N AT I O N A L I N Q U I R Y R E P O R T ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION For Human Dignity Zimbabwe Republic Police Provision of police reports for registration of abandoned children Delays in preparing and submitting reports Non-registration of children National Processing of fingerprints 6.5 Gender Dynamics of Documentation Gender dynamics have a major bearing on who and how one can access documentation. Zimbabwe continues to be predominantly patriarchal and as such, the administration of national documentation is also affected. The National Inquiry established that four thousand and sixty-five (4,065) females submitted written evidence on challenges related to accessing birth certificates compared to two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine (2,999) males. An analysis of statistics from the National Inquiry database revealed that sixty-four point four per cent (64.4%) of women experienced economic challenges compared to thirty-five point six per cent (35.6%) of men experiencing the same, indicating that women are more likely not to afford costs related to access to documentation. To illustrate gender disparity in accessing registration, it was established that women in particular bear a large part of the burden of registering their children. Physical access to registration offices and sites (including the time required) is more of a barrier for women than for men, especially women in rural settings. This is because women have many more demands on their time and in some communities, women cannot travel freely outside their village for security reasons. Failure to get consent from their husbands141 can also prevent women from registering children. Lack of access to formal health care facilities and other points of registration, as well as complex administrative requirements are often to blame for low and non-registration. For instance, women who travel out of Zimbabwe to give birth because of lack of health services in their communities indicated that they face challenges in registering their children because birth confirmation records were not readily available from the foreign health institutions. The DRG’s practice of accepting an affidavit instead of a birth confirmation record should be universally adopted for all border communities where women give birth in neighbouring countries in search of health care services. The economic factors impact on birth and other registration. Women, especially rural women, are in most cases economically vulnerable, therefore, poor women are not able to afford registration costs. Reducing cost barriers and ensuring that parents, especially mothers, have adequate information and knowledge about the benefits of birth registration is an effective method for tackling challenges in accessing documentation. Birth registration should not be cumbersome but take cognisance of their context and varying situations. The patriarchal nature of society in relation to access to documentation also highlighted situations where women face a dilemma in the use of maiden surnames for birth registration of children. For example, where women had children born out of wedlock, the father had to be present in order for the child to be registered in his surname. Where the father is absent, use of the maiden surname often requires consent of the maternal relatives, which consent could be withheld for several traditional or social reasons including non-payment of lobola. Another difficult situation arises where parents with a civil marriage are on separation before a decree of divorce is issued. In such cases women require an affidavit from the estranged husband to register a child born to another man during the subsistence of the marriage, even though they are no longer living together. Further, it is a requirement for statutorily married women to bring a marriage certificate when applying for a passport, but this requirement does not apply to men. This amounts to a discriminatory practice. During the Public Hearings the Commission experienced a significant number of female witnesses who failed to travel and give oral evidence because their husbands had not consented to them travelling alone to the hearings. These women missed out on the opportunity to get assistance from the DRG’s help desk, Social Welfare help desk and the ZHRC help desk which were set up to assist those with documentation challenges throughout the hearings. 141 56 56