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The crisis in Zimbabwe: A gender perspective
Rochelle Jones, AWID
May 09, 2008

AWID interviews Shereen Essof, a Zimbabwean feminist living in Cape Town, and Thoko Matshe, a feminist, women's rights activist and poet - about how gender compounds the already appalling social and political spheres inside Zimbabwe.

AWID: The Mugabe regime has all but destroyed Zimbabwe. With reportedly the world's highest inflation rate and lowest life expectancy rate - how do these shocking statistics translate when it comes to Zimbabwe's women?

Shereen Essof (SE): What do we expect life to be like for women in a country where inflation is 300 000%? Where everyday is a struggle for survival? Where you cannot get food, you have to hunt for basic commodities, there is no fuel, and the health care system is so eroded there is no basic medication let alone anything else? Electricity and water cuts sometimes last weeks, you cannot get your own money out of the bank, imperialist agendas are so rife that the gap between the small elite and the poor is unbridgeable, militarism and fear runs rife, and sexism and violence against women is always just around the corner. Everyday is a struggle not to live, but to survive. What do we expect life to be like in a country where the life expectancy of women is 34 years of age and where there is a de facto war against humanity?

Of course women are on the frontline of this struggle for survival because, as we know, women in Zimbabwe and the world over take responsibility for the reproductive/care work of the household. In a country at war, women do the care work but they also do the normalising work. Women carry multiple burdens of what it means to survive under such circumstances.

However, in such circumstances, women are worn down but not broken. In times of war it is always women who find ways for life to have meaning: there are ways in which women create community, where they share what scarce resources are available. Women create spaces that sustain and allow for the realisation of dreams and possibilities even if this takes place in the harshest of environments.

Thoko Matshe (TM): In Zimbabwe it is a life where people are in survival mode. They do this and that to feed themselves. The day is spent in search of food and petrol and at times water, even for the urban dwellers. The challenges are political violence - and for women this is much worse as they are also raped. Food, medication, school fees and HIV/AIDS are some of the challenges faced.

The cliches that exist in the development language about women such as "poorest of the poor", "women are at the brunt", "women suffer the most", etc. These cliches are the reality for women in Zimbabwe. As shocking as the statistics are, so are the lives of the women as they try to survive.

Teachers by day and sex workers by night to augment their salaries... The cross border trade with the neighbouring countries or far flung places like Dubai and China - is mostly done by women, opening themselves up to other horrors as they travel. As the infected and affected by HIV and AIDS their lives become unmanageable as they deal with scarcity of food and medicines.

AWID: Pre-Mugabe, what where the main issues for women's rights? Do these issues still exist today?

TM: Prior to Mugabe the issues were lack of equality, lack of participation, domestic violence, employment and equal pay, and laws that are women friendly and enabling. All these issues are still the same today, except that on paper there are many laws that are friendly to women. Unfortunately since there is a general lack of the rule of law, women cannot claim and enjoy these rights.

AWID: How are women's rights movements in Zimbabwe responding to these multiple crises?

SE: With difficulty. The space for organising in Zimbabwe has shrunk and the material conditions (infrastructure, political space, capacity) that support organising have been severely eroded. Women's organisations, clubs and networks do exist within urban and rural contexts, with national, regional and global links. Many of these organisations are important in making attempts at meeting women's practical and strategic needs in multiple sectors: land, health, gender based violence, HIV/AIDS, food security etc.

In Zimbabwe at the moment, however, women are only considered full citizens if it serves the interests of the malestream. Women wield tremendous power, how does this power get harnessed in order to push for a politicised women centred agenda? Within the current context it is not always easy to stay
politically relevant and to challenge a repressive and patriarchal status quo in a context where fear and repression are high and where people are in survival mode.

TM: Women are trying but are overwhelmed at times. The permeation of survival mode has caused most women's organisations to be apolitical, and to be more service oriented and hence keep in a safe space. Also there is a weakening of the women's movement - but this is a current scenario in most countries and regions all over the world.

AWID: What are your thoughts on the election? What will be the impact on women?

SE: I write this over two weeks after Zimbabweans went to the polls. The full set of results are still not out and as we know SADC heads of State meeting in Lusaka have called for a recount of presidential election results and 23 parliamentary seats. The political polarisation within the country is very high at the moment and within such a context women and women's bodies become one of the battle grounds across which power struggles are fought.

The two-tier struggle that we have experienced in national struggles for liberation have really resulted in zero for women. So no matter what the outcome of this election, the struggle against structural oppression, for women's human rights and for full citizenship remains, as the position and condition of women's lives will not change overnight. The effects of patriarchy will continue to manifest through the range of violence that women live with and through and that women continue to organise and struggle against. This is what we must be prepared for.

TM: ZANU has not allowed people to enjoy their voice as they voted contrary to what ZANU expected. Hence, they are trying to frustrate that right. Unfortunately, they cannot rig the vote after the results were posted at the polling station. They are using every tactic they can come up with to delay the outcome of the result. The unleashing of the violence on the population is also to intimidate people not to vote in the runoff. They do not want to let go of power. Whatever the outcome of the results, there will be very little impact on women except that women always suffer much more violence.

AWID: How do you envision the future for women in Zimbabwe and how can nternational women's movements help?

SE: Another Zimbabwe is possible. Women continue to envision this Zimbabwe and are clear about what they want. In small and sometimes big ways women work to make the dream of a different Zimbabwe possible. Even in the harshest of environments. The issue of solidarity has always been important to women's movements. So yes, let us take direction, if we can, from particular nodes of women's organising in Zimbabwe and engage in actions that both show solidarity. This will require high levels of trust and a shared political orientation and direction that will allow for direct political solidarity with women and women activists in Zimbabwe, in order to seize the opportunities to contribute to the making of an emancipatory movement and a liberated society.

TM: Zimbabwe will still be a patriarchal state no mater who wins currently, so for women it is 'Aluta Continua' - the struggle continues. There is a need for women to regroup and strategize on the next phase of their lives in Zimbabwe. The international women's movement can help by taking up campaigns for Zimbabwean women, enabling women with funding and involving women in the discourse going on internationally about women's issues.

*Shereen Essof is a Zimbabwean feminist and activist currently based in Cape Town. She is known for her role in the women's movement in Zimbabwe.

*Thoko Matshe is a human rights activist with over twenty years experience in development work, and over ten years in leadership of civil society and women's organizations. She has extensive knowledge of the women's movement in Africa and experience working with civil society in Southern Africa, Africa and the United Kingdom. Currently Thoko is working with the Olof Palme International Center as their Africa Regional Coordinator. Thoko is a committed feminist and women's rights activist and also writes poetry.

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