Mavis Kasiya,
The latest edition of the Afro Barometer report titled, ‘African insights 2024: Democracy at risk- the people’s perspectives,’ says women still trail men in voting and other forms of political engagement. While the participation of women in politics, governance and policy making is essential to democratic and sustainable development, Africa is falling short.
Veritas, a civil rights organization that provides information on the work of the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the Laws of Zimbabwe states that despite the progressive laws that have been enacted in Zimbabwe, women are not adequately represented in both Parliament and local authorities.
“Due to the violence in the political and electoral system of Zimbabwe women are particularly vulnerable to negative perceptions against women politicians. Women who engage in political activities are labelled loose and immoral and their private lives are put under a spotlight,” states Veritas.
According to a Veritas report, on Women’s Political Participation in Zimbabwe, women are viewed as weak and inferior, suitable for homemaking, childbearing and doing household chores and this view is shared by women voters as well as men, so male candidates often get more votes from women than female candidates do.
During a Gender Response on Corruption break away session, at an Anti-Corruption Indaba in June, gender experts said the sexual harassment of women in various sectors of society has led them to be unresponsive to the democratic process in the country.
Senior Lecturer and Researcher with the University of Zimbabwe, Department of Social and Community Development, Dr Manase Chiweshe, said although there is little available data on sexual harassment of women, within their research 66 percent of women in various sectors of society have experienced some kind of sexual harassment depriving them the capacity to freely and fully participate in democratic processes such as politics or civil rights engagement.
“Sexual harassment is a form of corruption that women face in society. There is need to advocate for a Sexual Harassment Bill and also the amendment of Labor Acts to include Sexual Harassment clause that protects the rights of women so that they can fully participate in democratic processes,” Dr Chiweshe said.
According to the Africa Barometer report, while women make up about half of the continent’s adult population, they hold only 27.3 percent of parliamentary seats. ZimStats, 2022 report states that in Zimbabwe, women constitute 54 percent of the population and approximately half of the electorate.
A ZimRights, 2024 Policy Brief, titled, ’Women’s Representation in the 10th Parliament: The Metrics’, states that there is a representational mismatch between the women’s population and the number of women directly elected into Parliament.
“In the August 2023 elections, only 22 women, 10 percent were directly elected for the 210 national assembly seats. This not only reflects the underrepresentation of women in governance but the deafening absence of representational democracy in the country.
“According to the 1997 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Declaration on Gender and Development, the minimum threshold for women’s representation should be 30 percent. In the August 2023 elections, 22 women were directly elected for the 210 lower house seats out of the 70 women who contested against a staggering 637 male candidates. This equates to 11 percent, thus falling short of the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development 30 percent threshold,” reads the ZimRights Policy Brief.
