ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the struggles of urban women tenants and articulates their coping strategies in the face of growing marginalization in a fast-growing African city, Gweru, Zimbabwe. It outlines the contours of vulnerability for single women in the city. The marginalization of female household heads within Zimbabwean society has been a result of the disadvantaged position of women with respect to society, law, education, employment, and household. The condition of these women to a large extent has been the product of the colonial and white minority regimes and policies. The housing history and policies for Gweru during the colonial and Unilateral Declaration of Independence periods clearly reflected those of other cities in Rhodesia. The incidence of solitary female household heads was consistent across the three socioeconomic classes. The principal reasons for migration included family changes, crowded conditions, securing better accommodation, gaining or losing employment, and transfers by Gweru City Council.
