It is sad to be reminded that negotiations for the Zimbabwe Independence Constitution held in 1979 at the Lancaster House in London were made without the inclusion of women. According to one woman activist the only female present had gone solely for the upkeep of the men, like to make sure they were fed on time. Various movements and efforts by government and civil society have brought about a change in the order of this. One body that has greatly worked for the inclusion of women participation in constitution making matters is the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe. They have worked to ensure women’s rights are met and have took a step further to advocate for women’s inclusion in governance.

The WCoZ according to their website is described as, “A network of women rights activists and women’s organizations with national structures. The WCoZ is a forum where women meet to engage in collective activism on issues affecting women and girls in Zimbabwe. Its central role is to provide a focal point for activism on women and girl’s rights”. Among the commendable work they have done is to fight for the increase in participation of women in the constitution making processes in Zimbabwe.

The Inclusive Government, which agreed to pen a new constitution before electing a new president, saw the formation of COPAC, which is co-chaired by three representatives from the three parties that are signatories to the Government of National Unity. Speaking at a FFT session at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section Netsai Mushonga, a representative of WCoZ, gave an analysis of the organisation’s work in pushing for the inclusion of women in both the constitution making process and in the constitution itself. One of COPAC’s steps in the constitution making process was that of getting information of what Zimbabweans need included in the constitution. They created outreach teams but men outnumbered women in these teams. This led to a petition being made by the women’s movement for the engagement of more women in the outreach teams and the figures rose from 10% to 25%. They went on further to advocate for women engagement in the Thematic Committees and managed to get 37% representation of women.

Moving to the constitution itself, the WCoZ clearly spells out its demands for women in the constitution and they list five minimum demands on their site which include: the quota system for women’s political participation; socio-economic rights; non-discrimination (all forms of disability); customary law subject to the Bill of Rights; and access to and control of resources. Netsai Mushonga indicated that the current draft constitution by COPAC had met at least 80% of their needs. She said the forum had vowed to continue advocating for the remaining 20% to ensure full achievement of women’s rights in the constitution. Their decision to vote for or against the constitution will only be made when they have the constitution in their hands. She likened the constitution-making process to a train that moves from New Delhi to Bombay in India, which is overloaded with people entering through the windows, but still makes it to its final destination. Likewise, the constitution making process might not be the best ride in town but one day it will reach its final destination.

Most countries reserve a date on their calendars to celebrate Mother’s Day and it occurs on various dates and goes with distinctive names. In Zimbabwe, as with some other countries like the USA, the celebration is on Sunday 13th of May. This year marks my first celebration as a mother, and of course, I will continue to observe it as a daughter. Being a mom is very difficult especially in developing countries where the availability of resources is limited for mothers to provide for their children. Some mothers actually do not get the right nutrition they require during pregnancy and as such the child will fail to get good nutrition too when they are born.

In a report on world rankings released recently by Save the Children, on the Status of the World’s Mothers, Norway tops the list and Niger is the last on the list. Norway is therefore ranked as the best place to be a mom in the world. It is important to note too that in 2010 Norway was ranked the best place to live in the world. According to the Status of the World’s Mothers Report, Norway ranks among the very best on contraceptive use, female education, political representation and has one of the most generous maternity leave policies. Niger is last on the index and is regarded as the worst place to be a mom in the world. Niger, a country in West Africa is faced with hunger thus a posing major threat to children’s lives.  In comparison of the two countries, the child mortality rate in Niger is one in six, versus one in 333 in Norway.

Save the Children is an international organisation dedicated to creating lasting change in the lives of children in need around the world. The report, which reveals the Best and Worst Places to Be Mom examines165 countries, with 122 being developing countries. Factors used to determine the rankings were examination of maternal care, education of mothers, economic status of the country, health and nutrition of children, lifetime risk of dying from childbirth, mortality rate of children and maternity leave policies among others. According to Save the Children concentration was turned to mothers because, “the quality of children’s lives depends on the health, security and well-being of their mothers”.

In the 2011 report, Zimbabwe in Tier II of less developed countries was ranked 70 out of 79 countries. Other African countries in Tier II of the 2011 report include Nigeria, Namibia, and Botswana. According to the Status of World’s Mothers Report 2011, the lifetime risk of maternal death is one in forty-two. The percentage of births attended by skilled health professionals was 60%.

The 2012 report did not only focus on rankings but it went further to offer solutions and recommendations. Where hunger is rife in developing countries, Save the Children recommended the solution of breastfeeding. Regularly breastfeeding newborns helps to combat malnutrition in children and lives can be saved, said the report. Other recommendations in the report included investing in frontline health workers, investing in girls’ education, maintaining better hygiene and supplementing meals with iron foliate, zinc and vitamin A.

In my own personal experience in Zimbabwe, I have met mothers who give birth without having seen a doctor or a nurse and the worst scenarios being that of mothers who give birth outside the health system. This is largely due to a lack of money to pay for maternity services rendered at health care institutions. However, with the launch of UNICEF’s Health Transition Fund for Zimbabwe which will see pregnant women and children under five years receive free medical health care at government hospital and clinics there is much anticipation for an improvement in the maternal health care of the country. With this initiative and others taking place in the country we should see Zimbabwe climb a step or two up the rankings.

The difficulties experienced by rural women include water and sanitation challenges. It is therefore with much delight that I note that rural women were the main talk at this year’s United Nations, Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This is a platform created by the United Nations and is held annually at the UN Headquarters. According to the UN, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global policy making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. In this regard, each year member states gather at UN Headquarters to create various platforms to enable the advancement of women rights through discussions and exhibits among other means of communication. This year two ZUSAA Alumni members, Grace Chirenje and Lucy Mazingi where sponsored by the US Embassy in Zimbabwe to attend this annual event. Grace is the Director of Zimbabwe Young Women’s Network for Peace Building, and Lucy Mazingi is a director at the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust thus they participated as members of the civil society in Zimbabwe.

This year’s theme of CSW focused of rural women and it was interpreted as, “The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges”. The theme was in full support of MDG number 3 that states the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.  Rural women are believed to be the medium for economic progression in the world.  On justifying the importance of the theme the UN clearly stated that, “Rural women’s economic empowerment is key. If rural women had equal access to productive resources, agricultural yields would rise and there would be 100 million to 150 million fewer hungry people.”

This week’s Food for Thought session at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section gave a platform for Grace and Lucy to give feedback on their experiences at this year’s CSW. Both the participants alluded that it was a learning curve for them as they got to interact with government representatives and civic society members from different parts of the world. Lucy Mazingi supported this year’s CSW theme as she said, “In agriculture, rural women are economic agents that can help reduce poverty thus they require empowerment”. Both women work with rural women and girls and empowering them is one of their mandates.

Grace Chirenje highlighted that rural women are no different to urban women as they face the same issues. Also the challenges and issues being faced by women in developing countries and the developed world are similar. She did point out that some countries in the developed world referred to rural women as ‘indigenous women’, but there was no difference in the aspects regarding these women, it was just a matter of different expression. Asked on why they did not take any rural women with them to the CSW, Grace replied saying that the US Embassy on the basis of being ZUSAA members sponsored them but it would have been ideal to have physical representation of rural women from Zimbabwe. The government representatives at CSW did not bring rural women with them either instead they showcased a video of rural women in Zimbabwe from Binga. Other countries including our neighbours South Africa managed to bring rural women with them. With this in mind Grace Chirenje and Lucy Mazingi highlighted the need for close networking and collaboration between government ministries and civil society.

One attendee at Foord for Thought urged women activists not to waver in their fight for women’s rights especially when it comes to holding the government accountable in implementing policies they have signed and promised to adhere to. She also highlighted that the early fighters for women rights fought not only for themselves but for us too.

To conclude, the call for boys and men to be engaged in gender equality and women rights issues was brought up. Engaging men in the conversation for women’s rights not only helps enlighten them about gender issues but gives them a platform to air their views too. Removing them from this picture is not going to yield results. Youth participation was also considered to be vital and it was resolved to include youths in delegations representing the country at such high profile and important events.

Kubatana recently hosted a field visit from 5 young feminists from the Harare International School. We watched a documentary on women’s rights called From Fear to Freedom. Reflecting on her experience one of the girls said …

From Fear to Freedom was a very emotional movie. When I saw it, it made me feel good to have a family that treats each other right. What gave me hope was the women at schools teaching young boys to respect women, if they continue like that i think that there can be a big change.

Here is the latest paper published by the Research and Advocacy Unit, and prepared by Rumbidzai Dube:

Many a people have started questioning the practice of bride-price known as lobola or roora in Zimbabwe. Wide debates on whether the practice should be abolished or regulated are constantly taking place. Of course, the wider sentiment is that lobola is a part of Zimbabwean culture and doing away with it is tantamount to rejecting our cultural heritage. However, it is also clear that the custom which was meant to establish ties between two families through the marriage of their children has been commercialised, women’s value has been commodified, and the practice has become a source of discord within marriages.

Between January and February 2012, the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) had a series of focus group discussions with women from different parts of the country and amongst the variety of issues raised in those discussions was the question of lobola.

Many sentiments were raised, but the overarching idea coming out of the discussions was that the commercialisation of lobola is the problem with the practice, not the practice itself. The women asserted that amassing wealth has become more important than the traditional purpose of the practice, which was to establish ties between the two families (kusunga ukama).

The groups also cited that women (mothers) are part of the problem. Women were said to be pushing their husbands to charge more lobola as part of an ongoing competition by women on whose daughter had more money paid for her than the other. Lobola has become about prestige and not about the joining of two families together. Families are competing to show each other that their children are more valuable than their neighbours’ or relatives’ children.

Culturally, it was known that a son in law is there to assist the family, as expressed in the Shona proverb mukwasha muonde haaperi kudyiwa (literally translated to say, a son-in law is like a fig tree, you never run out of figs to harvest from it). ‘Modern’ generations have lost that appreciation. The women in the discussions pointed to the fact that today’s marriages are short-lived, hence the benefit that parents have from having a son-in law is brief. They tend to charge exorbitant amounts at once so that, if anything goes wrong with the child’s marriage in the future, they would not have lost out on anything.

Parents have turned their daughters into businesses. Whereas previously a woman who gave birth to daughters only and no sons was considered useless, these days, there seems to be a shift. Girls are now considered to be a source of wealth. This not only creates the problem of placing monetary value on human beings, but reinforces the discrimination against girls and women as these women are not valued for themselves but for the potential benefits that can be derived from their existence.
The prevalence of HIV/ AIDS has also become problematic to the whole lobola debate. The contributions from some of the women in the discussions explained that because the in-laws know that should their daughter fall ill, she will be returned to them for home-based care, they therefore charge enough lobola to take care of such cases. Indeed this is not only unfortunate, but borders on a depravity linked to societal degradation, and an erosion of positive cultural and moral values.

As a result, sons-in-law have lost respect for their in-laws. They also have developed an attitude of disrespect for their wives, stemming from the expectation that since they paid so much money, then they ought to get value for their money. Women have no right to negotiate for sex, including safe sex. She is the husband’s cook, cleaner, launder, and keeper by virtue of the fact that he paid for those services. At the end of the day the wife suffers. The wife has no right to demand fidelity from her husband, and, should she be unfaithful, she is sent back to her family.

In a nutshell, gathering from the views of the women who participated in the focus groups, the practice of paying lobola seems to stifle women’s voices and bargaining power within marriage. It renders them subservient to their husbands and they cannot complain should they be treated because society expects them to endure in silence.

The question remains, how then should we mediate the lobola payments? The following are some of the suggestions that emanated from the focus group discussions:
- The cultural aspect of approaching one’s aunt tete or ambuya should be resuscitated so that she enquires how much the prospective son-in-law can afford to pay. This avenue has become ineffective because of greed and jealousy.
- Parents should ask their prospective sons-in-law how much they can afford to pay and charge them only for what they can afford.
- People should not put a price tag on marriage as this makes women some form of property or commodity.
- Parents should value their children’s lives and not the money they can make out of lobola.

The debate goes on. But it remains relevant that we evaluate the role of lobola in women’s lives. Has it not become more of a harmful cultural practice than a constructive one? The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) in its concluding observations on Zimbabwe’s Review at the 51st session said it has. What do we as Zimbabwean women want to do about this issue?

Merit is angry. And after reading this I’m sure you will be too. Merit is a Kubatana subscriber who wanted to share this article with us:

This woman, one of thousands in Zimbabwe, is just another statistic at the Police station and in her neighbourhood, but to me she touched a nerve. That could be my sister, whose only mistake was marrying the love of her life, questioning him when he brought a second woman home and getting her body mutilated by an axe, getting her head chopped off and leaving three traumatized children behind (The Herald). This woman could have been my mother, who at the age of 62, a grandmother of 5 is chased away from the matrimonial home for a younger wife, but staunchly refuses to go. “This is my home” she vows, “I know no other home but this one. Where do you want me to go after 44 years of marriage?” This woman that I saw could easily have been me, for refusing to have unprotected sex with a cheating partner. A cheating partner who feels he is entitled to by body and my womanhood, and when I refuse, he beats me, kicks me with booted feet and as an insult to my womanhood, shoves an empty bottle of coca cola into my vagina, rupturing my uterus and thus successfully ensures I cannot have anymore children.

This is what I saw dear readers. Words fail me as I try to express the emotions and questions that went though my mind as I looked at this woman, who could have been anyone, including me. I reflect on the thousands of women ZWLA has interacted with, and the tears started flowing. I asked myself if we have done enough in our families, our organisations, our communities, our churches, our parliament, our country, to ensure that my daughter will not witness this, or become a victim.

This woman, whom I choose to call Tariro (Hope – for I am still hopeful), has 22 stitches below her right eye, three broken ribs, a ruptured uterus, broken jaw, stitches in her mouth, and various injuries on her arms and legs. Her husband, who had beaten her up and left her for dead, had done so breaching a standing protection order under the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act. And to add insult to injury, the police could not find him in order to arrest him.

What makes me angry is the fact that abusers are getting away with “community service”. The perpetrators are violating Protection Orders and getting away with it. The police….let me not say lest I commit a crime. My point though is, what really is being done to curb this menace called domestic violence? Back to my story, it had to take four hours, four determined women and an unwilling police officer to track down this murderous man and have him charged and arrested. My question is, what happens to women in different parts of the country, who do not have ZWLA to make enough noise to get their cases heard and justice delivered? Who is responsible for the safety and protection of the ordinary woman?

I am angry because I cannot do all that I want to. I am angry because when a woman is beaten up no one takes it seriously until it results in death, and by then it does not make a difference to her anymore. I am angry because there are not enough safe houses and resources allocated towards the safety of women. I am angry, so I sat down and wrote this, hoping it would cleanse my hurting spirit and I can stop crying and snapping at the people around me.