Womankind in Zimbabwe

Photo of mother and children, Zimbabwe

In 2010, Womankind has directly supported around 29,750 women in Zimbabwe to change their lives by:

• Eliminating violence against women, particularly focusing on domestic violence
• Enabling women to participate effectively and raise their voices in local and national decision making

Womankind and our partners are addressing the underlying causes of discrimination against women in the following two areas.
 

Eliminating the high levels of violence against women

The situation

Zimbabwe is an unequal society where violence against women is accepted and supported by negative customary values. In recent years, the deepening economic and political crisis has increased violence and discrimination against women.

Therefore, more women experience abuse especially sexual, domestic and politically motivated violence.

• 1 in 3 women will experience some form of violence at least once in their lifetime
• 6 out of 10 murder trials in the High Court involve domestic violence
• Over 2,000 women and girls were raped at militia camps during the 2008 elections
• 62% of HIV positive people are women, many of them survivors of violence

The government passed many laws to protect women from violence but they are not fully implemented.

What Womankind is doing

We are working with our partners to:

• Support women survivors to access justice by providing legal services and promoting law reform
• Support organisational strengthening so that women’s organisations can respond adequately to women survivors’ needs

Raising women’s participation and voices in decision making

The situation

Women do not participate as equal citizens in decision making. Poor representation and limited spaces for them to voice their perspectives means that women’s issues are not fully addressed at national and local levels.

The political environment is marred with violence, which makes it increasingly difficult for women to participate as candidates or voters.

• Women make up only 19.6% of Parliament and 10% of local government positions
• The peace building process does not take into account women’s needs or promote their participation at the local and national levels

What Womankind is doing

We are working with our partners to:

• Support women to participate in peace building at the local and national levels
• Increase women’s participation in Parliament and local government and promoting women in communities to engage with women leaders

The government has signed up to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development agreeing to ensure 50% women’s representation at all levels of decision making. Our partners want to hold the government accountable to its commitments.
 

How you can help

• £280 could pay for a survivor of domestic violence and her young children to stay for up to 3 months in a safe house in Harare, providing counselling, medical care, legal support and skills training.
• £400 could pay 1 month’s salary of an in-house counsellor at a shelter, providing psychological support to survivors of domestic violence, trafficking, or sexual and politically motivated violence.

You can help by giving today.