Citation

Osirim MJ. Womens Stud. Int. Forum 2001; 24(2): 167-180.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0277-5395(01)00154-6

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, Zimbabwe has been enmeshed in a major economic and political crises that has seriously eroded the status of women in that country. Despite these problems, however, two women's organizations have emerged that offer some hope for poor and low-income women in that country, namely the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Center and Network and the Musasa Project Trust. These groups have attempted to address the strategic and human rights needs of grassroots women in Zimbabwe, particularly through disseminating information about the status of women, providing training about gender issues and working against domestic violence. These organizations, coupled with the UN's Fourth International Conference on Women and the NGO Forum on Women held in China in 1995, have promoted the empowerment of grassroots women in Zimbabwe. In this regard, they demonstrate the increasing strength of civil society and the future possibilities for women's enhanced contributions to their communities and to national development.