Chapter 5: Literacy and Women in Zimbabwe

The chapter advances a critical exegesis of the historical nuances and intricate configuration of literacy and gender in Zimbabwe, from the precolonial times to date. It adopts a historical approach in unraveling the complex trajectory of literacy and gender. In so doing, the chapter marshals the argument that the developmental and historical trajectory of literacy and gender in Zimbabwe transcends kneejerk interpretations. Rather, it is heterogeneous and has witnessed a series of convulsions and oscillations. Even within the same historical epoch, one witnesses inconsistencies and fluctuations. For instance, evidence from precolonial times evinces the nongendering of literacy, while the ensuing era of British colonialism ushers in a lopsided definition of literacy and gender. The result is that gender is manipulated and deployed as a weapon of giving parturition to the “de-feminization, de-womanization and de-humanization” of the African woman. Using literacy as a political tool to subvert the agency of the African woman in all areas of human endeavor by the colonizer sets in train a series of debilitating identities that have seriously limited her performance space.