By 2017, there is increasing trust in the ruling party, the police, the army and the president.
There is also decreasing trust in parliament, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), and
the courts. Overall, these women respondents do not report very high levels of political trust
in any of the years.
Conclusions
Overall, this a picture of declining interest and confidence in politics, government and
political parties over the five years. This must be moderated against the earlier (statistical)
study which showed marked differences between rural and urban women, but we also have to
bear in mind the findings about middle class women, and especially young middle class
women.
Clearly, one cannot generalise about Zimbabwean women, and this is important when
considering ways to increase the agency and participation of women. One shoe will not fit all,
and it is necessary to devise different strategies for different groups of women, but one
finding is important in our view, and this relates to urban and middle class women. It is too
easy, as Everjoice Win has pointed out (Win. 2004), to focus too much on young, poor and
rural women, and certainly, if women are going to be an influence in politics, the middle
class and educated woman must be a critical inclusion in any development strategy.
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