The women?s movement in Zimbabwe is relatively small, but very active, with women?s organistions working closely together to tackle inequality.�� WOMANKIND has three partners in Zimbabwe, each working in a distinct but complementary area.
Violence against women
Violence against women is common in Zimbabwe, and widely tolerated. In 1997, a study on domestic violence found that 32% of women had been the victims of physical violence, while 37% of women interviewed reported sexual abuse.�� WOMANKIND?s first partner in Zimbabwe was the Musasa Project, a domestic violence organisation providing counselling and advice services to these women as well as advocating for legislative change.�� Musasa also works to better understand the link between violence and HIV and AIDS and provide appropriate services.
Women?s access to justice
WOMANKIND?s work with Musasa put us in contact with the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA), which was providing legal advice and protection to Musasa?s clients. ZWLA also provides legal aid to women who are going through inheritance, divorce or custodial battles. This type of work is particularly important due to Zimbabwe?s dual legal system, which leaves women in customary or unregistered marriages with few divorce and inheritance rights. WOMANKIND now supports a Legal Aid and Empowerment programme, which provides women clients with the necessary advice and skills to take their individual cases to court. By 2008 the demand for these services had risen rapidly as the economic climate left more and more women unable to afford lawyers' fees.
Women?s political participation
The current political situation impinges on women?s ability to access and exercise their human rights. In 2004, WOMANKIND partnered with the Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU), which provides practical support to women MPs, promotes dialogue between women members of different parties, and builds the capacity of women constituents to participate in political processes. WiPSU?s work is crucial to the improvement of women?s political participation and representation, and also provides a unique way of facilitating much-needed cross-party dialogue.
The current climate
In a turbulent operating environment, WOMANKIND is working to support our partners and the broader women?s movement to feed into positive legal, political, and social change for women as and when spaces and structures allow.
In 2005, the Zimbabwean government drafted an NGO bill which aimed to curb the activities of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), specifically those engaged in ?issues of governance.? The draft bill targeted organisations that have in the past been critical of the government?s policies and human rights violations. Whilst none of WOMANKIND?s partners would be directly threatened by the NGO bill, some have already had to soften their lobbying approach in order to keep their much-needed services running. This has led to criticism from more vocal agencies. WOMANKIND respects our partners? decisions and supports them in their focus on continuing to provide direct services and support to their clients.
