Zimbabwe Peace Project
I N T R O D U C T I OINN T R O D U C T I O N
WHERE WE ARE NOW
With the support of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment
of
Women
(UN
Women),
Zimbabwe
Peace
Project
(ZPP)
is
implementing a project which seeks to avail empirical data on the trends and
magnitude of Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) in Zimbabwe. The
purpose
collecting
evidence
is toCongratulations
use it as a basistofor
engagement
We are of
at the
highest this
pointempirical
we've been
since 2002.
everyone!
with parliament, media and civil society so that corrective action can be taken. By
availing empirical data on the trends on VAWP in Zimbabwe, ZPP intends to
generate public debate on the need to eradicate VAWP in Zimbabwean politics in the
media, in civil society and in parliament. These public debates will in turn result in a
closer understanding of the plight of women in politics which is critical to trigger
policy and legislative changes on VAWP. The project aims to equip Women’s
Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) and Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political
Excellence (WALPE) with knowledge products that demonstrate the magnitude of
VAWP in Zimbabwe that they can use to engage with parliament, the media and the
Zimbabwean civil society.
Using empirical data, ZPP intends to demonstrate that VAWP is a big issue that
warrants the immediate attention of Zimbabwean policy and legislative makers.
Ultimately, ZPP envisages a downward trend on cases of VAWP as a result of this
project, which will in turn create space for more women to come forward and avail
themselves as voters and candidates in elections. This will ultimately result in gender
equality in public decision-making positions in Zimbabwe. ZPP reached out to the
women in politics who experienced VAWP from all the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe
(Harare, Masvingo, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Midlands, Bulawayo,
Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Manicaland and Mashonaland Central),
listened to their stories and experiences with VAWP and how the latter affected their
participation in politics as voters or as candidates, documented these experiences and
produced this report. This report is thus a compendium of the experiences of women
in politics from across the country. It documents the physical, emotional,
psychological, structural and cyber violence that the women in politics experienced
on account of their participation in politics and the ramifications of such violence on
their participation in politics.
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