Narratives of women in politics in Zimbabwe’s recent past: the case of Joice Mujuru and Grace Mugabe

Public diplomacy of authoritarianism: Strategic use of Suzanne Mubarak

“…The boundaries of these powers are always expanding since the leader and his wife could be less restricted by limitations of power‐sharing, electoral pressures, or restraints such as “checks and balances” in the American case of first ladyships. Historically, first ladies in similarly authoritarian states always exercised formal and informal powers simultaneously and more easily moved across the two orders as part of augmenting authoritarianism (Betea & Cioaca, 2022; Fraser & Navarro, 1996; Mangena, 2022). The few scholars who have analyzed the Arab First Lady in public diplomacy ignored her position in one order.…”

#BeatThePot: Strategies and Discourses of Women’s Protests in Zimbabwe

“…Powerful patriarchal norms confine women to the kitchen, with its socially inferior status, which emanates from women's traditionally and socially prescribed gendered roles of making food (Inness 2001). Political parties have been no different in sidelining women and pushing them to the lower ranks, or into token positions, including ridiculing the hard fought for women's quota in Parliament as the "kitchen cabinet" (Mangena 2022).…”

“…Khupe's statement challenges Zimbabwean political party hierarchies which allocates women to docile women's leagues or women's movements, invariably locking them in marginal political 'kitchen' roles where they endorse and nourish male political careers (Mangena 2022). By drawing women out of their kitchens onto the street, Khupe used the public space to articulate women's private struggles and daily experiences of hunger.…”

“…Khupe oscillated from being appointed as one of three MDC-T deputy presidents and later rising to being its controversial president following Tsvangirai's death. Her rise to MDC-T's leadership was fraught with violent ten-sions in which she was assaulted and harassed by rival deputy Nelson Chamisa before the courts ruled in her favour (Bulawayo24, 2018) (Mangena, 2022). All three women were accused of going beyond their mandates and attempting to do the impossible, that is, to take on the office of their political parties' presidency and ultimately eyeing the nation's number one position-a preserve of the male political party elites.…”

“…Khupe's intersecting identities as a woman from the politically marginalized Matebeleland Province presented layered challenges against the male and Shona dominated politics. Scholarship on Zimbabwe's political landscape allude to the problematic politics in this context which seeks to silence politicians from Matebeleland (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2012) and domesticate women, designating their labouring bodies to their 'place,' often designated as the kitchen (Mangena 2022). Those women who dare to leave the confines of their ascribed docile positions to disrupt male political hegemony incur the wrath and violent pushback of state and non-state actors, which includes physical torture, arbitrary arrests, and public humiliation through defamation of character.…”