feminization of poverty in the area. In particular, the church’s stance concerning young women’s participation in higher education, people’s health-seeking behaviour, its own understanding of the causes of and treatment for HIV and AIDS, its encouragement of early age at marriage for women and support of the practice of widow inheritance all contribute to a deepening feminization of poverty

Girls in rural areas face a number of challenges in their pursuit of basic education, empowerment and gender equality. This thesis explores the extent to which gender equality and empowerment of women have been achieved in education in ward 33 of Mt Darwin. At the centre is what Zimbabwean government and civil society organisations such as Campaign for female education (Camfed) have done to implement strategies addressing challenges affecting implementation and achievement of MDG 3. A multi-method research strategy, including focus group discussions, questionnaires administration and interviews, was used in the data collection process. The findings of the study show reciprocal linkage between education, empowerment and gender equality. Ward 33 requires integration in approach from assisting agencies and the general populace if Millennium Development Goal 3 is to be achieved. Results showed the multiple barriers girls face in the process of accessing education within the homes, along the way to school and within the school system itself. Camfed and government’s interventions have been pointed out to contributing to the achievement of MDG 3 in the ward. Women’s quest for equality is evident. Specific actions recommended after this research include the need for MOESAC to strategically post qualified teachers in rural areas, sensitization and empowerment programmes targeting men, civil society organisations and government ministries working with women to intensify advocacy, capacity building and leadership trainings for women. Overall recommendation is that there is need to implement MDG 3 beyond 2015 if rural women are to be integrated into the MDG 3 empowerment and gender equality agenda.

Even before the decade-long economic crisis (1997-2008), the economy of Zimbabwe was already failing to absorb the high numbers of people, mainly youth joining the labour market, with increasingly high levels of education. Though the level of unemployment at 10.7 percent of the labour force looks comparatively modest, the challenge is that the bulk of the employed are locked in low productivity sectors of the economy, in communal agriculture and the informal sector, implying under-employment.

In the absence of an explicit employment policy where social and economic goals are integrated consciously into the macroeconomic framework, strategies and programmes adopted to deal with un- and under-employment, and indeed poverty reduction (and its eradication) have largely failed to stem and reverse the scourge.

Borrowing from the concept of gender audits which seeks to promote gender mainstreaming and gender equality in all policies, a starting point is carrying out employment audits of all policies to assess the extent to which they integrate employment objectives. The second step is to generate national and sectoral employment targets to be integrated in the relevant policy documents, and especially the macroeconomic framework. By so doing, Government therefore fully recognises that productive employment and decent work, especially for the youth, is to be achieved through the sustained, determined and concerted efforts of all stakeholders, including those most affected, mainly youth, women and those living with disabilities, with Government providing leadership. To clear the backlog of unemployment, this paper projects that 138,395 jobs will have to be created annually until 2018. It also provides a sectoral breakdown of these targets.

In 2008 the national government of Zimbabwe supported by the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network recognised the need to cascade the national gender budgeting programme to local government level. Local government institutions are crucial because they are strategically placed close to the people who are the direct recipients of services extended to them on a day to day basis. They need to be able to make decisions which address gender disparities. ZWRCN spear-headed the launch of the local government gender budgeting programme in six pilot districts. The Ministry of Local Government is making an effort to reduce gender disparity by committing to gender equality through the adoption of gender budgeting from neighbourhood to ward, district and provincial level.

Prior to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development Zimbabwe’s health targets were based on meeting the needs of child bearing women and children under 5. Since then the government has been committed to the improvement of the reproductive status of young people (aged 10 À“ 24). This strategy realigns its priorities with regard to sexual and reproductive health of young people in line with the millennium development goals. It requires the integration of psychological, physical, societal, cultural, educational and economic factors and this involves a multi-sectorial approach.

This pamphlet explains divorce and the law and is published by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. Cartoons are used to make the law accessible and information is listed about grounds for divorce and property sharing.

The Zimbabwean Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development has produced a pamphlet which explains the Domestic Violence Act in simple terms. It focuses on Chapter 5: 16 of the Act and uses cartoons to show various types of abuse and explains the role of the courts and how a protection order works.

The Legal Age of Majority Act (LAMA) has given women in Zimbabwe majority status. The effect of this on women’s lives is explained by means of cartoons in this pamphlet.

This is a simple explanation of the basics of the administration of an estate where there is no will and it is published by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development in Zimbabwe.