Zambia: Outlook dim for women candidates

Although there is a female presidential candidate contesting Zambia’s Sept. 20 general elections, her prospects are not strong. And in fact, fewer women overall are likely to be elected into public office this year, analysts say.

Zambia is a signatory of the Southern Africa Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development, which commits member countries to have 50/50 representation of women in all decision- making positions, including the political arena, by 2015. But the Zambia’s political parties have not reflected this in their adoption of female candidates.

Only the Forum for Democratic Development (FDD) nominated a woman, Edith Nawakwi, to contest the presidential race. She is the only woman out of the 15 presidential candidates. Initially there were 17 candidates; however, two have since dropped out. Click here to read more