“Female legislators should not set unrealistic targets for themselves. Invest in projects that you can afford, which can be implemented in your constituency and benefit local communities,” the Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Abigail Damasane, told a gender budgeting workshop organised by the Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) in partnership with the ministry at the weekend. Legislators from all 10 provinces attended.
She urged MPs to be advocates of women’s welfare to help Zimbabwe realise gender equity, but said implementation of successful community projects required the support of government through the allocation of financial resources.
“The budget is the most important policy instrument of the state and Parliament has a sacred duty to address gender anomalies,” said Damasane. "None of the gender responsive policies can be implemented without adequate resources and it is important for government to prioritise gender budgeting as a means of empowering women and promoting gender equity.
“Budgets are powerful instruments that shape the future of development. Female parliamentarians should not be embarrassed to highlight the challenges experienced by citizens in their respective constituencies.”
Last year, the women’s ministry was allocated a paltry $10,1 million out of the total l budget of $4,3 billion.
Monica Mutsvangwa, Zanu (PF) Senator for Manicaland, said “Issues to do with financing are a challenge for the majority of women and there is need for government to channel adequate resources towards initiatives that target women.”
Pamela Mhlanga, the Director of ZWRCN, said female parliamentarians should be informed about how they could best influence the formulation of a gender responsive budget.
“Female legislators should have the capacity to understand how best they can utilise the gender budgeting concept,” she said. “We want to enhance their capacity to exercise their role. Female legislators should come up with an action plan to influence a gender responsive budget in 2015.”
In July 2011, ZWRCN signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Parliament to form a four-year partnership aimed at building capacity in gender mainstreaming. Issues addressed include budget analysis, budget monitoring and expenditure tracking, macro and micro economic issues, public outreach, gender responsive budgeting and gender mainstreaming.
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