Sadc struggles with women quota

Through a 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries are mandated to establish policy and institutional frameworks for advancing gender equality.

The Sadc member-States are implored to do so by setting up advisory systems with government and non-governmental organisations to monitor gender issues.

It is an uphill task considering how women are treated in most African countries. Elsewhere on the continent women are treated like second-class citizens, not allowed to come anywhere near  decision-making processes.

In the case of Malawi, Mzimba, in particular, almost all chiefs are men, which means there is no voice of women on decisions affecting them, a situation that worries Foundation for Children’s Rights executive director Jenipher Mkandawire.

She says: “This [having all male chiefs] has its own implications, especially when it comes to promoting women to participate in politics.

“It sends a bad signal to the electorate, as they are made to believe that women cannot lead. It also creates a rough ride for women who are culturally perceived to be at the tail, not the head.

Mkandawire stresses that much as culture has to be respected and appreciated, there is need to start recognising women so that they also take up chieftaincy positions.

 Trends

However, since the ushering in of a democratic government in 1994 in Malawi, there has been an increase in the number of women taking up positions in government.During the 1994 elections, 46 women stood for parliamentary elections and 10 made it into the 177-member august House, representing 5.6 percent.

During the 1999 General Election, 62 women contested for parliamentary seats and the number of female legislators in the now 193-member Parliament  increased to 18, representing 9.3 percent.

Then, in 2004, the number of women participating in the parliamentary election more than doubled from 62 to 154. This was an indication that more women were participating in politics. And the number of MPs increased, too, from 18 to 27, representing 14 percent.

The same happened in 2009, when more women, 220, contested and 42 made it to Parliament, representing 22 percent.

In 2014, the number of women contesting increased to 260, but the number that made it to Parliament reduced from 42 to 32, while in 2019, the number of female contestants  increased to 310, out of which 45 became parliamentarians, representing 23 percent of the contestants.

It was due to the dwindling numbers of women making it to Parliament that  an organisation known as 50:50 Campaign Management Agency was formed.

The campaign’s team leader Viwemi Chavula explains about the agency’s objectives:

“It was all about solidarity with the women’s agenda. You need a pathway for women to get into office and management positions. The agency offers the thinking, plan, structures and process of how to get women into office,” he says.

However, much as there is will and determination to politically empower women, finance is the problem as the agency runs at the mercy of donors. When the donors decide not to fund, the campaign stops, and people forget about it.

Chavula says in addition to being donor-driven, the agency faces difficulties to penetrate rural areas for one reason or another, including disasters as was the case last year when the country was hit with cyclones.

“You should not forget that politics has been commercialised and control of resources by women is a problem. But we are moving forward to ensure that more women take up political leadership positions,” he says.

 Zimbabwe

While Malawi has no law ensuring parliamentary seats for women, other countries have, notably Zimbabwe, the constitution provides for a quota system at both local government and parliamentary levels.

In Zimbabwe, 60 seats on top of the 120 in Parliament are reserved for women whereas 30 percent more seats, on top of the 1 970 council seats, are also reserved for women.

But according to Women’s Academy for Leadership and Politician Excellence (Walpe) executive director Sitabile Dewa, many women are still not comfortable with the quotas.

She said: “These quotas are limiting women’s participation in leadership as they [women elected using quota] do not have constituencies or wards, which makes it difficult for them to implement meaningful development.

“In essence, quotas are supposed to complement the elected positions. However, political parties are now using it as an excuse to sideline women from contesting for the directly elected seats.”

Dewa cited the 2023 national elections that showed that only 22 women out of 210 constituencies were directly elected as MPs (representing 12 percent) while 246 out of 1970 wards were elected as councillors (representing 12 percent).

“This was a drop in the number of women directly elected for public offices compared to the 2018 national elections. These figures also go against Constitutional provisions of Sections 17, 56 and 80 which call for gender balance in all leadership and decision-making positions,” she said.

She called upon the government of Zimbabwe to align the Constitution with the Electoral Act to give power to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to reject party lists that are not gender-balanced.

Walpe has been undertaking the #LetsGo50-50 gender equality campaign for the past five years. It seeks to create a just society where women excel in all facets of development through free, active, effective and full participation in leadership, governance and decision-making processes at both local and national levels.

According to Dewa, Zimbabwe is one of the countries that do not have a Gender Equality Act which leaves the discretion to leaders who are mostly men to effect gender-balance in all leadership positions.

She also wants a change in the electoral voting system from the first- past-the-post to proportional representation, to guarantee gender balance.

Botswana

In Botswana, there is no law that allows reserving seats for women, according to Ida Mokereitane, executive director of Emang Basadi Association in Botswana.

She said Botswana has 61 MPs and only seven are women.

Said Mokereitane: “During the 2019 general elections, there were 54 men and three women who were elected, but the President appointed four women and two men as special parliamentarians.  

“For the 2024 elections, constituencies have been increased from 57 to 61 plus six special members, totaling 67.” 

She dismissed the suggestion that more women will take up political leadership, saying that can only happen after the country changes its voting system.

“The first-past- the-post electoral system is disadvantaging women and other vulnerable groups  since the winner takes all.

“There is need to review the system since Botswana has six special nominated members. We are calling for it to be increased to 30 percent.”

She also called for the training of political parties to adopt what she described as “sensitive policies”, manifestos and constitutions that promote gender equality and women’s human rights.

In addition, the association wants political parties and government to agree on reserving seats for women in constituencies and wards.

Zambia

In Zambia, the first-past-the-post determination of electing leaders is a hurdle to aspiring women.

The country has 156 legislators, but in terms of women, there are 20 elected MPs, one nominated, the Vice-President and two deputy Speakers, totaling 25.

Non-governmental Gender Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) executive director Anne Mbewe Anamela said such disappointments are the reason they decided to come together to form the coordinating council.

Formed in 1985 out of the realisation that the empowerment of women in the country needed concerted efforts, NGOCC is an umbrella body of 111 organisations spread across 10 provinces and 68 districts, directly targeting six million people.

“The number of women remain unacceptably low considering that they constitute the majority of the population. Currently, the electoral system is First-Past-the-Post, which does not guarantee women representation,” said Anamela.

She called for the amendment of the country’s constitution to compel appointing authorities to think about gender when appointing people in political positions

  Namibia and Zebra politics

In Namibia, just like in Botswana, there is also no law that talks about the mandated number of women in Parliament, according to legislator Patience Masua.

“This is because Parliament is elected based on party list. If the list has few women, expect fewer of them in Parliament,” she said.

Namibia uses what they call ‘zebra politics’ whereby, for example, if a political party has 20 male legislators, there has to be 20 females as well.

However, Masua said it is only the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) that is following it.

Way forward

Catholic University of Malawi vice-chancellor Associate professor Ngeyi Kanyongolo, said it is possible for countries to implement policies that can respond to challenges women face in politics.

“If we can look at policies such as equal access to  education for the girl child, ending violence against women, especially in politics, controlling handouts and illegal campaign financing, levelling the playing field by ensuring transparent primaries [within political parties] and voting, things can change for the women,” said Kanyongolo, a renowned gender activist.

But she stressed that reserving seats or quota for women would be a better way of increasing their numbers in Parliament.