Conference to Address Poverty, Role of Women in Politics

“There was a time when delegations participating in the annual (Inter-Parliamentary Union) assembly did not send any women,” said Gwendoline Lindiwe Mahlangu-Nkabinde, deputy speaker of the South African National Assembly, on AllAfrica.com. “Times have changed now, thanks to the efforts of parliaments worldwide.”

Although the focus of the Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly next month in Cape Town is poverty, delegates will address topics like the role of women in politics. They will also offer women delegates the “opportunity to raise matters of importance to them.”

Zimbabwe: Women in Politics

Women marching in the 50-50 campaign last year.

Late last year, numerous NGOs in Zimbabwe embarked on a campaign to include women in 50 percent of the campaigns in the country’s elections on Saturday. Instead, Zimbabwean women, who are half the country’s population, will make up just 13 percent of candidates for the House of Assembly and 30 percent of candidates for the Senate, according to statistics provided by the Women in Politics Support Unit. In an interview with a reporter from Inter Press Service, Luga Shaba, executive director of Women’s Trust, discusses why the NGOs did not meet their mark.