adminLungile Tshuma Sunday News Correspondent
ZIMBABWE has reportedly failed to meet the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development which called for all member states to ensure that by 2015, at least 50 percent of decision-making positions are held by women, gender activists have said. Article 12 of the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development (2008) requires that “State Parties shall endeavour that, by 2015, at least 50 percent of decision-making positions in the public and private sectors are held by women”.
The Government has, however, been urged to look at the post 2015 era and ensure that women empowerment is well achieved.
“We are very far from achieving the objective but we are slowly making good strides,” said Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) executive director Ms Prisca Mudondo.
“There are very few women in positions of power. Starting from media houses, how many female editors do we have? Even if we look at most companies, there are also few chief executive officers and the reason is not that there are no women who can take that post and this is the time to accommodate women in decision making positions.”
Dr Charity Manyeruke, a University of Zimbabwe-based political scientist said political parties should accommodate women in positions of power.
“Basically, the only best way to have women in decision making is for political parties to have more women in the position of power. When there are more women in party structures, we can see an improvement in the other sectors like the economy,” said Dr Manyeruke.
“However, we must also admit that the country tried to move in the right direction when we included quota system in the constitution. That helped to improve women involvement in politics.”
Studies by Sadc indicate that a number of countries, including Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, have on average more than 30 percent women’s representation in parliament. In Lesotho, 58 percent of local government positions are held by women.
Since the 2008 elections, Rwanda was the first country to have a majority of women in its Parliament.
Article 9,4 in the Rwandan constitution reads: “Ensuring that women are granted at least thirty percent of posts in decision making organs.” As a result, 64 percent of Parliamentarians in Rwanda are women.
Online Reporter