The nexus between Gender-based Violence and the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe: A case study of the Johane Marange Apostolic Church

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected humanity, including inter alia working schedules, public life, and public health systems. Johane Marange Apostolic Church (JMAC) Women’s religious life in Zimbabwe was not spared the effects of the coronavirus. This pandemic affected women in various religious practices, and one of them is being subjected to gender-based violence (GBV). Throughout the intermittent lockdown phases, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the already existing gender discrepancies, with far-reaching implications for women. The closure of informal businesses, which was the major source of income for most JMAC women resulted in the shortages of food on the table. The shortages of food supplies resulted in unprecedented conflicts in the home, and women suffered the most. This study interrogates how the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem of GBV, especially for ordinary women. The article adopts the social conflict perspective as a theoretical lens for examining how women in the JMAC became more susceptible to GBV, perpetrated by their male counterparts during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe. The article concludes by proposing ways for curbing some of the patriarchal-endowed beliefs and practices which intensified the suffering of JMAC women during the peak of the coronavirus disease in Zimbabwe.