Development Policy, Rural Space and Gender:  An Impact Study Gazing at Women in Gokwe through the First Decade of Independent Zimbabwe‘s Early Equity Policies

This monograph is the culmination of an analysis of the effects of the Growth Point Policy and the Growth-with-Equity Policy on the livelihoods of women in remote rural areas like Gokwe North and Gokwe South Districts found in the region of Gokwe in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. The objectives of the study were: to explore the extent of awareness of the Growth Point Policy and the Growth-with-Equity Policy among the women; to explore the factors which influence the effective implementation of development policies in Gokwe; to critically examine the effects of the two development policies on the livelihoods of rural women; to assess the challenges Gokwe women face in accessing the benefits from development policies and to examine the benefits rural women accrue from effective policy implementation. While women face more or less the same social, economic, political, and cultural challenges worldwide, it is worth noting that women in developing countries like Zimbabwe, more so in remote rural areas like the Gokwe region, face double and intersectional exclusion by being away from the mainstream economic activities and due to poor infrastructure. The study adopted a descriptive research design, and employed a mixed research methods approach, where both quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection were used. The mixed methods approach was used for the sake of triangulation, so that the strength of one or two qualitative methods can be enhanced through the use of one or two quantitative methods. Triangulation increases validity and reliability of data, a more rigorous exploration of facts and figures, to give more valid findings. The research targeted women aged 18 years and above. Using stratified sampling, a sample of 399 women was selected for data collection and the same number of questionnaires were distributed in the study area. The study also made use of focus group discussions comprising 10 participants each to validate the responses from the questionnaires. The quantitative data were analysed using Principal Component Analysis PCA) while the qualitative data were analysed using Thematic Analysis.