Ndau cultural practices and the violation of women’s rights in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study examined the intersection of Ndau cultural practices and women’s rights in Zimbabwe, highlighting the cultural norms and traditions that perpetuate violations of women’s rights. It reveals a critical need for culturally nuanced interventions to protect the rights and dignity of Ndau women. The Ndau are an ethnic group that inhabits the southeastern Zimbabwean areas, specifically in the districts of Chipinge and Chimanimani, where they are native. According to the 2024 Zimbabwe census statistics, the population of the Ndau people is estimated to be around 558,000. Ndau women play a significant role in agriculture and childcare, but are often excluded from decision-making processes and face various forms of violence and discrimination. A qualitative approach with a phenomenological research design was utilised for this study, where data were collected from a sample of seven Ndau women and three key informants who were selected using purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were used following a guide with key questions on how the Ndau culture contributes to the violation of women’s rights. Thematic analysis was used following these steps: familiarisation with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up. While acknowledging that Ndau culture, like many others, is multifaceted and encompasses practices like a family court (dare), Ndau dances, and the role of the extended family, which promotes women’s rights, the study established that the Ndau cultural practices that violate women’s rights include early marriages, male dominance, reparation marriage, preference for a boy child, and limited ownership of land and property by women. Sarah Longwe’s gender analysis framework was adopted to frame the discussion. First, the background and context, theoretical framework, and methodology are presented. The paper concludes by presenting the results and discussion, implications for social work, and the conclusion.

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