Women Are Ready to Rule

Zimbabwean women pray for peace throughout the country. The Southern African state is preparing for national elections under a new constitution., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Women are ready to rule

Friday, 17 May 2013 00:00
Zimbabwe Herald

There is no doubt that the first quarter of the year can best be described as historic and one of the few momentous occasions where both men and women in support of gender parity have witnessed many landmark decisions taking place in a short period of time to address discrepancies in gender issues.

To start with, 2013 began on a positive note with thousands of Zimbabweans actively participating in the constitutional-making process. The resultant document now awaits Presidential assent to become law.

Quite a number of notable achievements have been made as Zimbabwe hastens to achieve gender equality in some areas, mainly in the political arena, that had remained a grey area for a long time.

And only last week, women from different political parties met in Harare, to strategise their ascendancy to power as the nation prepares for a watershed election sometime this year, that will put an end to the inclusive Government.

Dubbed “Vote for A Woman Campaign” the project that was being supported by the Women in Politics Support Unit is aimed at boosting female representation in Parliament and Cabinet irrespective of political affiliation.

The awareness is, among other things, expected to raise awareness among the general populace to vote for a woman in the forthcoming general elections. It is also aimed at achieving a 50/50 representation between men and women in both Government and the private sector.

This realisation to include many women legislators in Parliament and the Cabinet came about as a fulfillment to commitments that Zimbabwe made when it signed a number of gender protocols such as the Sadc’s Protocol on Gender, the Convention on the Elimination of Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Beijing platform for action, which seek to promote women’s empowerment through their participation in politics.

With only 18 percent women representation in the current Parliament, the Government, women organisations and other stakeholders realised that they needed to address the anomaly and expedite the implementation of some of these protocols, instead of paying lip service to the cause.

It therefore came as no surprise that stakeholders in gender parity, further pushed this agenda during the constitution-making process, and there was overwhelming response from both men and women, resulting in a proposition where women will have 60 seats reserved for them under propositional representation over for just two parliamentary terms and above the other seats that other women might win during the elections.

That goal now would have to be pushed with a number of initiatives and “Vote for a Woman Campaign” is one such viable option that aspiring female politicians would need to ride on for meaningful representation, regardless of one’s political inclination.

And looking at the “Vote for a Woman Campaign”, I am immediately reminded of the late anti-feminist Margaret Thatcher’s observation of women’s involvement in politics in 1982, when she said: “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man, if you want anything done, ask a woman.”

Those who have worked with women who have made it to the top will attest that they work harder, make less impulsive decisions, are less corruptible and are more likely to support pro-women programmes, though they may not get the necessary support — than their male counterparts.

Although Thatcher herself, the first British female Prime Minister, who earned herself the title “Iron Lady” was more ruthless and Machiavellian than most male politicians, it worked in her favour back then. However, the approach that Thatcher used then will not work this time, when countries the world over are looking for women leadership in order to create less violent environments for future generations.

During her time, Thatcher showed that if a female politician wanted to be a success within a patriarchal political party, she had to act, think and behave like a man. I am sure if she had shown herself to be nurturing and compassionate woman during that time; she probably would have lost respect in the patriarchal political world and be ousted from power much sooner.

But things have changed from the time of Thatcher and the political landscape is different. Countries the world over are moving towards gendered leadership by including as many women as possible to achieve different but positive results in policy making. They now want a feminine approach to pacify warring factions, while providing “rationale” leadership, which does not vilify or anger the other party without providing solutions.

With the “Vote for a Woman Campaign” now in full throttle, aspiring female politicians need to know that they will throw away a big advantage if they want to employ same strategies that the majority male politicians have been using to get into power.

Vote buying, use of violence, hard handiness when handling issues, corrupt ways, deceit, circumventing the proper system in order to be voted into power will not make women better politicians than they already are.

Generally, male politicians have been promising to make the world better and overcome problems like war and poverty, with little success. They have been delivering more of the same, and that’s the reason why the electorate would need to shift their minds and vote for female candidates within their constituencies.

Women are generally more willing to compromise and achieve “half a loaf” results without burning bridges in the process, while the majority of men will see any conflict as an “all or nothing” battle where winning is more important than achieving results. I have often heard my male colleagues at work daring each other to go downstairs and square off in a fight, instead of just reaching an agreement over an issue.

It is that kind of attitude and the modus operandi of solving problems that has resulted in the warring situations that we read about on a daily basis, in the region and across the globe, even in cases where a standoff can just be solved amicably instead of going to war.

However, for the campaign to be successful, women will have to put aside their personal and political differences and look for a winning formula so that they can emerge as one united front, rather than pockets of groups that we have been seeing.

While they may be individuals who may want to offer their candidature, not because they are good but because they are strategically positioned, women should do away with such characters and instead, prop up women with good credentials who capable of providing meaningful leadership.

Many will agree that not all women leaders are feminist heroes, as others will just make up the numbers and bring us closer to parity in a historically male-dominated field of politics, but there are women of substance in our midst, who have exhibited leadership skills at different levels and remain committed to lead if given the opportunity.

Let us give them the support needed, as we edge towards gender equality in politics.
Of course, the truth of the matter is the initiative to rope in as many women as possible in politics will probably take many years to achieve and women in Zimbabwe are not far off from the mark.