Citation
Susan L Machikicho (2025). Rural Women’s Empowerment Outcomes through the Lens of the Growth Point Policy in Zimbabwe: The Case of Tsholotsho. Schol Women 1(1): 101.
Abstract
Lack of rural women’s empowerment remain a flounder to their socio-economic and political emancipation. This qualitative study was carried out in Tsholotsho District, Matabeleland North province, Zimbabwe to establish how the growth point policy has improved the rural women empowerment outcomes. A sample of 30 comprising of key informants and women in and around the growth point participated in the study and in-depth interviews and focus group discussion were used to elicit data. The study found out that the growth point policy has contributed to improving women’s empowerment outcomes. However, the policy does not recognise the gender dynamics of the rural sector but instead, it was promulgated as a one-size-fits-all intervention. Women’s empowerment was contextualised in the context of how the rural women’s empowerment outcomes have been improved following the introduction of the growth point policy in Zimbabwe. The study further recommended that the growth point policy be revisited and re-engineered to be gender inclusive that is cognisance of women’s plights within the rural sector.
