Zimbabwe has invested in women’s emancipation and leadership while articulating a strong Pan-Africanist ideology, providing a valuable entry point into understanding the dynamics relating to women’s leadership in Africa. It is also characterised by radical religious pluralism, thereby facilitating an appreciation of the impact of religion on women’s leadership in Africa more generally.
This volume reflects on the role of Zimbabwean women in religio-cultural leadership, with a specific focus on roles within religious organizations. It begins by examining Zimbabwean church women’s leadership roles in long established faith communities. The chapters then hone in on the emergence of churches or ministries founded by women in Zimbabwe, starting from the pre-colonial era and advancing through the last forty years of independence.
Hence, the book offers a comprehensive assessment of the challenges and opportunities women in leadership face in religious institutions in the country, before exploring the impact of the pandemic on the ability of women to lead. It will make a major contribution to the advancement of scholarship of gender and leadership in emerging markets.
Author(s): Molly Manyonganise, Ezra Chitando, Sophia Chirongoma
Series: Palgrave Studies in African Leadership
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 217
City: Cham
Praise for Women, Religion and Leadership in Zimbabwe, Volume 2
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Tables
1 Introduction: Women, Religion and Leadership in Zimbabwe
Introduction
Women and Religious Leadership in Zimbabwe
Attitudes Towards Women’s Leadership in Christianity in Zimbabwe
Religious Women’s Agency: Negotiating, Subverting and Resisting Patriarchy
Section A: Women’s Visibility in Positions of Leadership
Section B: Women’s Leadership in New Religious Movements and Cultural Traditions
References
Part I Women’s Leadership Engagement and Activism in Zimbabwean Faith Communities
2 Women’s Transformative Leadership and Africa’s Holistic Development: The Role of the Churches
Introduction
Threats to Social Progress in Africa: An Overview
The Churches, African Women’s Transformative Leadership and the Continent’s Transformation
African Women’s Transformative Leadership
Liberative Readings of the Bible for African Women’s Transformative Leadership
Working for Economies that Work for All
Enhancing African Christian Women’s Transformative Leadership: The Role of the Churches
Conclusion
References
3 Visibility and Leadership Opportunities for Muslim Women in Zimbabwe
Introduction
Feminism and Gender Discourse
Methodology and Theoretical Framework
The Status of Women in the Pre-Islamic Period (Jahiliyyah)
Female Infanticide
Women’s Visibility and Leadership Opportunities in Islam
Muslim Women’s Visibility and Leadership Opportunities in Zimbabwe
Woman as the Queen in the Home
Women as the First Teachers
Hajar Makwinja and Fatima Zahra Women’s Organization
Fatima Zahra College
Fatima Zahra Women’s Organisation Orphanage
International Summit on Religion and Climate Change
Conclusion
References
4 Women’s Leadership Roles in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (1891–2020)
Introduction
Liberal Feminism Lenses on Women’s Leadership
An Analysis of the Bible and Women’s Leadership
Old Testament Perspectives
Women as Religious Leaders
Women as Hero-Saviours
The Inferiority of Women in the Old Testament Presentation
New Testament Nuances of Women’s Leadership
Inferiority of Women in the New Testament
Contested Interpretations of the Bible and Women
Women’s Leadership Trends in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe
The Pioneering Phase: 1891–1983
Leadership Positions Which RCZ Women Were Denied During the RCZ’s Pioneering Phase
The Office of the Elders
The Office of the Deacon
Ministerial Training
The Liberal Phase: 1984–2020
Women in Ministerial Training
Women in Church Boards
Women in the Moderature of the RCZ
The Future of Women’s Leadership in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe
Conclusion
References
5 Gender Dynamics in the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFMZ) Leadership Hierarchy
Introduction
African Women’s Theology and Feminist Ecclesiology as a Theoretical Framework
Methodology
History of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe
The Roles of Women in the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe
Women’s Attributes and Leadership
The Zimbabwean Government and Gender Equality
Findings and Discussion
The Majority of Women Do Not Vote
Encouraging Husbands of Female Pastors to Become Pastors as Well
Doubting That Women Are Also Called by God to Become Pastors
Women Are Just Given Ceremonial Titles
The Constitution Is Discriminatory
There Has Never Been a Female President Nor Overseer in the AFMZ
Conclusion
References
6 Women’s Leadership in the Guta Ra Jehovha Church: Towards the Construction of ‘Soft Masculinities’
Introduction
Women and Leadership in African Communities: An Overview
A Background to the Gender Inequality Crisis in Zimbabwe
Masculinities and Gender Relations
Matenga and the Guta Ra Jehovha Church
Women Leadership and Masculinity Construction
Conclusion
References
7 Exploring the Status of Women in the Zion Christian Church Since 1913
Introduction
The Zion Christian Church: A Historical Perspective
Samuel Mutendi’s Wives
Prophetesses and Midwives in the Zion Christian Church
Ruwadzano: A Complex Mix of Women in the Zion Christian Church
Deconstructing the Myth of Patrilineal Dominance in the Zion Christian Church
Conclusion
References
Part II Women’s Leadership in New Religious Movements and Cultural Traditions
8 The Emergence of Churches and Ministries Founded/led by Women in Zimbabwe
Introduction
Methodology and Theoretical Framework
Leadership in the New Testament and Early Church
Western Missionaries
Manyano/Ruwadzano
Women in African Initiated Churches
Women in Pentecostal Churches
Calling Versus Title
Female Founders of Women’s Ministries in Zimbabwe
Focusing on Women’s Experiences in the Ministries
Obstacles Faced by Female Founders of Women’s Ministries in Zimbabwe
Pushing the Frontiers Against All Odds
Conclusion
Bibliography
9 Religio-Cultural ‘Clamps’ on Female Leadership in Zimbabwe: Towards a Liberating Hermeneutic in Mainline Churches and African Initiated Churches (AICs)
Introduction
The Plight of Zimbabwean Women in the Traditional Context
The Era of Women’s Rights
Women as Masters of Their Own Destiny
Women’s Leadership in Zimbabwe’s Mainline Churches
Women’s Leadership in Zimbabwean African Initiated Churches
The Marginalisation of Women in African Independent Churches
Elevated Women in African Initiated Churches
Executive or Derivated Powers?
Interpretation of Scriptures
Liberating Hermeneutics
Conclusion
References
10 Zezuru Women’s Leadership Roles in the Death Rites of Passage in Zimbabwe: A Pastoral Response
Introduction
Methodology and Theoretical Framework
Death and the “Living-Dead” in the Zezuru Culture
The Pre-burial Rituals
Burial Rituals
Post-burial Rituals
Pastoral Care, Culture and Healing
Conclusion
References
Index
