Take a leadership role 3.2 2.7 Confident to criticise leaders 2.8 1.8 There is again a low average in motivation to take part actively in issues affecting the neighbourhood. But again this is hardly surprising given the legacy of violence that continuously exist in local communities that expose women to all forms of gender based violence, strong to demotivate them from wanting to participate especially in political meetings. Participants from the FGDs highlighted that engaging local leaders was difficult, especially in the urban areas. The Councillors were accused of not residing in the Wards they purport to represent. They are accused of buying properties in affluent suburbs soon after winning the elections, abusing council resources in the process. Even though the participants expressed dissatisfaction with the Councillors, they acknowledged that they had come across messages for ward meetings called by the Councillors. These messages included posters and a council vehicle with a wailer announcing the meetings. Sometimes they just chose not to participate in those meetings. The case however is different in the rural areas where meetings are mandatory for every household. The desire to take up leadership roles is less in women (2.7) compared to men (3.1). This is worrisome as attempts are being made to ensure that there are deliberate efforts to increase participation of women in all structures of society,27 and also see them take up decisionmaking positions. The reasoning is that despite being in the majority, community security issues affect mostly women and getting them involved especially at their community level will help address many problems that affect them. But again this is a long term process which might start at building personal capacity of women as there are capacity gaps compared to men who have always enjoyed taking up the positions. It will take a lot of undoing to redress notions of gender that are deep rooted in cultures and that define the role of the woman to be in the home. Earlier we discussed about competencies at group level to hold each other to account. It would have been surprising if the confidence to criticise leaders was high. The respondents demonstrate low confidence in doing so (2.8 for male). The confidence is even lower for female respondents and the explanation could be that this may be influenced by the ancient ideology that women should not voice out their misgivings and should remain in their shells. Perhaps the explanation is found in the fear that is instilled and the stories about disappearances with no trace of political activists who are critical of the establishment28. The issue of politicising agriculture inputs and food aid was one of the major concerns raised by women in both rural and urban areas. However, the community finds it difficult to have it discussed as this is viewed as an attack on ZANU PF. Even development projects have become politicised to the extent that constructive criticism is not possible. 27 For example the campaign by the women‘s movement for gender parity in constitutional bodies such as the national Assembly in Zimbabwe and the Commissions 28 The latest disappearance recorded in Zimbabwe is that of Itai Dzamara who has not been accounted for four years on. Other people viewed critical of government include Jestina Mukoko and some attempts were made against former Secretary General of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers‘ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), Gertrude Hambira who is now exiled. 17