adminmean when a Parliament gets such recognition?
Zimbabwe’s ISO certification essentially recognised the application of quality management systems in line with set minimum standards and international best practices in Parliament’s administrative systems.
Among other things, the Zimbabwe Parliament is acclaimed for its world-class Hansard (a booklet that captures parliamentary debate verbatim) and an innovative informatics database that captures the socio-economic profiles of the whole country from the ward, constituency and district up to province level to enable legislators to have access to critical constituency information.
In short, Parliament is believed to have excelled in terms of service provision, beyond what many other legislative assemblies have accomplished.
On a separate level, Parliament as an institution and legislative body is of key interest to the women’s movement as a strategic vehicle through which the gender parity agenda can be pushed and realised.
In 2011, the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre & Network formalised a partnership with the Parliament of Zimbabwe through a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at building the capacity of the latter in gender mainstreaming.
This would be achieved through a co-operation programme spanning over four years (2011-2015).
The partnership seeks to advance the gender budgeting agenda that will ensure equitable resource allocation and economic justice for women.
This arrangement is critical particularly at this stage when budget consultations for the next fiscal year have begun.
Through the Ministry of Finance, gender budgeting has been introduced and accepted as a key strategy to ensure that in all financial outlays, there is a specific component intended to benefit the women in Zimbabwe.
Gender budgeting is now being successfully implemented across sectors and all local authorities are now required to report on their execution of the gender budgeting stipulations, as well as incorporate it in their budget processes as a prerequisite for approval by the Ministry of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development.
We congratulate the Legislative Assembly on its leadership and commitment to contributing to a more gender-sensitive Parliamentary environment.
In the same vein, as the country gears towards a second All-Stakeholder’s Conference with the Parliamentary Constitution Select Committee draft constitution, most women will be focusing on the subject of proportional representation.
The draft has a provision that reserves 60 seats for women in Parliament for at least two terms.
Although there has been much criticism on the temporary nature of this arrangement and the fact that gender parity may not have been achieved at the end of the two terms, it is still a step in the right direction.
Currently, it is a bleak and depressing scenario that women, who constitute the majority of the country’s population, are represented by only 17 percent of the present Parliament.
This percentage of women parliamentarians is just unacceptably low in comparison to the 52 percent population they represent. This is the challenge for the legislative assembly to contribute a meaningful solution.
At this critical stage, we urge lawmakers to make responsive policies that ensure gender sensitivity and equality.
The women’s movement remains positive that it is a matter of time before numbers of women increase significantly.
Of course, we remain cognisant that gender equality and that the presence and number of women in Parliament alone will not guarantee sensitivity.
It will depend significantly on Parliament’s recognition of the value of gender sensitivity and the way it crafts responsive policies and infrastructure.
Nevertheless, increasing women’s leadership and participation in decisions that shape the laws, policies and programmes will enable them to take charge of their own futures and indeed the future of the nation.
We believe that women have a unique perspective of problems and a great aptitude for innovative solutions.
Equitable representation at all key decision making levels and in Parliament is critical to more accurately reflect the composition of society as well as ensure that the diverse needs of women are taken into account.
Women legislators will focus more on the often-neglected social issues like reproductive rights, maternal health, elderly care and children’s welfare among other things.
The Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre & Network is an information-based organisation advocating for gender equality and equity. Feedback is welcome on email: [email protected] or phone numbers: +263 4 700250/252388. Visit our website: www.zwrcn.org.zw and follow us on Twitter @zwrcnwomen
Online Reporter