Rampant rigging in favour of males

Muwandi said information gathered by her organisation ahead of the elections, revealed that the percentage of women vying for political office was still low. She said most women were disgruntled with the way the parties’ primary elections were held and said it was not conducive for female participation.

Findings by the organisation revealed that most aspiring female politicians alleged that there was massive rigging during the primary elections in favour of male candidates.

“The women were not happy with the composition of their parties’ election directorates. They alleged that there was rampant rigging in most constituencies in favour of male colleagues,” said Muwandi.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to several international and regional instruments for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Article 124 of the new Constitution states that: “An additional 60 women shall be elected on a proportional representation basis to the 270 National Assembly seats”.

Low participation

The country, however, faces a challenge of low participation of women in politics. A report by the Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa states that in 2005, of the 120 seats parliamentary seats, women took up only 20.

In 2008, there were 210 parliamentary seats and only 30 were held by women, a figure way below the Southern Africa Development Community Gender and Development Protocol benchmarks.

Muwandi lamented failure by political parties to ensure an equal playing field for aspiring women candidates.

“Women revealed that it is still a challenge to penetrate politics because it is still considered a male domain.”

Women seen as weak

An aspiring candidate from Seke North in Chitungwiza, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Though women constitute 52 percent of the country’s population, we do not support and elevate each other to leadership positions.”

“Women want to be represented by strong candidates and they view other women as weak,” she said.

Findings from the United Nations Millenium Development Goals 2012 report revealed that more women were elected in systems of proportional representation than in majority electoral systems. Data collected on elections in 2011 indicates that women were not vying for seats in sufficient numbers to make a large electoral impact.