How Empowered is
the Zimbabwean Woman Today?
Kabeer (2001) views
women’s empowerment as a process through which women gain the ability to take
ownership and control of their lives.
In 1995, the
Zimbabwe Government created the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community
Development to oversee coordination of all gender programmes and to facilitate
gender mainstreaming in all sector ministries. Moreover, so that Zimbabwe's
women can inherit wealth and ascend to traditional Chieftainships without gender
hindrances.
The Ministry of
Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Government of Zimbabwe
(2004) defined empowerment as the creation and expansion of one’s knowledge,
skills decision making and other power bases that gives individuals the capacity
and capability to exercise influence and leadership on their own.
Briefly, the key
elements of empowerment that are of paramount importance, are the expansion of
choices, capabilities and ability to make those strategic choices and control
over resources and means of production.
On the political
front, Zimbabwe has also made considerable progress in
implementing the
provisions of the stand alone SADC Protocol on Gender
Development and
has become one of the pioneers in the region in terms of enhancing women's full
participation in the governance and political institutions of society such as Parliament
and the judiciary. As part of this effort, the Zimbabwean Government is addressing
the gaps in gender representation in governance and political institutions of
the country. In this regard, the Government continues to promote proportional
representation in the legislative assembly as a means of politically empowering
women.
Political parties in Zimbabwe have adopted a quota system which has seen
an increase in women's representation in politics even though this is still
below the 30% quota set by the African Union and the 50% gender parity set in
the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
While domestic
violence is a social ill that continues to inflict immeasurable social costs
within our Zimbabwean society, Zimbabwe has made strides to eliminate violence
against women and this was done through the legislation of the Domestic
Violence Act in 2007. However, pervasive inequalities still exist and a lot still
needs to be done to achieve set targets.
As part of its
ongoing commitment to empower women, on 19 July 2012, the Government of
Zimbabwe launched the Broad Based Women's
Economic
Empowerment Framework (BBWEE) which is a medium-term
development plan
whose principal objective is gender equality and
the empowerment
of women in all sectors of the national economy.
The framework
outlines key strategies on how to fully integrate women in the entire value
chain of the economic sectors in line with the Indigenization and Empowerment
Act as well as other regional and international gender mainstreaming
instruments such as the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development as well as
CEDAW.
Zimbabwe
recently introduced the Gender Responsive
Economic Policy Management
Initiative (GEPMI) whose goal is to equip
local policy
makers, economists, budget officers and other development
practitioners
with the expertise and ability to mainstream gender aspects into economic
development policy formulations.
Zimbabwe is
proud to be among the first five African states to introduce the initiative and
we are confident that it will go a long way in overcoming gender imbalances in
our national economic development and the support being extended to it by
various stakeholders and partners in its effort to advance the status of women
in the country.
Zimbabwe has made
great strides in empowering women, whose achievements can be seen in industry,
education, business and many other fields.
The 2010 to 2020 period has been declared the African Women’s Decade.
Though the idea of a women’s decade had been muted by the United Nations (UN) back in 1975, it had to take years for Africa to implement it.
Two years into the African Women’s Decade, Joyce Banda became Malawi’s first woman president while former South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became the chairperson of the African Union Commission.
In 2006, Shirleen Johnson had become the first female president of Liberia.
But two years earlier, Zimbabwe had advanced the cause of women by appointing Cde Joyce Mujuru as the country’s first female vice president. Cde Mujuru however is not the only Zimbabwean woman who has been empowered by the system. Through education and deliberate policies, many Zimbabwean women have been uplifted to powerful positions.
The 2010 to 2020 period has been declared the African Women’s Decade.
Though the idea of a women’s decade had been muted by the United Nations (UN) back in 1975, it had to take years for Africa to implement it.
Two years into the African Women’s Decade, Joyce Banda became Malawi’s first woman president while former South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became the chairperson of the African Union Commission.
In 2006, Shirleen Johnson had become the first female president of Liberia.
But two years earlier, Zimbabwe had advanced the cause of women by appointing Cde Joyce Mujuru as the country’s first female vice president. Cde Mujuru however is not the only Zimbabwean woman who has been empowered by the system. Through education and deliberate policies, many Zimbabwean women have been uplifted to powerful positions.
Zimbabwe’s first female university vice chancellor, Professor Primrose Kurasha
is one of those. Recently, she won three world education congress global awards
in India in recognition of her excellent work in education.
Another achiever, Codchem Pvt Ltd Managing Director and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority board chairperson, Mrs. Marah Hativagone says, “ the government after independence enacted laws to protect women, acknowledging the capability of women in reviving the country’s economy and positively impacting on their families, communities, nations and even the world at large”.
Zimbabwe has successfully advanced the legal and educational status of women removing certain gender barriers. In addition, technology within various economic sectors, including tourism, has advanced enough to make certain tasks less labour intensive, helping facilitate the removal of gender affiliated barriers.
Another achiever, Codchem Pvt Ltd Managing Director and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority board chairperson, Mrs. Marah Hativagone says, “ the government after independence enacted laws to protect women, acknowledging the capability of women in reviving the country’s economy and positively impacting on their families, communities, nations and even the world at large”.
Zimbabwe has successfully advanced the legal and educational status of women removing certain gender barriers. In addition, technology within various economic sectors, including tourism, has advanced enough to make certain tasks less labour intensive, helping facilitate the removal of gender affiliated barriers.
Despite these
advancements, men continue to dominate certain sub-sectors. In analyzing why this
was so women agreed that other reasons such as exposure/limited information
about certain sectors, lack of strategic resources, the procedures and
financial matters were more critical barriers in Zimbabwe than gender
perceptions.
Educated and
skillful women can also access better opportunities to invest on parallel
grounds with men. Through training women are better able to pursue equal
employment, funding and investment opportunities. In addition, the sector has
transformed over the years from a physical labour intensive
sector to an intellectual capacity driven sector.
The National Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Charter, which sets out the principles and framework for
achieving indigenisation and
economic empowerment, includes provisions for "equal opportunities for
all, including gender sensitive ownership and participation in the economy by
indigenous Zimbabweans.
Government has adopted the Gender and Economic Policy
Management Initiative to mainstream gender into macro- economic and finance
policy development and implementation, economic planning and economic policy
analysis so that policies deliver equally to low income women and men.
The
Medium Term Economic Recovery Plan, Government expressly committed itself to
advancing the participation of women in the productive sectors of agriculture,
mining, tourism, manufacturing and construction through practical solutions to
meaningfully empower women."
A 2009 study by
Smith-Hunter and Mboko concluded that Zimbabwean female business owners have
strong entrepreneurial competence but lack the ability and support systems to
develop their firms to their full potential.
Women are important
for sustainable development in that they:
(i)
have a key role in economic development of marginalized communities and
ultimately poverty reduction; Particularly women can provide unique tourism
products and services such as crafts, traditional food and traditional villages
experiences thereby creating opportunities for poverty reduction.
(ii)
are the most users of natural resources and provide the greatest contribution
towards environmental sustainability and play a key role in the conservation of
landscapes that provides the tourism experience mostly through ecotourism
(iii)
Are an integral part of local culture particularly in the preservation and
protection of local artifacts; and
(iv) Are most
suitably positioned to capitalize and benefit from partnerships through not
only tourism activities, but also through biodiversity-based enterprise,
markets for ecosystem services, the infrastructural developments related to
tourism.
The 1995 IV UN
Beijing International Conference on Women adopted women’s economic empowerment as one of the key strategies for
achieving gender equality and economic development in the long run.
The conclusion was
re-emphasised under the sustainable development debate.
A number of global and regional development players, including the World Bank,
UNWTO, SADC and developing countries in the region, including Zimbabwe have
come to the conclusion that gender
equality and women’s economic empowerment is a potent force for
accelerated poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Women are major
players in agriculture and informal sector.
Institutional and legal barriers hamper the ability of women to formalise and grow their businesses, create jobs and
enhance productivity in a way different from men. There is evidence, especially at the micro
level, to indicate that gender disparities not only disadvantage women but also
reduce growth potential of the region as whole. This realization has shaped
development programmes in Africa at all levels and justifies the focus on
women.
“There are women
out there who end up in situations where they have to go it alone and find
themselves filling the roles of mother, father, breadwinner, friend,
disciplinarian, counselor,
educator and the list goes on. In some situations even where there is a father
figure in the picture, some women find themselves having to take on these
roles. Whatever the case may be, it is amazing how they manage to build up an
uncanny resilience to all of these challenges that life has to throw at them.
Their end game is to make sure that they provide the best of what they can for
their family.” Strive Masiyiwa 
Investing in women is smart economics
Happy International Women’s Day!
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