Table 3: Main priorities for problems that government should address [Source: Afrobarometer.2012] Unemployment Wages, income Food shortage Management of economy Poverty, destitution Farming/Agriculture, Problem Problem Problem 1 2 3 47% 16% 13% 19% 3% 9% 9% 9% 13% 6% 3% 6% 6% 16% 9% 1% 13% 6% As was noted above, the Census argued that 72% of Mashonaland Province were “economically active”, but, as can be seen “unemployment” was the major problem identified by the respondents to the Afrobarometer survey for all three choices. Furthermore, of the first six choices for each of the major problems, virtually all spoke to poverty: lack of income, food shortages, management of the economy, and poverty or destitution all speak to self-perceived poverty. The 2012 Census reported that only 17% of women in Mashonaland East were in full employment, with 78% either “own account workers” (62%) or “unpaid family workers” (16%), so it is hard to see how the 72% “economically active” can be strongly justified. Attitudes to women were interesting, with some differences between men and women, which has a bearing upon the perceived strength of patriarchy in Goromonzi. Both men and women felt that the government was doing well in fostering equality between men and women, but, in answer to the question about whether women might make good leaders4, more women (75%) than men (67%) answered in the positive. However, less women (19%) than men (40%) felt that women were actually equal, and, of high relevance to this present study, significantly more women (81%) felt that education was a priority for boys than men (67%). On actual equality between the sexes, all the men felt that women were treated unequally by traditional leaders, and more men (73%) than women (69%) felt that women were treated unequally by employers. Concerning issues of trust, as can be seen from Table 4, there were some interesting differences between female and male respondents from Goromonzi. Women are apparently more trusting of most people and neighbours than they are of their own families, and deserves some future investigation. 4 Which of the following statements is closest to your view? Choose Statement 1 or Statement 2. Statement 1: Men make better political leaders than women, and should be elected rather than women. Statement 2: Women should have the same chance of being elected to political office as men. 7