Political Participation & Leadership
Among the findings of a 2009 study by the Zambia National Women's Lobby Group (ZNWLG) was that even though political parties espoused gender parity they rarely implemented it.
And if you ask the lobby, that's what has happened again as regards Zambia's September 20 general election.
The women's movement is far from flattered and the participation level is far from satisfactory.
It has described as a "very sad development" the low number of female candidates in the election and, for the second time, criticised the lack of transparency in candidate adoption procedures.
Women made up 12% of members of parliament in 2006, 15% in 2008 and 13% in 2010, well below the sub-Saharan average of 20%.
In the forthcoming elections, women represent only 14.7% of candidates for parliament. It can only mean a further drop in women representatives in the new parliament after September 20.
Zambia will be nowhere near meeting the millennium development goal of 30% women in parliament by 2015 or the AU/SADC target of 50% by the same year. Yet of the 50 countries with the highest representation of women in parliament, 13 are in Africa and include almost all of Zambia's SADC partners. Zambia is trailing badly.
In the forthcoming elections, the female candidates are spread unevenly. There is a surfeit in some areas but in many others they are absent. Fifteen have opted to run as independents mostly because their parties would not adopt them.
The Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC), which oversees women's interest groups, has chided political parties for paying only lip-service to gender parity.
"It appears that our political parties are only interested in having more women dancers at rallies but not as members of parliament or even councillors. This is a very sad development," said Mary Mulenga, NGOCC vice-chairperson.
The organisation had earlier criticised the lack of transparency in the adoption process after most parties, with the exception of the governing Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), kept their candidates more or less a guarded secret until nomination day.
The United Party for National Development has the highest number of female candidates with 22. The MMD and Patriotic Front are tied at 20 each.
"We are very disappointed that many women have been left out from the adoption list, resulting in most standing as independents. This goes even for those women who have invested their time and resources to mobilise and campaign not only for themselves, but for their party and their leadership," said the NGOCC.
It said women who had opted to stand as independents were now being intimidated by the same political parties that would not adopt them. The council was not alone on the issue. The United States NGO, the National Democratic Institute, one of the international election observers, listed among the shortcomings of the election the "decrease in the number of women candidates for the national assembly and apparent barriers to women pursuing candidature".
The NGOCC has put aside money to support all female candidates, regardless of party. So far, it has supported with election materials 68 parliamentary candidates, 13 candidates for the local government election and the one presidential candidate.
The only female presidential candidate, the one-time finance minister Edith Nawakwi, who leads the Forum for Democracy and Development, has praised the support of the women's movement.
The decline in women's participation is a setback for the ZNWLG, which in July 2009 launched the "50/50 campaign" aimed at facilitating the participation of women in this election.
It had called for at least 50% participation of women in decision-making structures and increasing their representation and participation across all levels of politics.