The Sunday Mail
Fatima Bulla-Musakwa
Women continue to be under-represented in decision-making positions in the public sector despite the country being a signatory and having ratified numerous international gender equality conventions and protocols.
These include the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which specifically protects the right of women to participate in Government and access public services.
Zimbabwe is also party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which provides, under Article 7, that “state parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right: (a) to vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies.”
There is also the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action outlining 12 strategic objectives and critical areas of action, including “women in power and decision-making.”
In addition, the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the National Gender Policy and the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act also enjoin Government to facilitate gender equality.
But, despite all this, the country is still falling short of expectations.
Political Participation
Data from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises shows that only 85 of 270 seats in the National Assembly are held by women, while only 35 occupy seats in the Senate against 45 men.
There are only 261 councillors in local authorities out of the available 1 697 seats.
But, through the Constitution of Zimbabwe (No 2) Act, a 30 percent quota has since been reserved for women in local councils.
The move came after President Mnangagwa put his weight behind the proposal after the first-ever Women Councillors Indaba convened by Zimbabwe Local Government Authority (ZiLGA), Women in Local Government Forum (WILGF) in partnership with Gender Links (GL) in December 2020.
In Government, out of 31 Cabinet Ministers, only five are women.
There is, however, parity in the appointment of Ministers of State.
Director responsible for gender in the Ministry Women Affairs Mr Stephen Nyaruwata said women’s under-representation in politics is a result of institutional and structural constraints that preclude women from realising their rights to participate in public affairs.
“These obstacles include institutional resistance to women’s participation and inclusion in decision-making, the cost of campaigning and nature of certain electoral systems that reduce the opportunity for women to compete with men on an equal basis, social norms that keep women largely responsible for domestic work and child care, the perpetuation of gender-based stereotypes that suggest women should not participate or have a role in public affairs, and violence against women in politics, which precludes women from exercising their political rights,” he said.
Public Sector
In the public service, the situation appears dire.
Only four women are permanent secretaries out of the 21 positions in Government.
From the 83 chief directors, 24 are women, while an additional 82 women are deputy directors out of 248.
There are worryingly no female vice chancellors at State universities.
“The public service is the locomotive for public service delivery and offers technical expertise to the political leadership,” said Mr Nyaruwata.
“If the needs, wants, concerns and aspirations are to be realised, it is imperative that the women are fully represented in various leadership positions,” added Mr Nyaruwata.
Judiciary
Official data shows there is a 50:50 representation on the Supreme Court bench made up of 14 justices.
The High Court bench has 11 women out of 31 judges.
In addition, 94 magistrates are women, while 156 are men.
Parastatals and SOEs
Twenty-three (23) women are employed as chief executive officers of parastatals or State-owned enterprises out of the 100 available positions.
Out of 100 parastatal board chairpersons, 29 are women.
Likewise, a paltry 729 women own private limited companies compared to 4 040 men.
Experts attribute the glaring discrepancies to the onerous expectation for women to balance the demands of work and private life.
There is also gender stereotyping of leadership posts as belonging to men.
“One of the facts is that interviews for those levels are conducted by men.
“It is, however, encouraging that the last appointments of chief executive officers at ZTA (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority) and Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Information Communication Technology are females.”
From 23 parastatals reviewed, only Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) and Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) have at least 50 percent representation of women on their boards.
There are four women board members at Zera out of an establishment of six, while five of the 10 board members at Zinwa are women.
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, National Railways of Zimbabwe, ZTA, National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation boards average 40 percent representation for women on their boards.
Grain Marketing Board, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Zesa Holdings and Environment Management Agency boards have an average 30 percent.
Public transporter Zupco’s board has the least representation of women with only one out of the eight members.
Constitutional Commissions
Out of the five independent commissions, only the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission have more women than men.
Both have five female commissioners out of nine.
There are three female commissioners at the Public Service Commission out of the seven positions available.
Similarly, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has three female commissioners from eight posts.
Mr Nyaruwata said the ministry was working on a strategy to provide continuous training and capacity building for female middle and senior managers.
