Struggles Within a Struggle: Gender and Land Reform Experiences in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This paper is based on the findings of a two year action research project conducted in Chimanimani district in the eastern part of Zimbabwe, during 2009 and 2010. It examines the struggles for land by excluded women (and some men) in this district, in the context of the broader struggle to wrestle land from (mostly white) commercial landowners through a land invasion initiative which culminated in the Fast Track Land Reform Programme. The paper observes that while women eagerly participated in their numbers in the broader struggle – the land invasions spearheaded by war veterans, they did not benefit as much as did the men in terms of acquiring for themselves, pieces of arable land. This paper further argues that this occurrence was but a microcosm of the struggles that women in Zimbabwe face, as far as access to land is concerned. The paper however acknowledges that, to their credit, women in Zimbabwe, because of their resilience, have continued to display immense resourcefulness in terms of searching for alternatives. In the study, the excluded women (and some men) sought alternative ways to survive, and these included accessing forest resources (such as fuel wood), engaging in market gardening and approaching absentee landlords for user rights to their pieces of land.