The study sought to understand the position of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church on women and girls’ rights in Zimbabwe. Engaging in this study came out of the realization that women and girls’ rights are compromised in religious settings and the issue goes on unreported. Deploying a qualitative research methodology framework buttressed by the gendered human rights–based theoretical approach, the study collected empirical evidence through semi-structured in-depth interviews as well as participant observation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty participants — fifteen young women and five males. All the twenty participants were members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church. Snowball sampling was used in selecting the participants. It was established that the church doctrine within the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church provides a conducive environment for the abuse of women and the girl child under the guise of ‘sacredness’ of the religious sect. This has been and is still going on unchecked. The study concluded that abuse cases through forced and teen marriages to older men are facilitated by both adult men and women and is highly safeguarded within religious cultism. The study recommends that the government and non-state actors need to enhance child protection services and programmes in religious settings for the purpose of protecting and removing the vulnerabilities of girls within the church by prosecuting perpetrators.

该研究旨在了解约翰·马兰吉使徒教会对津巴布韦妇女和女童权利的立场。参与这项研究是因为我们意识到妇女和女孩的权利在宗教环境中受到损害，而且这个问题一直没有得到报道。该研究采用了以性别人权为基础的理论方法支持的定性研究方法框架，通过半结构化深度访谈和参与者观察收集了经验证据。对 20 名参与者（15 名年轻女性和 5 名男性）进行了半结构化访谈。所有二十名参与者都是约翰·马兰吉使徒教会的成员。雪球抽样用于选择参与者。事实证明，约翰·马兰吉使徒教会的教义为打着教派“神圣”的幌子虐待妇女和女童提供了有利的环境。这种情况已经并且仍然在不受控制地进行。该研究得出的结论是，通过强迫和青少年与年长男性结婚的虐待案件是由成年男性和女性促成的，并且在宗教崇拜中受到高度保护。该研究建议政府和非国家行为者需要加强宗教环境中的儿童保护服务和计划，通过起诉肇事者来保护和消除教会内女孩的脆弱性。