Zambia: Letter to the President on low representation of women in cabinet

Aggrieved members of the recently elected Patriotic Front government in Zambia have written an open letter to the president and are gathering CV’s of women to boost their standing in the new government:

Mr. Michael ChilufyaSata
The Republican President of Zambia
State House
Lusaka, Zambia

Your Excellency,

RE: Representation of women in public decision making positions

We the undersigned, as loyal members of the Patriotic Front, take this opportunity to congratulate you, the parliamentary and local councillor candidates for coming out as winners in the recent tripartite elections held on 20 September 2011, after being in the opposition for 10 years.

We also congratulate you for managing a peaceful change of government from the Movement for Multiparty and Democracy (MMD) and for the formation of a small cabinet that will assist you in the governing of the country in the fourth republic in accordance to the Patriotic Party’s manifesto.

We note that the Patriotic Party’s manifesto, states that “…PF government shall enhance representation of women in decision making.” (Section 8: Women in Socio-Economic Development and Gender).

We further note that this is in conformity with the 1997 SADC Declaration on Gender and Development, that Zambia signed, which advocates for achievement of at least 30% of women in political and decision making structures by the year 2005. We have also noted that PF’s party structure is based on a minimum of 30% women in decision-making.

However, we note with disappointment that only 2 women have been appointed to the cabinet of 17 ministers (11.7%) , 3 women out of 18 deputy ministers (16.6%) ) and 1 woman out of 9 provincial ministers (11.1%). These percentages are below the stipulated SADC 30% minimum of women in political and decision making structures by year 2005. The percentages are also far below the 50% gender parity goal stipulated in the African Union Protocol on Women’s Rights (2003) and the SADC Gender Protocol (2008). Zambia recently ratified both of these protocols with no reservations in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

We are further disillusioned by the fact that there are no women amongst the 8 nominated members of parliament in the above mentioned appointments. We see this omission as a further subtraction of the crucial women’s contribution to the governance of affairs that affect women’s lives.

We would appreciate that further appointments by your Excellency such as permanent secretaries, diplomatic service representatives, commissions and others, which would include more women than men in order to make up for the shortfall in the previous appointments and also in recognition and appreciation of the women electorates countrywide that participated in the tripartite elections.

To this effect, we have attached an initial set of copies of curriculum vitae of highly educated and skilled women in order to assist you in your task of ensuring that qualified women are from now on properly represented in the public service.

Your Excellency, we believe in you as a person of action, and a listening president and trust that you will take into account our concerns about according women a fair representation in the governance structure of this country under the leadership of the Patriotic Front, people’s party.

Signed by:

Authored by four aggrieved female Patriotic Front members: Sara Longwe, Clementine Mumba, Margaret Mwila and Dr. Connie Osborne.