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Ruth Butaumocho
African Agenda
“Women are leaders everywhere you look — from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.”
The above words were said many years ago by the United States Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, while introspecting on the role of women in her country.
While the message from Pelosi was said a thousand kilometres away from Africa, the essence of the message of the powerful role that women have had in shaping history across the globe has not been lost in translation.
Women across the world have been instrumental in shaping communities through their involvement in social change, sustainable development, not forgetting the robust role they played during the liberation struggle at different times in their lives.
As Zimbabwe celebrates its 42nd independence that came through after a long protracted struggle against white colonial rulers, it is important to highlight that women played an instrumental role in the liberation struggle, sacrificing a lot during the enduring and painful war.
Women, both educated and uneducated, were pivotal to the liberation struggle as they took different roles — some which were beyond their physiology and scope, to unshackle the country from the yoke of the colonisers. Hundreds of women of different ages joined national liberation movements in unprecedented numbers as supporters who provided food and other necessities to travelling nationalist guerrillas, as well as being combatants in the armed wings of the liberation struggle, in nationalist organisations, and as political activists.
During the struggle for liberation from colonial rule, women worked alongside men to overthrow their oppressors.
Many strikes were led by the women, and many will remember how in 1961 thousands of women demonstrated in the then Salisbury against a constitution which promoted racism.
More than 2 000 women were arrested and they refused to pay fines and opted to go to jail.
It took the intervention of their husbands who eventually opted to pay fines for them, demanding that their wives return home to cook.
In the group of Zimbabwe’s struggle icons, one woman stands out — Mbuya Nehanda — a powerful spiritual leader of the Shona people and the spirit of the original Nehanda, said to be a princess of the Mutapa Empire.
Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana stirred her people into rebellion against an increasing number of British settlers in their territory. She was among the stalwarts that ignited the First Chimurenga, the first liberation struggle.
Before being hanged in 1897 on charges of murdering a Native Commissioner, Mbuya Nehanda proclaimed that one day her bones “would rise again”.
Fast-forward to the 1960s, liberation fighters once again took up arms against colonial rule, invoking the spirit and bravery of Mbuya Nehanda.
She was the first national heroine, a powerful symbol of Zimbabwean resilience, courage and tenacity.
Her tenacity and resilience represented the aspirations and willpower of thousands of women in Zimbabwe today, who continue to be the pillars of development and sustenance in communities where they are.
At the height of the liberation struggle, hundreds of women took up arms and fought alongside men.
The white former colonialists became unrelenting, further decimating the unarmed civilians who were resisting colonialism by backing the liberation struggle from different dimensions.
Thousands of women who remained behind did not become bystanders as the war raged, but assisted thousands of guerrillas who were at the war-front in defeating the enemy from within.
Who can forget the all night vigils (pungwes) where women would sing, prepare food and assist the guerrillas to circumvent the numerous traps that were set by the enemy?
Women carrying food for the guerrillas can best be described as courageous, tenacious and untiring, because they were in some circumstances subjected to brutal attacks, shelling and some even died as they assisted the guerrillas to escape.
Such wanton and brutal attacks in the war were not gender specific, because hundreds of women were maimed.
Others still bear scars and deformities they sustained during the liberation struggle. Suffice to say, it is sad and very unfortunate that the role of women in the liberation struggle has not been aptly captured despite the existence of evidence and narratives that speak to their crucial role.
Their role in the struggle remain a point of conjecture, spiced with lies and narratives which do not elaborate the important part women played in the liberation struggle. With such magnanimous contribution, the nation cannot ignore such monumental involvement which shaped the independence that we now enjoy today.
Her-story is a missing narrative that should be captured for posterity.
But the lack of recognition for the role of women in history telling is not unique to Africa.
Around, the world, there have been attempts to re-write the past and make it fuller and nuanced, says professor Akosua Darkwah, head of the department of sociology at the University of Ghana.
“Often because, these stories are being told by men so they tell it from their perspective,” she says, “but there has to be a constant reminder that it couldn’t have been that all the women were just sitting down watching.”
However, a new generation of African feminists are determined to reclaim these narratives. A local feminist organisation, Whispers, premièred a documentary profiling the lives of three Zimbabwean female politicians who have been successful in standing up for other women in the political arena.
The documentary, which is the first of the “Women of Power” series, follows the personal, social and political lives of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Sweden Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga and former Kuwadzana Member of Parliament and trade unionist Lucia Matibenga.
Speaking at the documentary launch recently, Minister Mutsvangwa said there were many women who contributed to taking Zimbabwe to where it is, but their stories had not been told.
“Stories of women need to be told,” she said. “Stories of women before us, those who were in the struggle, even the younger generation; young women who are doing wonderful things in this country, their stories need to be told.
“These stories help to instil confidence in our young women, to let them know that they can do it.”
Minister Mutsvangwa encouraged women to voluntarily take up positions of leadership to be part of the development of their communities and the country at large.
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