Namibia ranked high in women’s representation

WOMEN can only speak of social justice if more women are part of development at all levels within Namibian society.

This was the view of Sylvia Mundjindi, project manager at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), on Friday during a Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) political workshop.

“To enable this, we have to inspire and encourage other women to be part of the decision-making process because when this is the case, women will have the opportunity to speak for themselves and make their own decisions,” she stated.

The cooperation between FES and SPWC has led to a series of regional capacity-building programmes which have brought about a number of recommendations, resulting in Swapo adopting the 50/50 gender policy in 2013.

“This policy is what led to more women becoming political leaders in the country, also resulting in the country being in the fourth position in the world for the most women represented politically,” Mundjindi said.

She, however, added that representation alone is not sufficient, and that the country still has to work harder to ensure that women perform their roles with efficiency and effectiveness.

Namibia is ranked among the top 10 African countries which have advanced women in political decision-making structures.

The National Assembly has 48 out of 104 seats occupied by female members of parliament – ministers and deputy ministers, as well as the Prime Minister and deputy prime minister, who are both women – totalling 46% female representation.

FES is a political foundation which has partnered with SPWC for over 10 years to strengthen their aims of social democracy and justice, amongst others.

The objectives of the two-day workshop were to empower and equip members of the SPWC with the necessary advocacy and lobbying skills that will enable them to broaden political decisions, which will help motivate them to address developmental issues which affect their livelihood. The workshop ended on Saturday.

– Nampa