Matabeland North women with disabilities at double risk of GBV

Emily trips and falls to the ground as she tries to escape her attacker; she fumbles into the air as if trying to grab something but she is just not strong enough.

An order clothed in a cold threat booms as she recognises the voice as belonging to her uncle. Everything around her is blurry as she retreats into a cocoon as he rapes her repeatedly. She knows in a moment it will all be over and her mind wanders off.

Emily (15) is not your typical ordinary teenager. She is visually-impaired and is heavily dependent on adult members of her family to get around, something that increased her risk of sexual abuse and the subsequent cover-up that ensued.

She has been subjected to sexual violence at the early age of 11 by several members of her family.

Her attempts to report the abuses to her mother were in vain as instead of taking action she was cowed into hiding them.

At 14, she stopped reporting and along the way she contracted a sexually transmitted infection and was denied medical treatment over using traditional herbs for fear it might expose the abuse.

Emily’s heartbreaking story is an example of many similar testimonies of persons with disabilities in Hwange and Binga.

Making up an estimated 10% of Zimbabwe’s national population according to ZIMSTAT 2019 census, persons with disabilities seemingly remain an invisible and excluded group across all levels of society.

It is also widely acknowledged that women with disabilities are at a heightened risk of sexual violence and twice as likely to experience domestic violence.

Further evidence indicates that women with disabilities are four times more likely to suffer sexual violence as well as at risk of intimate partner violence than their able-bodied counterparts. Research has shown that generally women and girls will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes.

There are no official statistics on the total number and percentage of women with disabilities in Zimbabwe however, the Inter-Censal Survey by ZIMSTAT states that the proportion of males to females with disabilities is 56 and 44 percent respectively.

Although women with disabilities represent 56% of the female population there is too little attention given to them with the few studies devoted to disability and gender-based violence all highlighting the vulnerability of women and girls with disabilities to various forms of violence.

Interestingly 80% of women with disabilities living in rural areas are unable to meet their own needs and are heavily dependent on family and friends.

According to a case study carried out by Disability Agenda Forum (DAF), a Matabeleland North focused disability rights organisation in Hwange and Binga districts, women and girls with disabilities are at a heightened risk of violence and remain excluded from basic services, such as education, health, work and social support.

“Our field experience and research in Binga and Hwange districts have shown us that women and girls with disabilities in particular face double marginalisation as they remain excluded from basic services, such as education, health, work and social support,” says Octavia Phiri, DAF director.

“This development in turn heights their risk of exposure to gender-based violence and exploitation. Having the disability in the first place makes them vulnerable and their inability to fight back when attacked or violated. Our condition exposes us as women with disabilities to abuse as we are taken advantage of easily and that is what results in us being at double risk to GBV,” says Phiri.

She says myths, culture, stigma and discrimination were fueling the risks of women falling victim to different forms of abuse resulting in underreporting.

“Stigma, myths and cultural beliefs amongst other factors play a leading role in fueling GBV. You find women and girls with disabilities being sexually abused for ritual purposes as well as because of beliefs such as if one sleeps with a woman who has a disability you get rich or will be cured of a disease or curse.”

Phiri adds that most of them don’t report because they fail to get services due to being shunned by service providers as there is a lot of stigma and discrimination when it comes to disability.

So most cases go unreported and when they are reported, are taken for granted.

She says oftentimes perpetrators are family members on whom the woman or girl depends on which led to cases being covered up and the abuse continues unabated.

Phiri has called for disability inclusion in the fight to end GBV arguing that it is part of the interventions that can fight stigma and discrimination.

Anna Mandizha-Ncube, director of Buwalo Matiliko Trust (BMT), a Hwange-based human rights organisation says access to services such as the police station or health facility is one of the factors that make women and girls with disabilities experience a higher degree of vulnerability to GBV.

“You want to talk about issues to do with reliable transport, access to the road network, access to health facilities that accommodate people living with disabilities as they come into the health facility or police station. A very good example is if you go to Hwange police station there are a flight of stairs as you get into the charge office. Now a woman with a disability is unable to negotiate entry into the charge office for them to place their report, it then becomes cumbersome and a hindrance.”

She blames the justice delivery system for failing survivors of GBV as most cases fail to see the light of day as a result of poor investigations.

This she says also contributed to the low reporting of GBV cases amongst the special group.

“Yes, a certain number is reported but what happens after the report is what is very key, there is a lot of gender injustice within the delivery system. Sometimes a report is made informally and when it comes to investigations where a survivor has to assist police like making statements it will continuously need one to be present at the station and sometimes this is not so feasible for women living disabilities.”

Human rights activists agree that the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown have had a very serious negative impact on women especially women with disabilities as they were locked down together with their perpetrators with no way of reprieve as imposed restrictions stifled reporting of these abuses. Accessing services such as a police station or health centre were made impossible as one had to have travel documents to pass through roadblocks.

Matabeleland North provincial development officer, Masauso Phiri says the government has several interventions in place to end GBV which included laws and programming.

“The Domestic Violence Act which criminalises GBV is another intervention that the government has put in place to curb the scourge. The government, in partnership with organisations such as Leornard Cheshire, is implementing the “access to justice for disabled women and girls as well as the inclusive mainstreaming of gender and GBV. Disability-friendly programmes for women and girls living with disabilities through education and social welfare are also being implemented.”

He says limited access to opportunities such as education, decision making and productive assets coupled with biological make-up is exposing the special group to abuse and exploitation.

* This article was originally published by The Citizen Bulletin, a nonprofit news organisation that produces hard-hitting, hyperlocal reporting and analysis for the southwestern region of Matabeleland.