In a communiqué re-launching the 50/50 campaign following a meeting in Harare, NGO representatives from nine SADC countries noted that with only four years to go, and an average representation of women in parliament of 25 per cent, the region is only half way where it needs to be, with many countries having only one more election to go.
Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU), the governance cluster leader, and Gender Links, coordinator of the Alliance that campaigned for the adoption of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender Protocol, convened the meeting ahead of the SADC Heads of State Summit in Luanda on 17 August.
Delegates noted with concern that while the SADC regional average of 25 per cent women in national parliaments exceeds the global average of 19%, this varies considerably between countries, under scoring a lack of political will.
With 18 per cent women in parliament and elections due to take place within the next year, Zimbabwe is one such country.
What is evident, noted cluster leader and director of WIPSU, Fanny Chirisa, is that “where there is a will there is away. Change has taken place very rapidly in some SADC countries. Some are very close to achieving the 50/50. This tells us that the parity target can be achieved”. For example, South Africa has 44% women in parliament and Lesotho has 58% women in local government.
Invariably best performing countries (e.g. South Africa, Mozambique and Angola) have a combination of a Proportional Representation (PR) system and a voluntary party quota (this is legislated in the case of local elections in Namibia). The PR system is more conducive to women’s participation because parties vote for a party rather than for candidates, and provided parties distribute women evenly in the list they are bound to get in.
The Alliance, organised through 15 country networks and ten theme clusters, is stepping up the drive for the implementation of the Protocol through action plans at national level and regional campaigns that leverage efforts on the ground to ensure the 28 targets are attained. – www.sadcgenderprotocol.org.
Post published in: News