Political Women Speak Out

In a world widely dominated by men,the drive towards attaining the 50/50 goals towards equality and equity set by the United Nations through its millenium development goals has been one that only a handfull of brave and courageous women have been able to push. This blog got hold of one of the most beautiful and successful political woman in Zimbabwe and she is a Programs Coordinator - UN January 2015 to present · Zimbabwe, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe.

It is always a pleasure and informative to interview young women in the political divide in Zimbabwe. Lets hear what Nomusa Sokhela has to say about her experiences as a political woman.

Nomusa Sokhela

How are political women represented in the media

I believe that women in politics are generally vilified and trivialised due to the stereotypes which epitomizes women in general as weaker and less capable.It is the view of the media which is mostly owned and run by males that women should be treated as second class citizens and they belong to the domestic sphere where they have to take care of their families and homes.

What can be done to deal with such a problem?

An attitude change is the answer but it is not that simple if its a matter of lip service without more emphasis being directed at actual implementation processes.The first thing that must be done is to make women realize that they need to stand together as one in this struggle for equal recognition and participation in politics.That is the first point of order which has been a huge challenge to achieve in the real sense.

What advice can you give to the youth who want to venture into politics?
Get into politics for a worthy cause that would be my advice.

Is there hope for the betterment of women in politics?

There is so much that we could do to better our lives and the lives of others as women leaders because we are naturally more sensitive and cognizant of the real bread and butter issues.So many times women are automatically disqualified from positions of leadership due to being viewed as the weaker sex but that automatically cuts overall societal development as the capacity and potential these women have, seldom gets fully harnessed.

As such politics is a difficult field for one to claim space as a woman,where no matter what your accolades and contributions are, can never be fully appreciated since it is a space predominantly with rules that favor men and are designed by men.

ln my time l have lived to hear a lot of senior women leaders in politics who have spoken of the stigmatization of women in politics,You are seen as an uncultured woman with less morals than your fellow sisters outside of politics.

The other challenge is general lack of support, trust and inadequate united efforts by all women in politics to tackle the challenges faced with a uniform and united front irregardless of party affiliation.A failure in this front has maintained the status quo of women just being placed in positions for symbolic reasons.

l personally have coped as l said as a result of my convictions and beliefs in that what l stand for is worth the sacrifice.

My passion is to see the lives of women such as myself improve and change for the better.So no matter where l am required to serve l will do so to the best of my potential because l stand for and identify with the interests of the collective.

Angela Merkel

Angel Merkel -

Merkel entered politics after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. Rising to the position of Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union party, Merkel became Germany's first female chancellor, and one of the leading figures of the European Union, following the 2005 national elections.
Maureen Orth-who wrote about the biography of Merkel says:
She came as an outsider and she stayed an outsider,” Ines Pohl, editor of the Berlin alternative daily, Die Tageszeitung, commonly known as Taz said. “She’s spooky, because how can she manage all these things? She’s not really a woman you can love—admire and be proud of, yes. But you always feel her killer instinct.”
“She governs by silence,” says Dirk Kurbjuweit of Der Spiegel, who wrote a 2009 biography of Merkel. “It’s her biggest advantage and disadvantage. She never says something fast. She waits and waits to see where the train is going and then she jumps on the train. Part of this she learned in the G.D.R. [Communist East Germany]. She knew she had to watch her words—there’s nobody better at [vague] words than Angela Merkel.”

Angela Merkel is a German politician best known as the first female chancellor of Germany and one of the architects of the European Union.

After nine years of her rule, however, many Germans still see her as from the East, not really one of them. They understand that as Merkel plays an ever enlarging role in the world—going head-to-head with Putin, charming China, exasperating and infuriating her European Union partners with her unyielding demands—she, who wants nothing to do with being seen as a “female” leader, has become The Man striding across the global stage. But, even so, Germans seem puzzled by Angela Merkel.

She is often referred to as the world’s most powerful woman, although those in Merkel’s immediate circle will fix you with looks of utter disdain for even bringing up such a concept. “That’s done for media lists—it has no meaning,” an official told her. In fact, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germans instinctively recoil at the idea of being powerful because that presumes responsibility on global scale that they do not yet seem ready to take.

ANALYSIS

All of this shows us that she is one of the most influential women leaders of the world when looking at all the things that she has achieved,rising to be the first woman to be a German Chancelor .She has proved to be an  Amazon woman and a woman of power .She has also proved to be an independent woman who knows her game in politics and has even been labelled a 'man' to show that her rule can be compared to that of a man.She saves as an inspiration to women in the world of politics as she has proved that women can also rule as men do.She regards herself as an equal to all the men as she does not want to be seen as a 'female' leader but just a leader like all male leaders.

First Lady On The Rise

How about a round of applause for the first lady Grace Mugabe as she is still  climbing the political ladder......

Reports are saying she is set to take the parliamentary seat Tendai Biti who has been labelled the ''MDC rebel'. 

This is a life time  opportunity for Grace tor take a stand and be a leader in politics.As far as gender issues are concerned, there seems to be progress in the enlightenment of women who are in politics.This is an interesting move by the first Lady  who has never been in politics.Even the Godfrey Gomwe-led provincial youth wing — are eager to please the First Family having already started moves to usher Grace in.It is promising that she is going to receive great and amazing support from the youth who are uprooting for her and also are pushing for the leadership that includes women. I can also argue that leadership without women is not leadership because for development to take place both participation of men and women is required.

This comes amid predictions by analysts that the MDC-T dominance in urban seats was under threat as Zanu PF was working on grabbing the opposition seats following the recent dismissal from Parliament of 21 MDC Renewal.

Grace, who is the party’s Secretary for Women’s League, was now reportedly ready to become the Minister of Women’s Affairs, currently vacant after Oppah Muchinguri was moved to the Higher Education portfolio.This shows that there is optimism of grace that women are making progresss as they take it step by step .Very soon we will be having many women in positions of power.

First Lady Grace Mugabe

Grace’s candidature, insiders say, cannot be ruled out as speculation has been high since December that she would join her husband’s cabinet after her ascension into the politburo. However, her handicap has been her lack of a parliamentary seat which is a pre-requisite for one to be a minister under the Constitution.

Grace was last year endorsed as Zanu PF Women’s League boss after she was reportedly approached by the then outgoing Muchinguri executive and war collaborators.  Grace herself,  engineered her political rise which coincided with the fall of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru.

Other seats to be contested include Harare East, Kambuzuma, Kuwadzana, Glen View South, Dzivarasekwa and Highfield West.It would also be great to see women contesting for all these seats as they have to prove a point that they refuse to be brainwashed by the norms and values of the patriarchal society .In addition it will show that they refuse to be treated as second class citizens.

Gender and Development

SADC Logo 2015

Women the world over are being prevented from engaging in politics. Women's political leadership of any sort is a rarity and a career in politics rarer still.In order to make the best use of potentials for women’s employment it is necessary to stimulate women’s self-employment.

In recent decades the presence of women in public life has grown, whether in politics, in the workforce, or in the migrant streams that cross international borders. At the same time, the intensive engagement of activists and researchers with the development establishment has turned "gender" into a legitimate policy issue for institutions and movements operating at different levels. Yet gender inequalities in power continue to be a persistent and integral feature of the modern world and its institutions - whether markets and macroeconomic flows; states, political parties and social movements; or the intimate sphere of family, household and community. 

Transformative agendas of social change are constrained not only by the continued dominance of market orthodoxy in some important arenas of policy making, but also by shifts in geopolitics, and new forms of religious and cultural politics that are being played out at global, national and sub-national levels.

For the new research phase, the following thematic areas have been identified:

• Labour Market Informality, Social Policy and Gender 
• Gender-egalitarian Policy Change: States and Women's Claims-making
• Political and Social Economy of Care
•  Religion, Politics and Gender Equality

 
 Feminism is not all about furthering the equal involvement of men and women at home and work but simply about giving women the right to choose between pursuing a career and devoting themselves to full-time motherhood. A new emphasis on intensive mothering and attachment parenting helped justify the latter choice. Today the main barriers to further progress toward gender equity no longer lie in people’s personal attitudes and relationships. Instead, structural impediments prevent people from acting on their egalitarian values, forcing men and women into personal accommodations and rationalizations that do not reflect their preferences. The gender revolution is not in a stall as it  has hit a wall.

Black Women in Politics

Last year the Center for American Women and Politics and Higher Heights joined forces to produce and distribute "The Status of Black Women in American Politics," a report on black women's representation at all levels of government. The report makes clear that the rise in Black women officeholders is a rather recent history, with the most significant gains occurring over the past four decades.

 The numbers of Black women elected to date are stark and small relative to Black men and all women. However, interpreted differently, these data exemplify the opportunity for Black women to identify, expand, and capitalize upon electoral opportunities. Thus, when it comes to Black women's political representation, we have much history left to make.

What history did Black women make in the 2014 elections? And what is the status of Black women in American politics today?

Shirley Chishom, first black woman to be elected to Congress

 The rise in Black women office holders is a rather recent history, with the most significant gains occurring over the past four decades. The numbers of Black women elected to date are stark and small relative to Black men and all women. However, interpreted differently, these data exemplify the opportunity for Black women to identify, expand,and capitalize upon electoral opportunities.

 Congress

Eighteen Black women (17 Democrats and one Republican) serve in the 114th Congress, four more than served before Election Day 2014. Another two Black women serve as delegates from Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands, respectively. Alma Adams (D-North Carolina) became the 100th woman in Congress upon her special election to fill a vacant seat for the remainder of the 113th Congress. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-New Jersey) and Mia Love (R-Utah) both became the first Black women to represent their states in Congress (ever!) in January 2015. Love also made history as the first Black Republican woman to serve in Congress. Two other newcomers, Brenda Lawrence (D-Michigan) and Stacey Plaskett (Delegate, D-Virginia) joined the freshman class of Black congresswomen this year. In fact, Black women are one third of the new women elected to the 114th Congress.

Black women's congressional representation increased in both number and proportion by every measure from 2014 to 2015. Black women are 21.4 percent of all women in the U.S. House in 2015, up from 17.7 percent of women in the fall of 2014. They also represent 9.6 percent of the Democratic Caucus, up from 7 percent before Election Day 2014. Still, Black women are only 4.1 percent of all members of the House in 2015 (up from 3.2 percent in 2014), despite being nearly 7 percent of the population. 

There remain opportunities for Black women to make congressional history in 2015. Only 35 Black women have ever served in Congress, 11.4 percent of the 307 women who have served as representatives or senators to date. Carol Moseley Braun (D-Illinois) remains the only Black woman to ever hold a U.S. Senate seat. Finally, even including the Black women newly elected in 2014, 35 states have yet to send a Black woman to Congress.

Women In Politics

Female politicians at a meeting of law makers from Arab states and members of the European parliament in  November 2014

10 March 2015 – ‘Women in Politics’ 2015 Map launched at United Nations headquarters today reveals the “snail’s pace of progress” on gender equality and women’s participation in public and political life, prompting representatives of the UN and the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) to warn that such slow advancement will severely check the new global development agenda due to be adopted later this year.

“If today’s leaders front-load gender equality, if they start now to make good on those 20-year-old promises, we can look forward to gender equality by 2030 at the latest,” said Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as she called for renewed commitments and investments to meet the Beijing Platform for Action’s target of gender balance set back in 1995.

UN Women, created in 2010 under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, together with the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) today jointly launched this year’s Women in Politics: 2015 Map at United Nations headquarters in both Geneva and in New York.

The Map’s findings presented a mixed picture gleaned from data and global rankings for women in politics showed more countries than ever before (48) have 30 per cent or more women members in at least one parliamentary chamber, up from 46 in 2014 and 42 in 2013.

“The global average for women MPs also reached its highest ever level to above 22 percent,” UN Women and IPU said in a joint press release. “However, that growth was a disappointing 0.3 percentage points and followed the record level of increase (1.5 points) during 2013, suggesting that the impact of quotas was wearing off.”

According to the Map, the Americas maintains its lead as the region with the highest average of women MPs at 26.4 per cent with Bolivia the highest placed country from the region ranking No.2 in the world with 53.1 per cent

However this is not yet satisfactory because we need to see more women than men in parliament if ever that is going to be possible ..It seems the individuals who are fighting for women rights in Africa  and in any other continent are doing a very great job and they really deserve a reward for that..The causes of low participation of women in parliament should be carefully analyzed  and possible remedies to increase their participation should  be developed.

In contrast, the Pacific remains the region with the lowest average of women MPs.

At political leadership level, overall progress was noted as more encouraging.

The number of women Heads of State and/or Government in the world regained a previous peak of 19, it said, and women account for 15.8 per cent of all Speakers of Parliament, an increase of one full percentage point during 2014.

Although the number of women government ministers grew from 670 to 715 in the 12 months since 1 January 2014, the map showed that figure represents only 17.7 per cent of all government ministers in the world. Since 2005, the percentage of women ministers has only increased by 3.5 points.

Thirty countries currently have 30 percent or more women ministers with Finland, Cabo Verde, Sweden, France and Liechtenstein occupying the top five places. Although this figure has dropped from 36 countries in 2014, there are now only eight countries with no women in government: Bosnia Herzegovina, Brunei, Hungary, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The countries that saw the largest decreases between 2014 and 2015 were Peru, Malawi, Denmark, Belgium and Paraguay, with losses ranging from two to six women ministers.

“The snail’s pace of progress on gender equality and women’s participation in public and political life will need to be tackled head-on” for the overall success of the new sustainable development agenda taking over from the Millennium Development Goals this year,” according to the joint UN Women-IPU press release.

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What has the Former Vice President been up to?

Former Vice President on her farm 

There goes the former Vice President Joyce Mujuru. It seems well to me that she has finally accepted her fate which was sealed at the parliament .Joyce Mujuru has realized that the state of equilibrium has been disturbed and she has to do something about it.It is  really inspiring to see that there is now a new state of equilibrium  as she has decided to occupy herself by working in her farm .The above pictures show her in her trousers at her farm and its crystal clear that she is geared for business .The photo was captured by whats app by a citizen journalist who saw it necessary to show people what Mujuru has been up to ever since she was sacked.

This shows the fellow women of Zimbabwe that though they face challenges in life they have got to have a second option and remain independent.Mujuru is able to make a living.That is why it is important for all women to have skills in mining ,farming,tourism ,trade and mining among despite the fact that they have good jobs.In this way there is optimism of grace that if things go wrong at the work place ,they can occupy themselves with something else.

All women in Zimbabwe should be inspired to be like her .Besides politics ,it seems she  knows about farming too.It helps being a jack of all trades and a master of all of them. Mujuru in her Ruzambo farm,  which is in Mashonaland East  concentrates on tobacco and cattle ranching.Despite being fired she still has got some business to take care of .She does not have to worry about her survival .That is what is done by clever political women.They always have plan B.

Keep on farming Joyce Mujuru.You are still a step ahead of most women in Zimbabwe who still have got a lot to learn from you and other inspirational political women who are independent .Being independent means not allowing men to treat you as second class citizens but as equals with them.

They will have more time to do their farming, to grow maize and potatoes,” said Robert Mugabe after she was fired with the other ministers .This has proven true in the case of Mujuru..More time to farm Mujuru

Empowerment of Women



• First Lady Grace Mugabe



 The  First Lady In Action

 Addressing thousands of women at commemorations of the International Women’s Day, the first lady urged women to participate in politics and decision making as these were a fundamental per-requisite for gender equality and women empowerment. Grace Mugabe has become an inspiration to most Zimbabwean women as she is encouraging them to educate themselves so that they are able to partake in decision making.

She has also warned the police to stop confiscating vendor's wares as they are trying to earn a living.One will also observe that most of the vendors are women .This shows that women are taking a step in emancipating themselves from the patriarchal society as they also want to be independent.

This  function was attended by the acting Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Cde Chris Mushowe, Government ministers, Zanu-PF Politburo members, senators, women from the uniformed forces, nurses, student teachers and church members from different denominations.This is actual a good sign because it shows the citizens of Zimbabwe that the government is working towards seeing women as equals to men.Seems like the government is showing a great concern in women empowerment.

To prove this ,the government has come up with some initiatives  to ensure women's participation .These include facilitating women’s participation in key economic sectors of

•  agriculture
•  mining
•  tourism
• trade

“I want to tell women that the sky is the limit. We want a female for the post of the police commissioner general, commander of defense forces and prisons commissioner general. We can all do it and we can do it through education.” Cde Mugabe said.

Moreover she spoke about gender based violence saying despite that people have been enlightened on gender issues,they still regarded or saw violence as the only way to solve disputes.It seems like more education on gender based violence should be given to the people and a punishment for such a crime should be so harsh that the perpetrator would think twice the next time they want to do it.

Challenging the status quo

World War One played a significant part in developing women's political rights - so it is frequently assumed. However, World War One may well have stymied the drive by women to gain political rights or its part may have been overstated. 

The picture on the right shows a female African leader making a pledge at  Inaugural 

 The women of today want to play an equal political role in any country.Politics in modern societies are linked to both gender and class and  it is important to note that male chauvinism in African societies limits opportunity to study about women in politics.

 The political participation of women tends to be erratic, informal and organized around men with whom they are connected in socially legitimate ways.For example,the  leadership of the Sudanese Women’s Union was appointed by the male-run Central Committee of the Sudanese Communist Party. Palestinian women activists in the various revolutionary organizations take orders from their male-dominated leadership.

Some gender activists also argue that quotas may constitute a "glass ceiling" beyond which women cannot go unless they engage in additional struggle. - See more at: http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2004/women-break-african-politics#sthash.OzpYGUca.dpuf

 We need to  need to see the character of women’s political participation in a cultural and historical context

According to Ms. Birgitta Dahl, a Swedish parliamentarian, "Political parties, the educational system, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, churches - all must take responsibility within their own organization to systematically promote women's participation, from the bottom up." - See more at: http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2004/women-break-african-politics#sthash.OzpYGUca.dpuf

The fact that Iranian women gained legitimacy for their participation from the clergy, and most acted in the name of religion during the revolution, has meant that with the success of an Islamic revolution women are subjected to the clergy’s definitions of what is appropriate political -- and non-political -- behavior.

South Africa is not far behind, ranking eighth in the world, with women taking 42% of Parliament’s seats, almost double the rate in 1994 when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) created a voluntary party quota, allocating 30% of posts to women. And they run some of the country’s grandest ministries, such as home, defence and foreign affairs. The central bank governor is a woman, too.

According to some critics like Eleanor Roosevelt ,men play politics a little more like a game. With the men, it becomes a serious occupation for a few weeks before election; whereas women look upon it as a serious matter year in and year out. It is associated with their patriotism and their duty to their country. This shows us that women have the potential to perform much better than men in issues of politics.

ccording to Ms. Birgitta Dahl, a Swedish parliamentarian, "Political parties, the educational system, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, churches - all must take responsibility within their own organization to systematically promote women's participation, from the bottom up." - See more at: http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2004/women-break-african-politics#sthash.OzpYGUca.dpuf