Maravi

Women

Women
Written by Editor

This matter of the number of women elected to political office is very important. And it cannot be denied that the number of women elected to political office in Zambia is painfully low, especially if one considers that women make up more than half of our population and that women enthusiastically support democracy.

Women have a high degree of those qualities deemed necessary in a political leader and cadre.

Simply stated, we, as a nation, have not made sufficient progress in this area. And it shows how women still suffer from certain discrimination and inequality.

This is the reality of the situation, and we must recognise it so that we can all struggle against this inequality and injustice. And this is being said in relation to the self-criticism that we should make. Of course this problem will not be solved overnight. The entire people, men and women alike, must participate in that struggle. And women must take the lead.

We will not make much progress unless women have meaningful participation in the governance of this country.

There’s need for action to educate our people to a more correct view of women and to actively redress done to women. We cannot continue to treat women as mere passive participants in national development; they must have equal and full participation in governance of the country. There’s need for the true empowerment of women to enable them to participate in decision-making processes in our country. True empowerment of women enables them to participate in decision-making processes in the nation.

We can’t continue to treat women in politics as inanimate objects or mere political instruments; they need to be accorded the rights and duties that befit a human person. And one effective strategy towards empowering women is to promote equal opportunity for women’s representation in decision-making positions.

In order to build a great democracy, it is of utmost importance to arouse the broad masses of women to join politics and political leadership.

And let’s not forget international calls on this issue. Let’s not forget Beijing.

The Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995 called for 30 per cent representation by women in national governments. And this was followed by the pledge of world leaders in New York during the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways of combating hunger, poverty and disease.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has not been left out in these calls for greater participation of women. SADC emphasised the need for 30 per cent women representation. The 30 per cent was later upped to 50 per cent in line with the African Union declaration.

It is however sad to note that Zambia has not done much to achieve good targets of female representation in political decision-making positions. Much as we have seen interest by women to participate in politics, the level of representation is still far below 30 per cent.

Levy Mwanawasa tried to work towards bringing women to the fore and the country saw a few female cabinet ministers and deputy ministers and the first female deputy speaker and deputy chief justice. The new Cabinet of Rupiah Banda has seen the dropping of two female ministers; a drawback in as far as making progress on proper female representation is concerned.

It is important for the government to realise that the attainment of proper representation of women in decision making will only come true if they go that extra mile to accommodate women, bearing in mind that this is a group of people that cannot compete with men on equal footing when it comes to resources and opportunities.

Women are normally disadvantaged because they are poor, marginalised and they have for a long time been in the background supporting the men. Poverty still remains a great challenge for women and they increasingly become more concerned with earning their daily living to support their families as opposed to getting into politics. The problem is further compounded by prejudices, perceptions concerning traditional division of labour that are supported by culture and traditional upbringing. Illiteracy is another problem that hinders women from making progress and these are some of the things that hinder women from entering into the political sphere.

Even for those women that defy all odds and get into politics, the question of financial resources still is a problem. Can the women manage to finance electoral campaigns? Can they take certain initiatives to raise funds for their campaigns?

Much as the type of electoral system also determines the proper involvement of women, the agendas of political parties also matter. Many of our political parties do not easily accept or promote women into their own hierarchies, hence lesser participation of women even in national elections. For more women to make a breakthrough into politics, there is need for a general will at political party level to encourage more women to come to the fore. There are countries like Rwanda, which have made deliberate efforts to promote women, and that country has one of the world’s highest rates of women representation in Parliament at 49 per cent.

It is clear that not so much progress has been made in Zambia to give women an opportunity to serve in political decision-making positions.

In other countries for instance, the use of quotas, a form of affirmative action in favour of women, has increased women participation especially in Parliament. Worldwide, about 30 of the world’s 190 countries apply quotas in politics and in Africa countries like South Africa, Uganda and Sudan have adopted that approach. Africa has three main quota systems namely constitutional, election law and political party. Under constitutional quotas, countries such as Burkina Faso and Uganda have constitutional provisions, which require that seats be reserved in Parliament while in election law quotas, there are provisions in national legislation for women representation like in the case of Sudan. There is also a quota system at political party level where parties adopt internal rules to include a certain percentage of women as candidates for office and this is practised by governing parties in countries like South Africa and Mozambique. But some people argue that women that are elected through the quota system are not viewed as politically deserving and that this system can only be a temporary strategy and not a permanent solution towards true democracy.

But then again, women need to push themselves to higher levels. We agree with Inonge Wina when she says that women should not expect political parties headed by men to give political power to them on a silver platter.

This will definitely not happen. Of course there are examples of successful women who have defied all odds like the first African female President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. In the United States, New York Senator Hillary Clinton ran a successful, protracted campaign in the Democratic primary elections this year against President-elect Barack Obama. Hillary definitely gave President-elect Obama a good run before he went on to become the Democratic presidential candidate. Yes, the circumstances might be different in Africa, especially when it comes to financial muscle, but we think that probably what is important to highlight is the resilience and will that Hillary had in this primary election; the zeal to go into a battle to fight for a position that is male-dominated. Our women may need to draw a few lessons from President Johnson-Sirleaf, Hillary and indeed other women that have gone all the way to challenge men and hold very high positions in society. The struggle will not be easy and decision-making positions will certainly not be given for nothing. Women need to rise to the challenge and take their rightful place. For them to make it in politics and indeed in any other sector, they will have to make difficult choices, often choices that men may not be forced to make and they will have to live with the consequences.

Apart from calling for favourable government policies that enhance women participation and community-based strategies that can help break barriers to the development of women, the womenfolk’s individual goals, aspirations and acquisition of the right leadership skills will help to change the status quo.

All the challenges that our women face today are not new and most of them fall into the broader frameworks of politics, economics and culture. But these problems are not insurmountable. They can be overcome and the country can surely make progress towards better women participation if only we wage a relentless struggle against all the forces and factors that hold women back. We have no alternative but to struggle without respite and ensure the full and meaningful participation of women in our politics.

Labels: INONGE WINA, WOMEN

posted by MrK @ 10:04 AM