African Women in Politics

African Women in Politics: Moving from Words to Action

by Grace Kwinjeh, 
EU Representative for the Movement for Democratic Change


I would like to start by thanking the European Commission for 
according me this opportunity to join fellow sisters in the struggle 
for the advancement of the women's cause in celebrating International 
Women's Day under the theme, AFRICA TODAY AND TOMORROW: WHAT 
CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN?

The organisers of this meeting could not have chosen a better topic. 
I come from an African country that is devastated by hunger and 
political turmoil, still struggling to uproot a well entrenched 
ruling party which does not believe in pluralism and democracy is  
trashed everyday. A scenario that presents a great challenge for us 
women in Zimbabwe and our sisters on the continent.
 
Africa is currently in a state of economic and political turmoil. 
We are a continent devastated by deep poverty with over half the 
population living on less than US $1 per day, where most of the 
countries are classified as 'Least Developed', where corruption, 
election rigging, civil unrest and war tear apart the very fabric 
of our society. By and large women bear the burden of poverty and 
war, more recently, even the scourge of HIV/AIDS has made their lot 
worse.

Reversing the fortunes of this continent requires the full 
participation of both men and women in decision-making processes 
and structures.

However, for us to be able to do this we should ask ourselves if 
African women are well represented in decision-making structures? 
I am sorry to say men still dominate in positions of power, a factor 
which underlines the extent of our continued marginalisation. This 
should be our pressing issue, around which we should mobilise all our 
energy and built a strong movement that will continue to advocate for 
our equal participation in decision-making processes.

Political processes, especially those that lead to more democratic 
rule, are important for changes in society requiring the participation 
of women who have to be involved at the highest level for their plight 
to be taken into account. 

Whilst certainly notable progress has been made in some African 
countries to full democratisation, opening up spaces for women to 
participate in politics both in political parties and in government 
still needs specific attention. The spread of multi-party politics as 
a way of enhancing democracy in different countries, has not been 
accompanied by concerted efforts to uplift the status of women by 
increasing their numbers in political structures, as well as ensuring 
their participation in political activity. Popular participation is a 
key determinant of democratic processes and leaving women out who 
constitute at least 52 percent of the African populace is tantamount 
to preserving the status quo achieving results that will always be 
contested.

For instance, within the southern African region, Mozambique and South 
Africa are the only countries with ruling parties that have adopted 
quota systems that require at least 30 percent of all elected candidates 
to be women.  In South Africa about 40 percent of elected 
representatives are women. 

Across Africa as a whole, elected women leaders represent only 13 
percent of the whole. 
  
This indeed is a sad statistic given that a key component of democracy 
and good governance is women's participation, meaning that the under 
representation of women in decision making structures only undermines 
the whole process of democracy. Most governments have acceded to major 
International Conventions that call for the full participation of 
women in development and political processes. Notably the Convention 
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), whose 
article 7,

"Mandates countries to end discrimination against women in political 
and public life and to ensure women's equal rights to vote, to be 
eligible for election, to participate in the formulation of policy, 
to hold office, and to participate in associations and non-governmental 
organizations in these arenas."

During the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 
African Governments also pledged for,  ' Women's empowerment and their 
full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, 
including- participation in the decision-making process and access to 
power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development 
and peace.'

In terms of the Cotonou Agreement, which governs the relationship 
between the EU and its Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) partners, 
gender has been included as one of the thematic areas. Article 31 
states that "Co-operation shall help strengthen policies and programmes 
that improve, ensure and broaden the equal participation of men and 
women in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life. 
Co-operation shall help improve the access of women to all resources 
required for the full exercise of their fundamental rights."
 
Sadly again our Governments have not lived up to these pledges. 

The low representation of women in decision-making structures still 
persists. This can largely be attributed to deep-rooted cultural 
barriers that see the role of women as subordinate to their male 
counterparts, a lack of resources and awareness on the need to have 
more women run for office.  In addition, electoral systems can be 
counter-productive for women who wish to run for public office.

If indeed again we can agree that democracy is achieved through 
elections where people vote for leaders of their choice, any system 
in place that hinders the participation of women to be elected as 
leaders is undemocratic. 

In the SADC region there have been increased signs of political 
intolerance by Governments, which have hindered the participation 
of women in politics. Zimbabwe, which is under the brutal regime of 
Robert Mugabe, is one example. Women get arrested, raped or even 
killed for belonging to opposition political parties. A wide range 
of documentation is available to support this, especially on the 
use of rape as a political tool. The failure by the Mugabe regime 
to condemn incidents of rape callously underlines the oppressive 
culture under which women struggle to survive in Zimbabwe. 

However, even the shrinking of democratic space has not stopped 
brave women like Christine Huni of Mawere village in Muzarabani who 
was killed by Zanu PF militants last September, for her active 
participation in the Rural District Council elections. Neither has 
it stopped female Members of Parliament like Pauline Mupariwa who 
was arrested for addressing her constituency in Mufakose only a 
few weeks ago and Trudy Stevenson who has twice been detained by 
police in the last month alone.

Also in Zimbabwe, the politicisation of food aid has impacted on 
women's participation in political parties of their choice, as they 
are forced to buy ruling party cards as a sign of allegiance to get 
food. 

The situation does not get better at African level.

We look for instance at the New Economic Partnership for Africas 
Development (NEPAD),in which African Heads of State pledge to  
'eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually 
and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development, 
and at the same time to participate actively in the world economy 
and body politic.  While this process initiated by the Heads of 
State will impact greatly on the future socio- economic environment 
of Africa, women are only mentioned eight times in the document, 
and mainly as recipients of the avowed benefits, not as active 
participants in the implementation of the programme. This is despite 
women having played key roles in liberation struggles as well as 
the development of the continent. This again is unfortunate given 
that the African Heads of State in the document state, ''democratic 
Africa will become one of the pillars of world democracy, human rights 
and tolerance''. Somehow it is self contradictory to hope for an 
outcome of a democratic nature in a project that has been centred 
around a few male Heads of State and is not owned by the rest of the 
continent especially women.

It is not possible to deal with human rights and democratic issues 
without addressing gender imbalances that exist in African society 
today, in which women continue to be relegated to second-class 
citizen status. 

Another important initiative which seems to be marginalising women 
is the formal creation of the African Union. The Constitutive Act 
of the African Union, which provides mechanisms that will enable the 
AU to pursue objectives which are consistent with its guiding 
principles: (e.g. good governance, the eradication of poverty, peace 
and security and sustainable development) fails to contain clauses 
that aim to promote and strengthen the role of women within African 
society at the political as well as the civil society level. 

These two initiatives, which are very important for the future 
development of the African continent, stand to lose credibility if 
they are carried out without the popular participation of women. 
Both the AU and NEPAD provide the potential framework through which 
the notion of African Renaissance can be achieved. We all deeply 
cherish the notion of an African Renaissance and we are all deeply 
committed to shaping an African continent that breaks away from a 
depressing past characterised by colonial exploitation, bad governance, 
endemic corruption and perpetual insecurity and instability. As much 
as we cherish these noble objectives, we as women, also see the issue 
of gender equality and the entrenchment of women's rights as a central 
tenet of Africa's renaissance. 

If Africa is to become a continent characterised by democratic 
principles, as envisaged by the founding 'fathers' of the AU, then 
there must be collective agreement on the urgent need to ensure that 
the promotion of women within African society and their equal status 
with men is a defining part of this process. 

The media has also not been very helpful in dealing with gender 
issues. We hear and see very little of what African women in politics 
are doing; their comments are regularly subordinate to their male 
colleagues. Their opinions on important national or regional matters 
are never sought. Women will make headlines if they are involved in 
very controversial circumstances or as commentators of 'soft issues' 
or women's issues. When it comes to key debates on the issues that 
are shaping the political landscape in a given country the voice of 
women is rarely heard. Rather, it is the men who speak on their 
behalf. Given that women represent the larger gender constituency 
in many African countries their enforced silence on the key issues 
of the day is a gross violation of their basic rights. Freedom of 
expression is a core democratic value that should be enjoyed by 
women as well as men.

This gender deficit has to be properly addressed both in a 
legislative as well as in a cultural context for us to move hand 
in hand as partners to revive the fortunes of our beloved continent. 

I would like to propose the following as a way forward for us here 
today.

* There be training for women in politics at national and regional 
  levels on different aspects that will help them to participate 
  better in politics.
* Individual political parties be encouraged to promote women 
  within their parties and those that do not be shamed. Political 
  parties should be obliged to introduce all women candidate lists 
  in a certain percentage of constituencies in order to accelerate 
  the promotion of women through the political ranks.
* The capacity of those organisations that are working to promote 
  women in politics be increased so that they make an impact in 
  the selection of women candidates and in getting them elected.
* All African countries, which have established democratic rule, 
  should ensure that their constitutions contain clauses that protect 
  and promote the role of women in all stratums of society until the 
  gender deficit has been properly addressed. 
* These countries should also introduce legislation that prosecutes 
  individuals and organisations that deliberately discriminate 
  against women. 
* Constant evaluations should be carried out of all the current 
  programmes aimed at promoting women in decision-making with the 
  aim of consolidating them so that we do not lose out on gains made 
  in this area.
* Strengthening of international and regional networks of women in 
  politics so that we can share ideas and experiences.

Finally I would like to end by encouraging all those African women 
in politics not to give up but to keep pushing the women's cause 
as surely our day and our time is coming. 

Thank you