MAKING THE MAJORITY VISIBLE
By Everjoice J. Win, Windhoek

November 25, 2003 – (Media Institute of Southern Africa - Windhoek) The conflict and crisis in Zimbabwe is portrayed as a struggle for land redistribution from white males to black males; as a power struggle between two males; or, it is presented as the white man's plight.

The largely untold story is that the majority of Zimbabweans who are poor, black women living in the rural areas, have limited access and no control over land.

Mainstream and development media depict black women as poor, powerless, pregnant and heavily burdened creatures. They have no names and no voices.

In many newspaper photographs they are not identified, and only those who matter, speak on their behalf.

Nameless and voiceless, these women lack any personhood, rights or entitlements. And it is this same depiction of black women that permeates the coverage and analysis of the Zimbabwean conflict.

Black women always are at the margins of the Zimbabwean polity. The current crisis merely exacerbates the existing exclusion and violations of women's rights. Poor black women never owned land and are yet to benefit substantively from the so-called land reform.

The colonial settlers codified women's status, officially sealing black women's fate as perpetual minors. Marginalised even from the meagre land crumbs that black males were given, the women became dependent on the males in their lives. A few entered the newly established commercial sex work sector, or became poorly paid domestic workers, lowly skilled teachers, or at best nurses.

This trend continued after independence regardless of the role that women played during the liberation struggle. The cosmetic legislative and policy changes enacted by the Robert Mugabe regime have not fundamentally changed the balance of power between the sexes.

To date, the Zimbabwean government has consistently refused to enact legislation that specifically outlaws violence against women in all its forms. Part of the struggle around a new Zimbabwean Constitution centred on women's fundamental rights, freedoms and sexual choices.

The various forms of violence continuously committed against women are the most visible manifestation of this violation of women's rights. Human rights and women's rights groups have recorded dozens of cases of women, young and old raped, gang raped, sexually molested, and physically battered or tortured.

There is the case of Tendai Savanhu, aged 25, gang raped by seven youth militia; Sarah Muchineripi, 40, evicted from her own house, beaten up by a group of soldiers and now homeless; and Nomsa Moyo, 17, abducted by a militia group and forced to provide domestic services, as well as sex, to more than 20 so-called war vets for two months. One can go on listing names and these horror stories.

These are real women with real names, and now, shattered lives. There has been no media interest in these women, because in real "politik" they do not matter. In the world of sound bites and real news, their stories have no news value unless somehow they are directly linked to a prominent somebody or a something that matters. It is not good enough, nor is it newsworthy, when one is just an ordinary female citizen.

Nobody believes them because in most cases their wounds are not visible.

The parts of their bodies that were violated cannot be splashed on the front pages of the newspapers, because this would offend our puritanical sensitivities. After all, don't we view the violated in any conflict as just collateral damage? Or worse, exaggerating their stories so that they get donor money?

Many women do not have the courage to even speak about the violations, because when you report rape you are immediately 'raped' again - after all you are already damaged goods. If you tell your family they too will be too ashamed of your having had "illegitimate" sex. And since there is nobody to demand compensation from, for "taking" what the family has not given them, the women dare not speak.

Zimbabwean women yearn for an end to the politically motivated and organised violence that they continue to suffer. But, if political change comes in the way that many men want, quick, easy, and only aimed at accommodating each other in power, then these women have no hope of being heard or seen.

No one will ever be held to account for the gross human rights violations that Tendai, Nomsa, or Sarah suffered.

Part of resolving the Zimbabwean crisis is about seeking truth, justice and accountability for the human rights violations that its citizens have suffered. Anything short of this will see the history of impunity, and the cycle of violence will continue to pervade and haunt this nation.

But the starting point for all of this is to make the majority - the silenced, excluded and marginalised black women of Zimbabwe - visible.
E.J. Win is a Zimbabwean feminist, a founder member of the National Constitutional Assembly, and currently, spokesperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. This article is part of the Gender and Media (GEM) Commentary Service which provides views and perspectives on current issues.

Poll: Women's voices and views are not sought after, because their opinions have no bearing on a nation's development. Do you agree? Or Disagree?

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200311250620.html