As the Constitution outreach process draws to a close, and talk of 2011 elections is already beginning, we received this disturbing report from Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) about political violence in Rushinga:

It is with great sorrow and concern that we have been informed that 17 women political activist were beaten in what is alleged to be politically motivated violence in Rushinga this week. 3 of these women were also allegedly raped. The 17 women were bought into Harare yesterday Tuesday 26 October 2010 for medical care as they have suffered various injuries including broken ribs and limbs. We call on political parties to discourage their members from subjecting women politicians to violence. This is a clear example of how the militarization of politics affects the participation of women as political actors.

“Ah! Ndozvinoita varume . . . (That’s what men do)”

When confronted with a cheating spouse, this is what women tell each other. Tradition advises that every man at some point in his marriage will cheat, and then it is up to the woman to forgive, tolerate it, and move on.

The Standard recently published an article charging that “Extra Marital Affairs Derail AIDS Fight”. In it, Pyke Chari from Action said that extra marital affairs threatened to reverse progress made in the fight against the HIV pandemic.

Action conducted a research study in 11 countries including Zimbabwe Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa, which found that married couples are now the group with the highest infection rate, because of the widespread prevalence of extramarital affairs. Presenting the findings, Chari said, “In all countries, the polygamous mindset was prevalent.”

I’m sure polygamy made sense in the days of yore. It amounted to cheap labour. Africans had no concept of the ownership of land, so a man could till as much land as he was able and as apportioned him by the chief. The more labour a man had, the more land he could cultivate, the more crops he reaped, the wealthier he became. Not only that, but having always been biologically weaker, women and children needed men for protection from predators like lions, cheetahs and other men.

Why is it then that an ancient tradition and attitude rooted in a society that has since changed drastically has not evolved with that society? What is most baffling is that the very people it turns into victims perpetuate it.

We live in an age where women are educated, and as a consequence financially independent. Where even though there is still progress to be made a woman may own property, vote, and sell her skills and labour to work and accumulate her own wealth.

Women don’t even need men to have children!

Yet the attitude that a woman is nothing without a man prevails. And because of that attitude women settle for bad and potentially life threatening behaviour. Because of it married women find themselves unable to negotiate safer sex or regular HIV testing, lest their husband leaves them for someone more docile.

Until women collectively realise that it is they who determine how they are treated, that men need us as much as we need them, that it is possible to feel whole without being in a relationship; then multiple concurrent partnerships, polygamy, AIDS and STIs will continue to exist. And men will continue to cheat.

There are very many reasons why men cheat, but the biggest one is because women allow it.

Following on from the discussion of the Minsitry of Education’s treatment of pregnant school goers, we sent our SMS subscribers the following message:

Kubatana! Should pregnant schoolgirls be excluded from school or supported to return? Email your views to Min of Ed – moesaczw [at] gmail [dot] com and cc us info [at] kubatana [dot] net

We wondered if people would support the return to stricter measures towards pregnant schoolgirls, or if they would have preferred that the Ministry kept to its August policy.

We received over 50 responses via email and SMS, across a range of opinions from punitive to supportive, with some advocating for special counselling to help young parents adjust to their new lifestyle and responsibilities.

We share their responses below:

• As a mother I feel that pregnant schoolgirls should be supported to return to school and complete their education, we are human and all make mistakes in life and learn from that.  We must remember our children are the future and education is very important. In past cases when a schoolgirl was impregnated by a schoolboy he was allowed to continue with his education while the schoolgirl was not – not fair – as it takes two – he too should have been excluded from school with her. When a single working man/married man/sugar daddy impregnates a schoolgirl he should be made through the courts to pay for the education of the schoolgirl plus maintain the child until it attains the age of 18 years.
• They should be supported and counselled.
• Expelling pregnant schoolgirls is not a wise solution. They need REAL counseling & send back to school. If one puts off fire with fire, ashes will be the remains. After our independence, pregnant mothers & girls went back to school & some of them are now professionals in various fields. Yes the schoolgirl is wrong by indulging in sex, but we can’t correct wrong with wrong.
• Should not be excluded from school but supported to return after matenity leave.
• I think pregnant schoolgirl must be excluded becoz once we consider them its like we are promoting sexual plesure.
• Ministry of Education should not exclude them because if they do so we promote abortion and child dumping.
• They should be suppoted to return to maintain the high literacy we have. If you educate a woman you educate the whole world.
• They shld b supported to return.
• She must go back to schöol
• Yes they must return to school for the benefit of their child’s future
• i write concerning school girls who should continue with school cause that is the only way they can have a better life with the siblings or else it will be worse if they drop out of school cause most these girls will have no one to look after them unless if you want to introduce what is in South Africa were the governement keeps the children until they are mature enough to look after themselves so my own option is that they should go back to school since it is a right for every child to have basic education
• Pregnant schoolgirls should not be seen even near schools because once they are allowed to attend school they will spoil other school children.The only good thing they should be given second chance after removing the child from breast feeding.
• pregnant school girls should not be allowed to go back to school ,by doing so it sends wrong message to other girls , and it will be difficult for them to be displined and whats going to happen when her due date concides with o or a level exams
• Why should we exclude pregnant girls? the gvmnt must prosecute boys who did this to girls because most the girls are being forced sex by man. Also to add on that if she continue with school may be she gonna pass the examinations and might get a better job to care of the child. Therefore to exclude pregnant girls from school does not pay good living to these girls.
• Pregnant students shloud be expelled
• They must be supported, continue with schoolwork in order to support their offspring as well as getting better employment hence being pregnant doesn’t mean the end of life.
• I   think pregnant school girls  should be excluded from school and return after she has deliver, if the boy who is responsible for the pregnant is still at school he should also be excluded until his girl has deliver, it will be fair that way
• Schoolgirls must be given  their right to learn if need arises after giving brith
• They must be supported to return.
• Pregnant skul girls shld be allowed 2 continue with their education.n.b, 2 educate a woman is educating the whle nation bt a man only one persn
• Must get support to complete school and again the gvt must have laws to protect them and their rights
• No!pregnant girls should not go back to school. the reason is that,”they wil influence other girls to get through such bad roles.”
• Definately be excluded from school.
• No they must not be allowed to school when pregnant
• School girl kana achinge ane pregnant ngaadzingwe pachikoro ipapo  kwete kuti ngaadzokere kuchikoro apo ndaramba zvachose
• They should be given second chance for their future back to school
• Pregnant school girls must return to school after giving birth
• Supported to return
• Support them
• They should return after giving birth
• They should be expelled if not that will be encouraging others and big daddies in particular
• They shouldn’t be excluded from school, but legal measures be upon the one who impregnated her.
• Pregnant schoolgirls must permited to cameback
• They should join adult shools because they are adults
• Shld be back to school after delivering sumtimes they are cheated shld attend night school
• Yes pregnant school girls should be supported to finish school not to be expelled from school because education is for all.
• No they shld be given another chance
• They should be excluded from school because their line of thought, social responsibilities will now be diffent from those not pregnant. They must attend adult classes.
• They must do night school because they can spoil other girls
• Pregnant Girls shldnt be allowed back to sch coz that wil promote more pregnancies.
• Pregnant students shloud be expelled
• Pregnart schoolgrils must return to school
• Shld supported to return cz every one how wants to lean has got the right.
• The pregnant scholars  should be supported to return  to school , but we should educate ,control and monitor  their behaviour thoroughry  so that they can have a better life.
• Yes.But night schooll 4 if we pour a cup of urine in a drum full of milk all milk is dirty.I know galz early mature & easily traped by visibl things.Falling is not wrong need counselling rather than 2 abort.
• Pregnant girls shd be xcluded frm sch as wel as the one responsible bcoz skools are not maternity hospitals,educ first bfo parenthood.
• No the pregnant school children should not be expelled from school because their are young and innocent also their are beings the same we also make mistakes
• Schoolgirls who are  pregnat should  exculded  from school.
• Supported 2 return
• children should be given their right to education including pregnant girls
• I think the girls should be allowed to return to school, but only after delivery, and the person responsible should also be made to leave, if its a teacher, he should be banned from teaching forever.
• They should be counselled and supported to go back to school after delivery
• The right thing is to support preg sch girls to come back to sch. They need to go thru counselling and rehabilitation becoz heavy psychological trauma in the process. She’s now a mother learning with girls. Will she swallow this easily? There is need for family counselling in order for parents concerned to accept this circumstance. The sch/mates. What will be their reaction? Isolation(social bulling) is most probable. It is easy to say lets support the girl back but are we aware of what it takes. It’s high time the gvt has to employ sch chaplains and counsellors at each sch. Otherwise nyadzi dzinokunda rufu. The girl will not want to come back in the face of all maner of support. Do we force her? I think prevention is cheaper than reconstruction of a damaged personality of such girls.

Last month, the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture issued a new policy which reversed the government regulation which required pregnant girls to be automatically expelled from school.

Instead, the Ministry granted female learners who got pregnant three month’s leave, after which she could resume her studies. A male student responsible for pregnancy would be given paternity leave for the same period.

But a circular issued by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary reverses all of that. Once again, pregnant schoolgirls and prospective fathers will be punished.

According to the circular: “The law provides for the exclusion of a learner who falls pregnant, and expulsion of a learner responsible for it.”  After consultations between the school and parents or guardians, a girl could be readmitted to school three months after a baby’s birth at the grade or form she had been in before she had the baby. However, the boy responsible for the pregnancy would be considered for admission at another school, and only after a period of 12 months. “It should be noted that re-admission of the boy learner is not automatic, as approval would have to be sought and granted from the ministry of education before re-admission in any other formal school,” the circular said.

Join the debate!

Protest the renewed discrimination against learners who are also prospective parents. Email your views to the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture on moesaczw [at] gmail [dot] com

Disagree? Think pregnant students should be punished, not supported? Share your feedback on this issue with us – comment below or email info [at] kubatana [dot] net

As this excerpt from an IRIN article last month illustrates, “falling pregnant used to mean the end of school for girls in Zimbabwe.”

In 2008 Sarudzai Gopoza, now 19, dropped out of school after falling pregnant. “He refused to marry me. My father said he could not look after me, so I had to look for a job. Luckily he let me leave the child under the custody of my mother,” she told IRIN.

A government regulation stipulating that pregnant girls automatically be expelled from school meant that Gopoza – who was about to write O-Level examinations, a school-leaving certificate that would have greatly enhanced her job-finding prospects – had to work as a domestic worker.

“My life is ruined – as a housemaid I am earning hardly enough to buy food and clothes for my child, and I don’t see myself being able to further my education and get a better job in the future. I will consider myself lucky to get a husband who will also accept my child and look after both of us,” she said.

So I was excited by and impressed with a new regulation by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Art and Culture that would give pregnant female learners three months’ maternity leave, after which they could resume their studies. The new regulation also gave a male student responsible for pregnancy paternity leave for the same length of time.

But the latest report from IRIN sees the Ministry backing away from these provisions. There is a return to the previous, harsher attitude toward pregnant learners – and  accordingly a far more punitive response to them.

According to IRIN:

“Learners in all schools may be suspended, excluded or expelled from school for various acts of misconduct of a serious nature,” Stephen Mahere, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, said in a circular.

“Pregnancy of a learner, and being responsible for it, are such an example of misdemeanour of a serious nature. The law provides for the exclusion of a learner who falls pregnant, and expulsion of a learner responsible for it,” the circular warned.

After consultations between the school and parents or guardians, a girl could be readmitted to school three months after a baby’s birth at the grade or form she had been in before she had the baby, Mahere said.

However, the boy responsible for the pregnancy would be considered for admission at another school, and only after a period of 12 months.

“It should be noted that re-admission of the boy learner is not automatic, as approval would have to be sought and granted from the ministry of education before re-admission in any other formal school,” the circular said.

Merit Rumema wrote to Kubatana about the constitutional process questioning why so few women are actively involved in shaping the debate and discussion. Here’s her contribution:

Are women just political cheerleaders?

To say I was shocked at the level of women’s participation in the ongoing constitutional reform process is an understatement. I was appalled, devastated and disappointed. After attending three meetings in Mashonaland West Province, I was forced to come back, sit on my desk and ask myself, “What exactly is women’s participation?”

Is it the high turn out of women at these meetings, after all, there are more women in rural areas than men? Surely how can 300 women attend a meeting, just to ululate and clap hands as four, yes, 4 men, dominate a three-hour discussion. Surely how can that happen? Is women’s participation simply cheering and ululating?

As an observer from a women’s rights organisation, I travelled hundreds of kilometres to see for myself if women were being given an opportunity to speak and make their demands known. I sat through the 26 talking points and waited for women to speak. Talking point 11 discusses empowerment of previously disadvantaged groups. At this point I became really expectant, thinking women would consider how they have been disadvantaged and make new demands in the constitution such as free adult education.

Talking point 19 discusses independent commissions. Not one woman though to talk of a gender commission. This really got me very worried. What will the draft constitution comprise of? What is going on?

Back in my office after three similar meetings I started to ask myself what a people driven constitution really is and who the people are. >From my limited experience, the people are the political parties, and it has become impossible to separate the political party influence from individual thinking, aspirations and desires.

And as usual, everything that has political connotations attached to it becomes a playing zone for men, while women are silent spectators or cheerleaders, depending which party reigns in the area. Whether it is fear, intimidation, lack of knowledge and political will, in rural Zimbabwe, the women’s role is to be used as stepping stones in the dirty game called politics.

Why are we as a nation spending time and resources on a process whose outcome will hinge only on politics party needs?