Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/tag/zimbabwe/)
Maternal mortality has been on the rise in Zimbabwe for five years. Last year, the government waived fees for women to give birth in public clinics and hospitals, but the wavier doesn’t cover childbirth complications such as obstetric fistula.
In Zimbabwe 45 people–including 11 women–were held in prison for over two weeks for gathering at a political meeting to watch news clips of the uprisings in North Africa. On Monday the group facing treason charges was narrowed to six.
In Johannesburg last week nearly 300 rights advocates and politicians brainstormed for three days about how to make governments in 10 countries of southern Africa friendlier to women.
Since Zimbabwe’s disputed elections last year, many women have been bravely protesting their country’s political and economic free-fall. Now, one of them is awaiting trial and Mugabe preparing to govern alone. Hope is fading fast.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice moderated a U.N. Security Council debate on a U.S. resolution on wartime rape and led a second session on Zimbabwe, calling for more international pressure on President Mugabe.
The International Violence Against Women Act would require the U.S. to respond to a critical outbreak of gender violence within 180 days. Zimbabwean Betty Makoni explains why women in her country need the bill to be made into law.
Zimbabwe’s government has used state-sponsored brutality to quash dissent, and women on the front lines of protest are paying a heavy personal price. Sixth in a series on emerging female leaders in Africa.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party is reaching out to female voters as it battles for victories in today’s parliamentary election. But critics of the Mugabe government say women’s rights begin with enough food to eat.
Sexual assault is prevalent in Zimbabwe, according to rights groups. Concubinage in youth militia camps and the governmental use of rape as a means of punishing female political dissidents are both forms of the problem.
Women have volunteered to serve time in jail so that a women’s service center can avoid a $500-a-day fine imposed by a judge. The fine would penalize the center for refusing to release records about a teen-age rape victim.