Vusumuzi Dube
Talking Sociology with Tatenda Chihota
Question interpretation
An analytical essay is an essay that meticulously and methodically examines a single topic to draw conclusions or prove theories. An analytical essay means you will need to present some type of argument, or claim based on theories, you may give a critique of that claim and raise a point you think is the main cause of unemployment.
An analytical discussion is when one argues that unemployment is a gender issue since women are discriminated at workplaces. However, a fair analysis would reveal that males are also discriminated at workplaces. It is hard for a man to get a job in most phone shops. Therefore, unemployment is not only a gender issue but perhaps a closure of industries in which both men and women are retrenched.
Model answer
Adebayo (1999) stated that unemployment exists when members of the labor force wish to work but can not get jobs. Unemployment is a contentious issue in Zimbabwe that has been driven by a multiplicity of factors.
Sociological perspectives such as marxism, feminism, functionalism and symbolic interactionism. The main causes that have been discussed include lack of educational qualifications, automation, gender inequality, closure of industries, and disability just to mention a few.
However, each theory has got its own limitations in explaining unemployment, unemployment can not be sorely caused by a single factor in Zimbabwe, but by a combination of factors. Therefore, more shall be discussed as the essay progresses.
First and foremost, capitalism in the form of closure of industries is considered a factor contributing to unemployment in Zimbabwe. As backed by Marxism, unemployment is inherent within the unstable capitalist system and periodic crises of unemployment are to be expected.
At first glance, if the capitalist industry is no longer productive , unemployment is to be expected. The situation has no different in Zimbabwe when taking the issue of closure of industries in Zimbabwe.
For example, ZISCOSTEEL shut down after 72 years of operation leaving nearly 4500 workers jobless (Roger’s Chisi , former Radcliff mayor). Thus, such a closure of industries that are being caused by capitalism instabilities can be described as economic genocide that had robbed the economy.
However, Marxism can be criticized for exaggerating that capitalism has created a high rate of unemployment and tends to ignore that many industries have been opened in a capitalist society leading to employment creation.
Thus perhaps, disability is seen as the main factor causing unemployment in capitalist countries like Zimbabwe. According to disabled sociologist, only 2% of people living with disabilities are working.
Therefore, besides capitalism, it should be highlighted that disability is also a factor leading to unemployment in Zimbabwe.
The second and most important reason for people being unemployed in Zimbabwe is a lack of education. According to Talcott Parsons a functionalist, the role of education is to allocate individuals to their future roles.
Those with higher grades will be ranked highly in society whereas those without education have no chance because they are not trained to carry the tasks. Most employed people say their education is the main reason they have their job (Mukambaeu). Apparently, those lacking proper education tend to become unemployed. Henceforth, lack of education is a factor leading to unemployment in Zimbabwe.
However, functionalism can be criticized for overemphasizing the importance of education in promoting employment in Zimbabwe and tends to ignore the role of educational qualifications in promoting unemployment due to degree inflation.
Analytically, if education leads to employment then why the majority of Zimbabweans who are educated are just jobless. Thus, it can be noted that curriculum mismatch is a factor promoting unemployment in Zimbabwe chiefly because the curriculum is more theoretical than practical. In an analytical stance, it can be argued that educational qualifications at some point, contribute to unemployment in Zimbabwe.
In the same vein of academic discourse, unemployment is also fundamentally a gender issue that cannot be fully understood through any lens that does not include gender. According to feminist sociologist, women have got a higher unemployment rate due to stereotypes and discrimination in patriarchal societies.
Recent studies in Zimbabwe show that women are more unemployment men in Zimbabwe which is why prostitution has gained a momentum in Zimbabwe. According to Sinfield, the political space in patriarchal societies like Zimbabwe is dominated by males.
Traditionally, women are given a sense of identity by marriage thus, gender is also a factor leading to unemployment in Zimbabwe. However, studies have shown that it is not really gender issue that leads to unemployment in Zimbabwe, rather it’s a matter of choice.
This is because some women do not want to work, they want their husbands to work for them and in some point, unemployment does not discriminate against gender. Automation for example had retrenched 119 Steward bank employees including women.
Drawing from the above, it can be noted that although unemployment is a gender issue in Zimbabwe, one should not totally ignore that fact that unemployment is not discriminatory in terms of gender due to other factors such as automation.
In conclusion, the above discussion has brought various arguments that have been raised by sociological perspectives on unemployment in Zimbabwe. Several factors such as automation, gender and lack of education have been considered as factors leading to unemployment in Zimbabwe.
However, there is no perspective that is hundred percent reliable and hundred percent unreliable in explaining the causes of unemployment, thus the weaknesses of each prospective have been also discussed above.
Tatenda Chihota is a Zimbabwean sociology author.
Bongani Ndlovu