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Sixteen out of 365: Falling short of the mark
Fungai Machirori
November 24, 2008

Sixteen days out of 365. Is that enough time to address all the challenges that women in our different societies and communities experience on a daily basis? Of course, throughout the rest of the year, the various structures and processes such as legislation and the observation of the rule of law guide our responses to issues around gender based violence. But is the specific time period under which the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence campaign is observed annually adequate to highlight the various plights of our women and girls?

For every woman that is empowered, it seems that many more continue to be oppressed. In my humble evaluation of myself, I would say that through access to good education and by growing up in an environment in which sex was never the determining factor in terms of perceived aptitude, I have matured into an empowered young woman. But the success of my life thus far is quickly eroded by the plights of the many around me who, for lack of such fortune, remain wholly subordinate to the patriarchal hegemony of our world.

This week, I learnt with shock and disgust of a cultural practice taking place in Zimbabwe whereby women are forced to sleep with the corpse of their husband! The unfathomable logic behind this is that if a man dies with an erection, it means that he requires one final dose of sexual gratification before he passes on to the next life. And so the woman, probably trembling with fear and uncertainty, is left in a room with the corpse and instructed to perform sexual acts with its lifeless form. One can only imagine the traumatising effect this has on her.

Another equally disempowering practice is one known as 'kusunda mushonga- (a Shona term which means 'to push up medicine-) which is used as a remedy for couples who are encountering fertility problems and are therefore unable to bear children. After consultations with a traditional healer, it is advised that the woman stay with the healer for about a month while he administers herbal remedies for the problem. The catch lies, however, in the way that these herbs are meant to be taken. Intended to work in the uterus, these herbs are supposed to be pushed up to this final destination through the vagina. But with such a long journey to travel, the traditional healer recommends the use of his penis to push these herbs right up to the uterus. And so what is justified, ostensibly, as a step in the process towards achieving fertility is in fact a means for this healer to have unprotected sex with many women, thereby impregnating them as well as exposing them to the very real risk of HIV infection.

And culture aside, the disarray of our national economy is doing much to further compound the strife of Zimbabwe-s women.

"It-s not easy to eat soya chunks everyday when what you really want is meat," pointed out a young person I recently encountered who gave reasons for why many young girls were turning to commercial sex work.

With our economy becoming more dollarised (in an American sense), the disparity between those in possession of foreign currency and those without it is becoming more pronounced. For those falling into the latter bracket, something normally as basic as eating meat has become a rare and improbable luxury. And alternatives such as soya-based substitutes, or vegetables, become monotonous even for the most trained tongue.

The state of disrepair that our education system finds itself in also does nothing to ameliorate the plight of our country-s women and girls. State universities which were due to open in September remain firmly shut with the likelihood being that lectures will only resume early next year. The frustration, the loss of intellectual industry and the fact that the concept of a holiday job - a short-term form of employment - is totally non-existent in Zimbabwe, has led many young women to destructive behaviours which have entailed the exchange of sex for material gain.

Sixteen days are the mere equivalent of half a month. And in Zimbabwe, this is not enough time to fully address the threats to women-s societal and cultural autonomy. All sectors of society need to address and redress their popular notions of womanhood. And just like we have understood that HIV and other rampant epidemics are not simply grounded in science, we need to understand that gender based violence is not merely rooted in the physical, verbal, psychological or mental acts - but in the broader expectations, values and norms of our cultures and social spaces. Yes, the law - if correctly implemented - will come to our rescue when we have been violated. But open and honest dialogue leading to debate and compromise remains the greatest tool that we can use in our efforts to achieve gender parity. Sixteen days, they will come and go. Instead, let us try to use them to initiate a national dialogue that runs throughout every day and political, economic, social and climatic season of our country.

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