Images of Zimbabwean women in the new millennium: a literary analysis of commuter omnibus posters

Abstract

The paper is based on a collection of text posters displayed on the inside and outside body of commuter omnibuses. Direct observation and collection of these posters formed the main data collection technique. Combining I. A. Richards' tools of literary analysis with those of the feminist theory, the article teases out the images of women, weighing them with the reality of women in the new millennium. The purpose was to determine whether the manner in which women in Zimbabwe are portrayed by the commuter omnibus posters was consistent with Zimbabwean women in the new millennium. A content analysis found the poster portrayals of women more insulting, offensive and negative than the reality on the ground. The paper advocates for a 'cross over' of images of women that is in tandem with change in the social structure. The paper ends by a strong recommendation for the need for extensive and intensive gender sensitisation of members of civil society that tries to change public perceptions of what women and womanhood entail.