4. Recommendations

POLICY BRIEF 5: 5

WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS: REGIONAL BEST PRACTICE

1� INTRODUCTION

In the African context, domestication of strategies created to increase WPP can arguably be considered inconsistent and uninspiring based on the progress made over the years. Nonetheless, existing regional, sub-regional, and global organizations and institutions that fight for overall inclusivity are still committed to the success of equity and inclusion principles. The end goal of increased women’s involvement in political and decision-making processes and knowledge of their rights, possibilities, and power to represent and be represented is still considered attainable. Students from Daystar University, Kenya, pose for a photo at the launch of the Intergenerational Mentorship Programme

Photo Credits: FAWE RS However, there are significant challenges to reversing attitudes and the underlying principles affecting WPP due to the social, cultural, economic, and religious contexts that prevail in society. However, some African countries have made significant strides towards attaining the goal of equity in women’s participation in the political space. Countries such as Rwanda, Namibia, South Africa and Senegal have shown success in their efforts towards increasing and having the meaningful engagement of WPP. These countries have justified their top positions in the IPU ranking on women in national parliaments by January 2021. This policy brief examines these countries as best practices to document lessons that could be adopted by Kenya and Tanzania, among other countries that are still lagging behind in Africa and elsewhere globally.

...regional, sub-regional, and global organizations and institutions that fight for overall inclusivity are still committed to the success of equity���

INCREASE SUPPLY

• Awareness raising • Symbolic action • Legislative work conditions • Recruitments • Capacity development • Gender quotas • Soft targets • Internal quotas • Women’s sections • Party funding regulations • Campaign support • Funding opportunities • Funding networks • Party Funding regulations • Women’s caucuses • Gender research and training

ELIGIBLE

ASPIRANT

ENHANCE DEMAND

ASPIRANT

CANDIDATE

ENHANCE DEMAND

CANDIDATE

ELECTED

Source: Krook and Norris 2014 Fig 1: Flow diagram for International Best Practices for Promoting Women’s Political Participation

2� BEST PRACTICES AND KEY INDICATORS

This section identifies the characteristics of the four countries selected for review, the key indicators and highlights evidence of the following key drivers of success in enhancing WPP (as also illustrated in Figure 1): i. Collaboration by women in leadership on equal gender participation and representation in politics;

ii. Proactive action by government leadership and bodies towards promoting gender parity in political structures;

iii. Legislation that provides for special gender quotas;

iv. Efforts to adhere to, implement and domesticate any signed and/or ratified protocols by the government; and

v.Increased awareness among women of the existing laws, rights to participate, rights to represent and to be represented.

...Legislation that provides for special gender quotas...

KEY INDICATORS RWANDA NAMIBIA SOUTH AFRICA SENEGAL KENYA TANZANIA GAPS

ELECTORAL QUOTAS & POLITICAL PARTIES

The country provides 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. Article 82 calls for 30 per cent of seats set aside for women in the Senate. Impressively, wanda has managed to surpass the 30 per cent quota for women in the National Parliament. According to Gender Links, Namibia (GLN), elections in Namibia at a 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 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 party leadership and decisionmaking positions (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 decision making 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 twothirds gender rule on quota representation in the Kenya Constitution 2010, although the rule remains unimplemented at all levels. The Constitution of Tanzania stipulates a 30 per cent reserved seats quota for women in elected decision making 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 decisionmaking structure, a 5050 gender representation for Ministers and their deputies and a 50-50 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 women's representation 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 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.