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WOMENS POLITICAL PARTICIPATION – the circumstances that prohibit participation in politics

by Mabila - 15 December 2004

This paper seeks to explore the internal and external circumstances that prohibit most women from participating in active public political life. Strategies on how to get more women involved in local, national and international policy formulation can be drawn from the discussions pursued in the paper.

Background Information
The sharp under-representation and lack of participation in decision-making bodies, highlights the marginalization of women throughout the world. Quite to the contrary, the predominance of men as parliamentarians, cabinet ministers and heads of governments is astounding. Although seen to be very active in their communities, women are inadequately represented in their local political structures, except where conscious efforts have been made to guarantee a quota for women. Gender-blind macro-economic national policies keep women concentrated in the informal sector where there are no job or safety precautions. In the formal sector, women tend to occupy the lowest-paying positions and the most hazardous jobs while rendering their household labour invisible.

African women’s concerns are further marginalized at international level particularly in International financial institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World trade Organization. Although these organizations make decisions that impact on African Women, no mechanisms exist for the participation of women. Representation is mainly by male leaders. As a result women have continued to bear the negative consequences enforced by these institutions such as structural adjustment programs, high costs of HIV/AIDS treatment and trade liberalization. African Women’s participation in regional bodies such as the African Union is zero per cent given the fact that Africa does not have a single female head of state.

Women’s concerns are largely voiced by civil society organizations and yet women constitute more than fifty per cent of the continent’s voting population (African Women’s Development and Communication Network, 2002 (FEMNET). The development Bank of South Africa in 1999, estimated that women and girl children made up 54 per cent of the population and yet 54.4 % of the women 15 years and older were without an income of any sort constituting the most deprived sector economically. Unemployment for women was 6 % higher than that for men. Women headed 35 per cent of single parent households and these households were poorer than male-headed households. This dismal picture of the economic deprivation of women continues to have a negative impact on the health of women both physically and psychologically and is the all the more reason why women must be more involved in decision making to ameliorate their own suffering.

Houses of Assembly in Africa
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in Parliament, 1945-1995: A World Statistical Survey, Series “reports and Documents,” No 23, Geneva 1995, on the proportion of female members of parliament, indicates a 2.1 per cent increase globally from 11.3 to 13.4 percent. The average female representation in parliaments in Sub-Saharan Africa is currently at 11.5 per cent compared with 6 per cent a decade earlier. This is interestingly, represents the fasted growth rate in all the world regions, yet Africa had the lowest growth rate of female legislator representation in the sixties. Interestingly too is the fact that most of these women are not elected but nominated and yet women constitute more than fifty per cent of the population in most countries.

It is indeed a fact that the few women in decision making positions have been able to influence the introduction and enactment of progressive legislation that favour women in the areas of divorce, domestic violence and some reproductive rights. It is therefore evident that women in decision making positions can contribute to redefining policies, placing new items on the agenda which specifically address women’s concerns, values, and experiences and provide new perspectives on mainstream issues such as poverty reduction, lowering the disease burden and HIV/AIDS. One or two women in leadership positions in a political sector dominated by men will not be as effective in influencing decisions as the majority of the men either ignore, attack or label them as being difficult. As articulated by the Center For Asia-Pacific Women In Politics, in (1999) “Individual women leaders at the top are tokens without real weight; while the lack of an articulate and active base at the bottom makes for an organization without focus.” Women will indeed be more effective if the “critical mass” of informed, articulate and politically engaged women occupy even the middle level as well as the rank and file positions in political organizations. This is definitely an improvement to the dearth of women’s participation in politics that has occurred in the past years.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development
Women’s groups in Africa have been highly critical of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) whose policy formulation statement was approved by heads of state before consultation with women on the captioning of the expressed gender principles. In a paper presented to the NGO-Forum in October 2002, Sara Hlupekile Longwe criticized NEPAD for being among those organizations that pay “empty lip-service to principles of gender equality…….” The NEPAD gender statement was also criticized of initially having been completely silent on the organization’s intention to increase women’s representation in the top decision making bodies.

This is despite the clear commitments by member states, both in the African Platform and in the Beijing Platform; where members endorsed the United Nations Economic and Social Council guideline of thirty per of the top decision making positions would be occupied by women. This, women found rather discouraging because the drafting of the NEPAD policy statement came well after the United Nations Beijing Conference in 1996 that endorsed the United Nations Social Council guidelines of the thirty per cent quota for women in top decision making positions. NEPAD members states were all signatories to this declaration but chose to remain gender blind.

Women’s Wings in Political Organizations
Much to the relief of many observers, the long standing unsightly site bedeviling the image of women in politics as presented by the women’s wing of the Malawi Congress Party of Dr Kamuzu Banda and closer to home, ZANU PF; is hopefully soon to be a thing of the past . The image portrayed by Mama Cecilia Kadzamira as the official hostess of Dr Banda, raised the huge question of morals among the women participating in these organization . The women’s wing members were quite conspicuous by their flamboyant livery as they sang and danced for the President of the ruling party.

These political wings were reduced to nothing but serving in celebratory functions and not in any way participating in issues central to governance and decision making within the political organization (Hirschmann, 1983). Male politicians used these women wings to garner support and the votes from women. By remaining officially linked to older incorporated structures of the ruling party, such women’s organizations were tied to party dictates and its overriding interest. Often women joining these organizations were wives, sisters and relatives of the party leaders. The women organizations had no authority of their own and were not able to forcefully fight for women’s interests.

It is refreshing to note that these organizations are fading in influence and gradually being replaced by new organizations that are committed to the enhancement of women’s status, leadership skills, including building support for female and male candidates who represent women’s interests. In Uganda, for instance, an organization named Action for Development; focuses mainly on leadership training and civic education for women councilors who now comprise one third of local council positions. Women leaders in Uganda are also beginning to consider ways of drawing younger women into politics, since the majority of women who are mobilized still tend to be middle aged or elderly (Nzomo 1995). Women’s movements that had once been engaged in developmental activities involving income generation, welfare concerns and home making skills have also been witnessing the emergence of organizations that lobbied for women’s political leadership, pressed for legislative and constitutional changes and conducted civic education.

New Wave of Women’s Organizations
Until the 1990s it was unheard of for women to run for the presidency in Africa. In a paper entitled “New trends in Women’s Political Participation in Africa” Aili Mari Tripp details the non-monarchical rise of African women into mainstream political activities in Africa. Ruth Perry of Liberia, one of the six-member collective presidents has been chairing this Council of State since 1996. In 1994. Uganda’s Wandera Specioza Kazibwe became the first woman Vice President of Uganda appointed by President Museveni. Sylvie Kinigi served as Prime Minister of Rwanda until she was assassinated in office. Senegal also claimed a first woman vice president in 2001. By the end of the decade , the Ethiopian, Lesotho and South Africa legislative bodies had female speakers of the house and Uganda., Zimbabwe has had female deputy speakers. Women are yet to see payoffs from some of these “elected” officials and political appointments. Organized women can be a strong force in demanding their right to equal political representation. It is important those women’s groups remain autonomous, espousing their own agenda. Organized groups are a good training ground for women aspiring for higher positions of power in legislative bodies as well as in national and local governments.

Invisible Barriers
While the women continue to grapple with ideas of how best to engage themselves fully in the political world, genuine barriers to their full participation do exist. The invisible barriers are largely attributable to the feminine role. Women themselves are reticent to run for political office and part of the reluctance stems from cultural prohibitions that deter women from being seen and speaking in public in front of men. The Centre for Women in Politics at Rutgers University in the United States had this to say about the invisible barriers for political participation for women; “68 per cent of the women said that political participation would create problems with the spouse, problems with child care, politics interfered with women’s career plans, politics required huge expenditure; women had no capital” The belief that the female nature was appropriate to carry out familial roles while men dealt with other issues outside the home was held very strongly by the majority of the women. Gender stereotypes appear to be the most resilient obstacle to women’s political empowerment. Women are expected to focus their lives on taking care of their families to the exclusion of other concerns. Boys are given priority for schooling over girls, who it is assumed will be later provided for by husbands.

Campaigning and being a leader often involves travel, spending nights away from home, going to bars to meet people and meeting men, all of which put women politicians at risk of being thought of as loose women or unfit mothers. Some husbands are threatened with the possibility that their women will interact with other men, others fear the social stigma directed against their wives or they worry that their wives political preoccupations will divert her attention away from home. Ferguson and Katundu (1994) found that most women who were active in politics in Zambia experienced marital problems as a result of their involvement.

Even in Parliamentary bodies, women have difficulty being taken seriously, being listened to and are too frequently are subjected to humiliating stereotypes and derogatory remarks. One excellent and detailed study of women in parliamentary politics in Uganda found sexual harassment rampant, even in parliament where women had been active and visible for over a decade (Tamale 1999). Other obstacles to women’s political participation according to Schalkwyk and Woronik (1998) include illiteracy, limited access to education, the double burden of work and family responsibilities, ideologies or cultural patterns opposing women’s participation in public life and unsupportive attitudes on the part of the media. Women appear to have difficulty too in securing the support of other women. It is not always men who are not convinced of women’s right and capabilities to participate. Based on research findings on the muted-group theory Kramarae (1981), women must translate their own ways of understanding into terms that the dominant male world view can appreciate in order to participate fully in public life.

Silence of Women
It remains my strong belief that women no longer wish to remain on the sidelines of poverty for all their existence. Women do strongly desire to stand up and improve their lot. The intriguing question in need of an immediate answer is “why women don’t do just that?”. We are all too familiar with the passion of a mother to put food on the table, run with a sick child to a healer, and run around frantically all day long to augment the family income and ensure that the family machine runs well. Why is that passion not so easily transferable and accepted by the larger social domain? Does it not make sense to the world to harness this unselfish passion and love for the common good of the larger society instead of suddenly relinquishing this caring domain to a seemingly less caring gender?

Anne Wilson Schaef in her book “Women’s Reality” in 1981, coins this phenomena as the “woman burden of waiting to be responsive” pp63. She further asserts that the controller-controllee question takes over every aspect of a woman’s life. From a very early age women are apparently cut off from all internal and external sources of intelligence, fail to develop their own minds and see themselves as remarkably powerless and dependent on others for their survival. Unquestioned submission to the immediate commands of authorities is what makes the woman virtuous in many cultures. Men emerge from childhood as active beings and getting things done while women are passive, incompetent and lacking in confidence. In the male system, power in conceived in a zero sum fashion.The more one gives power to others, the less one has left for himself.

Conversely, in the female system; power is viewed much in the same way as love. It is limitless and when it is shared, it regenerates and expands. There is no need to hoard power. Women tend to do the same when sharing ideas (Schaef, 1981).Where language and naming are power, the men who have become more vocal in the patriarchal society have become very powerful. On the other hand women have failed to develop the equal language and naming power. Women's silence is oppressing for them and is violence turned against women. Silence dominates women's childhood years and early adulthood. This pervasive influence of traditional gender roles therefore, answers in part, the silent participation in public political life.

This paper has cited opportunities that exist for women to exploit and advance their political ambitions. The major weakness to overcome, in my view is the woman herself who has all that power and potential locked up in herself. If the women activists from Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) can withstand the repeated arrests by the state police, and march for hundreds of kilometers on their own carrying babies on their backs from Bulawayo to Harare, it is a clear demonstration that it can be done by many other women (The Herald Newspaper September 11 2004). Women should strive to reach this visibility in greater numbers and ensure its irreversibility.

Women who have overcome the childhood “conspiracy of silence” so deeply embedded in the cultural ideology, seem to be able to creep out of their shells and develop a voice for themselves and others. It would appear to me that the major restraint to be released and set women free for activism is the family unit that is largely responsible for the perpetration of the conspiracy of silence development form a very early age. Maintaining the woman’s place for many women means accepting the stereotype of the “silent woman” which inadvertently renders her powerless in the larger society too. Quoted in their book “Women’s Ways of Knowing; development of self, voice and mind”, by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule (1986); a woman growing up in America, called Ann, recounts how she was brought up thinking that a woman is supposed to be feminine, sit back and let the man do everything for her. A lot of women can relate to Ann’s experience.

The end result of this silence is feeling cut off from one’s internal and external sources of intelligence, failure to develop one’s mind and seeing oneself as remarkably powerless and dependent on others. Such girls or women cannot trust their own ability to understand themselves and rely on external authority to guide their actions. As adolescent and young women such individuals have no confidence as knower. For some this silence persists for life.

Women’s Subjective Knowledge
Belenky et al (1986) interviewed women between the ages of 16-60 years and found that women apparently became aware of inner resources of knowing and valuing as they began to listen to the “still small voice”. This is when women find the inner source of strength to leap into action. This is a major developmental transition for women that may have repercussions in their relationships, self-concept, self-esteem, morality and behavior. The woman becomes her own authority, moves to self-protection, self-assertion and self-definition. Belenky et al. were, however, not able to identify the specific age at which this personally liberating event occurs.

Looking at the biographies of some of the most powerful women of our time has confirmed for me the critical role of the family in the development of the still small voice in women at a very you age. It would seem to me that these women were encouraged to listen to themselves from a very early age. Hilary Rodham Clinton says that she grew up during the “Father knows Best”. He father taught her to resist peer pressure. Her mum used to tell her that she was unique, encouraged her to think for herself. “I don’t care if everybody is doing it. We’re not everybody. You are not everybody”. Her mum would retort. Hillary in School got the reputation of being a tomboy, being able to stand up to boys at elementary school. Today she is a New York State Senator partly because she learnt to trust in herself at a very young age.

Another remarkable political figure in the United States, famous and distinguished for her fight for the women’s right to vote at all levels, is Susan B Anthony (1820-1906). After teaching for fifteen years, she became active in temperance. Because she was a woman, she was not allowed to speak at temperance rallies. This experience led her to join the women’s rights movement in 1852. Soon after, she dedicated her life to women suffrage.
Ignoring opposition and abuse by the media, Anthony traveled, lectured and canvassed across the nation for the vote. She also campaigned for the abolition of slavery, women’s rights to their property and earnings and women’s labor organizations. IN 1900, Susan persuaded the University of Rochester to admit women. She claims that she had all the freedom she wanted from the time that she was a child.

The letters she wrote reflect that Ms Anthony grew up in a deeply loving family, genuinely close and respectful of one another. She recalls in one of her letters her mother telling her “Go and do all you can.” Her father proved to be her strongest influence on her career, urging his daughter always to follow her “instincts” from a very early age and stayed ahead of his daughter in the path of social justice. Susan was arrested in 1872 for daring to vote and called the penalty that she did not pay an unjust penalty. Here are some of the words used to describe Ms Anthony’s manner; “selfless, diplomatic, elegant, charming, bold, generous, friendly, determined, polite, curious, open, amusing and self-possessed.

Madeline Albright, the first female Secretary of State in the United States appointed by President William Clinton in 1997, was born in 1937 as a “Korbel”. Her Jewish father, Josef Korbel, fled the Czech diplomatic service and was granted political asylum in the United States 1948. She was eleven years old at the time. When the Germans under Hitler occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, Madeline and her family found herself hiding underground in a London apartment. She experienced the war and learnt how to survive during the difficult times in London for six years. She recalls how her father loved to teach and would give them history lectures at home. The three daughters from there developed an interest in History and international relations. Madeline adored her father and says it was hard not to idolize him. He encouraged his daughters to write, express themselves and to excel in academia.

Conclusion
It is high time women claimed their right to equal access to decision-making and power.
Women everywhere should capitalize on the momentum generated by the Beijing Platform strategies to further advance their political participation activities. Research on women leadership and participation styles is still at an early stage and there is much room for developing knowledge and expertise for this evolving paradigm. The equal rights of women and men to assume leadership positions must be instilled at a very early age at home and in the schools. Political empowerment demands that all citizens; male and female come to an understanding of their responsibilities and help each other in creating the society they deserve. “It is not the prerogative of men alone to bring light to the world”. Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner (1996)

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