Zambia has been cited as one of the five African countries with a low number of female parliamentarians.
This came to light during the just ended five day Africa Regional meeting on Sustainable Development Goals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The other African countries with low numbers of female parliamentarians are Eritrea, Egypt, Botswana and Namibia.
Lands Deputy Minister Danny Chingimbu who attended the just ended meeting in Addis Ababa said that even though Zambia has a low number of female parliamentarians compared to other African countries, the country has witnessed the appointment of more women to high decision making positions.
This is according to a press statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today by First Secretary for Press and Tourism at the Zambian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Dorcas Chileshe.
Zambia has female decision makers in the Zambia Police Service, The Anti Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission.
There are also women appointed as Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors and High Commissioners.
Most of the countries that have done well in women representation in Parliament have introduced a quota system with 30 percent of the seats reserved for women and the 70 percent competed for by both men and women.
ZANIS
The others avoid politics for fear of being abused verbal, physically and sexual by cadres and male MPs.
In short you are simply saying society is to blame as Zambian culture is so meadival it hurts!
African women are usually battered into silence at the hands of political goons… example is :
A Kenyan female MP was attacked by a gang of three men who forced her to swallow human faeces as they pulled off her hair. The attackers also beat her up and warned her to keep off the area politics.
“Women are attacked every other election year and some even stripped in public”
@cindy
No.. society to not to blame,, Zambia women are lazy and love free things,, very few Zambia women would apply themselves and reach their goals without begging their way through!!!
As man i pity our Zambian they dont have a drive,, that aggressive personal drive you find in europe. Most of our zambian woman love investing in marriage… they enjoy begging from men.
We do not just pick women anywhere anyhow! They need to go through procedure. what has happened to women for change? etc.
Men are so corrupt morally, yearning to abuse anyone like Ka axe etc. We have smart and educated women who know that politics is dirty in Zambia. Mixing with Masumba.
We talk to them and this what they have to say.
@Cindy crude as it may sound I have been on the campaign trail before and seen how our women are abused. Some even give sexual favours just to be considered for adoption. See how many times some women politicians have been verbally abused and threated with “cabbage.” If not sexual and verbal abuse then we have cases of them being attacked and stripped by violent cadres. How many men politicians have been threatened with “cabbage” or stripped in public?
In that Parliament with lions, leopards in picture. And its so dark in there, who knows who is tonyatonya Dora and Sylvia?
That room can’t attract a decent woman.
@ 2020,
What horror! Now i understand what calibre of men has been serving mother Zambia…. I have no words i only know that our men, young and old need thorough education on how a civilised world is operated. It’s about time Zambian women fought hard for the right to serve their country on the same level as men, in short war must be declared against unjust treatment of women in all areas in this country, now i understand all the insults on Watch dog against women parliamentarians. I now understand why some women have succumbed to insulting their fellow women, there is no unity amongst women for obvious reasons, wow….. i can only imagine how dirty and uncivilised those zambian political rallies/ conferences turn to be what a shame! things need to be changed.
@Ndobo,
I completely blame society, the foundation on which a Zambian home is built, the leaders, parents, our fore fathers, everyone whith the responsibilityof building a civilised society. If parents could empower their own children on how to be future leaders instead of teaching them how to insult or bully others they percieve weaker than them, or use uncivilised ways as a defence mechanism. I blame the men at the helm of the Zambian leadership who could have made a stop to abuse in all walks of life of a Zambian woman, i completely blame it on all the leaders who have come and gone, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves!
@ Mama Africa,
Africa is indeed a jungle i have no idea for how long it will remain that way! i earlier replied vehemently to your comment unfortunately LT did not agree with me so they threw it in the bin!
@ Nostra,
Then we need the strongest cat women to teach those men the hard way!
Just wait until Inonge Wina becomes Zambia’s next president and starts rubbing shoulders with the next US president, Hillary Clinton.
Zambia women would rather be abused wives than successful law makers.
@ Nubian,
I agree with you 100%, the most amazing thing about it is that they even question why when someone treats them with diginity. On another overwhelming chapter, when a woman comes out strong and well informed ready to be one of the “boys” both men and women go on attack, unbelievable!
Competing with moslems shuwa!! Arent we liberated?
I believe there’s a good number of Zambian women who are well educated but they are just not too ambitious to strive for high positions for whatever reasons. Most of them are simply satisfied to be mothers and housewives. A successfull career demands a great deal of time and energy and this calls for sacrifice in many areas e.g. family planning.
WHHAT? Family Planning??? You mean there are fewer politicians because most Zambia women prioritize getting pregnant?
Just carry out a survey to find out how many women would rather stay home and raise their kids instead of pursuing a political career. Then you will see what I mean.
Its bcoz Zambia is still a very conservative rural country .Very sad that we’re the Saudi Arabia of africa.
@Ndobo most Zambian women are faced with overbearing male chauvinism they end up giving in to a society thats not ready to give them a chance. Politics with its exhibitionism is especially tough ground for women whom society keeps reminding that meekness is a virtue. Otherwise in many other fields Zambian women are shining
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
MP’s are voted for & NOT APPOINTED – so go tell who ever is asking, that it is the Zambian’s peoples choice in our DEMOCRACY!!
This is the problem with us, TOO APOLOGETIC for nothing!!!
#7… i don’t know what you see but there is surely no democracy in Zambia. It appears well documented but it does not exist in reality. Democracy is a complex subject and at the moment, the mind set of our politicians “the MPs” is not about developing Zambia.To develop a nation you need dedicated people in the form of politicians who respect democratic principles and values. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Zambian MPs because politics is viewed as a gateway to financial freedom and this will never change for many years to come.
Maikalenge – even if the MPs were voted for, there is no evidence to prove that the women were adopted in large numbers and lost during the elections. Besides, the President would have nominated some woment also – or all women, from his rigging rights of nominating MPs, instead of these old men he decided extra – if there was will to improve the proportional representation.
No: 8 & 9, do not confuse the democratic basis of “one man one vote”, with the bunches of thieves that we have gotten to lead us! If the had an iota of what democracy means, the would have taken their duties seriously.
It is down to us again, to mobilise ourselves, talk to our friends & relatives – to scrutinise who we think has at least an iota of truth in what they say as we go to the next election!!
The president has the right to appoint ministers but what we saw was all male ones been appointed,when it comes to adoptions from the political parties men are preferred to women,what ever formula is used
Edith Nawakwi, an intelligent woman has attempted to be elected for high office but she did not get the required support from fellow women. This is despite statistics clearly showing that women outnumber men by a ratio of 2:1. Women in Zambia would rather vote for men for reasons only better known by themselves. They do not like to see their fellow women advance. However let us bear in mind that the schedule for our Parliament is very demanding for a woman who has husband and kids. To be a Parliamentarian one has to be single to effectively serve or otherwise one has to have a very supportive family.
So you really don’t seem to make your mind up on what you really want???
And by the way, the topic was about MP’s, NOT PRESIDENTS!!
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