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Ruth Butaumocho Gender Editor
When the Government implemented the proportional representation quota system in 2013, to increase the number of women in Parliament by reserving seats, there was ululation across the political divide.

Although the provision was for a specific period, the majority of women regarded the quota as an opportunity to groom, nurture, and increase the number of female participants into leadership.

The platform was one of the many initiatives that women were going to use to push for their political ascendancy across, although some people felt that women needed to be elevated on meritocratic grounds. The quota was meant to be a training ground for women, ensure that their presence was felt and help change the perception that representation was mainly for men.

In accepting the quota, women did so on the understanding they were not getting the proportional representation for grace and charity, but as recognition of their contribution to both political and social development. And it was granted.

Sadly, the female quota that guarantees 60 women into both the Lower and Upper houses of Parliament comes to an end in 2023. The forthcoming election will be the last leg of the constitutional provision under Section 120 (2) (a), guaranteeing women seats in Parliament.

Suffice to say there is already discontent among the female populace who feel that they could have been sold a dummy, and never realised it until the quota had been implemented.

They say the fact that a quota was created outside the 210 constituencies is a clear testament that political leaders were ring-fencing them out of the main political arena. To them it was a case of politricking and grandstanding by political leaders whom they accuse of sidelining women and systematically elbowing them out of the race. They argue that the quota system did not in any way increase women’s political participation, nor create a conducive environment for the participation of female politicians.

Problems that hinder women’s political participation, among them lack of resources, patriarchy, rigid party structures and violence are still there, threatening their political ascendancy.

By not opening up structures at the grassroots level and allow more women to contest in primary elections, women feel political parties are making it difficult for them to gain acceptance and compete on the same level with men.

Although the 34 percent increase in representation of women in Parliament in 2013, up from 17 percent gave women something to smile about for days, they are anticipating a nosedive in figures once the quota system is removed.

Even civic organisations lobbying for women say major political parties are likely to field less female candidates, as has been the case over the years. In the 2013 parliamentary elections, major political parties — the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC-T — fielded less women than before, at a time the nation expected them to open up more constituencies for women.

As result only 85 women out of 270 legislators’ secured seats in the National Assembly, a figure that fell short of the desired target of 50-50 gender representation by 2015 set by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

This was despite that women were the majority of voters in all the political party structures. With one last election to go before the quota system comes to an end, Zimbabwe might witness more of the same in the forthcoming elections with fewer women representing their political parties in the forthcoming plebiscite.

Although there is a constitutional provision under Section 121 (2) to ensure that lists submitted by the contesting political parties present male and female candidates arranged alternately with every list being headed by a female candidate, political parties have largely chosen to ignore this over the years.

The limitation to that provision is that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has no mandate to regulate internal affairs of political parties, leaving the female politicians at the mercy of party leadership.

What is clear is that the perennial problem of inadequate representation of women is not because they are incompetent, but it largely hinges on rigid structures within political parties that makes it difficult for the female populace to compete at par. The systematic elbowing out of women giving them peripheral responsibilities or just downright rejection is common in political parties.

Cases are abound of women who were hounded out of their party positions and relegated to less influential posts, not because they were not effective, but to pave way for their male colleagues.

Their narratives may not be in the public domain, in the same way they have failed to rise beyond their political parties. It is not because they are not capable leaders, but patriarchy and “politricking” often emerge the clear winners whenever male and female politicians are pitted against each other.

It is sad that the marginalisation of women is more pronounced in the day-to-day functions of most political parties, with political leadership failing to support and acknowledge capable female counterparts. The political fate of MDC-T vice president Ms Thokozani Khupe speaks of a political situation a majority of female politicians often find themselves in when political leadership turns a blind eye to competency and instead focuses on gender. One does not need to be an MDC-T supporter to realise that the blanking out of the opposition party vice president Khupe is not only cruel and unfair, but it is a systematic way of elbowing out the political stalwart on a technicality.

Khupe’s demise started two years back, when two additional deputies, Elias Mudzuri and Advocate Nelson Chamisa were strangely handpicked when she was already there as a product of the MDC-T congress, which voted her into power.

The fact that she garnered enough votes to land that position has not made her life in the party any easier, nor assured her of a safe landing in the unfolding succession drama.

Khupe finds herself in the cold not because she is not capable of leading MDC-T should Mr Morgan Tsvangirai retire, but simply because she is a woman.

Her political comrades have tried to downplay the issue, with others accusing her of defying the opposition’s plan for an alliance, but what is clear is that the odds are against her and she might find herself in the political wilderness.

By now, it has since dawned on her that in Zimbabwe, politics has the face of a man. Her fate would have been worse had she come into office through proportional representation. As Khupe and like-minded female politicians struggle to keep their heads above water, the political ascendancy of women is a process that needs everyone’s support.

Proportional representation is among a litany of packages that Government can implement to increase women’s participation in politics. It has even worked well in other countries. In 2012, Libya announced a 10 percent quota for women in its new election law. Tunisia used a form of quota to enhance women’s participation in its recent election. Iraq has used quotas in parliament and just expanded the use of quotas for women to the civil service; Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan have also used quotas.

Zimbabwe will need other alternatives to buttress the waning political fortunes of women. Already, civic organisations are saying the Government needs to get rid of additional seats and incorporate them within the 210 constituency seats.

That way those who put in an economic argument are appeased, and the women are also treated on the same footing as other MPs. Implementation and adherence to constitutional provisions contained in Section 17, which guarantees gender parity, can also increase female participation in leadership, which is now being regarded as a game changer in several countries. Without the equal participation of women in politics, democracy remains a seriously flawed proposition.