Dr Patience Mutopo

My contribution to science and its impact on society

I have been instrumental in shaping the policy domain in Zimbabwe with regards to gender and land issues. This is evidenced by my contribution to the national gender policy of Zimbabwe as a lead author on the chapter on rural women and their role in rural development. This has led to the advent of government and non- governmental programmes that take women as the starting point in development. This initiative has also seen the critical establishment of gender officers in each rural district by the Ministry of Gender and Community Development in Zimbabwe. I have also been able to influence the way the communities’ traditional leaderships views women in the different localities I have worked in. This has been done through carrying out awareness and advocacy campaigns with the traditional leaders and demonstrating to them the importance of women in development processes. I have done this using role plays and interpreting the various materials into the local languages that talk about women`s rights from the national, regional and international women`s rights conventions.