The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
Despite numerous provisions in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, as well as the existence of several legal statutes, and a national policy on gender equality, women representation remains constrained in several key areas.
This was said by Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs member, Honourable Joshua Murire during a breakfast meeting on Friday.
The engagement was between the Portfolio Committee and development partner, the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE).
“Women still are poorly represented in Parliament, in local authority councils and in cabinet. Women are also notably poorly represented in leadership structures in other sectors of government, and the economy including the judiciary, in the public service and on the governing boards of parastatals, private business entities and civil society organisations,” he said.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to input into political reforms as well as review of the legal framework on elections with a view to bringing them into conformity with international best practices and the letter and spirit of our own Constitution.”
The Constitution of Zimbabwe has several provisions that guarantee gender equality.
For instance, the preamble of the Constitution exalts and extols the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives during the Chimurenga/Umvukela and national liberation struggles, while Section 3 (g), on founding values and principles, acknowledges gender equality, and Section 17 on gender balance provides that the State must promote the full participation of women in all spheres of Zimbabwean society on the basis of equality with men.
Section 124 on Composition of National Assembly, provides that for the life of the first two Parliaments after the effective date, an additional 60 women members, six from each of the provinces into which Zimbabwe is divided, elected through a system of proportional representation based on the votes cast for candidates representing political parties in a general election for constituency members in the provinces.
Zimbabwe is signatory to international and regional gender equality and women’s advancement instruments including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Beijing platform for Action (BPFA).
It is also signatory to the Millennium Declaration, the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the Protocol on Women’s Rights and the COMESA Gender Policy.
