Salutations
- The Chapter President Transparency International Zambia.
- The Executive Director Transparency International Zambia
- Representatives from Cooperating Partners
- The Political Party Representatives
- The Ministry of Justice Representative
- The Anti-Corruption Representative
- The Election Commission of Zambia Representative
- Representatives from Civil Society Organizations
Greetings to everyone. May I start by welcome you all to this event, organized by TI-Zambia under the Clean Money in Politics Project, where we will focus on commemorating women in politics. As we all know Women’s Day celebrates women and their achievements. International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March every year world over and it’s the Day dedicated to celebrating Women’s achievements in various Social, Political, and Cultural Fields. In 1975, the United Nations recognized International Women’s Day and from 1996 International Women’s Day became a theme to celebrate Women in society.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the overall state of women representation in politics in Zambia is concerning, with the country failing to meet continental and international benchmarks laid out in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), and the South African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development. Although women make up 50.5 percent of Zambia’s population as well as the majority of voters, they remain systematically underrepresented in politics.
The SADC Protocol on Gender in Development provides for the empowerment of women, to eliminate discrimination in order to achieve gender equality and equity, through electoral or appointment processes to achieve 50-50 parity or the quarters for women in decision making positions. However, Zambia has not achieved this, for instance, while women constitute of 51percent of Zambia’s population, they are only about 15.4 percent of women representation in parliament while the percentage is lower at local government level and this is due to the inhibiting environment for women to participate in the elections. This implies that participation of women in decision-making positions remains very low. The low levels of participation of women in parliament can be attributed to lower chances of women being adopted as candidates by their political parties because they are not seen as wining candidates, discrimination on the basis of gender, failure to meet educational qualifications, gender-based violence and incidences of hate speech against women candidates, among others. Further, only 7.9% of elected positions are currently held by women.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me now turn to the “Commemoration of women in politics “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights, Equality, Empowerment,”. Overall, the obstacles to women’s representation in Zambia can be divided into three categories: structural barriers, legislative and policy challenges, and barriers related to electoral procedures and electoral processes. Zambia’s patriarchal society represents a major structural barrier, traditionally assigning more power and resources to men than women. The resulting inequalities affect women’s access to education, job opportunities, and career progression, which directly impact the skills and resources needed for political mobilization especially in a country where politics are heavily monetized. Patriarchal norms also lead women voters to discriminate against women candidates in elections; in general, female candidates often face insults and ridicule.
A second set of challenges stems from the weaknesses in the legal and policy framework as well as the poor implementation of existing laws. Although some of the main political parties are developing gender equality plans, women’s exclusion has continued as the plans are yet to be adopted and implemented by the respective political parties. For example, Zambian parties have failed to implement mandatory quotas for women: the two main parties the PF and the UPND – have both announced a goal of ensuring 40 percent female representation in key internal structures, but have failed to realize this goal in practice. Only one woman contested the presidency in the 2021 elections under the New Heritage Party, securing 0.17% of the vote and seventh out of sixteen candidates.
Thirdly, electoral procedures, the police, and the department responsible for issuing national identity and voter cards also disadvantage women. For instance, the police sometimes fail to curtail election-related violence, especially violence committed by ruling party cadres. This creates a fearful environment for women voters before and during the elections. Long distances to polling stations, poor election infrastructure (especially for the physically challenged), the rushed distribution of national identity cards, and lack of civic education further impede women’s ability to vote on election day.
It is clear from Transparency International Zambia Research and other organizations that among the key barriers to female’s low political participation include the structure of the current legal framework, a political culture embedded with patriarchal values and norms that are unsupportive to female candidates and a lack of personal wealth or access to resources to fund campaigns. Further women in politics are often forced to endure discrimination and entrenched stereotypes, as well as working environments and schedules that do not consider the caregiving responsibilities that women disproportionately undertake. They are also far more likely than men to experience multiple forms of harassment and threats both online and in person on the campaign trail. Furthermore, women face greater challenges than men in securing the resources needed to obtain a party nomination or run for office. Inadequate flexibility and support (financial and otherwise) from political parties hinder, and sometimes prevent, them from standing as candidates.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me end by stating that this event seeks to facilitate conversations on the need to reverse this underrepresentation of women at different levels of decision-making coupled with various challenges that women face to run for office in Zambia. May I end by encourage you all to actively engage in conversations that will be had during this commemoration and take advantage and have a say in making proposals to reverse women underrepresentation in politics in Zambia.
I thank you and wish you the best in your deliberations.
