The more women in seats in parliament, the more lip

DISSATISFIED with the amount of female participation in parliamentary debates? A recent study by the NGO Gender Links suggests that this, across the entire southern Africa, is linked to the small number of women politicians elected into power.

The study, entitled ‘At The Coalface – Gender and Local Government in Southern Africa’, suggests that the more female participants in decision-making bodies, the more they speak and contribute to debate compared to their male counterparts. “This study found that where women constituted below 30 per cent of participants, they spoke 21 per cent of the time.When women constituted 30 to 50 per cent of the participants, they spoke 22 per cent of the time.However, when women constituted more than half of the participants, they spoke a little less, but almost as much as men,” the study concludes.Men however seem to dominate conversation, “no matter what the situation”, the editors say.The study was conducted in South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius and Lesotho throughout last year, with 478 local councillors, as well as numerous civil society representatives, experts and officials interviewed.Another key finding was that women were more easily allowed into local politics as opposed to national politics, presumably because local politics “is not seen as important as national politics”.Namibia, for example, has 21 female MPs out of 78 seats in the National Assembly (27 per cent), compared to 135 female councillors out of 323 in local authorities (42 per cent).Namibia is second only to Lesotho in this regard; it has 58 per cent female representation in local government.”This good performance can be attributed mainly to the use of the PR (proportional representation) electoral system and legislated quota, coupled with the adoption of the “zebra” system by the ruling Swapo Party.”Unfortunately, however, the same gains have not been made at national level and Namibia still falls short of the 30 per cent target,” the study says.The study was edited by Gender Links’ Executive Director, Colleen Lowe Morna, and Susan Tolmay, the organisation’s Gender and Governance Manager.”This study found that where women constituted below 30 per cent of participants, they spoke 21 per cent of the time.When women constituted 30 to 50 per cent of the participants, they spoke 22 per cent of the time.However, when women constituted more than half of the participants, they spoke a little less, but almost as much as men,” the study concludes.Men however seem to dominate conversation, “no matter what the situation”, the editors say.The study was conducted in South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius and Lesotho throughout last year, with 478 local councillors, as well as numerous civil society representatives, experts and officials interviewed. Another key finding was that women were more easily allowed into local politics as opposed to national politics, presumably because local politics “is not seen as important as national politics”.Namibia, for example, has 21 female MPs out of 78 seats in the National Assembly (27 per cent), compared to 135 female councillors out of 323 in local authorities (42 per cent).Namibia is second only to Lesotho in this regard; it has 58 per cent female representation in local government.”This good performance can be attributed mainly to the use of the PR (proportional representation) electoral system and legislated quota, coupled with the adoption of the “zebra” system by the ruling Swapo Party. “Unfortunately, however, the same gains have not been made at national level and Namibia still falls short of the 30 per cent target,” the study says.The study was edited by Gender Links’ Executive Director, Colleen Lowe Morna, and Susan Tolmay, the organisation’s Gender and Governance Manager.