1. Typology Of Csos And Partners Engaged In Wpp

KEY INDICATORS RWANDA NAMIBIA SOUTH AFRICA SENEGAL KENYA TANZANIA GAPS

ELECTORAL QUOTAS & POLITICAL PARTIES

The country provides for 30 per cent quotas for women in the National Parliament. According to the Quota Project, 2009, Article 9 of the Rwandese Constitution calls for 30 per cent of posts in decision-making bodies to be set aside for female candidates. In addition, Article 82 calls for 30 per cent of seats to be set aside for women in the Senate. Impressively, Rwanda has managed to surpass the 30 per cent quota. According to Gender Links, Namibia (GLN), elections in Namibia at the national and local level are conducted based on Proportional Representation (PR), also known as the list system. Every party is expected to maintain an alternating order of men and women on their candidate lists (Zebra list), and the parties get seats according to the proportion of seats that they win. SA has legislated quotas at the sub-national level but not at the national level. Since 1997, the African National Congress (ANC) Constitution has stipulated a minimum 33 per cent quota for women’s representation in all leadership and decision-making positions of the party (Rule 14.1). In 2007, at the 52nd ANC National Congress, the Constitution was amended to increase the quota to 50 per cent. Today, 50 per cent of the elected members of the National Executive Committee are women. However, in terms of the top positions in the party, the gender parity provision is not complied with—only two of the top six positions in the party (the Chairperson and the Deputy Secretary-General positions) are occupied by women. The amendments to the electoral law in Senegal enacted in June 2010 mandate parity for all candidate lists for public decisionmaking positions. Despite the progressive legislation, which creates an enabling environment for political parties to ensure gender parity in decision-making positions, parties’ constitutions are not yet aligned with the electoral law. Kenya adopted the twothird gender rule on quota representation in the Kenya Constitution 2010. It remains unimplemented at all levels.. The Constitution of Tanzania stipulates a 30 per cent reserved seats quota for women in elected decisionmaking positions. It is expected that political parties in Tanzania will comply with the constitutional quota by putting it into practice within their party leadership and decision-making positions. • Implementation of the 2/3rd gender rule not actualized for Kenya.

• Women in politics struggle to compete with men within the political parties.

• Lack of equitable resources for women in politics due to competition among the candidates in political parties.

LEGISLATION

Several initiatives have been put in place to ensure 30 per cent rule in law is actively adhered to. While there is no constitutional or legislative quota, the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) has a 50 per cent, one woman, one man, also known as “zebra” quota in parliament. The All People’s Party (APP) also advocates for a 50-50 decision-making structure, a 50-50 gender representation for ministers and their deputies and a 5050 gender representation in management positions of all state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The ANC and FRELIMO (South Africa) adopted an internal voluntary party quota of 30 per cent representation of women in parliament. The ANC Women’s League spearheaded this quota through a series of campaigns and inside lobbying for a party policy to increase female representation (Tripp 2003). On May 28 2010, the former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade signed off on the Senegalese Law on Parity that aims to fulfil a male/female ratio of 50:50, which is one of the most radical gender quota laws to date. In fulfilment of this, all political parties are to maintain an alternating order of men and women on their candidate lists. Article 81 (b) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides for the “two-thirds gender rule”, stating that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender. However, Kenya’s parliament is still struggling to meet this requirement. Part of the reason seemingly being that the Constitution doesn’t prescribe how the two-thirds gender requirement should be met. Referring to the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, Article 66 (1)(b) and 78 (1) of the Tanzanian Constitution of 1977 provided that the seats allocated to women be distributed "based on the proportional representation among the parties". That was later amended in 2005, raising the quota to 30 per cent representation of women in the Tanzanian National Parliament. Kenya has not managed to implement the two-thirds gender rule.

There are initiatives in place to address, but there is no political will.

3. COMPARISON OF STATISTICS IN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Table 2 highlights statistics of women representation in the National Governments of Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia and Senegal, compared to those of Tanzania and Kenya. This is according to IPU’s latest data (January 2021).

Table 2: Comparison of statistics in national governments (Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Kenya

RWANDA SOUTH AFRICA NAMIBIA SENEGAL TANZANIA KENYA

RANK 1 12 15 17 34 105

SEATS 80 397 104 165 384 347

WOMEN 49 182 46 71 141 75

PERCENT 61.3% 45.8% 44.2% 43% 36.7% 21.6%

SENATE SEATS 26 53 42

WOMEN 10 22 6

PERCENT 38.5% 41.5% 14.3% 66

21

31.8%

Source: Inter-parliamentary Union ranking on women in national parliaments 2021 www.data.ipu.org

3.1 Rwanda

Rwanda ranked first, as in January 2021, on the IPU’s monthly ranking of women in national parliament, with 49 women out of 80 in the Lower House and 10 women out of 26 in the Upper Chamber. A 2018 dissertation on Female Representation and Development in Rwanda argues that among the factors that have contributed to the development in Rwanda is the current and steady increase of the number of women in parliament [2]. Its findings highlight that there exists a relation between female representation in politics and development in Rwanda. The high representation of women in the Rwandan parliament can be attributed to the actions post-genocide in 1994, where women were approximately 70 per cent of the nation’s population left behind. Rwanda has taken various measures in promoting WPP, including:

i. Ensuring active participation of women in constitution drafting: Forty multi-ethnic NGOs brought together civil society leaders, the Ministry of Gender and the Promotion of Women (MIGEPROFE), and the Forum of Rwandan Women Parliamentarians (FFRP) to advocate for gender reforms in the constitution. This involvement led to pronouncements in the constitution that 30 per cent of all posts in decisionmaking organs be reserved for women. Of the 80 seats in the legislature's Lower House, 24 are set aside for women. The constitutional directive also has been used to seek 30 per cent women’s representation in the judiciary, the executive branch, and on political party lists;

ii. Partnership with allies: This has facilitated lobbying for the constitutional quota of 30 per cent women’s representation, which is reflected throughout the government and by political parties;

iii. Government endorsement: This has ensured that women have not only been on the political ballot papers but that they are also in leadership. For instance, President Kagame’s party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, has supported women’s recent advances. President Kagame said this of his administration, “We fully recognize the critical roles women must play in our society.” [3]. Female leaders are also able to leverage their standing as members of the RPF to advocate for women’s inclusion; and

iv. Capacity building: This has happened for women leaders and has been implemented alongside addressing societal issues. Factors such as discrimination, poverty, lack of education, and limited skills building are common impediments due to greater women’s involvement.

3.2. South Africa

South Africa is considered a more developed African country due to the advanced nature of its national structure, a structuring dated back to post-apartheid in 1994. Holding 12th place in IPU’s monthly ranking, South Africa takes pride in having 182 women out of 397 in the Lower House and 22 women out of 53 in the Senate. The country prominently features among countries advancing in WPP in Africa, with 46 per cent of women in the House of Assembly and 50 per cent of women in the cabinet following the 2019 elections. Women representation in parliament increased from 40 per cent in 2014 to 46 per cent in 2019. Interestingly, the country does not have any legislation promoting gender parity. But the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is the only party with gender quotas to ensure representation of women in politics and decision-making. This gender quota was in place since 1994. The system is founded on guidelines of nominations of public representatives. Women have actively participated in ANC and formed the Bantu Women’s League. The engagement by women led to them being permitted to become full members of the ANC. In 1948, the ANC Women’s League was formally launched, and it has carried a vision to unite women in South Africa across the colour barrier.

Similar to Rwanda, women in South Africa have been seen to come together in solidarity through political organizations, trade union movements and other CSOs. For instance, the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) formed in 1954 is a key factor in achieving WPP. The general aim is to affirm their authoritative rights, freedoms and powers despite patriarchal ideologies, let alone racism. This kind of female political engagement in South Africa contributed to drafting a protective multiracial non-sexist constitution postapartheid in 1996.

Gender equality and the emancipation of women found expression in ANC policy pronouncements. Women came together and formed the Women’s National Coalition (WNC), bringing together over 100 women organizations and groups to strengthen the position of women to address structural gender oppression and demand for affirmative action. The ANC Women’s League came out as a strong force that ANCs Affirmative Action Plan adopted.

3.3. Namibia

As in most African countries, women in Namibia played a major role in the fight for the country’s independence from South Africa in 1990. Even so, Namibian women go down in history for tirelessly fighting for their voices to be heard in socio-economic and political circles and agendas. Namibia is ranked 15th by IPU and has 46 women out of 104 in its Lower House and six women out of 42 in the Upper Chamber. These statistics are considered hard-earned, with records of uprisings from the women’s movement dating back to the early 1950s, some of which resulted in women being sent into exile in the early 1960s.