50/50 representation within reach – Sioka

GENDER equality deputy minister Lucia Witbooi yesterday said the country has already made exceptional strides towards gender equality by having 44% female members of the National Assembly.

She said this during the launch of the Women’s Action for Development (WAD) project aimed at promoting women’s rights and gender equality in political representation in Namibia.

“Our country Namibia has already taken huge strides towards gender equality in the National Assembly, where 46 of the 104 members, including the eight appointed by the President, are women. This represents 44% female members of the National Assembly. Although we want to achieve the 50% mark, we can applaud our country for having achieved 44% thus far,” she said.

She thus urged all political parties to strive to achieve 50/50 representation.

The WAD project was successfully introduced to the majority of political parties, and received maximum support.

Witbooi encouraged women to make themselves available, and to commit to the development of the country through political participation.

She then commended WAD and Childline Lifeline, who were recently jointly awarded the African gender award by the ‘Gender is My agenda’ campaign for advocating gender equity and equality in Namibia.

“It is commendable that civil society in Namibia is committed to work alongside the government to ensure that the country implements its international and regional commitments towards achieving the UN sustainable developmental goals, international conventions, along with our national development goals,” Witbooi said.

WAD executive director Salatiel Shinedima pointed out that women’s participation in decision-making and positions of power in political formations still remains limited.

“Over the last 28 years, there has been a slow but progressive upward tick in advancing women’s participation and leadership in political processes,” he said.

The effective date of the project – Promoting Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Political Representation in Namibia – was 1 June, 2018. It will encourage political parties to create an enabling environment to adopt gender sensitive policies and legislative frameworks that are conscious of gender equality.

Through this project, WAD recognises that after 28 years of independence, Namibia has produced strong and capable women, who only need a fair opportunity to showcase their strength and capabilities, Shinedima added.

“WAD believes that for the world to achieve its sustainable development goals, women should be fairly and equally represented in the global political arena,” he said.

The project aims at creating awareness and sensitising the public on the importance of gender representation in politics, both regionally and nationally.

The matter of empowering women with the necessary skills and knowledge will also be addressed, which would enable them to fully participate in the electoral process as candidates representing their political parties.

“The absence of women in political leadership limits a fair and just contribution to issues discussed at leadership level,” said Shinedima. Furthermore, he noted that it is not a secret that some male politicians may feel threatened by the 50/50 proposal as it would compromise their positions.

If a politician is confident in his performance, he would appreciate the participation of women, and welcome them to the political arena, he said.

Shinedima further stated that it is important that all political parties do honest introspection to see whether they have done enough to prepare women for decision-making positions within their party structures, eventually allowing them to occupy seats in parliament.

If not, this project provides the platform to prepare female politicians for those leadership positions.

The increased awareness and support by citizens and political parties to achieve 50/50 gender representation in the political sphere will be addressed through this project.

It will bring about the improved performance of female elected representatives, and enhance their capacity to become candidates during the 2019 elections.