Chitungwiza— Women are marginalized from many things including, economic opportunities, harmful traditional practices, and political participation. During the 2023 elections, the participation of women was very low. In some areas of Chitungwiza, there were no women who contested the elections for instance in Manyame Park Ward 3 and 4, St Mary’s Ward 7, Unit N, Zengeza, all the Member of Parliament contestants were males. In Chitungwiza it is said that women have nothing important to say so it was agreed that no woman should be voted for but rather eight women will be appointed to join the twenty-five councillors in the area of Chitungwiza. This is so sad because some women are actually better leaders than men. I strongly believe that women understand the needs of people better than men at times.
There is a woman’s court in Chitungwiza with its own hierarchy but it is of no use since the women have to report to the male leaders first before holding a meeting or even making a decision. Every final decision in the community is made by the male leaders. For example, if the women’s court decides to distribute pads in the community, if the males decide to disagree with it, that will be the final decision despite the fact that pads are actually a need for women. Therefore I can strongly postulate that the women’s court is of no use to women in the community since all decisions are made by men.
I’ve noticed that most of the population who attends rallies in my community are women. This makes me sad because despite being many, women are not allowed to participate freely in politics thus making them male puppets. Even if they decide to participate, rumours will start spreading that they are sleeping with ministers or doing other dirty work just to be recognized. On the election day, there was an issue of ballot papers. In some areas in Warren Park, ballot papers came around 5 p.m. and by 6 p.m. there were no more. Some waited for these papers but others were annoyed and they could not wait any longer.
In other polling stations in Chitungwiza, there were people posing as members of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change party (CCC) and giving out fliers telling people not to vote because they were claiming that elections were stolen. Some voters could not vote because of this information but others ignored it as it was just another voter suppression tactic. It may not be surprising that these people were not even members of CCC. Another issue that got my attention was the process of looking for your name on papers before voting. This was alright but it was an issue for the people who were unable to read, like old people who required help in order to locate their names.
Despite being many in the country, the number of women who voted got me worried. For instance at my polling station in Chitungwiza, for a moment I thought women were being forbidden to vote because they were very few. The ratio was 10:2 between the two genders. This was so sad because women have many problems that need attention such as economic inclusion, education, SRHR, healthcare and many others.
I really wish women could take voting seriously and participate because we have more problems that are unique to us women and we should be given the same chance to participate in contesting for elections. Women are also great leaders, change makers, and voices of the voiceless, and as mothers, we tend to understand our children’s needs more than men.