Zimbabwe has long struggled with high teenage pregnancy rates. The numbers have shot up further during the pandemic. The country changed a law to allow pregnant students to remain in school — but so far, it's failing. Few girls are returning.
Between the chores of her strict routine, Virginia prepares her four younger siblings for school and helps them with homework when they return. It’s these tasks that hit Virginia the hardest — because, at age 13, she, too, would rather be in school.
Virginia said she had hoped the older man who impregnated her would marry her. Despite initial promises, he ultimately denied paternity, she said. She and her family didn’t follow through on a statutory rape case with police, despite Zimbabwean law putting the age of consent at 16. Zimbabwe does have figures on pregnancies in girls who drop out of school — and while they show an alarming increase, officials say they, too, likely reflect an undercount, as many girls simply leave without giving a reason.
Zimbabwe’s change in law gave community workers an opportunity to encourage girls to return to school. Through a group that promotes girls’ rights, Tsitsi Chitongo held community meetings and knocked on doors to speak with families in remote, rural areas. Often girls are unaware they have a right to remain in school. They’re then forced to find work, frequently as housemaids, to support their children, Chitongo said. Or they go to the men who impregnated them.
Many also set their sights on marriage to survive. Tanaka said the 20-year old man who impregnated her promised to marry her as soon as she turns 18 — the youngest allowed in Zimbabwean law.The clinic also offers contraceptives. But travel restrictions shut out many young people from such facilities, cutting off access to not only contraceptives but to counseling. Clinic workers say many young people need such services because of conservative parents who equate contraceptives with prostitution.
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