In the 2018 harmonized elections, Joice Mujuru of the People’s Rainbow Coalition, Thokozani Khupe of the MDC-T , Melbah Dzapasi of #1980 Freedom Movement Zimbabwe and Violet Mariyacha of the United Democratic Movement were the first women in the history of Zimbabwe to contest for a Presidential post.
This was the first time the teapot shaped nation tucked in-between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers had a 17% women participation in a Presidential race.
Although gender parity was at its best then, all female candidates who contested for the highest office in the land performed dismally, with Khupe gunning a mere 0.96%, followed by Mujuru who got just 0.27%, whilst Dzapasi and Mariyacha only managed a measly 0.4% of the vote each.
Five years down the line, it seems luck has not smiled on female Presidential contestants as the just ended 2023 elections saw the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) President Elisabeth Valerio performing dismally.
Valerio who was the only woman to participate in the highly contested elections managed to get 0.2%.
The performance shows how unpopular the Hwange based Valerio was in the plebiscite and according to her, there are a myriad of challenges which hinder women to perform well in any election.
“The electoral cycle is marred by challenges for women candidates, women struggle with things like inadequate finances,” she said. “Systematic barriers such as violence, patriarchy, gender stereotypes and an unequal political playing field are also in existence.”
She said it is very difficult for women to perform well for a Presidential post as they are elbowed out of the political race by male counterparts.
“We are only regarded as voters and cheerleaders and we can not expect women to perform better when they are incapacitated,” she said.
The President for Labor Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) Linda Masarira said Zimbabwean Politics is highly patriarchal and communities have no regard for women leadership.
Masararira, who could not participate in the just ended polls due to exorbitant nomination fees which were gazetted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said the mistreatment of women leadership goes beyond politics.
“Even in our societies women are not given that respect which is due to them,” she said. “So there is a general dislike of women especially in leadership from the society, people don’t just like women in leadership.”
She said women who aspire for political office end up suffering cyber bullying from the society.
“Even if a woman gets the highest position in the party, you will hear people saying she is sharing intimacy with the political leader,” she said. “We should change our societal mind.”
Masarira however challenged women to persevere and rise to the occasion.
The Executive director for Women Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), Hellen Kadirire said female politicians lack media coverage and at the end they remain unpopular.
“The major problem which these female politicians face is lack of media coverage,” she said. “A very few people knew about the female candidates and this why as WALPE we ended up profiling them.”
Kadirire said change of the voting system in Zimbabwe can bring hope to the performance of female politicians in the elections.
“People should vote for a party not for an individual. Women end up subjected to vote buying and at the end they will not excel,” she said.
