Zimbabwe Barometer 2013: Chapter 2 Governance

Key points

• At 34%, the SGDI score for governance is much lower than the citizen’s score at 68%.
• Women are now 34% of the 8th Parliament of Zimbabwe thanks to a special constitutional measure used for the first time in the July 2013 elections.
• As of November 2013, Zimbabwe is ranked number 27 out of 188 countries on the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) world classification of women in parliament.
• Zimbabwe is now ranked number four among SADC countries on women’s representation in Parliament, but is still among the countries with low representation of women in Cabinet and local government.
• Women’s representation in the urban and rural councils decreased from 19% to 16%. There is no special measure in the new Constitution for women in local government urban and rural councils, and councillors are still elected through the First-Past-the-Post system.
• The low participation of women in public office and governance structures remains one of the major stumbling blocks to the advancement of gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women in Zimbabwe.
• A large majority of the country’s women are excluded from participation in governance and national development processes due to gender biases, gender inequalities, cultural norms, GBV and their low economic status.
• Gender equality activists need to engage more actively with political parties to sustain women’s increased representation in politics and decision-making positions in the public sphere.

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