Zimbabwe

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Results are from an analysis of the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS6). Information on methodology is in the main text of the report and in the methods briefs.

Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by women with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 1. Table 1 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of women deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, health, and standard of living. Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 51% compared to 52% for women with some functional difficulty and 49% for women with no difficulty.

Table 1_Zimbabwe: Key indicators for women age 18 to 49 by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)

Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages. The share of women having felt discriminated against or harassed is on the basis of any ground.

Source: Zimbabwe 2019 MICS6, own calculations

Education

The share of women ages 18 to 49 who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among women with at least a lot of functional difficulty (15%) and women with some difficulty (11%) compared to women with no difficulty (7%). This boils down to gaps of eight percentage points (p.p.) between women with at least a lot of difficulty and no difficulty and four p.p. between women with some functional difficulty and no difficulty.

Personal Activities

Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are less likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty, at 73% and 77%, respectively. At 78%, women with some difficulty are slightly more likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty, but this difference is not statistically significant.

Health

Differences across functional difficulty status are small (three p.p. or lower) for safely managed drinking water. There is a statistically significant difference in the rates of access to safely managed sanitation only between women with at least a lot of functional difficulty and women with no difficulty, at 44% and 34%, respectively.

Standard of Living

There are significant differences in terms of the shares of individuals with clean fuel, electricity, and asset ownership, with lower rates for women with some difficulty and even lower rates for women with at least a lot of difficulty. In the case of electricity, the difference is statistically significant only between women with at least a lot of difficulty and women with no difficulty. Rates of adequate housing are similar for the different functional difficulty groups.

Insecurity

Women with some difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty are more likely to report feeling discriminated against or harassed based on any ground, at rates of 27% and 31% compared to 14% of women with no difficulty.

Subjective Wellbeing

Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are significantly less likely to report feeling very or somewhat happy than women with no difficulty, at 45% and 62%, respectively. At 51%, women with some difficulty also have lower rates of happiness compared to women with no difficulty.

More results for Zimbabwe are available in Results Tables on the DDI website.