For Immediate Release
Date: 8th March 2024
On this International Women’s Day, TI-Z joins the global community in celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. This year’s theme, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,” resonates deeply with our commitment to empowering women and girls to drive positive change in their communities. Undoubtedly, it highlights the importance of investing in women and girls to unlock their full potential and accelerate progress towards gender equality.
Women and girls play a crucial role in the fight against corruption. Their influence, when empowered and supported, is a powerful force for transparency, accountability, and integrity. Research has shown that when women are economically empowered, they are more likely to participate in decision-making processes and advocate for policies that promote transparency and combat corruption. Additionally, women are often at the forefront of community development initiatives, leading efforts to improve governance and ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively.
At TI-Z, we believe that women and girls are agents of change. To solidify this position, we conducted a study on Gender and Corruption in Zambia in 2022 to ascertain the state of gender mainstreaming in the fight against corruption as means of strengthening women’s participation in governance issues.
Corruption is endemic in Zambia and affects people’s access to essential public services, such as health and education. Zambia ranked 98 out of 180 countries in the recent 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and 85 out of 146 countries on the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index with an index of 0.7; a reduction from 0.72 in the previous year, demonstrating a change of 2.92 percent. The CPI is an indirect measure of public sector corruption, while the Global Gender Gap
Index measures gender equality based on the relative gaps between women and men across 4 key areas: health, education, economy, and politics.
Recognizing the need for gender reforms, the Zambian government developed the National Gender Policy in 2014, seeking to mainstream gender in all national policies, programs, and legislation, and to accelerate the domestication of the provisions of ratified regional and international instruments on gender and development. In 2015, Zambia enacted the Gender and Equity Act to promote gender mainstreaming in governance systems and mainstream gender in all strategies, policies, and budgets.
However, despite these policy and legal changes, there have been multiple assessments on the status of gender mainstreaming in Zambia, including the recent Gender Status report and the Parliamentary Committee report on the implementation of gender mainstreaming activities, none of which focused on the status of gender mainstreaming in the fight against corruption.
Notwithstanding, as an institution we espouse the belief that interventions in fighting corruption in Zambia ought to incorporate a gender perspective. It is important to integrate gender considerations into anti-corruption strategies to address the specific challenges faced by women and girls in Zambia.
Therefore, on this International Women’s Day, we reaffirm our commitment to investing in women and girls, and in particular their influence and their ability to fight corruption and accelerate progress. Together, we can create a more just, equitable, and inclusive world for all, and we invite all relevant stakeholders to join us in this noble cause. Happy International Women’s Day.
Maurice K. Nyambe (Mr.)
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
