Covid-19 lockdown worsens the plight of women
The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe has created a lot of negative effects on women and girls in communities.
The pandemic has literally put the whole world at a standstill, with cases of people succumbing to the virus surging daily.
Many countries have been in a lockdown including Zimbabwe.
The lockdown is now threatening a reversal of gains made in the past in so far as promotion and respect of women and girls’ fundamental human rights is concerned.
There has been a surge in the number of cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country since the announcement of the lockdown.
Varying cases have been noted from state security forces' heavy-handedness on women, domestic violence to sexual abuse and emotional blackmail within homes and communities.
Unpaid care and domestic work is taking a toll on women resulting in conflicts and intimate partner violence.
The pandemic has further exposed vulnerable groups such as women and women with disabilities to abject poverty.
Women, being the majority of informal traders have not been able to work freely over the past six months due to the lockdown and curfews induced to control the spread of the virus.
In April 2020, the government through the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare announced that it would disburse funds to cushion citizens during the current Covid-19 lockdown.
It is now more than five months since the announcement was made and there is no clear information on who has benefited from the government aid. Over the years, politicisation and lack of accountability in distribution of aid has been a thorny issue in the country.
Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and political activists face additional and different risks and obstacles that are gendered, intersectional and shaped by entrenched gender stereotypes and norms. In the current political climate where there has been a backlash against the human rights of women and girls, WHRDs and activists are often the first to come under attack for their work.
It appears the Zimbabwean government has used the pandemic as an excuse to trample upon the rights of WHRDs and activists who have spoken boldly against corruption and the need to respect constitutionalism in the country
hose who have protested demanding social safety nets and cushioning of the poor and vulnerable have also not been spared.
The violations have been perpetrated in different forms such as abductions, unlawful arrests, torture, sexual violence, assault, online violence etc.
With Covid-19 and the introduction of broad restrictions, the safety and work of WHRDs and activists is at even greater risk.
These women leaders who have been bold enough to call out state excesses and use of brute force in enforcing lockdown regulations found themselves targeted.
The women leaders who have criticised government’s responses to Covid-19 have been harassed, threatened, or detained, and some of them their access to the internet cut off.
As we approached the third week of the Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020, there were already incidences of systematic state security crackdown targeting women.
While security forces are expected to exercise restraint and act in a professional manner, especially when dealing with the public, this has not been the case as there are several reports that surfaced of security forces abusing women.
In May this year, three young women leaders, namely Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, were abducted and tortured by suspected state security agents after they participated in a flash protest in Warren Park, Harare, on May 13, 2020 over the lack of social safety nets in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The three suffered horrific sexual abuse, they had their breasts sucked and guns inserted in their anal passages.
As if the torture was not enough, after the trio were released by their captors, they have been subject of intense harassment, victimisation and abuse by the state.
They were arrested and charged with “faking their own abduction”. Instead of the state pursuing the perpetrators, they chose to harass the already traumatised women leaders.
The state has ignored national, regional and international appeals to stop the victimisation of the three as their continuous abuse violates local and international laws that promote and protect the rights of women in politics.
This report concludes that the state of women’s rights and well-being in the era of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe has rapidly and negatively reshaped the participation of women in political, social and economic activities.
The failure by government to roll out social safety nets specifically targeted at women and vulnerable minorities has exacerbated the plight of women and deepened already existing inequalities between men and women.
The government should create in sincerity a conducive environment for women to freely and fully participate in democratic and governance processes without fear of abuse and harassment.
Further the government should implement national, regional and international instruments and provisions that protect women from all forms of torture and other inhumane and degrading treatment.
The existing political and social inequalities mean that the burden of the pandemic has not been experienced equally between men and women.
Women have suffered more and continue to do so in the absence of specific mitigatory measures for them.
This has been worsened by the absence of a gender-inclusive political, social and economic response and recovery plan.
Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence