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Вкратце
An opposition party candidate in Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections called for women to withhold sex from their husbands in order to pressure them to vote for change. The results were underwhelming.
In 2013, Ms. Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, a former minister and member of the opposition MDC political party, called for women to withhold sex from their husbands in order to pressure them to vote for change. Specifically, she called for Zimbabwean women to “hit the men where it hurts most – the bedroom.” This was to ensure that they would act to right the wrongs in the country, by voting for change.
In the cultural context of Zimbabwe, having the right spokespeople, with the right ‘credentials,’ matters, and can mean the difference between a successful or failed campaign.
At the time, Zimbabwe was emerging from the doldrums of hyperinflation and reeling from massive de-industrialisation that saw a rise in unemployment and an unprecedented economic crisis. The general feeling was that the country’s many problems could simply and immediately be solved through voting the then-ruling party out of power. The ‘no sex no vote’ campaign would necessarily put pressure on the men of the country to ‘do something’: specifically, come out in large numbers to vote against the ruling party
Previously, Zimbabweans had gone to the polls many times, but the ruling party and its president, Robert Mugabe, that had been in power since independence (1980), always managed to cling to power. Ms. Misihairambwi-Mushonga alleged that historically, voter turnout in Zimbabwe had been higher for women than men, and she saw an opportunity to mobilize men to tip the balance in the opposition’s favour.
Her lone campaign was not a success, as voter turnout remained low, and Zimbabweans again found themselves with the same ruling party and president. Under the circumstances, including widespread allegations of vote rigging and political violence, it seems doubtful that a simple vote could have ousted the ruling party in 2013.
Ключевая тактика
The action assumed that denying the men of the country conjugal rights would galvanise them into voting out the ruling party. Sex strikes have been used successfully in other contexts, including Kenya, Liberia and Colombia, but proved ineffective in Zimbabwe in 2013.
Ключевой принцип
Was a sex strike the right tactic in this case? There were some fundamental concerns from the beginning, like how would it be possible to know for certain that behind closed doors, women were actually putting the boycott into practice. In the context of widespread gender-based violence, such a tactic was risky to propose without a broad movement to offer strength and support.