A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society
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...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
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AOSIS
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Verbum et Ecclesia |
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| Online Access: | https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3338 |
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| author | Tsitsi Mwapfaa Tanya van Wyk |
| author_facet | Tsitsi Mwapfaa Tanya van Wyk |
| author_sort | Tsitsi Mwapfaa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6ed59272adc14709b2b5b7c8aa5abc39 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1609-9982 2074-7705 |
| language | Afrikaans |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Verbum et Ecclesia |
| spelling | doaj-art-6ed59272adc14709b2b5b7c8aa5abc392025-08-20T03:03:46ZafrAOSISVerbum et Ecclesia1609-99822074-77052025-03-01461e1e810.4102/ve.v46i1.33382046A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean societyTsitsi Mwapfaa0Tanya van Wyk1Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, PretoriaDepartment of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, PretoriaThe 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.https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3338culturegenderpatriarchygender-based violencewomanismwomanist theologyzimbabwe |
| spellingShingle | Tsitsi Mwapfaa Tanya van Wyk A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society Verbum et Ecclesia culture gender patriarchy gender-based violence womanism womanist theology zimbabwe |
| title | A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society |
| title_full | A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society |
| title_fullStr | A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society |
| title_full_unstemmed | A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society |
| title_short | A ‘good’ wife? A theological challenge to gender constructs, culture and gender-based violence in the Kore-Kore Zimbabwean society |
| title_sort | good wife a theological challenge to gender constructs culture and gender based violence in the kore kore zimbabwean society |
| topic | culture gender patriarchy gender-based violence womanism womanist theology zimbabwe |
| url | https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3338 |
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