Norton—On the 23rd of August, Zimbabwe held its presidential election. In my area, there were some challenges that occurred to women such as those who have children. I noticed that they went to polling stations at 5 a.m. in the morning carrying their children on their backs. The polling stations started operating at 7 a.m., so basically mothers stood in the queue two hours earlier and this in some cases can cause health issues. This was made worse by the fact that there were some delays that took place, extending the hours of them standing in line and unable to go home due to the long distances they had to take to get to their polling stations. In addition, they could not leave to get food and this was disadvantageous to those with health issues such as blood pressure and diabetes.
However, where there are disadvantages there are also advantages. In my own opinion, they did a good job by allocating female observers that were equivalent to the male observers. I have an example of my aunt, she was one of the observers, and in her own words, she said that at first it was challenging because she thought it was a male’s job but she was able to do it. It was quite motivational to see that ZEC had allocated many women as observers. There were also a lot more female police officers compared to the males.
I also think that the separation of men and women on the lines was well thought out because if they had put them in the same queue it would have caused havoc because of the pressure and intimidation men would be putting on the women. Looking at the areas that had a delay in ballots, people waited until 1 a.m. and some at 3 a.m. This was a danger for women with children and young women who had to make it back home in those late hours of the night.
Another lackluster factor was the lack of toilets at the polling stations. Due to the long lines and delays, the unavailability of toilets was an inconvenience for women on their menstruation periods or even women who just needed to relieve themselves. Unlike men, women do not have the luxury to go and relieve themselves in the bushes as is usually done by our men. Tied in with the fact that many had to stay at the polling stations so late into the night, it would pose a danger for young women to go into the bushes as well.