Zimbabwe: 'Girl Power' Flies Out of the Window

December 13, 2007 – (AllAfrica) IMAGINE the year is 2008 and the President of Zimbabwe is a woman, the Speaker of Parliament is a woman, the mayors of all towns are women, the Finance Minister is a "she" and the Chief Justice is also a woman.

With the country's political amphitheatre having been dominated by male lead actors since 1980, this vision of women in power seems unrealistic.

Zimbabwe's latest race for the presidency has been narrowed to three males ZANU PF's President Robert Mugabe, and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.

Yet, women comprise 52 percent of the country's population and constitute the largest number of voters. But they currently occupy only 30 percent of decision-making positions in government.

In a newsletter to the "Women Can Do it" campaign being spearheaded by the Women's Trust, leading academic Rudo Gaidzanwa observes that women's political aspirations are sealed at the political party level.

"At this level, women have to secure family support to run for office, raise funding for the primaries and secure party support or tolerance to run," she says.

In Zimbabwe, in 2004, fissures emerged over the ZANU PF women's league's quest to have a female candidate for the party's vice-presidency. Joice Mujuru was later voted into the post at congress that year.

But by then, some of her female war colleagues had fallen by the wayside. Margaret Dongo had won against ZANU PF's Vivian Mwashita in Harare South, but she was soon swept aside as voters chose whomever the MDC put on the ballot.

Women's Trust executive director Luta Shaba said the campaign, which seeks to achieve a 50-50 representation of men and women in the 2008 elections, was not treating women as a homogenous group.

This followed inquiries as to what impact the announcement made by Mujuru, that she did not harbour any presidential ambitions, would have on the campaigns of female aspirants to office, whether in 2008 or beyond.

Former education minister Fay Chung was one of the strongest women in President Mugabe's early administrations. She says although there are laws that favour the participation of women, there is poor implementation of the laws and it was too expensive for women to mount legal challenges so as to enjoy the full benefits.

Chung cited the case of Venia Magaya, a case dubbed "Magaya versus Magaya" where Venia (52), the eldest child in a polygamous family, lost her father's estate, which she had won through a community court, to her younger half-brother in a Supreme Court ruling as an example.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to laws that create an enabling environment for uplifting women to higher echelons.

The Southern African Development Community Declaration on Gender and Equality, the African Union Protocol on African Women's Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals, all seek to promote greater female participation in politics.

The global commitment target is 30 percent, while the African Union target is 50 percent. Zimbabwe plans to reach the African Union target by 2010, in only two years' time.

But even top female politicians concede that women are sometimes their own greatest enemies; they will not vote for each other because of the "pull-her-down" syndrome.

During the launch last week of the "Women can do it" campaign, Oppah Muchinguri, the Minister of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, said: "The PHD or 'pull-her-down' syndrome has worked against us as women. I am worried by the extent to which we have internalised our own oppression and turned this into oppressing other women."

Many women have excelled in business: Chipo Mtasa, Grace Muradzikwa, Charity Jinya, Pindie Nyandoro, Blessing Magenga, Beatrice Mtetwa, Florence Ziumbe, Jocelyn Chiwenga, Angeline Kamba, Hope Sadza and Mara Hativagone immediately come to mind.

Many say financial independence would give women a better chance at running for office without what has sometimes been patronising male backing.
Chung agrees.

"We are our own liberators. Women in politics should not be parasites, but should be able to stand economically on their own," she said.

Mati Mukonoweshuro, consultant from women's business group Dominion, said funding was critical to ensure that women succeed in standing for higher office.

"Women should expose themselves to opportunities that economically empower them because a solid financial background roots out corruption and all other evils," Mukonoweshuro said.

Other factors that undermine women participants are low levels of education and exposure, inappropriate training, lack of capacity building skills and self-confidence.

Zimbabwe could borrow a concept from Cameroon, where the women's ministry bankrolled all female candidates from all political parties who already held parliamentary seats.

In Africa, Rwanda, which is still recovering from the genocide of the 1990s, has 39 female parliamentarians out of a total 80.

South African President Thabo Mbeki's government has also achieved one of the highest levels of female representation in the world.

But media are still to wake up to the reality of the powerful female. A study of general elections held in Kenya in 2002 pointed out that the Standard and The Daily Mail newspapers ignored female political aspirants. The reason, according to the study was: "Men look for coverage, women want coverage to come to them."

From:http://allafrica.com/stories/200712131078.html?viewall=1