Life expectancy is just 33.5 years for Zimbabwean women

Life expectancy is just 33.5 years for Zimbabwean women – the lowest in the world.

At least 18% of the population lives with HIV and AIDS

Of the 1,6-million Zimbabweans with HIV, 55% of are women

Women dying in childbirth is estimated at 880 per 100,000 live births (UK: 13 per 100,000)

With little access to healthcare, almost 30% of births take place without a skilled attendant

12% of Zimbabwean children die before their fifth birthday

Women are poorly represented at cabinet, parliamentary and local-government level — limiting their capacity to make decisions on issues affecting them.

Female representation in parliament 9%

An estimated 80% of marriages in Zimbabwe are ‘customary marriages’, in which a woman’s right to inherit property upon the death of her husband can be severely compromised

Around 18% of women are in polygamous marriages, which further limit a wife’s property rights

Childless widows are often evicted, as are those who refuse to be physically ‘inherited’ by a male relative of their late husband

Child marriage is common in Zimbabwe, and 21% of children (mostly girls) are married before the age of 18

This increases the risk of contracting HIV and AIDS, and makes it less likely that girls will continue into higher education

38% of women had been victims of some form of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse.

The media increasingly reports incidents of rape, incest, and sexual abuse of women.

Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating, is common and crosses all racial and economic lines.

In Zimbabwe, domestic violence accounts for more than 60% of murder cases that go through the high court in Harare. (ZWRCN)

54 percent of the women counseled for domestic violence have sexually transmitted diseases, including many with HIV/AIDS.

Over 80% of the Zimbabwean population lives in poverty

Unemployment is estimated at 93%

One in three working women at all levels are reported to be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace, as defined by Zimbabwean legal experts.

Although labour legislation prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of gender, women are concentrated in the lower echelons of the work force and commonly face sexual harassment in the workplace.

The literacy rate in Zimbabwe is high, with a total adult literacy rate of 90%, and 86% among women. This is a 10% increase in women’s literacy since 1990, although this improvement is gravely threatened by the rise in poverty and internal political upheaval.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), which is widely condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health, rarely is performed in Zimbabwe. However, according to press reports, the initiation rites practiced by the small Remba ethnic group in Midlands Province include infibulation, the most extreme form of FGM.

Given the current crisis in Zimbabwe, many of the statistics have deteriorated since they were compiled.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article first appeared on Sokwanele.
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