Research Findings
Zimbabwe Peace Project
Discussions with the women from the ten provinces of Zimbabwe indicate that women
fall prey to sextortion because of economic vulnerabilities which makes it difficult, if not
impossible for them to use orthodox means to compete for political party positions or for
nomination as candidates for elections with their male counterparts. The women who
participated in this study stated that saying no to sextortion entails creating an additional
barrier (to the already heavy burden of barriers) on one’s leadership journey. Just like any
other form of VAWP, sextortion makes politics an unsafe venture for women. 3% of the
participants in this study said that they were victims of sextortion. This is notwithstanding
the fact that there is a thin line between sextortion and sexual harassment (which affected
6% of the respondents).
Rape
As already indicated, sextortion is rape in the strict sense. However, for purposes of this
section, rape will be narrowly confined to force (physical) based definitions, which, as
already stated, this author finds problematic. From the 193 women in politics whom ZPP
reached out to in this study, 9 of them, or 5% were raped. This is a staggering figure
considering the gross nature of the violation. The figure is big enough to disincentivise
any woman who aspires to participate in politics. Combined with other gross human
rights violations as stipulated in table 1, it portrays a hostile environment, an unsafe
venture for women.
Abduction
9 of the women who participated in this research were abducted. This figure is confined
to the 193 women who participated in this research only. ZPP listened to the horrific
circumstances surrounding the abductions of all these women. In all of the 9 counts of
abductions, the victims and their family members were subjected to torture, inhuman and
degrading treatment as well as other forms of physical and psychological abuse. In all
these 9 cases, the victims were sexually abused. Other women also witnessed their family
members being abducted and tortured. Just like rape, torture and other gross human
rights violations, abductions make the cost of women participating in politics very high.
Sexist hate speech
Hate speech occurs when communication in speech, writing or behavior attacks or uses
pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis
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of who they are, i.e., their religion, ethnicity, gender or other identity factor. Hate speech
can also be sexist if expressions which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based
specifically on a person’s sex or gender is spread. Hate speech against women politicians
has ramifications on their participation in politics either as candidates or as voters. Hate
speech targeted against women in politics, which amounts to abuse and harassment on a
daily basis, does not only cause harm on the targeted women and their loved ones, but
also detracts them from their political priorities and agendas.
6. Online gendered disinformation and sexist hate speech, Learning Brief No. 2, Intersectional Feminist Media Development
https://www.mediasupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMS-Online-gendered-disinformation_final.pdf
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