Online Reporter
Stories by Fidelis Munyoro
THE heavy wooden doors of the country’s highest court have opened before for men in dark robes, with stern expressions and carefully measured authority.
For decades, the Judiciary’s top seat appeared reserved for a familiar order — male, elite and unshakably traditional.
But last week, history walked through those doors in the form of a woman who once had to resign from her job simply because she had become a mother.
Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza’s appointment as Zimbabwe’s first female Chief Justice is more than a ceremonial triumph. It is a deeply symbolic victory stitched together by nearly five decades of sacrifice, persistence and fearless advocacy for women who were once treated as legal minors in their own country.
For many young women in law schools today — sitting quietly in lecture rooms, clutching notebooks filled with dreams bigger than their circumstances — Chief Justice Gwaunza’s ascent sends a thunderous message.
There is no office too high for a woman prepared to work, endure and lead.
Her rise to the pinnacle of the Judiciary also marks a defining chapter in Zimbabwe’s evolving story on gender equality, proving that barriers once cemented by custom and law can indeed be broken.
Across Africa, women are increasingly taking charge of powerful judicial institutions. South Africa appointed Chief Justice Mandisa Maya in 2024. Kenya’s Judiciary is headed by Chief Justice Martha Koome. Nigeria has Chief Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, while Rwanda and Mauritius are led by Chief Justices Domitilla Mukantaganzwa and Rehana Mungly-Gulbul, respectively. Now Zimbabwe joins that growing continental narrative.
Yet Chief Justice Gwaunza’s story feels especially compelling because she did not merely inherit a transformed legal system.
She helped build it.
Born on June 15, 1953, she entered the legal profession at a time when opportunities for black women were painfully narrow. When she graduated with a law degree in 1976, among the first black women in the country to do so, the legal terrain before her was deeply uneven.
The country was still under colonial rule.
Patriarchal laws defined women largely through male authority. A woman’s identity, in many respects, remained tethered to her father, husband or brother.
Soon after graduating from the then-University of Rhodesia, she took a position in the Deeds Office. There, she encountered a legal system whose discrimination was not hidden in theory books, but embedded in everyday reality.
“Back then, women were still regarded as minors; therefore, they were dependent on the men in their families, be it a father, brother or grandfather,” Chief Justice Gwaunza recalled in an earlier interview.
The injustice soon became painfully personal. When she took maternity leave, she was forced to resign from her job.
“I then had to reapply for my job, with no guarantee that I would get it back, or be offered the same level after I returned.”
For many women of that era, such humiliation became an accepted burden of life. Careers were interrupted. Dreams were deferred. Silence became survival.
But not for Elizabeth Chiedza Gwaunza.
Instead of surrendering to the cruelty of those laws, she transformed her frustration into purpose. The experience ignited within her a determination that would define the rest of her career, ensuring that women after her would not endure the same indignities.
Then came independence in 1980, ushering in a new political and social order. For women fighting for equality, it was a moment filled with cautious hope.
The newly established Ministry of Women’s Affairs, headed by former Vice President Joice Mujuru, became one of the earliest battlegrounds for reform.
Chief Justice Gwaunza was appointed director of legal affairs, placing her at the centre of efforts to dismantle discriminatory legislation.
The task before them was enormous.
“Because we were a new nation, we had no point of reference, so we had to look outside the country for examples,” she said.
“We really pressured reform for women. We went around the country talking to leaders about health, education and law. After that, we took all the information we had gathered to advocate for change.”
Those years demanded more than legal expertise. They required courage.
Zimbabwe’s post-independence transformation did not automatically erase centuries of patriarchy. Cultural attitudes remained deeply entrenched.
Many women still lacked awareness of their rights. Rural communities remained governed by customs that often disadvantaged women in matters of inheritance, marriage and property ownership. But Chief Justice Gwaunza and other activists refused to retreat.
“Various women’s organisations were formed at the time and there was a very strong and vocal representation,” she recalled.
Still, progress was slow and often painful.
One of the defining moments in Zimbabwe’s legal history came with the landmark Magaya judgement of 1999, a ruling that shocked many women’s rights advocates after customary law was upheld over gender equality in inheritance disputes.
For many activists, the ruling exposed how fragile women’s rights remained despite years of reform. Yet Chief Justice Gwaunza viewed such setbacks not as defeat, but as a call for renewed vigilance.
“While the Magaya verdict served to remind women not to sit on their laurels, it is gratifying to note that more and more women, all the way from the grassroots level, are coming to understand and exercise their legal rights, especially in family law.”
That transformation did not happen overnight. It was built through relentless advocacy, legal education and institutional reform driven by women like her — women who understood that true empowerment is not handed down from above but fought for patiently, case by case, law by law, community by community.
Over the decades, Chief Justice Gwaunza steadily climbed through the Judiciary’s demanding ranks.
She was admitted as a legal practitioner of the High Court in 1987. She later served as director of Legal Aid in the
Ministry of Justice before being appointed a High Court judge in August 1998.
Then came another historic milestone.
In 2002, she became only the second woman ever appointed to Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court after Justice Vernanda Ziyambi.
For young female lawyers watching from afar, her rise represented possibility itself.
In courtrooms where women once struggled to be heard, one of their own now interpreted the law at the nation’s highest levels.
But perhaps what makes Chief Justice Gwaunza especially admired is that her career has never been confined to titles alone. Her influence stretches beyond court benches and legal texts.
She co-founded and coordinated the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Project from 1989 to 1995, helping expose the lived realities of women trapped within discriminatory legal systems.
She became a founding member and past president of the Zimbabwe Association of Women Judges and contributed to the International Association of Women Judges.
She served on boards supporting women’s leadership, governance and protection against gender-based violence.
She chaired the Wills and Inheritance Project — a crucial initiative aimed at addressing injustices surrounding succession and property rights. Her international legal stature also grew significantly.
Between 2008 and 2013, she served at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), joining global efforts to deliver justice for victims of some of the world’s gravest atrocities.
Yet despite these towering accomplishments, those who know her often speak first not about prestige, but discipline. Her philosophy of success remains strikingly simple.
“Hard work, focus and balance,” she says. “These three attributes are key in realising your goals.”
rather than theory.
As a mother of two, she consistently emphasised the importance of balancing professional ambition with personal life — a challenge many women continue to navigate in demanding careers.
To aspiring lawyers, especially young women, her journey offers lessons that extend far beyond law.
It teaches resilience in the face of rejection. It teaches patience when progress appears invisible. It teaches that leadership is not about loudness, but consistency.
Most importantly, it teaches that barriers are not permanent.
Today, women constitute roughly 40 percent of judges across Africa, but remain significantly under-represented in top judicial leadership.
That is why her appointment resonates far beyond Zimbabwe’s courtrooms.
South Africa-based lawyer Dr Chiedza Simbo described the development as a landmark moment in the pursuit of gender equality.
“We anticipate a remarkable change in the equitable and deliberate appointment of women on a 50/50 basis with men across all positions within the Judiciary and society at large,” she said.
“Trusting in her expertise and leadership, I anticipate that she will demonstrate that the appointment of women is not merely about who performed better in an interview, but also about confronting societal bias in recruitment processes and taking deliberate affirmative action measures to ensure that women who are equally as capable as her are seen, recognised and actively encouraged to apply for leadership positions.”
Advocate Tendai Toto of Legal Support Network SA also welcomed the appointment, saying it should inspire women throughout the legal profession.
“Meritorious as presented, the appointment must inspire all jurists and female legal practitioners in particular that merit, leadership and competence are not the preserve of males,” he said.
His remarks speak directly to a reality many female professionals still face, the burden of constantly proving they belong in spaces historically dominated by men.
Chief Justice Gwaunza’s appointment challenges that outdated thinking with undeniable authority.
Her story arrives at a crucial time for Zimbabwe.
Since the advent of the Second Republic in 2017, more women have been appointed to influential leadership positions in the Government and State institutions, in line with constitutional provisions promoting gender equality and balanced representation.
The Constitution’s vision of 50-50 representation is still unfolding, but symbolic milestones matter.
They shape imagination. And imagination shapes ambition.
Somewhere in a rural classroom, a young girl may now look at Zimbabwe’s highest court differently.
Somewhere in a university lecture hall, a law student who once doubted herself may now feel newly seen.
Somewhere in a crowded township, a young woman balancing motherhood and education may now believe her dreams are still valid.
That is the hidden power of representation. Not simply occupying office, but widening the horizon of what others believe possible.
Chief Justice Gwaunza now occupies the most powerful judicial office in the land. Yet her greatest legacy may not lie in judgements written or titles earned. It may lie in the generations she inspires.
Generations of young lawyers will remember that before there was a woman at the helm of Zimbabwe’s Judiciary, there was a determined young mother who lost her job because she chose to have a child and who decided that no woman should ever again have to pay such a price for simply being a woman.
That determination has now carried her to history. And history, at last, has made room for her.
