INCREASING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT
INCREASING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT Reflections on women’s political participation.
Hon. Angela Thoko Didiza, MP is a former Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs (1999) and Minister of Public Works (2006) in the South African Government. When President Thabo Mbeki was ousted as President in 2008, she was one of the ten Ministers that resigned. She was selected as one of the Young Global Leaders by the Forum of Young Global Leaders in 2004. She is currently a Project Consultant for the Archie Mafeje Research Institute at the University of South Africa. She is also the Chairperson of the CPAAfrica Region’s Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Steering Committee. She has a wealth of expertise on raising the profile of women in political institutions.
During the past few days, you have deliberated on critical issues that are essential for a functional parliament. You have acquired tools that will enable you to become better public representatives. During these deliberations Honourable Members, I noted that you reflected on the challenges of women in society and as Parliamentarians. In preparing for this presentation I thought it necessary to remind all of us that in 1989, women delegates at the CPA plenary conference noted that women continue to be disproportionately represented in Parliaments and Legislatures. Therefore, they resolved to constitute a forum of women Parliamentarians who would meet and address ways to address women’s concerns as well as develop strategies for increasing women’s representation in Parliaments. The forum which was later known as the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) was formally recognised by the CPA in its constitutional structure. You will agree with me that the issue of women’s participation and representation
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in decision making structures is not new. It has defined women’s struggles over the years. However, questions to this day are being asked as to the difference that women make in parliament and the need for increased numbers. In trying to answer this question I found some pointers in the words of one woman Parliamentarian from Uganda who said: “For the first-time women became a subject of discussion which was not the case before. Women became an issue in the public space. They started highlighting issues that affect them as women and proposed what they would want to amend for their economic empowerment. The women in Uganda became visible and audible to the extent that you could not just do without them. They were the second powerful interest group that embraced the constitution with enthusiasm, energy and hope. They were visible at last…” (Hon. Miria Matembe, July 2013) Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania argued in favour of increased women’s representation in Parliament and stated the following: “We need more women in Parliament
and as political leaders because what these times of ours mostly call for are efficiency and accountability that on the one hand are imbued with refinement, on the other a certain sense of ethics in governance as well as renewed and keen sense of social care and justice. We must have learned by now from the lives of women next to us, our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and above all our female colleagues that these are virtues which make true instruments of action and policy making and are essentially female assets and an added value.” Women’s participation in Parliaments and Legislatures continue to be a matter of debate in society despite the many struggles that women have waged in liberating their societies and in the democratisation process postliberation. Such debates vary from acknowledging that as societies evolve, all its citizens including women and youth will finally form part of decisionmaking structures including those that govern society such as legislatures, government and the judiciary. Interestingly, while there may be acceptance of