MDC-N to capacitate women

Deputy party spokesperson for MDC, Kurauone Chihwayi, said they had been facilitating training workshops to equip women with leadership skills for the parliament and local government portfolios.

“We are yet to do the final selection of our candidates in various constituencies but we have aspiring female candidates in every constituency. We engaged political experts to train our candidates on various topics on leadership because we do not want representatives who cannot articulate issues in parliament,” Chihwayi said.

He said their selection criteria meant the women had to be members of the party without a criminal record and had to hold educational qualifications.

“Our selection is not discriminatory because it is open to everyone. The educational qualification is just a basic requirement, not that candidates will be dropped for not having a specific educational skill,” he explained.

Bold and confident

A female aspirant from

Matebeleland province, Ellen

Shiriyedenga, said she found the training workshops very useful as they equipped her with the necessary skills to debate political issues.

“Remember the 2008 election was marred with violence and women were mostly affected. That alone deters women from participating in politics but with these internal trainings I can be bold and confident,” said Shiriyedenga.

A report released in 2009 by Women in Politics Support Unit on the 2008 general elections showed that women were interested in politics.

“There are three main challenges facing women: limited resources to run campaigns, traditional stereotypes resulting in fewer educational qualifications and the socialised perception that a woman’s role should not be in a public domain,” read the report.

The results of the 2008 elections show that the number of women has increased from 22 to 32 in The House of Assembly and 23 won Senatorial seats. About 900 of the 4804 in 2008 election candidates were women.

Women empowered

Fanny Chirisa, WiPSU Director, told The Zimbabwean that more women were going to contest in the coming election than they had done in previous years.

“Women are interested in participating in politics and assuming leadership roles. When we started engaging communities in our political dialogues that were aimed at empowering women to participate in national leadership roles, the turnout was pathetic. We have, however, seen an increase in the number of women who are interested in being councillors and members of parliament. It is no longer a man’s game,” she said.

The SADC protocol on gender and development expects countries to work towards having 50 percent women in political and decision-making positions by 2015.

Zimbabwe’s proposed constitution will see women getting 60 additional seats in parliament and if the draft is adopted, the new political order is set to mark a new era of women empowerment in Zimbabwe’s modern politics.

Section 124 (1) (a) and (b) of the draft constitution provides that the National Assembly will consist of 210 members elected by a secret ballot and for the life of the first two Parliaments after the effective date an additional 60 women members will be chosen.