Staff Writer
The Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) has voiced concern over the decline in women representation in this year’s election.
In the 23 and 24 August Harmonised Elections, 637 contestants were vying for National Assembly seats, but only 70 were women, drawn from all political parties and independent candidates.
Compared with the 2018 elections where 237 out of 1648 candidates were women, this represented a decline from 14% to 11%.
“Following the release of the final results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), 22 women candidates were successfully duly elected as Members of Parliament- translating into a meagre 10% women representation in National Assembly, meaning that only 30% of the women who contested won.
“This figure has fallen from the 25 women (11.9%) who won elected seats in the 2018 Harmonised Elections. What is even gloomier to note is that all women candidates from smaller political parties as well as independent candidates failed to garner any seats in Parliament.
“All these figures fall short of the 30% minimum set out in the 1997 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Declaration on Gender and Development, Zimbabwe’s Constitutional provisions of gender equality found in Sections 17, 56 and 80, the UNITED Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 which seeks to promote gender equality and empower all women and girls as well as the 50% benchmark set by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development,” WALPE said.
“Going forward, it is imperative that political parties not only incorporate clauses on gender equality into their internal documents and policies as a way of ensuring that women are adequately represented in leadership and decision-making positions, but also demonstrate a political will and sincerity to the achievement of equality.”
It is against this background that WALPE recommends:
The electoral voting system must be changed from the first past the post to
proportional representation (with a list in zebra format) as this guarantees gender
equality. Citizens must vote for political parties not individuals as this also insulates
women from political violence and vote buying.
Political parties conduct their internal candidate selection process in a fair manner that allows women, young women and women with disabilities to participate freely and fairly.
That there is a zero tolerance to all forms of political violence against women.
Political parties have gender policies that push for the advancement of women in leadership and decision-making positions.
Political parties adopt gender equality provisions into their constitutions.
Political parties field women in constituencies were they have a fair chance of winning.
That ZEC rejects all political party lists that do not have a zebra format going forward.
That the Electoral Act be aligned to the Constitution with regards to gender equality.
While the elections have passed, WALPE acknowledged the remarks made by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling for peaceful resolution to the election disputes through established legal and institutional channels the Academy also reiterates the same to all Zimbabweans to promote and maintain a peaceful environment free from violence, harassment, intimidation and threats.
“The Academy wishes the newly elected women Members of Parliament all the best as they embark on their new mission, hastening to remind them not to forget to push for gender responsive laws and policies that uplift the lives of all women and girls.
“WALPE also appeals to them to look back and be at the forefront of intergenerational grooming, mentoring, peace building and resolution and coaching of young aspiring women leaders in preparation for future elections.”
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