![[Zimbabwe] Government poor on job creation, thumbs up on women empowerment, study](Zimbabwe streets.jpg)
[Zimbabwe] Government poor on job creation, thumbs up on women empowerment, study
A majority of adult Zimbabweans say the government is performing badly in terms of creating jobs, according to the most recent Afrobarometer survey.
Asked to rate the performance of the government on 18 different performance majorities, citizens also negatively rate government performance in many other areas such as maintenance of roads and bridges, narrowing income gaps, fighting corruption and improving the living standards of the poor.
Nonetheless, positive ratings were recorded in government performance in terms of promoting equal rights or opportunities for women, resolving violent community conflict, addressing educational needs and reducing crime. There also seems to be a remarkable improvement in views of government performance on electricity supply since 2014.
The data is being released at a time when unemployment continues to rise, four years after ZANU-PF in its 2013 pre-elections manifesto promised more than a million jobs if elected to govern. Positive evaluation of government’s handling of promoting opportunities and equality for women comes not as a surprise, as great strides are being taken by the government to implement international instruments furthering women’s promotion in all spheres of life.
Almost nine in 10 Zimbabweans (88%) say the government is doing poorly in terms of creating jobs with only 9% thinking that the government is doing well on that aspect.
Majority in both rural (86%) and urban (93%) areas and a majority of women (87%) and men (90%) share this negative sentiment. Government is however commended for promoting opportunities and equality for women (71%). There are no significant gender differences by gender and location.
Government also receives a pat on the back for preventing or resolving violent conflict between communities preventing with 56% of adults commending it for doing fairly or very well on this aspect.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in Africa. Six rounds of surveys were conducted in up to 37 Africans countries between 1999 and 2016, and Round 7 surveys (2016/2017) are currently underway.
Afrobarometer conducts face-to- face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples. The Afrobarometer team in Zimbabwe, led by Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), interviewed [1,200] adult Zimbabweans between 28 January and 10 February 2017.
A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2% at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys have been conducted in Zimbabwe in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014.
