Women not safe in Zimbabwe cities

MANY organisations are working on eradicating violence against women but they tend to concentrate on private not public spaces.

It is against this background that Action Aid in partnership with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development launched the Safer Cities campaign.

The event, which was presided over by the Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Abigail Damasane on Wednesday was aimed at reducing violence against women in public spaces, complementing the myriad of programmes aimed at reducing violence against women in private spaces.

The campaign is global and more than 15 countries launched the Safe Cities Campaign on the same day, including South Africa, DRC, Nigeria and other countries in Asia and Brazil

The programme manager of Action Aid, Betty Sithole said the life of a woman in urban areas is normally marred by violence and fear of violence, especially a woman living in poverty, echoing the inequality and violence they experience in private spaces.

A baseline survey conducted in two high density suburbs in Harare revealed that women face violence in markets, at shopping centres, in streets where there is no street lighting, when boarding public transport and in bush paths. The types of violence highlighted included sexual harassment, hassling and teasing, stalking, flashing, ogling, rape and murder.

Sithole said as a result women restrain themselves. They decide to avoid travelling in darkness, take the longer route if it feels safer, and stop vending well before dark.

"Their lives are confined in smaller spaces and that's a violation of women's rights," she said.

Sithole said the community should acknowledge that women's lives are no longer confined to private spaces only. Women are now also occupying the public spaces doing all kinds of jobs whether formal or informal. The urban population is rising as people migrate from rural to urban areas to seek better opportunities and a better quality of life.

However, women in urban areas live their lives differently from males. Lack of public services in urban areas affect women more than men; when there are no street lights, it's the women who are more vulnerable to abuse, hence confine their movements when there is no water, it is the women who travel long distances to the nearest boreholes to fetch water and where there are health facilities, it is the women who carry the burden of care as they look after the sick people.