A step backwards for women

While they might never be a universal template that can be used to promote gender equality, Zimbabwe still needs to pursue its own homegrown solutions to elevate the status of women in politics.

SEVERAL centuries ago, in classical Greece, lived aphilosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira by the name of Aristotle. During his time, he did so many things, but probably his biggest claim to fame was when he declared in his one of his works, “Politics” that men were by nature superior to women.

Aristotle’s teacher, Plato, also a philosopher, and is still considered today to be the most pivotal figure in development of philosophy, however, differed greatly with his student on the role of women.

Instead, Plato said women and men were the same in respect to the guardianship of the state, and could do as much as their male counterparts, when given the space to do so.

Plato and Aristotle, two of the most influential philosophers in the ancient world, both had radical views on the nature and capabilities of women. While Plato is even up to this day revered as the champion of the female cause, Aristotle remains hated by many in the feminist movement, at times being called a “chauvinist pig”.

The fecundity of the above being the ZANU-PF primary election results that came on the heels of a high-octane weekend punctuated by drama, celebrations and disappointment, depending on where one stands: the number of women victors being a drop in the ocean.

I, therefore, could not help but reminisce over the two Greek philosopherrs’ divergent assertions over women’s role in politics globally.

With a cursory glance of the already available results pointing to a clean sweep by men over women, who only managed to garner 19 out of the 190 constituency seats, my mind went back to the two philosophers’ assertions.

I tried to figure out what could have informed the varying assertions of a student and his master, who both probably tapped knowledge from the same society - classical Greece.

Understandably the two’s assertions could have been informed by varying circumstances, backgrounds and general phenomena at that time. Whatever it was, it might not be relevant to today’s world and certainly cannot be used to explain what is happening globally on engendered leadership.

However, one thing that stands out clearly is that from the time Aristotle made his “claims” it has remained a man’s world. Globally.

While many people might want to posit different reasons why only a handful women made it in the just ended ZANU-PF primary elections, ranging from lack of resources, inhibiting structural challenges within the party, violence, intimidation and patriarchy, the female populace globally is still struggling to enter into politics.

Hurtful it might be, Zimbabwean women have had to painfully watch from the sidelines, while men dominate in elections year in, year out from the time the country attained its independence in 1980.

Although the Government has on ad hoc basis adopted several stopgap measures, remedial and pacifying measures such as the introduction of zebra policies meant to elevate the status of women in politics, the narrative of women in political remains the same.

Suffice to say, the political scenario in Zimbabwe where women continue to play second fiddle to their male counterparts cannot be looked at in isolation, but can also be best explained in the context of regional and international trends.

Neither can gender activists continue to apportion blame on a patriarchal rigid system that is handing power to men on a silver platter without taking stock of how the male populace globally has continuously “captured” political leadership, since the time of Aristotle.

Regionally, neighbouring South Africa and Botswana governments have been slow to implement the 50-50 gender quality measures despite being signatories to several protocols that speak to the need to increase the number of women in political governance structures.

Botswana’s new president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, missed an opportunity to make good on Botswana’s commitment to gender equality in his recent new Cabinet, although he had social media agog with his appointment of a young woman to the post of Investment Trade and Industry.

Masisi is Botswana’s fifth president. The women’s movement had hoped for the appointment of a woman Vice President. That did not happen, and neither did the representation of women in Cabinet increase, but merely shifted by one percentage point to 18 percent.

The same scenario is prevailing in South Africa where the newly appointed President Cyril Ramaphosa did not do much to increase the number of the female Cabinet ministers, from the previous figures that were in former president Jacob Zuma’s government.

An analysis done by Gender Links revealed that while President Ramaphosa’s new Cabinet has taken South Africa to within a whisper of gender parity at the executive level it failed to inspire a new vision for gender equality.

Gender disparities in electoral politics and governance cannot be said to be an African issue, but is also giving headaches to the most developed and democratic nations, where gender activists have been hammering their heads against a brick wall - in protest. Little, if anything, has been trickling their way.

Gender inequality in America remains a contentious issue, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s annual rankings. Congress in 2017 was ranked at 101 with 19,4 percent women, and state legislatures nationwide making up 24,9 percent of the female legislatures.

The glaring absence of women in political spaces not only in Zimbabwe, but across the globe points to the global leadership’s failure to support engendered governance.

While the reasons may vary with regions, several factors such as lack of resources, weak political structures to support women’s ascendancy to leadership, the abrasive nature of politics that scares away women are some of the averse factors stalling political inclusion of women.

While they might never be a universal template that can be used to promote gender equality, Zimbabwe still needs to pursue its own homegrown solutions to elevate the status of women in politics.

Countries such as Rwanda have successfully managed to implement gender equality policies that are already yielding positive results.

Rwanda does acknowledge the role that women play in economic and national development, and has been pushing for the continued inclusion of women in all governments sectors.

Speaking during the International Women’s Day commemorations recently, Rwanga President Paul Kagame said “gender equality and women’s empowerment is a cornerstone of the government of Rwanda’s development strategy, and a proven source of development progress”.

It is not surprising that the remarkable rise of Rwanda’s women over the years closely tracks the general upward trajectory of the country’s development.

The just-ended ZANU-PF primary elections should not be the end of women’s aspirations for political office, but should give the Presidium an opportunity to review and redeem the situation.