Rural women battle male strongholds

She was arrested three times for trying to defy traditional norms and assume a position of power in her community – the headmanship that rightfully belonged to her family.

She told The Zimbabwean that she had been physically assaulted and treated as an outcast during her quest for the headmanship. She was labelled a member of the MDC-T in a Zanu (PF) stronghold – leading to several clashes with the local leadership.

“My father died in 1974. He was a headman but at that time I was too young to take up his role. Later I realised that we been side-lined because our family was composed of girls only. When l turned 30, I started fighting for my father’s inheritance. But it has not been easy.

“In 2011 I approached the chief to discuss the issue but he shouted at me. I told him that I would fight for our inheritance and he sent his guards to beat me. When I reported the matter to the police, I got arrested and spend 13 days in remand. All these were attempts to silence me,” she said.

According to some villagers, Nyamambara’s tiff with the chief started when she occasionally challenged him at traditional meetings. A one point she is reported to have physically fought back when he allegedly slapped her.

One villager, Taurai Murima, said Nyamambara had been challenging the chief’s retrogressive policies and her ongoing attempts to bring donors to develop the area put her at the receiving end of the chief’s brutality.

“She had tried to bring donors to develop the area but the chief resisted. Sadly, we only have one borehole that was drilled before independence. We look up to her to represent us on all issues that lead to the emancipation of women because she is outspoken and brave,” Murima said.

Nyamambara, who says she was forced to join the MDC-T because of the way she was handled by the chief, is now the Ward Chairperson for the party’s Women’s Assembly. She was at the receiving end of the political violence that rocked the country in the presidential run-off polls in June 2008.

“I lost my property to the violence that characterised that election after my house was burnt. I am now determined to become a Member of Parliament for this area,” she declared.

“Some men in this area fled at the height of the violence only to return after the formation of the inclusive government when the situation had calmed down. But l remained here throughout. This makes me a strong contender as I will stand by the people when things are hard,” said the indomitable peasant farmer.

Zimbabwe has a cocktail of laws on the statute books to bring about gender balance in both government and public service structures – but progress to date has been minimal. The draft constitution recently passed by Parliament allows for the setting up of a Gender Commission to create 50-50 representation of men and women in parliament and other senior government posts. There are also 60 seats specifically reserved for women under the new law.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Geneva Declaration for Rural Women adopted in 1992,which seeks to increase the participation of women in democracy. By 2015, the government hopes to be in full compliance with gender balance in most sectors of society, according to the Women Affairs Deputy Minister, Jessie Majome.