Women have come a long way, but…

WHAT is the status of women in political and economic leadership in Namibia? This question was asked and explored by members of the Namibia Economic Society (NES) at a breakfast meeting in Windhoek yesterday.

Keynote speaker Minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said that when it came to decision making and power-sharing, women were still in a transition period. “We have achieved a lot, but there is still a long way to go to emancipate women, empower them and liberate people’s minds so that a more favourable atmosphere for women’s promotion is achieved in our society,” she said.Nandi-Ndaitwah said internationally Namibia was ranked 23rd on women’s representation in Parliament.”This is a good result as we are relative newcomers among independent states in the world,” she said.In the National Assembly, 23 per cent of Members of Parliament are women, while there are two out of 26 members in the National Council.Of the 27 Cabinet members, five are women.Ndaitwah said within regional councils, women were under-represented with only seven women out of 102 elected as regional councillors.At local authority level, women represented 44 per cent.Ndaitwah also said that the Constitution acknowledged and encouraged equal power relations and treatment of women and men in all spheres of social, legal and economic life.She noted that various laws had been amended since Independence, despite resistance by men both in Parliament and communities, to substantially improve women’s standing in society.Some of these laws are the Married Persons Equality Act, the Affirmative Action Act and the Combating of Rape Act.”The process of legal reform is still continuing,” she added.As far as education was concerned, Ndaitwah said girls were in the majority when starting their educational process.”But the percentage of drop-outs from Grade 7 onwards are higher, probably due to early pregnancies,” she said.At university level girls were represented almost equally to boys.”In employment, however, we are still confronted with serious imbalances between women and men,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.Women found it harder to get formal employment or well-paying jobs – managers were predominantly men.She said the greatest imbalance was in the private sector.”Out of the 42,7 per cent workforce, 48,2 are men and 35,7 are women.”Nandi-Ndaitwah said her Ministry was committed to investing greater efforts in further redressing the imbalances inherited from the past.”We have achieved a lot, but there is still a long way to go to emancipate women, empower them and liberate people’s minds so that a more favourable atmosphere for women’s promotion is achieved in our society,” she said.Nandi-Ndaitwah said internationally Namibia was ranked 23rd on women’s representation in Parliament.”This is a good result as we are relative newcomers among independent states in the world,” she said.In the National Assembly, 23 per cent of Members of Parliament are women, while there are two out of 26 members in the National Council.Of the 27 Cabinet members, five are women.Ndaitwah said within regional councils, women were under-represented with only seven women out of 102 elected as regional councillors.At local authority level, women represented 44 per cent.Ndaitwah also said that the Constitution acknowledged and encouraged equal power relations and treatment of women and men in all spheres of social, legal and economic life.She noted that various laws had been amended since Independence, despite resistance by men both in Parliament and communities, to substantially improve women’s standing in society.Some of these laws are the Married Persons Equality Act, the Affirmative Action Act and the Combating of Rape Act.”The process of legal reform is still continuing,” she added.As far as education was concerned, Ndaitwah said girls were in the majority when starting their educational process.”But the percentage of drop-outs from Grade 7 onwards are higher, probably due to early pregnancies,” she said.At university level girls were represented almost equally to boys.”In employment, however, we are still confronted with serious imbalances between women and men,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.Women found it harder to get formal employment or well-paying jobs – managers were predominantly men.She said the greatest imbalance was in the private sector.”Out of the 42,7 per cent workforce, 48,2 are men and 35,7 are women.”Nandi-Ndaitwah said her Ministry was committed to investing greater efforts in further redressing the imbalances inherited from the past.