To improve the status of women in Zimbabwe: Reflections from the 51st CEDAW Session

Rumbidzai Dube from the Research and Advocacy Unit reflects on Zimbabwe’s review on the Convention for Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The overarching or should I say recurring theme during the review process of  Zimbabwe by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the CEDAW Committee) was that the process was a constructive dialogue with the state in order to assess the extent of the improvement of the status of women in Zimbabwe. The review was hence a process to know the challenges, successes and future plans that the state has in store for the improvement of the status of women in Zimbabwe. Wow, interesting choice of words.

I clung on to the phrase in that theme; improve the status. This got me thinking that when we talk of improving there is an underlying assumption that the current status is not as good as it should be. And so that was the first step of the review; establishing what is wrong with the currents status of Zimbabwean women? A lot really! Women in Zimbabwe are discriminated by their own constitution, the supreme law of the land which allows them to be treated differently from men when matters of personal law or custom are being considered. Women in Zimbabwe make up 51% of the population yet not even 10% of them own the means of production such as land. Women in Zimbabwe are exposed to all forms of violence such as political violence, domestic violence, economic deprivation, human trafficking, sexual harassment, child marriages, pledging of virgins, and wife inheritance among others. Women in Zimbabwe are predominantly the caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients yet their work is unremunerated. They are also housewives yet this contribution is often considered negligible and insignificant when it comes to division of matrimonial property. I could go on forever, listing the things that are wrong with the current status of Zimbabwean women but what is more important right now is how the CEDAW review process sought to change them.

 The CEDAW Committee inspired me with confidence that they are a group of experts who understand the Zimbabwean context including the politics, the law, the culture, religion, economy and the intersectional impact of all these factors on women. They thoroughly analysed the state and civil society’s written and oral submissions and they did their own research to best assess the status of women in Zimbabwe. I heard the Committee members ask questions relating to programmes that I had no idea existed in Zimbabwe. I watched the Committee members keep their cool in the face of evasive responses by the state and just probe further. One of their favourite lines was ” I asked the state delegation … and you said… I would still like to know… Can you provide me with more concrete details on that issue.” Thorough, well informed, professional, calm and composed-those are the words I would use to describe the Committee if anyone asked for my opinion. Having seen the concluding observations of the CEDAW Committee, they predominantly carry specific recommendations that, if implemented fully will vastly improve the status of women in Zimbabwe.

 Sadly, the Secretary of the CEDAW Committee, who deals with these issues on a day to day basis because that is his job, did not inspire the same level of confidence in me. First I asked myself how come a man is Secretary of CEDAW. Then I admonished myself by saying, he must be gender sensitive and of course gender sensitive men and may even be more committed to improving the status of women than women who do not have an appreciation of the issues. But no it was not the case with him. He had no idea what issues affect women in Zimbabwe. He had no idea what the current context in Zimbabwe and for the women in my country. But of course he knew a lot about the issues in Algeria and Jordan. Oh well, when it turned out that he is American, I related to this fact-Americans are preoccupied, no the right word is obsessed with the Middle East so it is no wonder he had an interest in Jordan and was clueless about the things happening in dark, poor Africa. Frankly for me that was unforgivable but I hope he reads this blog and redeems himself by familiarising himself with the issues in all countries coming for review at the CEDAW Committee whose day to day runnings he supervises. Maybe I am sounding too harsh but would anyone forgive Ban Ki Moon for failing to know that there is conflict in Syria?

 I was quite impressed with the Zimbabwean delegation present at the Session. Undoubtedly some of their responses were bogus, evasive and plain ridiculous. For instance when asked what the state is doing to give police proper training in human rights and gender sensitivity, the state responded by saying that the police were being trained by SAHRIT. Excuse me that non governmental organisation closed more than 5 years ago. Asked when the state plans to ratify the Palermo Protocol on Trafficking in persons, they evasively responded by saying they are currently reviewing the current list of ratified treaties and only after that review will they think of ratifying new ones. Asked what they are doing to ensure the non-recurrence of political violence, the state responded saying that they have always thoroughly investigated, prosecuted and convicted perpetrators of violence. When the CEDAW Committee further probed asking for statistics of those convicted, the state had none- of course they had no statistics because close to zero people have been prosecuted for committing political violence.

 However, the approach of the head of the delegation, Minister of Women Affairs Gender and Community Development, Olivia Muchena is commendable. Unlike the Ministry of Justice which goes for its Universal Periodic Review prepared to accept all recommendations by China and the Far East and dump all recommendations no matter how progressive they are for Zimbabwe by the West, she was looking for ideas that improve the status of women. She was not on the defensive, she sought guidance from the CEDAW Committee in certain aspects and I am happy to say she made several commitments to the CEDAW Committee on behalf of Zimbabwean women. For instance, she assured the CEDAW Committee that Section 23(3) of the Constitution which discriminates women would not be part of the new constitution. She also committed to improving the economic status of women by providing them with land, credit facilities and other financial support as she found women’s economic disempowerment one of the main causes of violence in the homes which then feeds the continuum of violence from the home into the community.

Now that the concluding observations of the CEDAW Committee have been published, we can get started working to improve the status of women in Zimbabwe.

Download the recommendations and reports from the Zimbabwean state and civil society here