The contribution of church women to community development in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

This study analyses the contributions of, and challenges faced by, women in community development within church-based FBOs in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe. It interrogates the intersection of gender and community development within a church-based context using qualitative research methods. The study found that church women play pivotal roles in church-based community development programs, leveraging their positions in church structures and networks to effect change while at the same time challenging traditional gender norms. Women view the lack of financial sponsorship and the debilitating weight of the double-barrelled state-church patriarchal tendencies as the biggest threats to the sustainability of their community development projects. It is argued that the negative intersection of gender, religion, and community development in churches in Bulawayo is a reality that women in churches must contend with, at least for now.