Zimbabwean women’s group to launch 50-50 equality campaign
By Violet Gonda
14 November 2006

The Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) has said it will march in Harare on Thursday to launch the 50-50 campaign, an action that demands 50% women representation at all levels of political leadership and decision-making. WIPSU Director Rutendo Hadebe said the idea is to introduce both quantitative and qualitative women in leadership who can influence the legislation to also suit those at voter level.

Zimbabwe’s population constitutes 52% women but they only constitute 22% in political representation. Hadebe said; “This has really come out now when we had the Domestic Violence Bill, where we can see that we can fight all we want but if we want legislation that will suit women, we need to have women’s voices in their numbers. Not two or three.”

Hadebe said it’s also time to put pressure on legislators as the quality of discussion in parliament has become unacceptable. She said there is an urgency to understand the role of parliament and also the role of the voter. “When you go into parliament there is a lot of egotism. There is a lot of jockeying and often you get the feeling that people are speaking from their personal views and very little of the constituencies are represented.”

The group urged interested parties to participate in the solidarity march that will start at Africa Unity Square in Harare. They said; “Women participating in this march and all over Zimbabwe are encouraged to wear black and white on this day to represent our demands for Zebra Listing (one man: one woman ratio) in all aspects of political and decision-making positions.”