Abstract
The world over, women’s economic emancipation is associated with some degree of achievement in education and personal liberation. However, daring personalities with an assertive mindset have also achieved a lot without going through much formal education. In the Zimbabwean context, this is epitomized by a female character popularized as Chihera, portrayed as a liberated woman within the Shona society. In other words, Chihera is a woman who does not accept limitations imposed by society’s traditional norms and values or restrictions on behavior and personal aspirations. Women’s economic emancipation has been one of the objectives pursued by the feminist movement in Zimbabwe. Given the Chihera prototype, a woman who cannot be quizzed when she uses resources as she deems necessary for economic benefits, it is critical, therefore, to interrogate how women accomplish financial stability and become economically emancipated. It is in this context that the paper critically explores and analyzes how women are emancipating themselves economically and the ways in which they are managing to survive as entrepreneurs, given that emancipation itself is a difficult process even for men. Furthermore, the chapter examines the challenges that women entrepreneurs have and are encountering during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The chapter demonstrates that despite the economic challenges experienced by women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chihera women have developed strategies such as leveraging on technology to grow their business. Thus, Chihera women have defied all odds and continue to do all in their power to enhance their families’ livelihoods. Given that 64% of the informal sector is composed of women who are engaged in informal business activities in Zimbabwe, it is acknowledged that the informal sector has the highest contribution to employment in Zimbabwe over the formal sector. The chapter is constructed from data collected through a qualitative research design and the use of newspaper articles, government policies and social media platforms.
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Matumbu, F. (2023). “If only it wasn’t for me” Chihera as Head of the Family in a Time of Economic Crisis. In: Chitando, E., Chirongoma, S., Nyakudya, M. (eds) Chihera in Zimbabwe . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12466-2_14
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