Struggle for gender parity gains traction as women demand recognition

MRS Anne-Marie Lungambo Mbilambugo, a current Member of Parliament in one of the rural constituencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo was only 30 when she decided to venture into politics.

With nothing to her political curriculum vitae except mere passion to serve, Mrs Mbilambugo began working with communities, to identify challenges that both men and women wanted addressed.

Her effort did not go unnoticed. Seeing her determination to uplift communities through her philanthropic work, the local leadership requested her to stand for elections in one of the constituencies.

That marked the beginning of her problems.

Intimidation, violence, harassment and threats from male rivals became part of her life, after she declared her intention to stand as a candidate in parliamentary elections.

She won her debut election in 2009, in what she described as “bruising battle”, paving her way into the political arena.

Looking back at the four terms she as a Member of Parliament, Mrs Mbilambugo concedes that politics remains a hard rugged terrain for women.

Ms Roseby Gama Gadama, an MP for Zomba Thondwe Constituency from Malawi, could only nod her head in agreement as Mrs Mbilambugo shared her political journey, at the just ended Regional Policy Dialogue on Challenges Women in Political Participation and Representation organised by the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF).

Although Mrs Mbilambugo, struggled for recognition while housed in a political party, this was not the case for Ms Gadama, who had to fight the lone battle as an independent candidate.

With limited resources, lack of political support, violence and intimidation from aspiring male candidates who had support from their local parties, Ms Gadama at one time thought of throwing in the towel.

It took the persuasion of the local leadership, who had seen her potential to withstand the volatile situation.

Her determination paid off, and she won the elections with a landslide victory, albeit has an independent candidate.

Although the next elections in Malawi, are still three years away, Ms Gadama says her male rivals have already started campaigning, disrupting developmental projects she had set out to do.

The journey for the two and every female MP who attended the just ended regional policy dialogue has been pure struggle.

Despite their geographical and political boundaries, aspiring and female women in the SADC region face similar problems in their attempt to claim space in political governance.

Lack of resources or money for campaigns, political violence, intimidation, harassment, societal reluctance to vote in women, and failure by political parties to implement existing laws to increase female participation are some of the problems affecting aspiring and serving female politicians.

This has resulted in under representation of women in the region, because they make up just 26 percent parliamentarians in Sub Saharan Africa, which is a far cry from the 50 percent parity needed to ensure equal representation of women.

In her welcome remarks, at the regional policy dialogue, SADC PF secretary general Boemo Ndu Sekgoma said although significant progress has been made towards women emancipation, their political participation remains elusive.

“Women’s political participation is a fundamental right that has taken longer than necessary to be acknowledged,” she said. “Cyber bullying has amplified the problem faced by women trying to find space in politics.”

Because gender and power are intrinsically linked, Madam Sekgoma said there was need to advance policy frameworks that empower female inclusion and ascendancy in political governance.

She appealed for robust actions towards political inclusion of women in Southern Africa, a decision which should not be regarded as a privilege, but as a right.

“We should choose to contest exclusion in a big way,” she said,

The decline in the number of women in the August House is an indictment on the region’s willingness to include women in political governance, judging by a litany of legal instruments that calls or promote women’s political ascendancy.

The African Union Gender Policy and the Maputo Protocol on the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa are some of the progressive legal instruments that African leaders would need to use to elevate the status of women keen on entering the political arena.

The SADC Declaration on Gender and Development contains some of the important guidelines both states and political parties can use to promote female participation in politics.

While states can only do so much to promote political participation of women by ensuring the domestication of international and regional instruments, as well as implementation, political parties have a major role of including women in politics.

Political parties can do this through proper implementation of such strategies as the zebra policy, allocating resources to female candidates with potential, denouncing violence at political level and utilising their votes and numbers in parliament to move motions that push for female political ascendancy in the August House.

Member of Parliament for Angola, Mr Jose Antonio Lopes Semedo, called on both political parties and states to adopt measures against bad treatment of women while guaranteeing the creation of conducive environment to nurture female politicians.

“The objectives and aspirations that we have been debating concerning women, show that women have been victims of justice, namely political inequality,” he said. “If there had been injustice, we would not have been speaking about these issues.

“We are still talking about it, because we realise that the reasons are embedded in social and cultural issues, which both political parties and states should address.”

During the policy dialogue, participants called for the creation of a technical working group to track and document the challenges women are facing in political leadership and propose robust recommendations that address the barriers women will be facing.

This would include the establishment of minimum standard requirements for political bodies and working with existing bodies such as the SADC Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC) which plays an advisory role on issues of elections and governance to address concerns.

Participants called on male parliamentarians to be allies in promoting women’s equal voice and representation in parliament and in decision making.

In addition, gender justice should be taught from a young age so that boys and girls are nurtured on the importance of equality and equity for the attainment and sustainability of the gender agenda and the extension of gender insensitive cultural stereotypes.

Parliamentarians were also encouraged to adopt progressive gender policies even within their day-to-day work environments so as to support women parliamentarians in executing their gender responsibilities while remaining effective in discharging their mandates.

For example, financially cushioning nursing mothers who are MPs would need to travel with children or tend to them during parliamentary sessions.

These policies should further consider parliamentarians living with disabilities, who sadly remain excluded despite the existence of policies that speak to their involvement.