WOMEN’S lives and purposes have long been predetermined by rigid gender roles, designed, I assume, by those who benefit most from them.
For generations, society has operated on the silent assumption that a woman’s time is an infinite resource, free for the taking.
As a result, women earn less, own less and spend significantly less time on profitable ventures.
They are forced to sacrifice their futures to fulfil “duties” that are essential to society but remain uncounted in our national balance sheets.
This isn’t just a theoretical debate; it is the lived reality of the women on your street, in your church and your home.
During my research, I spoke with two women who requested anonymity. Their stories are the heartbeat of this crisis. The first told me she was forced to quit a promising career because her husband refused to hire a housemaid.
She now works from dusk to dawn, cleaning, cooking and managing school runs while surviving on barely six hours of sleep before repeating the cycle.
To many, this sounds like “a normal day for a wife.” But let us be clear: there is nothing normal about a life of perpetual labour with no day off and no financial independence.
- R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in sex trafficking case
- In Full: sixteenth post-cabinet press briefing June 14, 2022
- New-look Beitbridge border impresses financiers
- Abwa commissions milk plant
Keep Reading
The second woman shared a story of “the unexpected burden.” Without prior communication, her husband’s family brought her ailing mother-in-law to her home.
While caring for elders is a noble African value, the physical and emotional toll is immense. Changing diapers, feeding and providing 24-hour medical care are professional services that people train for and get paid for. Yet, when a female relative does it, it is expected to be free. On top of the medical care, she is expected to host and feed every visitor who comes to “check on the sick,” further stretching her nonexistent budget and her exhausted spirit.
This is the story of the African woman. We do the heavy lifting of daily survival, yet our labour is overlooked, unappreciated and often looked down upon.
We hear the dismissive phrases daily: “She’s just a housewife,” or “She’s just staying at home.” These words mask the reality that if women stopped this “free” work tomorrow, the entire economy collapses.
Unpaid care work is a primary driver of economic stagnation in Zimbabwe and across the continent.
When women are tied to the kitchen and the sickbed by cultural and religious dictates, the nation loses its brilliance in the boardroom, the laboratory and the marketplace.
We are trapped in a mindset passed down for generations, where “love” is used as a tool to keep wives from the workplace and “duty” is used to justify the exhaustion of daughters.
However, the tide is beginning to turn. Women’s organisations are no longer just asking for help at home; they are demanding systemic change.
Organisations such as the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence and Oxfam in Zimbabwe have moved the conversation from the kitchen to the corridors of power.
These advocates are currently lobbying the Parliament of Zimbabwe to recognise unpaid care and domestic work as a formal policy issue.
They are pushing for a landmark Bill that will require the government to:
Recognise: Measure unpaid work in national statistics so it is no longer “invisible.”
Reduce: Invest in infrastructure like piped water and affordable childcare to lessen the time women spend on drudgery.
Redistribute: Encourage a shift in social norms where men and the State share the burden of care.
Through the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, these organisations are engaging both male and female MPs to understand that gender equality isn’t just a “women’s issue”, it’s an economic necessity.
Even the private sector is being called to task to provide breastfeeding rooms and flexible schedules to support the “double burden” women carry.
Redefining gender roles is a matter of life and death.
Women’s health is declining due to chronic exhaustion and the stress of being everything to everyone with no support. It is time we stop praising toxic masculinity masquerading as “tradition”.
Caring for a loved one should be a choice made out of compassion, supported by a functional healthcare system and a supportive partner, not a life sentence served in silence.
If we want a prosperous Zimbabwe, we must start by valuing the hands that build our homes. It is time to pay the debt.
An entrepreneur and human rights activist using her media lens to write the column she needed to read years ago.
Got an idea for a future column? Or thoughts on this one? I’m all ears. Reach me anytime at [email protected]
