The Sunday Mail
Allen Choruma
ON Monday March 8, 2021, the 43rd International Women’s Day was celebrated in Zimbabwe and all over the world under the theme: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 World.”
It is very clear that Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 cannot be achieved without gender equality, without equal participation of both men and women at every level in the mainstream economy. Development of an upper middle class economy envisioned in Vision 2030, can only be realised through full gender balance in the development process of our great country.
The Government of Zimbabwe has shown commitment to achieving gender equality and women empowerment by ratification of a number of gender related international and regional protocols, which include the United Nations Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), the African Union Charter on the Rights of Women and the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development (SADCPGD).
Constitution
Our democratic Constitution, under section 17, mandates full gender balance in all aspects of the Zimbabwean society. Section 17 of the Constitution, which I will quote in its entirety, provides as follows:
“17 Gender balance
(1) The State must provide full gender balance in Zimbabwean society, and in particular-
(a) The State must promote the full participation of women in all spheres of the Zimbabwean society on the basis of equality with men,
(b) The State must take all measures, including legislative measures, needed to ensure that-
(i) Both genders are equally represented in all institutions and agencies of Government at every level, and
(ii) Women constitute at least half of the membership of all Commissions and other elective and appointed government bodies established by or under this Constitution or any Act of Parliament, and
(c) The State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level must take practical measures to ensure that women have access to resources, including land, on the basis of equality with men.
(2) The State must take positive measures to rectify gender discrimination and imbalances resulting from past practices and policies”.
Agencies of Government
Our Constitution also makes it clear that women shall constitute at least half the membership of all agencies of Government, that is to say, Constitutional Commissions, public entities, state owned enterprises and parastatals, universities and colleges, local authorities, and so on, established under the Constitution or any Act of Parliament.
A 2016 report by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), “Understanding Gender Equality in Zimbabwe: Women and Men Report 2016”, shows that although Zimbabwe has made significant strides in addressing gender imbalances, a lot still has to be done to ensure that Zimbabwe attains full gender equality in all spheres of life as enshrined in our Constitution.
Public entities
A quick survey of the composition of boards and senior management of our public entities, for example, state owned enterprises and parastatals (SEPs), sadly shows that women do not constitute at least half the membership of these strategic agencies of Government as envisioned in the Constitution.
The 2016 Zimstat report cited above shows that out of 100 SEPs surveyed, there were 23 female CEOs (23 percent) and 77 male CEOs (77 percent). Out of the 100 SEP boards, there were 29 percent female directors and 71 percent male directors.
Private sector
The private sector has done a poor job in terms of full gender balance on corporate boards and senior management positions in private sector entities. Our Government has actually done a way better job in addressing gender imbalances than the private sector. If we take the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) listed companies as an example, gender balance at board and senior management positions is “still like a pie in the sky” as it falls way below the constitutional provisions. Gender diversity is about levelling the field of play in corporate leadership between men and women and having balanced boards and senior management in terms of gender composition.
There is ample empirical evidence that shows that gender balance in corporate decision making positions improves not only board performance but the overall financial performance sustainability of companies. The call for equality should not end with gender balance on corporate boards. There is a need to address gender balance simultaneously with other equally important issues such as ending pay gaps between men and women and having more women assume positions such as board chairpersons, chief executives and senior management positions in Zimbabwean corporates.
2015 Corporate Survey
A 2015 study, published in the Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: “Measuring Gender Differences on Board of Directors of Companies Listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange” conducted by T.Njaya and Z. Chimbadzwa (Zimbabwe Open University), provides interesting statistics on gender diversity on boards of 64 ZSE listed companies.
ZSE boards gender distribution (2015)
Out of 406 directors (64 companies): 40 (10 percent) were female and 366 (90 percent) male
Female to male Directors ratio: 1 female director to 9 male directors
27 (42 percent) of companies had one or more female directors on their boards
37 (58 percent) of companies did not have a single female board member
*Out of 64 CEOs only 1 was female (1.56 percent) and 63 were male (98,44 percent)
Female to male CEO ratios: 1 female CEO to 63 male CEOs
The survey concludes that “with all the attention the issue is obtaining one would think that companies were doing better to promote gender equality in their boardrooms. The small number of women directors demonstrated that the various corporate leadership groups had not yet embraced [gender] diversity in their boards”.
It will be interesting to find out the current statistics on the gender composition of the ZSE listed companies on board composition and leadership positions, if they differ much from the above statistics.
For example the ratio of female to male CEOs on the ZSE listed companies has remained stagnant over the last five years, averaging between 1, 56 percent- 2 percent.
National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1)
On a positive note, the NDS1 under Chapter 12 recognises women and gender mainstreaming as a critical element for attainment of Vision 2030.
Section 741 of the NDS1 provides as follows: “741. Although Government has made some progress with regards to Gender Mainstreaming, the current situation is largely characterised by pronounced youth exclusion and limited Gender Mainstreaming.
Women still face hurdles in respect of opportunities to ascend to commanding heights in the national economy, including:
(i) Limited access to finance,
(ii) Limited access to land and freehold property,
(iii) Limited opportunity to influence policy, and
(iv) Legal, cultural and patriarchal barriers”.
NDS1 recognises that in order to attain inclusive development, as envisioned under Vision 2030, there is need to address gender imbalances in the mainstream economy.
Some of the interventions that will be implemented under section 744 and 747 of the NDS1 in gender mainstreaming include, but are not limited, to the following:
Operationalisation of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission to spearhead the gender agenda.
Enactment and popularisation of the Domestic Violence Act, to combat Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Prioritisation of resource allocation and disbursement to women empowerment programmes.
Capitalisation of Women’s Microfinance Bank (to allow women access to capital).
If these gender programmes are successfully implemented under both NDS1 and NDS2, we expect that by 2030, there will be increased participation of women in all sectors of the economy, more women in decision making positions, growth in women incomes, and equal opportunities between men and women.
Allen Choruma writes in his personal capacity and be contacted on email: [email protected]
