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This article analyses the dynamics underpinning formal political institutions in relation to women's participation in Zimbabwe, with a focus on the post November 2017 context. Patriarchal continuities and not changes characterize the post-November period. Under the "new dispensation", patriarchy, intertwined with the increase in militarized masculinities, is producing exclusion with limited spaces for women's participation. Simultaneously, Zimbabwean women at times have been destabilizing political spaces, while also being complicit in reproducing patriarchal practices and violence. The military-assisted transition is significant because of the fall of Grace Mugabe and the broader implications of this for women and politics in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been significant debate about the land occupations which occurred from the year 2000 in Zimbabwe, with a key controversy concerning the role of the state and ruling party (or party-state) in the occupations. This controversy, deriving from two grand narratives about the occupations, remains unresolved. A burgeoning literature exists on the Zimbabwean state’s fast-track land reform programme, which arose in the context of the occupations, but this literature is concerned mainly with post-occupation developments on fast-track farms. This article seeks to contribute to resolving the controversy surrounding the party-state and the land occupations by examining the occupations in the Shamva District of Mashonaland Central Province. The fieldwork for our Shamva study focused exclusively on the land occupations (and not on the fast-track farms) and was undertaken in May 2015. We conclude from our Shamva study that involvement by the party-state did not take on an institutionalised form but was of a personalised character entailing interventions by specific party and state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates studies focusing on gender and Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in Zimbabwe, highlighting the emerging patterns and missing linkages. We utilize theories of intersectionality and agency to argue for more robust empirical research on the varied experiences of women. An analysis of intersectionality of experiences and agency is necessary to understand how women were differentially positioned and, how this is ultimately linked to how they got access to and ownership of land. The article posits that whilst gender is important, there is need for further analysis of who got what, how and where under FTLRP. To that end, the article asks: How is gender construed in relation to women’s access to FTLRP (what is included and excluded)? Whilst women appear losers as portrayed in many studies, was it only gender that determined access? What about age, nationality, class, political affiliation and traditional roots among other aspects? How did the 18% quoted in several studies get land? What about married women in this debate? Where women just victims in the FTLRP? We argue that ultimately other factors like patronage may as well explain exclusion (and inclusion) of women but this is better understood within intersectionality theoretical premises. At the same time, we also posit that women were not merely victims but used versatile tactics and strategies to get land hence invoking the notion of agency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]