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Please Read The "Editorial" Of "THE POST" and support the fight of Zambian Wemen's Fight for their Rights in Democracy. We all can support the cause atleast by sending this Editorial to our friends around the world through Email. We can write about this in our websites ,our blogs and ofcourse can spread a word of mouth.

Let's Make 2006 A year For Women

The Post (Lusaka)
EDITORIAL

March 4, 2006
Lusaka

This year should see a rise in the number of women adopted to contest parliamentary elections.
There will be no excuse for any political party that fails to meet the SADC protocol that calls for 30 per cent female representation in decision-making institutions. It is possible for all our political parties to ensure that not less than 50 per cent of their candidates in this year's elections are women.
We cannot continue to expect women to turn out in large numbers and vote in elections in which they count for nothing; in which their right to contest is not respected or guaranteed. The majority of our voters are women and therefore fairness and justice calls for a similar proportion when it comes to candidates. But this is not so. The number of women being adopted for elections in our country is still too small. We even wonder why women have continued to take part in these elections as voters. Probably it's only that they are very kind and selfless people. Imagine if it were men marginalised in this way, what voter apathy would characterise our elections!
As Bertha Monze has correctly observed, women are having a raw deal in our politics. And this injustice - like all other injustices against women - should come to an end. We share Monze's view that women in Zambian politics are there as tools to be used by influential men. They dance for these men, they cook for them during election campaigns and do all sorts of things for them and with them. They are abused by men in all sorts of ways.
What type of democracy is this that we are trying to build in this country that doesn't recognise and respect the interests and rights of the majority - who happen to be women? What type of democracy is this where the interests and rights of the majority - who happen to be women - count for nothing? Democracy is that system in which the majority's interests and rights are respected and reign supreme. It will be good to seek the commitment of all our political parties on this issue before they start adopting candidates to field in this year's elections. Clear demands should be made to all our political parties to at least meet the minimum SADC requirement of 30 per cent if the subjective and objective factors make it impossible for them to adopt more women candidates than this in this year's elections. Those who do not meet this requirement don't deserve the support of the majority of our people who also happen to be women.
It is difficult to understand why so often, and repeatedly so, the majority - women - should be made to vote for the minority. Anyway, this is what alienation can do. This is what marginalisation has done to our women. These are the dangers and consequences of gender inequalities in a nation. In a nation where men dominate and control most of the country's financial resources, women will always be marginalised and made to work for them politically and otherwise. It cannot be denied that our current electoral system favours those with deep pockets, those who are willing to invest their earnings in election campaigns. Most of our women, the great majority of them, are poor. They don't have the type of resources required for elections. And there are very few individuals and institutions that are willing to invest in them and adopt them as their candidates.
This injustice against women, this unfairness towards women, needs to be addressed. It will not go away by itself. Drastic, and probably extraordinary, measures may be required to alter this. It seems a struggle on this score is inevitable and what it needs now is people willing and able to wage it. What would happen if a national boycott were called for for political parties that don't meet the required minimum number women candidates? Who would support it? Would the majority of our women support it or their leaders have already been consumed by opportunism?
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We urge the women's movement and other institutions that have in the past shown interest in increasing the representation by women in our legislature and other institutions to rise up and start to speak and campaign on this issue. It's better to do it now than wait until all our political parties have made their adoptions. There is need to engage all our political parties on this issue now. If we wait, they will have excuses, it will be difficult for them to reverse their adoptions to accommodate women.
And our women need to realise that they need to fight for their own interests and rights. It is a fact that while our women look after the interests and rights of others - men and children - no one does the same for them. What they don't do for themselves, no one will do for them. What they don't win for themselves, no one will win for them (men). Everything they have, they have had to win for themselves. This is the reality of our women's existence that they shouldn't lose sight of. Very few men are generous enough to give to women that which belongs to them. They say give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. But when it comes to women, no one gives to them what belongs to them - they always have to fight for it. It is therefore imperative that they start fighting to ensure that the majority of candidates in this year's elections be women. This may appear impossible given the deep-rooted discrimination, marginalisation and domination of our women. But we know that there is noth ing impossible in life if some committed people are willing to fight for it. In fact, sometimes in life, it's better to fight for the impossible because the future may lie in these. And our future as a nation lies in how quickly, efficiently and effectively we harness and exploit the leadership potential that lies in women. Our future lies in the leadership of women and we can confidently say women are the future of Zambia. To deny them full and meaningful participation in the governance of our country is to rob this country an opportunity for social, economic and political advancement.