rural women or rural women are more motivated to vote. Voting, however, is just one aspect of participation in democracy, and small differences are found between rural and urban women7. Examining women’s views on democracy, this small desk study corroborated earlier work by Logan and Bratton (2006)8, which produced a number of findings in respect of women and democracy in Africa. This work was then extended by Logan (2008)9 in respect of the value placed on traditional leaders. Examining these general African findings for Zimbabwe, RAU found a number of differences. Firstly, rural women have more support for one-party states and less rejection of one-man rule, both attitudes that seem supported by other studies, but are similar to urban women in their support for multi-party democracy. Secondly, they are much more likely than urban women to have voted in all the elections since 2000, presumably because the consequences for supporting ZANU PF in the rural areas are both beneficial and unlikely to lead to violence. Thirdly, rural women are much more supportive of traditional leaders as a whole, but this is varied by age and education: younger women and better educated women are less supportive of traditional leaders10. A more recent small study, based on focus group discussions, threw some further light on the differences between rural and urban women11. Examining women’s experiences of the 2013 elections, the study found a mixed response to the elections, with some women having favourable views and others less favourable. Those having less favourable views noted most of the irregularities reported by observer groups and more detailed analyses of the elections. Unfortunately, no explicit comparison was done between rural and urban women, although it can be inferred to some extent that the latter group – those having less favourable views – seemed to be largely urban women, but this is contaminated by the number of women that were polling agents, and these seemed to be both rural and urban. Bearing in mind these findings, we now turn to an examination of the post-election survey of women carried out by The Women’s Trust (TWT) under the SiMuka campaign, specifically examining the differences, if any, between rural and urban women. The working hypothesis was that rural women would report differences in the ease of registering as voters, experienced fewer problems in voting, and would be more satisfied with the outcome of the elections. RAU (2014), Women and Elections in Zimbabwe: Insights from the Afrobarometer. Op cit. Logan, C, & Bratton, M (2006), The Political Gender Gapin Africa: Similar Attitudes, Different Behaviours. Working Paper No. 58. AFROBAROMETER WORKING PAPERS. 9 Logan. C (2008), Traditional Leaders in Modern Africa: Can Democracy and the Chief co-exist? Working PaperNo. 93.AFROBAROMETER WORKING PAPERS. 10 The findings on support for traditional leaders were not examined in the present analysis. However it was recently noted in meetings with the original sample that rural communities are easily intimidated and threatened to support a particular political party and be whipped into following a pattern. This is largely because the village head does a census and proximity of villages and polling stations means everyone knows each other and during elections they plant ‘observers/gatekeepers’ that they are watching their moves and vote. In urban and peri urban areas the female electorate in low density areas is less intimidated however in high density areas there are door to door campaigns and the electorate is forced to attend rallies and the likelihood of houses being targeted and labeled for a particular party is also predominate although because of the numbers and mobility of lodgers the electorate is less intimidated as compared to the rural electorate. 11Chirambadare, L & Dube, R (2014), Darned, Damned and Doomed? Women’s Participation in the 2013 Harmonised Elections. June 2014. HARARE: RESEARCH & ADVOCACY UNIT. 7 8 Page 6