The past times that I have put my thoughts on paper I have been talking woman on this and that. You will have to forgive me for that. I know no other life. If I was a guy, sure I would write about guy issues, but I am not. I am going to write about what I know best which is being a woman and its challenges, and boy are there many in this day and age. We are still pretty much in the stone age if women are being married by a dozen to one man and some women still don’t have a choice about whom they get married to, let alone what age they get married at.

I have come to realize in the past month that I have come back to work at Kubatana that there is more to life than what meets the eye. I did not know that I had so many misconceptions about marriage until it was shown to me. For one, your husband does not need a good reason to want a divorce from you. He can say that he has grown tall and he doesn’t want to stay with a wife who is not growing as tall as he is, for all the court cares. There is no way you can say that’s a silly reason. The court will call it irretrievable breakdown and just like that you are divorced. For those that have not caught my flow I am just trying to highlight some misconceptions that we have as women when it comes to marriage.

The other thing that happens during divorce proceedings is that fifty fifty song that has been sung to us, is quite misleading. When you divorce you don’t get fifty percent, you take what you worked for, and what has your name on it. The fifty percent comes when the two of you had duel ownership. If he was buying cars or bought the house you lived in and your name appears on the title did then you get fifty fifty? And don’t think because you are the mother of the children that you automatically get the kids. The court looks at who earns the most money even though it’s advisable for a child to stay with its mother. For those who did not know, when your husband commits adultery you can file a lawsuit not against him, but his partner. Now how many court sessions are you going to go to, if he is a born cheat? How many women are you going to sue in the lifetime of your marriage?

Crazy isn’t it.

Is polygamy in 2010 still relevant? Is there still polygamy today, or it has it evolved into something else? These are some questions I’m asking after attending a discussion in town yesterday. Polygamy, one person said at the discussion, was very dignified in the times of our long gone ancestors. It was meant to build unity and strengthen family ties. Men did not do it out of malice, or for want of more sex. The women of old had a choice of who would become Mrs Number Two.

But polygamy today is actually doing the opposite of what it did a long long time ago. Where polygamy looked at preserving the society before, it is destroying it today. We have HIV/AIDS these days so if Mr. Bhuru has eleven wives no matter how much of a bull he is, his ashes are not going to meet all the needs of a dozen women, half of them old enough to be his daughters.

Polygamy is not dignified today because it is now called small houses. Today it solves nothing but promotes promiscuity that has been legalized by our tradition. Polygamy for me is not right. It degrades women because women most of the time have no choice but to do it.  I say this because women are still at a disadvantage because they are not economically independent. Allow me to ask a question: if women of old were the ones who had the cattle, would we have had polygamy? If women of today are working and owning their own things would we still justify polygamy?

From what I heard at the discussion polygamy involves double lives and lies. What’s your take on polygamy today?

Marriages in Zimbabwe are not only about white dresses, twenty bridesmaids; colorfully decorated venues and long excruciating church services believe me. But before I get over myself let me start from the beginning.

There are only three recognized unions in our country. The first one is the 5:11 marriage, which is the civil marriage. The second one is the 5:07, which is the customary law marriage. This marriage is also called a potentially polygamous marriage. In this marriage the husband and not the wife is allowed to have more than one wife and that’s not all. He can have a civil marriage with his second wife. It means he can go to court or have a church wedding with his second wife and not his first wife. If he dies and he did not marry another wife under the customary law the wife is not allowed to inherit his land. What is given to her according to the law are her pots and blankets. The third is actually considered null and void. For example if you as a woman are impregnated and you go and live with him and he dies, the baby is the one who is recognized by the law. You as the wife are recognized as a girlfriend and not a wife even if you stayed together for five years. So the third one is recognized in the event that there is a child. If you just stayed with him without the 5:11 or the 5:07 you only get your pots and spoons in the event he dies.

As long as there is a duel system in Zimbabwe these marriages will always have loopholes. Even if a couple has a 5:11 marriage it has its own downfalls though it’s considered the one better than the 5:07. If it’s not done first it can be down graded to a 5:07 if the husband co-habits with a small house for a number of years and he happens to pass away. During the estate sharing, the two wives get the property of where they were living, and then the rest is shared equally among his children from both wives. Because the couple registered the 5:07 first when he went to pay rora.

This is the advice from lawyers. You must register the 5:11 first and stand a chance of not sharing your property even if he was cohabiting with another wife whom he married customary. The marriage will be taken as illegal because he had a one-wife one-man marriage. But this means you have to go to court and have the marriage registered before he goes to pay rora. With the judiciary system running parallel to the customary law, culture does not allow you to have the civil wedding before lobola.

My suggestion is to get all these things out of the way. We need to seriously make sure we get to participate in the rewriting of the constitution as women. I hope this happens sooner than later because with all this I know getting married now is kind of scary.

A week ago a woman gave birth at a tollgate. According to the story the woman was on her way to Gweru Hospital where she had been referred to by the Shangani District Hospital presumably because the district hospital was not capacitated to do the delivery.

But that’s just my deduction.

What was reported is that the woman was already in labor when she caught a ride from a haulage truck driver who was heading in the same direction and when the truck was stopped at the tollgate; she was on the verge of delivering; the truck driver saw it fit to leave her somewhere near the tollgate so that he could rush along and go on his way.

Can’t blame the poor fellow though – he was probably terrified that he would end up being saddled with a new born baby and all the mess that accompanies childbirth moreover, he certainly wouldn’t want his employer to find out that he had turned the company vehicle into a  delivery room.

In any event the woman was unceremoniously dumped on the roadside, where she ‘rolled’ around on the ground, writhing in agony before her anguished cries attracted the attention of the police and Revenue authorities who were manning the toll gate.

With the assistance of these officials, she delivered a healthy baby and remained attached to the infant as none of them wanted to hazard cutting the umbilical cord; they couldn’t decide how many centimeters to cut off from.

In any event, an ambulance from Gweru conveniently arrived with paramedics who proceeded to cut the cord and ferry the woman to hospital where we are told the woman is recovering very well.

The story was written in the light-hearted manner of one telling an entertaining story; the tone conveying a hint of humor because – well it’s one of those stories one can tell knowing they will have an engaged and enthralled audience.

What makes it all the more appealing is that it’s all true and with a nice little ‘happy’ ending to wrap it all up – the baby is safe, the mother is recovering, the officials who were there now have a story they can one day share with their grandchildren and of course, it was suggested that the infant be named “tollgate”.

So all’s well that ends well, right?

Wrong!

It seems to me that this report totally missed the point.

The point is, why on God’s green earth was the woman referred to Gweru in the first place? Why are district hospitals incapacitated and why; with less than five years to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are we still having women’s maternal healthcare being so grossly ignored?

The point is why, in a three decade old independent Zimbabwe, are women giving birth in the open like animals?

And oh, the indignity of it!

Anyone who is well-versed on the subject of the arduous rigors involved in birthing will know that the exercise is excruciating and it is, for every woman a time of extreme vulnerability. There is indeed, nothing trivial about it because of the high risk involved, too many women die giving birth and others die due to pregnancy related complications yet coverage given to these tragic occurrences borders mostly on nonchalance without any appreciation of the gravity of these incidents.

To my way of thinking, the story raises several issues that warrant interrogation and are basically screaming for scrutiny.

One of them is the glaring lack of sensitivity with which the subject is treated – so matter-of-factly and it somehow succeeds in making the woman’s plight almost inconsequential.

Needless to say, gender sensitivity is a notion whose import has largely gone unheeded or has not been prioritized in many sectors of our society – this is just one manifestation of this culture of indifference.

What is even more upsetting is that these attitudes permeate to all other coverage of matters that directly affect women and impact on their health and interests.

There is something wrong with a health delivery system that fails women at a time as crucial as child birth – but there is something inhumane about a society that would condone this by finding the slightest element of humor in what is clearly outrageous.

And of all the things that could be said about a woman delivering in such unusual and inappropriate circumstances; the very least one can do is remember to point out the fact that we expect more of our Government – what with the combined weight of three political parties?

This year, women around the world celebrate the International Women’s Day under the theme, ‘equal rights, equal opportunities: progress for all’. Women across the globe commemorate this day to reflect on their struggle for equality, justice, peace and development. It is against this backdrop that this writer decided to write on climate change, an issue whose gender dimensions and effect on everyday life need to be emphasised. As acknowledged by the 2007 Human Development report climate change threatens to erode human freedoms and limit choice.  The report further emphasizes that gender inequality intersects with climate risks and vulnerabilities.

Climate change is a scientifically proven phenomenon that includes “any change in the climate, whether due to its natural variability or as a result of human activity”  . It often manifests in extreme weather conditions that include prolonged droughts, water shortages, soil erosion, erratic rainfall, severe cyclones, hurricanes and floods. While the issue of climate change has been discussed in various forums throughout the world, grass root communities particularly rural women have little knowledge on the subject and how it affects their day to day lives. Women have lower sources of income and fewer opportunities than men thus their capacities and knowledge to deal with shift in climate conditions differ from those of men.

Climate change as a development subject matter is critical to African populations as 70% of the population are small holder farmers and rely on agriculture for livelihoods. The majority of these people are women who contribute immensely to food security levels.  In the Zimbabwean context, where the economy is agro based and has the largest group of people in farming activities as women (86%), climate change is critical and requires thorough articulation for the understanding of women.

Women in rural areas are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood. They are the primary producers of staple food and other cash crops for sustenance of families. Their disadvantaged position in society however, increases their vulnerability in times of distress for instance during drought and floods.  Women’s limited access to resources such as land, water and finance, make them highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. It is therefore crucial that such important aspects of development like change in climatic conditions and adaptation measures are well communicated for their understanding. There is need to ensure that the ordinary Zimbabwean woman understands the differences in weather patterns, how it affects agriculture activities and also coping mechanisms.

Effects of climate change are therefore not gender neutral. The gender differences between men and women imply that their vulnerabilities differ and since women are already in a disadvantaged position, effects of climate change threaten to further increase the inequality.

While highlighting the vulnerability of poor women to climate change, it should also be pointed out that women have an important role to play to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Women particularly at grass root level have acquired skills (e.g. in water management, forest management) through experience that can be tapped into in dealing with climate change effects.

The government therefore needs to consider taking a gender approach in design and implementation of policies on how to adapt and mitigate climate change as this is crucial to effectively address the needs of both men and women as they relate to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular, Goal 1, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, Goal 3 to promote gender equality and Goal 7 to ensure environmental sustainability.  Women’s equal participation in climate change negotiation processes will ensure that their needs, perspectives and expertise are equally taken into account.

The last time I went to a discussion I heard a very shocking statement: women in the rural areas are likely to get more information on issues pertaining to women than urban women. So I urge all you sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins and friends that if you hear that there is a forum going on discussing women issues please be there. It is shocking to find out that an empowered sister who has access to Internet 24/7 does not have information on her fingertips as far as what is happening in their back yards is concerned. The NGO world makes it a point to do information distribution to rural communities on issues to do with reproductive health, the constitution making process, what women are entitled to and what they should look out for when it comes to their day to day living, and the political implications on their lives. I was indeed shocked that Mai so and so in Umzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe might know all those things more than me. Women in the city are slowly losing the community setting that the rural women have. Apart from kitchen parties, city women don’t deliberately sit and ask one another, so what do you think about the marriage law or find out another woman’s view about the political situation in the country. I have often times heard people making jokes about vakazdi veruwadzano (community women). I say not anymore. When those women are together they are discussing family planning methods, how to take care of children and the household. They are talking about home-based care, how to make sure they don’t get infected in the process. While in the city Miss Know It All with a laptop and desktop does not have a clue on her entitlement as a woman, let alone as a Zimbabwean citizen.