Zimbabwe has signed and ratified a number of regional and international instruments that call for gender equality in various spheres of life. However, in spite of the existence of these supportive instruments, the country has not fared well in advancing the participation of women in politics. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender and Development barometer reveals that whilst women participation in politics is still below agreed benchmarks, Zimbabwe's citizens seem to believe the country is doing well in that regard. This article argues that the discrepancy between the perceived and actual realities in relation to the participation of women in politics is not by accident but is founded on a systemic and calculated maneuver by politically dominant males to open up the political space when necessary and convenient for them. We argue, drawing examples from different political players, that the participation of women in politics has been more of manipulation than a...

The world in general has experienced the division of the society into public and private spheres as a consequent, in most cases, of the patriarchal nature of the societies. The private sphere has for long been identified as the preserve of women while the public sphere has been identified with men. The public is identified with decision making, control, economic participation and authority and as a sphere of cultural politics. Today calls are being made to reverse patriarchal thinking and engender the public sphere and do away with the idea of viewing women as inferior and taking them as capable and equal participants in the public sphere. The 21st century has moved to accept women not only as capable leaders but also talented persons. The African public sphere has been affected by both modernity and tradition in its attempt to address the issue of gender equity. This paper argues first that the African public sphere is an imagined concept and a social construct by the society. As a result, the public sphere has been shaped and reshaped, defined and redefined owing to struggles between tradition and modernity and women and men in trying to engender this sphere.This paper argues that the public sphere though trying to fit in the globalisation process where gender has become fashionable, tradition has remained afloat and very significant. A gender concept that has become powerful in the African public sphere is masculinity as opposed to femininity and gender equality. In as much as gender equity has been accepted, the African society has remained dominated by several masculinities. However, as this paper argues, this is done not to address the woman question but to use women in the ensuing fights between the society’s existing masculinities. This paper examines the question that “Is the numerical increase of women in the African public sphere part of affirmative action or it is a career punctuated by talent and leadership qualities in governing the African public sphere?” The other issue relates to women as a class and the inequalities that come with women representation in the public sphere. All these issues constitute the dynamics of making and remaking the African public sphere as modernity and tradition are at continuous loggerheads. The paper examines these ideas using Zimbabwean politics and women politicians. Politics has been chosen because it is the most significant public sphere that allows women into public governing organs of decision making and authority.

NO. 1: ELECTORAL SYSTEM REFORM, DEMOCRACY AND STABILITY IN THE SADC REGION: A Comparative Analysis by Khabela Matlosa NO 2: FROM MILITARY RULE TO MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY: Political Reforms and Challenges in Lesotho. Edited by Claude Kabemba No 3: SWAZILAND’S STRUGGLE WITH POLITAL LIBERALISATION. Edited by Claude Kabemba No 4: GENDER AND ELECTIONS IN LESOTHO: Perspectives on the 2002 elections. By Puleng Letuka, Mats’eliso Mapetla, Keiso Matashane-Marite NO 5: GOVERNANCE QUALITY AND GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT TO THE NEPAD AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM. Grant Edward Thomas Masterson No 6: ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY IN ZAMBIA. Edited by Claude Kabemba NO 7: DILEMMAS OF POLITICAL TRANSITION: Towards Institutionalisation of Multiparty Democracy in Tanzania. Edited by Shumbana Karume

This paper focuses on the religious and cultural barriers to the participation of women in politics in zimbabwe particularly paying attention to mutare.

This article seeks to look at Zimbabwean politics as a gendered phenomenon. Although, every human being is defined and characterised as a political animal, the attitude towards women politicians convey another message in Zimbabwe. This is despite the fact that, we are in the era where the right of every human soul should be respected, even the right to become leaders in whatever discipline. Interestingly, the societal status of women in the family setting where the man (gendered male) is biblically defined as the head seems to characterize the Zimbabwean political landscape. The saying goes that, ‘men are there to be leaders whilst women stand as followers or men are the speakers whilst women are the audience’. The Bible has not been spared in creating and justifying a gendered political platform where women are made to serve and cultivate an uncontested supremacy and popularity of their male counterparts. Biblical texts are always cited even in the August House to support the view that women are there to serve and vote men into offices of authority. As a result the Zimbabwean public space has always been dominated by men since time-immemorial and most of the institutions have not been spared in the caricaturing and shoving of women thereby tilting the political platform in favour of men. Therefore this article seeks to interrogate the status of women in the Zimbabwean political landscape.

Book Review on media politics in Zimbabwe