Zimbabwe activist Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga has come up with a simple plan to get men to vote. Women should just deny their partners sex unless they register to vote.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who is also Zimbabwe’s Minister of Regional Integration and International Cooperation and belongs to the smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change recently told women voters:
“You are basically saying to your partners, we are all suffering the same way. We need to make a difference. I am not asking you to go to war. I am asking you to go and vote.
“You have a responsibility. For years, we have seen that the majority of people that go to register to vote have been women. And this call is to say, we as women can’t be taking this struggle alone. We need to take our men on board. And if we can’t bring them on board by talking to them nicely, we will deny them something that we know they certainly would want. ”
She added: “Sex strike is not a new concept. It has been used to stop wars. It has been used to ask for developmental things in the areas and has been very successful. So this is not a revolutionary concept that I am coming up with. It is a concept that has been use the world over.”
Zimbabwe is holding its elections at the end of this month unless the date is changed by the Constitutional Court.
Women constitute 51-53 percent of the population in Zimbabwe.
Ironically, women will be voting for men. There was not a single woman candidate among the 11 that wanted to become president. Five qualified to contest and six were disqualified.
Two women- Margaret Dongo and Isabel Madangure- have contested the post before.
Zimbabwe is, however, poised to become the first country with a mandatory 50 percent representation by women in the legislature under its new constitution approved in May.
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