By Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s forthcoming Presidential elections will take place without any female candidates competing for the country’s highest office.
As of now, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has cleared 11 only male Presidential aspirants.
In 2018’s election four women Thokozani Khupe, Joice Mujuru, Melbar Dzapasi and Violet Mariyacha contested for the Presidential seat.
This time around, only Khupe has been participating in politics though not running the Presidential race while the rest were nowhere to be seen.
Linda Masarira (pictured), Labour, Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) leader and Valerio Elisabeth United Alliance of Zimbabwe (UZA) president expressed their willingness to run for the highest office but they were unable to meet the mandatory requirement of paying a US$20 000 nomination fee.
Masarira attributed women’s limited participation in politics to patriarchal dominance and emphasized the need to change societal attitudes and norms to empower women leadership from a young age.
“We need to change the way we socialize women and the girl child as they are growing up. Patriarchal dominance is affecting every facet of a woman’s life and most women have never gotten to a level where they accept themselves as equals when it comes to leadership.
“A level where they understand laws and processes governing their land and how they are affected ” she said.
Masarira also said there was a need to form a women’s revolution
“There is so much we need to do to capacitate women from grass roots to push for the women’s struggle and advance for a women’s revolution, that is much more pertinent than running for public office.
“We cannot have an egalitarian society without women, there is no democracy without women, we still have a long way to go and we need dedicated and committed people to be able to advance the full participation of women in politics regardless of which political party they are coming from,” she said.
Zimbabwe is set to hold its general elections on 23 August 2023.
