e SADC Heads of State and Government Declaration on Gender and Devel-opment of 1997 provided broad guidelines for engendering of develDevel-opment and democratic processes in the SADC region. Attainment of gender equality is the goal and the strategy to achieve this goal is gender mainstreaming. us, assessing progress in Southern Africa in this regard is the degree to which gender has been mainstreamed into development policies, programmes and democratic processes in the sub-region.
At the policy level, all the countries in the Southern African sub-region have a national gender policy (Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia and Zambia) or are at some stage of developing one. A national gender machinery in the form of a fully-fledged Ministry, department or unit exists in all the countries of the sub-region. A few member States have designed a national gender-main-streaming programme, thus providing them with guidelines for addressing exist-ing gender gaps in strivexist-ing to achieve gender equality.
All 12 critical areas of the Beijing Platform for Action have been addressed by member States in Southern Africa. But not all have been selected for implemen-tation. Each country has selected its own areas to focus on, depending on their own specific needs. Among the most critical areas have been women and poverty, women and politics, and women in decision-making.
5.1 Women and Poverty Alleviation
A number of positive interventions have been initiated to lessen the poverty burden on women who constitute the majority of the poor. “Some key inter-ventions have been in the area of trade and investment, aimed at engendering mainstream trade processes, with specific reference to empowering women.”15 Spearheaded by the Women in Business SADC Network, two Women’s Trade Fair and Investment Forums were held in Harare and Namibia.
14 SADC Secretariat Paper on Gender Policy Brief, June 2002
Another women empowerment initiative in Southern Africa is the SADC Women in Mining Trust. Membership includes several countries in the sub-region such as: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Joining together as a Trust facilitated collective support such as capacity building through workshops in upgrading of technical and managerial skills and sponsorship to participate in trade fairs for marketing of their products.
e majority of women are also involved in income-generating activities in the informal sector to supplement family income. Yet the prevalence, impact and effects of HIV/AIDS on women and children in particular, has greatly curtailed the would-be positive economic gains in the women’s efforts for economic empowerment.
Recognizing that the pandemic impacts on women and men differently, SADC initiated a process of incorporating gender and human rights in the SADC HIV/
AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme for 2000-2004 in May 2000. is is being done with the assistance of ECA and collaborating partners.
5.2 Women in Politics and Decision Making
Achievement of gender equality is a necessary prerequisite for economic transformation of society. is, in turn, calls for influencing policies to make them conducive and accommodating to gender concerns. For this to happen, both women and men need to work towards a goal of ensuring meaningful representation of women at higher levels of decision-making. at achieve-ment of this goal is still a long way off is demonstrated by the low level of women representation in parliament, the cabinet and high-ranking manage-rial positions in the sub-region.
Several countries still fall short of achieving the 30 per cent set target for representation of women in political and decision-making structures by 2005. SADC Secretariat data reveal that 50 per cent of SADC member States have at least 15 per cent women in their parliament. A few are working towards achieving the set target. ese include South Africa (29 per cent) and Mozambique (28.4 per cent). e percentages for the rest range between 5.9 and 10 per cent. ere is a lot more work to be done in this direction. Table 1.8 below provides the picture of women in parliament and cabinet in the SADC sub-region.
Country Electoral System Women in Parliament% Women in ParliamentWomen in Cabinet
% Women in CabinetWomen Deputy Minister
% Women in Minist.
AngolaPR34/22415.14/2814.35/4311.6 BotswanaConst8/4418.03/15201⁄450 Lesotho*Const14/9710.34/218.32//30.0 MalawiConst16/1928.32/229.02/912.9 MauritiusConst4/685.91/254.0 MozambiquePR71/25028.43/2114.24/33**12.1 Namibia*PR-nat/C/Reg PR/local19/9919/3/2114.25/2222.7 S Africa*
PR/Nat; PR and C/local
120/40029.98/2729.68/1361.5 SwazilandConst7/957.32/1513.3 ZambiaConst19/15810.15/228.33/287.1 ZimbabweConst15/150101/2152/728.5
Table 1.8:Women in Parliament and Cabinet in the SADC Region Source: SADC Secretariat and member States Key: * Upper and Lower house; ** New figures not available; CABINET: Ministers only; changes after February 2001 not included. PR - Proportional Representation const.- Constituency PR/Nat- Proportional Representation National Level
e table is indicative that a lot more needs to be done to equitably integrate women into meaningful positions in politics and decision-making. ere is a ray of hope in this area because the AU has become the first continental organization in the world to commit at the level of Heads of State and Government to achieve 50 per cent women representation as the starting point in its staffing/personnel.
Prospects for 2003 suggest stagnant economic growth. Climatic conditions cou-pled with international responses to the current humanitarian and food crises in the sub-region are major determinants of growth in 2003. At best, average GDP growth rate is expected to be 4.3 per cent. GDP growth rate will also be contin-gent on progress with addressing policy challenges in the sub-region.
e expected recovery of GDP assumes that there will be a recovery in agricul-ture, mining, tourism, manufacturing and retail. e reported rains during the last quarter of 2002 and the prompt distribution of fertilizers in some countries indicated that the dry spell of 2002 would come to an end by the second quarter of 2003 and that agricultural production would come back to normal. is will help ease the current upward pressure on consumer prices and restore consumer confidence. Other contributory factors include the consolidation of COMESA-FTA into a Custom Union in 2004, and member State use of AGOA economic opportunities and the EPA negotiations.
At the country level, strong growth is expected in Angola, due to the return to peace and the expected resumption of full economic activity in the country, coupled with the expected increase in oil production from the new Girasol field, which will help the rising GDP growth rate in 2003. In Mozambique, improved business environment and expected growth in mineral and hydrocarbon exports to South Africa will boost the economy. Botswana is expected to have a robust growth rate in 2003 mainly from the mining sector. In Zimbabwe, the decline in output is expected to continue in 2003, but at a lower pace than in 2002, as the country will continue to adjust itself to the internal and external economic chal-lenges. However, international donor support will remain essential to securing political and economic stability.
On the social front, HIV/AIDS would continue to be a contributing factor to food, nutrition and livelihood insecurity, hence to poverty in the sub-region.
Policies addressing the pandemic should be regarded in the same way as other shocks that befall rural households, such as drought. Ministries concerned with food and agriculture have to be fully involved in the efforts to prevent and