A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society

Abstract

The subject matter of gender-based violence (GBV) has been a topical dialogue in a variety of contexts and has received increasing attention as it relates to social activism and women’s rights and their dignity. The Zimbabwean context is not exempted from this dialogue. Zimbabwe collectively records a 42% rate of GBV incidences and Zimbabwean women account for the majority of victims of all forms of violence perpetrated predominantly by men. Within this broad context, the focus of this article is on a specific context, namely the Rushinga (Kore-Kore) community, because a very high percentage of GBV occurrences within the range of Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces are recorded there. Notwithstanding previous research on this topic, this article considers how gender constructs and culture contribute to GBV in a specific context. This relates to the subtleties of what it means to be a ‘good’ wife. A womanist-theological perspective was employed to approach this problem and the daily encounters and experiences of black African married and unmarried women who reside in the Rushinga district, by way of in-depth interviews, were considered. Their experiences point to the urgent need to dismantle constructions imbedded in culture and in gender roles, as a necessary response to GBV. Their experiences also point to the role of theology in problematising the notion of what it means to be a ‘good’ wife.

Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article considers culture, gender studies and theology and their intersections in a specific context.