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Gender, Tsungai Chekerwa-Machokoto
Education is liberating and it opens your mind to extents you didn’t even know existed. It exposes your ignorance and empowers your intellect.

Education is mandatory to make contributions that are meaningful and forceful

I have been bothered quite a bit lately about the political participation of the women in my country.

I don’t understand why there is not an influx of female political representatives. In a country like Zimbabwe where there are more women than men, it only makes sense that there should be good proportions. There should be more women than men in Parliament.

I was in a lecture on women and politics and we were discussing the Rwanda situation. Women are not as involved in politics as they should be. In Rwanda, 56 percent of Parliament is made up of women and that is commendable. They are a great example. If Rwandan women can do it, why can’t we?

Let’s look at the advantages of having more women in Parliament. First of all, women’s issues will be represented by people who understand the implications of what it means to be voiceless. Issues like reproductive health that are peculiar to women will be represented and attended to.

Without women involvement, these issues will still be debated but to a lesser extent. Yes, there are professionals, but experience adds a little extra element to any kind of debate scenario that throws book knowledge off balance.

Also, when more women are in Parliament, their voices are amplified and making their contributions on issues such as the gender budget more pronounced. When budgets are drawn up with the women’s cause in mind, inclusion becomes inevitable. Women’s movements will be funded so as to reach women at grassroots level.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all this is not happening, what I am actually saying is that more women should be involved in government initiatives so that the life of the ordinary woman is bettered. The more representation in Parliament, the more visibility there will be for women.
Human capital should be fully utilised, this can only happen when more women are involved. One of the reasons why women lack a presence in politics is education. While one can get involved in politics without an education, it is better to have it so that you are not intimidated out of certain platforms because of lack of eloquence that would have easily been cured by education.

Education is liberating and it opens your mind to extents you didn’t even know existed. It exposes your ignorance and empowers your intellect. Education is mandatory to make contributions that are meaningful and forceful.

Another advantage of having more women in Parliament is that all planning, implementations and evaluations will incorporate women’s needs and engage women as collaborators and allies. Lobbying and advocacy will be a breeze because there are ready ears to listen to concerns that involve women.

An increase in women’s economic participation is important if the lives of more people are to be transformed. It is one thing to have a lot of women representing other women’s needs and another to have representation that translates to economic transformation. If lives are not impacted, the representation ceases to be appreciated and it affects the next electoral phase.

One of the biggest advantages of having more women in Parliament is that the process of legislation will have the needs of women being elevated by other women. A perfect example is how the women that were present for the drafting of the constitution included issues that affect women. Our Constitution is gender sensitive because of that in my opinion.

I can proudly say that the Zimbabwean Constitution is one of the best in the world because the Bill of Rights incorporates vulnerable groups, women and the elderly. We have a gender clause in Section 17 and there are provisions specific to women. I believe it was because of the learned contributions of the women that were involved.

This reinforces my earlier sentiment on the importance of education. When women are educated for an office and are given the right platform, the results are explosive. Other laws against gender based violence; children’s rights and inheritance continue to be amended because of scrutiny by the right people. Women need to be a part of the parliamentary sessions so that our country can be comparable to Rwanda on women representation.
Rwandan women became involved in the country’s politics after the genocide.

A colleague exclaimed how we should not wait for drastic events to happen before we become involved. Without genocide or wars or anything traumatic, we can be a nation with excellent statistics on women. It can be done because it is completely up to us as Zimbabweans.

It can be concluded that women representation in Parliament and other powerful platforms is critically important in the emancipation of women.

When more women are represented, that should be able to translate to more lives that are changed. Women should however be educated to be able to have the stamina to withstand political arenas.

Intimidation and lack of eloquence are cured by education and finally, more women should be involved in politics and issues to do with governance to be able to influence policy making. A country can be steered in the right direction by a gender sensitive wheel. After all, gender is not about equality, it’s about social justice. It can be done in this our blessed land.

Tsungai Chekerwa-Machokoto can be reached on [email protected]