Zimbabwe Peace Project
BACKGROUND
In
Zimbabwe,
patriarchy
and
gender
inequalities
are
deeply
rooted
in
traditional, religious and cultural normative values. The pervasiveness of
patriarchy and gender inequalities is evident in the under-representation and
exclusion of women, who constitute 52% of the population, in decision making
processes. The exclusion of women from key decision-making positions in
We are at the highest point we've been since 2002. Congratulations to everyone!
public institutions runs contrary to SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 10 (reduced
inequalities) and SDG 16 (inclusive societies). Despite constituting the majority of
the population, women currently hold only 30% of the National Assembly Seats.
In local authorities, they occupy a paltry 12.5%. This is regardless of the existence
of 30% women quota in Council and 60 seat women quota in parliament. Of the
210 parliamentary seats not under the quota system, women only hold 22 seats
(10,5%). These statistics point to a violation of Zimbabwe’s obligations under local
and international law. Locally, the statistics point to a violation of Sections 17, 56
and 80 of the Zimbabwean Constitution that provide for equal opportunities for
men and women in political, economic and cultural spheres. Regionally, the
statistics run contrary to the Maputo Protocol (Article ix) and the Southern
African
Development
Community
(SADC)
Protocol
(Articles
12
and
13).
Internationally, they are in violation of Article 7 of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which
provides for equal opportunities for men and women to vote and to be voted for.
One of the biggest barriers to equal participation between men and women in
politics, elections and public decision-making positions is the pervasiveness of
VAWP. VAWP manifests itself in physical, psychological, structural and digital
forms. Physical violence includes violence that is physically meted against
women such as rape, torture or assaults. Psychological violence includes violence
that causes psychological damage or distress on the victim. It includes
intimidation, verbal abuse, character assassination, hate speech, to mention a
few. Structural violence is embedded in the systems, structures, institutions,
policies, laws and norms. Beliefs that perpetuate gender stereotypes and
segregation are examples of structural violence. These forms of VAWP are
perpetrated against women both online and offline and ZPP has over the years,
through its Human Rights Monitoring and Documentation work, recorded such
cases. All these forms of violence, when perpetrated against women in politics,
have a cumulative effect of making politics an unsafe venture for women. In
addition to pushing those women who are already in politics out, they also act as
disincentives for women who would like to participate in politics and elections.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s post 2018 Elections Gender Survey lists
sexual harassment, sexual and physical violence against women as well as name
calling, sex shaming, negative stereotyping, derogatory statements and sexists
5