Zimbabwe: Against the Ideology of Power
The following article on Zimbabwe is in two parts. The first, written before liberation, is taken from Women in Struggle (see Resources). The second part is based on an interview with Sr. Margareth Nhariwa, a Zimbabwean nurse who lived in Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle and who presently works there in a rural health clinic
ZANU WOMEN'S LEAGUE
It is important to note, when we talk about the emancipation of women and their role in society, that women all over the world suffer from a common oppression, but that we in
Zimbabwe suffer from three kinds of oppression. We are firstly oppressed by the father, secondly by the husband and thirdly by the system.
Now before the coming of colonialism to Zimbabwe in the 1980's the Zimbabwean women enjoyed a respected position in society as a worker and as a mother. Because she shouldered a large portion of the work of her society she achieved a certain amount of independence. However, on the whole she worked for the benefit of others rather than for herself. Her work was valuable but it was her husband or her chief who really enjoyed the full benefit of her labour. She herself was in an Inferior position although hard work, intelligence, ability and position as a mother, could increase her value. Thus her position was similar to that of a highly respected and highly valued servant, but nevertheless a servant who had to learn to please her master, who could never lead an independent existence, except in a few chosen highly specialised professions such as that of spirit medium - professions which were open to a very small number of unusually intelligent and talented women.
Thus in pre-colonial Africa a man's wealth was rightly measured by the number of wives as well as the number of cows he owned; for the more wives he had, the richer his household would be because through her labour he could put more land under cultivation. One of the ways in which a woman's position in society and her value to society was measured was through the institution of lobola (the payment of cows and money for a wife). This practice served several useful functions. It showed that a woman was a highly prized servant who could not easily leave her new position except in very unusual and rare circumstances. If she tried to leave her husband, her own family who had received so much money and so many cows in return for her services, would her own family who had received so much money and so many cows in return for her services, wouW be against her as they would have to return all this wealth to her husband if she returned to her family.
Thus lobola was a sign of the legality of the transaction, marriage, showing that it had the full approval and support of society. By having so many wives men ceased to be the main productive force : the dominant labour force in the productive process was women who tilled the land and looked after the household chores while men were released from their main occupation — that of hunting.
In such an economy the possession of women meant the possession of unpaid workers, who apart from producing free labour were also a source of pleasure and producers of more workers. Excessive emphasis was placed on a woman's fertility, a husband had a right to disown his wife if he thought she was barren. The woman was fetishised like any other instrument.
It was colonialism which worsened the position of women, for the colonialist system undermined the social and economic fabric of the traditional Zimbabwean society. The Zimbabwean male, who had so far been a free and independent man owning allegiance only to his chief and king, found himself enslaved and his liberty curtailed. When the status of Zimbabwean men was infringed upon, that of Zimbabwean women became proportionally worse. The land on which the women primarily established themselves in society is given to a few white settlers. Thus they were deprived of the means to support themselves independently; the little and infertile land left to Africans was inadequate.
By a system of coercion and taxation, the settlers forced the men into the cash economy and they emigrated to the urban centres. At the same time, they were not allowed to bring their families with them and were forced to live in so-called hostels, housing thousands of workers. This separation of the man from his wife and children destroyed the cohesion of the family unit. For a large portion of the year, women were left alone in the rural areas, where the poor soil and shortage of land made it impossible for them to cultivate enough food for their own needs. This led to large scale malnutrition, so common in Zimbabwe today.
For those waging wars of liberation in colonised and oppressed societies, the emancipation of women and the role that emancipated women should play in their society are questions of fundamental importance. No revolution can claim to be successful if more than half of the exploited and oppressed people, i.e. women, are not liberated. Indeed for any revolution to be victorious, it must of necessity involve the women.
As Samora Machel, President of Mozambique said "Men and women are products and victims of the exploitative society which has created and formed them". This antagonistic contradiction can only be solved by revolutionary means — for the revolution to triumph in its totality there must be emancipation of women. Women will never be emancipated without a victorious working class led revolution.
How can the transition from enslavement to emancipation be affected ? Some have vulgarised the concept of women's emancipation by seeing it as a mere mechanical equality between men and women. But the concept of women's liberation rests on a number of percepts, which require women to enter the political milieu and mobilise their grievances into political struggle.
By releasing the productive forces and raising scientific and cultural education, women can destroy the myths nurtured by obscurantism. Women will only be emancipated when they can participate at all levels of planning and decision making. The realisation of this objective will depend on the linking of women's struggle with the wars of liberation. The relationship between the men and women should cease to be based on the supposed superiority of man, a myth aimed at satisfying the male ego. The love between the sexes must be a love between free and equal people with the same aspirations to serving the toiling masses.
Women's struggle in Zimbabwe started with colonization. In the traditional culture, which had an emphasis, although no obligation was imposed, upon "sharing", women had a rather high status. They were free to come and go, to meet and see each other. They were totally autonomous on matters concerning the home and children. They had their own living space and a tract of land from which they could work a living. They were thus independent economically. Their connection with the life force — as mothers, as spirits mediums, and as the traditional healers — meant women were greatly respected. Their advice was asked for and acted upon by men. Rape was almost unheard of because of the belief that such a crime would be punished through divine retribution.
Colonialism brought the ideology of power, and the exploitation of both women and men by white men, and of women by black men. This latter was the more or less indirect result of imperialist destruction of the native culture and social structures. For example, the dowry system, which in the culture had been a ritual custom intended to bind the two families socially, became, in the capitalist economic setting, a "racket". To marry, men had to pay a very high price to the bride's family. To "get their money's worth", men wanted women to work very hard and bear many children. Hard work and double work (in the field and in the home) also brought about the segregation of women, who no longer had the time nor the strength to meet socially and to take part in the village's affairs.
It was, however, a woman, who was the leader of the first uprising against colonialist oppression. This woman, Ambuya Nehanda, became a symbol of the liberation struggle when she was killed. Her last words appealed to the traditional belief in life after death and gave strength to the continuance of the liberation movement, "I die", she said, "but my bones will come to life again."
Women played a vital role in the recent national liberation struggle as well. They proved their ability to fight alongside with men and did not suffer any kind of discrimination.
"During the struggle there was no conscious decision on priority and division of work. Everything was going so fast that everybody was essential." Most of the women fighting were unmarried, although the present Minister of Foreign Affairs married during the struggle, even giving birth three days after commanding one of the biggest battles near Mozambique. Some married women also followed guerillas to Mozambique "to wait in the camps", that is, to cook and take care of the fighters. Young girls did the washing for the soldiers, and generally the civil population organized committes whose aim was to support the fighters in any way possible. Ninety percent of women living in the country joined the struggle. Education and politization was directed first to them because through them it would spread to the rest of the population.
Now, after independance, the participation of women continues, as does work to improve women's lives. There is a Ministry of Women's Affairs specifically concerned with
women's conditions. Women themselves are trying to organize committees on every level - village, district, province, and government. These committees provide classes in literacy, although the prime factor involved in the recent decline in prostitution seems to have been the increase of the average wage from $10 to a liveable $50. Women are organizing too against rape, a problem brought in by colonialism which worsened during the war. Lesbianism is unknown in rural areas. Sr. Margareth Nhariwa felt that there are probably lesbians in the cities, at the universities, for example, but that women involved would be very quiet about it. There is at present no movement towards openness, although she supposes that in the future there will be.
It is Sr. Margareth Nhariwa's personal experience, that women and men are working together "beautifully". There have been attempts by the men, she said, to fall back into old habits of domination. But the women developed a political consciousness during the struggle. They intend, without totally divesting their country of the advantages gained through Western "modernization", to regain the position they held in the traditional culture. The men are learning that they cannot simply impose decisions if they have not consulted the women. "Women just boycott those decisions". Sr. Margareth Nhariwa says. And without the support and work of the women, decisions cannot be put into practice.
