Women discuss how GBV affects women’s participation in politics and leadership.
Female politicians have expressed that women in politics tend to suffer more from GBV in most, if not all, of its forms.
This was said during the Women’s Round Table that was attended by female politicians and aspiring candidates from Bulawayo.
Gender-Based Violence comes in different forms, including physical, sexual, emotional, and economic. Most studies show that women are the primary victims as they are deemed the softer targets.
“I have witnessed a lot of gender-based violence. You will realise that, as a woman, you will face such abuses at home, in church, in the community and in the country at large. GBV is mainly fuelled by the patriarchal nature of our Zimbabwean society which perpetuates inequalities in the power dynamics. Patriarchy is very rife in politics, as a result women are easily victimised leading to a decrease in their participation,” said Ward 17 Councillor Sikhululekile Moyo.
Aspiring candidate Lezina Mohamed highlighted that one of the challenges that she faces is the condescending nature of society towards women.
“One of the challenges we face in politics is the fact that people look down on us as women. What I say might be disregarded just because I am a woman. In some cases, I won’t even have the emancipation to wear what I want because I’m afraid of what people think,” she said.
Women in attendance emphasised that gender-based violence is also perpetrated through the internet, and that this causes a lot of women to give up on politics.
“I personally was a victim of gender-based violence when I was campaigning to be a councillor and this is why a lot of women tend to shy away from politics, whether as candidates or as participants. There has to be a way of ensuring that within the party women are protected and there is need for women to support each other in the fight against cyberbullying and not be each other’s enemies,” said Keresia Dagwaira, one of the meeting participants.
The meeting facilitator, Sibusisiwe Dube, encouraged women to know their rights, uplift each other, and help in the fight to end violence against women.