African Parliaments have been urged to prioritise proportional representation of women and gender mainstreaming in both legislatures and governments.
The call was made during a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region Conference plenary meeting held on Wednesday.
During a discussion on ‘Evolving and adapting new strategies for increased women participation in politics’, delegates shared challenges, best practices and experiences on what can be done to strengthen support for female Members of Parliament to ensure that they function as leaders in their own right, and not tokens and proxies for political correctness.
Presenting a Southern Africa Sub-regional activity report, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) representative, Winnie Ngwenya, emphasised the urgent need for gender responsive budgeting and legislative instruments to enforce gender mainstreaming.
Ngwenya shared how the South African Parliament uses its policy-making and legislative instruments to support and protect women against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
"We treat Parliamentary Committees as a formal mechanism to enable both male and female Members of Parliament to influence legislative and policy agendas. This is done through reviewing bills to ensure that they are gender-sensitive and by holding enquiries into gender equality issues,” Ngwenya said.
She noted that the South African Parliament has passed three progressive pieces of legislation to protect vulnerable women in the country.
“The three acts to be implemented in South Africa are the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, Domestic Violence Amendment Act, and the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, respectively," Ngwenya said.
The conference commended Rwanda for achieving over 60% women representation in its national Parliament and lauded its achievement as a model to be followed.
South Africa was also commended for having nine female Speakers out of 10 legislatures, including National Parliament.
During the discussions, countries, including South Africa, Rwanda, and Zambia, reported significant progress in gender inclusivity in their legislatures and protection of women's policies. However, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and others still bewailed the low number of women participation in politics, let alone leadership roles.
Gender sensitive legislation needs to be enacted
The conference further resolved that gender sensitive legislation needs to be enacted to ensure that, even in instances where gender parity is achieved, women are not placed in strategic positions as tokens and proxies of powerful men, but as equal and able leaders of society.
The conference heard that other challenges regarding women's representation depend on political ideologies and vary from country to country.
On the continent's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the plenary noted that women were significantly impacted by the devastating effects of the pandemic, resulting in loss of income, poverty, and a grave threat to food security.
Member of Western Cape Provincial Legislature, Matlhodi Maseko, implored the CPA Secretariat to create a universal virtual database where best practices, research, and prevention methods can be shared within the region.
Other issues discussed at the plenary included the strengthening of Parliamentary Visibility; Parliamentary efforts in resource allocation for purposes of executing its Constitutional mandate; the role of African Parliaments in accelerating Intra-Africa Trade; mobilising regional, international coordination and cooperation to respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics, as well as drawing lessons from COVID-19 to build lessons for future pandemics
Gauteng Provincial Legislature Speaker and CPA Africa Region Treasurer, Ntombi Mekgwe, emphasised the need to strengthen the finance sub-committee of the CPA to ensure that women's activities are supported optimally.
Mekgwe vowed to use her position as CPA Regional Treasurer to influence the funding of conference resolutions and the implementation of women empowerment programmes in the region.
The CPA Africa Region is a member of Parliamentary association of Commonwealth countries across the globe, which aims to promote peace, democracy, and good governance amongst its members.
The 52nd CPA Africa Region, which is underway in Freetown, Sierra Leone, will conclude on Thursday. – SAnews.gov.za
