Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) chairperson Commissioner Margret Mukahanana Sangarwe, has lamented the persistent gender inequalities within political parties in the country.
In a speech during a High Level Regional Intergenerational Dialogue on Women’s Political Participation, the ZGC chairperson called for urgent action to address the barriers that hinder women’s participation in politics.
“Following the 2018 Harmonised Election, the Zimbabwe Gender Commission conducted a gender audit of the main Political Parties in Zimbabwe to establish a baseline on the status of gender equality within political parties.
“Audit findings revealed that while all political parties have made efforts to include women, some in presidium, as Chairperson and within the leadership through the women and youth wings, all the political parties which were under study were still far from achieving gender equality in practice even if their documents recognised the need to integrate gender.
“There is therefore still need to align Party Constitutions, policies, procedures, and practice to the gender equality dictates of the National Constitution. Further the Gender Audit noted that political parties, covertly or overtly negatively influence women’s participation through failure to recognise and address the unlevel playing field,” said Commissioner Sangarwe
She added “Political parties act as gatekeepers as they determine who can compete for political leadership and who can then be considered for appointment to the Executive and the male-dominated structures are yet to evolve and become more inclusive. The audit also found that parties allocate Constituency seats with minimum opportunities for women to win.
“Primary elections, a domain which still requires concerted research, also according to the audit, perpetrate discriminatory party procedures and practices creating a hostile environment to women candidates. Finally, the audit also noted the unequitable distribution of party resources among party structures and candidates. It is worrying to note that the same trends are likely to be reflected in the forthcoming Harmonised Elections based on the 2022 by-election nominations and more recently, the primary elections that have been conducted.”
She said other barriers to women’s participation revealed through the gender audit include lack of financial support, negative cultural and social norms, lack of support for female candidates, Gender insensitive Political Party Constitutions, policies, and processes among other issues.
