The Sunday News
Chido Manzini
IT is a truism that government policies since independence have endeavoured to bring about women empowerment in terms of equal opportunities. Ironically, women still continue to surge under the burden of family obligations and responsibilities due to the reduction in social welfare services as the load of taking care of children, sick and frail elderly falls increasingly on their lap.
As noted by Mosse (1993), the two central shifts in thinking that are being induced by women’s ecological struggles relate to economic and intellectual worth. The shift relates to our understanding of what constitutes knowledge in particular on devolution. The second involves concepts of wealth and economic values. Women by ensuring survival are showing that nature is the very basis and matrix for economic life support and livelihood.
Parliament is clear on its stance on empowering provinces through devolution as enunciated by the Speaker of Parliament Honourable Advocate Jacob Francis Mudenda in his public lecture in Bulawayo in June 2021. Through the amendment of section 277 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe the government has taken strides in ensuring at least 30percent of all councilors elected at local level are women. Devolution appears to be the lifeblood for women in Zimbabwe at the moment, their survival straw.
The decentralisation of provinces economically and socially may offer development opportunities for women which could lighten their immense burden of being shock absorbers for the economic and social complexities bedeviling the country. The United Nations Organisation Charter (UNO) 1945 declares that all mankind have equal social, economic and political rights in spite of different entities such as gender, race, colour, religion and region. Under the Charter, there are several commitments, agreements, laws, conferences, plans of action and conventions protecting women’s political rights which Zimbabwe has ratified.
The 21st century has seen a rise on the focus on encouraging the trend of women participation in matters of provincial governance with the developing countries not excluded. The Zimbabwean society is patriarchal in nature and the endeavour to embrace full women participation should be whole heartedly embraced not only economically and socially but also in the political process since women constitute more than 50% of the population. Women’s active participation in local government would be a major breakthrough. Such an eventuality would dilute the male domination of local councils and enhance policy making and implementation.
The Zimbabwe Constitution, which is the voice of the people and highest law of the land spells out what must transpire under devolution: Section 264 states that there must be ‘devolution of governmental powers and responsibilities in order to give powers of local governance to the people and enhance their participation in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them.’
The momentum that devolution has gained has seen the formation of Ministries of Provincial Affairs and Devolution to spearhead the implementations of devolution. Here lies an opportunity for women to take destiny into their own hands in that various projects can now be initiated at the grassroots through devolved government funds which should be accessible to women.
Goyal and Yadav (2014), referred to the institutional void in developing countries and low levels of entrepreneurial awareness as women lack financial access, face socio-cultural biases and suffer from low self-esteem. They also bemoan the lack of a comprehensive policy on female entrepreneurs in developing countries. Devolution offers the opportunity to unlock all the hidden funding opportunities.
The antecedents to women development seem to hinge on strategies that amend and transform systemic inequalities, and align government policy and non-governmental organisations with women’s rights to the access and control of economic resources. The Constitution is very succinct on the framework for ensuring participation in economic development at grassroots level.
It is imperative that an enabling environment be created through policy promulgation on devolution in terms of what it holds specifically for women and youth through economic growth programmes and policies that target women (womenomics). A precedent was set by the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who declared that women should fill at least 30% of leadership positions in Japan by 2020. This policy position was viewed as a positive move towards women empowerment in Japan.
It is worth nothing that Zimbabwe has made the economic empowerment of women a key priority in order to achieve sustainable economic growth in the medium-term recovery plan (MRP). What women are advocating for in devolution is to hold key decision-making positions in Councils; to share in development budgets of local government and the appointment of gender advisers to help boost the confidence of women at the grassroots level.
The second Republic is on course in living up to its promises to transform the country to a middle-income economy by 2030. To that end women have to be aggressive in demanding accountability for Constituency development funds through engaging their Members of Parliament. There is urgent need for active participation and engagement at constituency level to ensure accountability for the devolved funds.
Women are a force to reckon with due to their numbers and these can be enhanced if Parliament can roll out training on how women can harness the devolution funds to ensure economic growth in Provinces. Women can form farming cooperatives in the provinces working with Women’s Affairs, Community Development and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry and universities to provide business knowledge and skills required to run entrepreneurial projects. There is light at the end of the tunnel for women if they are willing to pierce the glass box of complacency.
There are lessons to be learned from Pakistan which has reformed women participation in Local government through involving them in policy-making, financial management and other socio-political matters (Chaudhry, 2009).
Pakistan has recognised that Local government system is essential for local development and governance but absence of women participation makes it poor and ineffective. A paradigm shift in the way councils are managed with male dominance should die a natural death and women must be allotted a quota in terms of representation not just on paper but practically. Women must be given a share in the budgets of Local governments. Youth’s empowerment must have equal women representation and this is as urgent as the hour and the time is now for these changes to be implemented.
In a nutshell it is worth noting that given the government has implemented tougher reforms the issue of empowering women through devolution can be achieved overnight through commitment. Women remain a significant agent of economic development provided they are given the ammunition with which to operate and devolution maybe the long-awaited ammunition that will see the emancipation of women in all spheres of life.
Miss Chido Manzini, Social Analyst (Midlands State University). [email protected]
