Gender 
Far road to gender equality in Southern Africa

This bleak picture emerges from the latest Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Regional Human Development Report, just released by the SAPES Trust and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

The report focuses on the challenges and opportunities for regional integration in Southern Africa. It uses a 'human development index' to measure the quality of life in the countries of the SADC region, based on life expectancy, access to schooling and higher education, adult literacy and per capita shares of GDP.

The average human development index for the SADC region is a score of 0.536, about three-quarters of the world average. But when the index is adjusted for gender inequality, it drops further to 0.501. Women's earnings improved in a number of countries between 1995 and 1998, but in the region as a whole life expectancy, enrolment ratios and literacy rates all dropped.

Mauritius scores the highest in terms of a 'gender-related development index', followed by South Africa and Swaziland. 

The report also uses a 'gender empowerment measure' to test for women's share in economic and political participation and decision-making. On this scale South Africa scores the highest - mainly because of its 29.8% of women in parliament - followed by Botswana and Lesotho, while Malawi and Zambia score the lowest.

Promoting gender equality is one of the goals of SADC. Heads of state and government from the region, at the summit held in Blantyre, Malawi in 1997, agreed:

· to aim for 30 percent representation of women in political and decision-making structures by 2005;

· to reduce poverty among women by promoting their access to productive resources (such as land, technology, credit, education and training);

· to reform the laws and social practices that discriminate against women, who often have subordinate legal status; and

· to take urgent steps to deal with increasing levels of violence against women and children.

In recent elections, there has been progress toward the goal of increasing women's representation in parliament. In terms of their proportion of women MPs Mozambique (28.4%), the Seychelles (24%) and South Africa (29.8%) are among the top ten countries of the world. Namibia and the Seychelles both have high proportions of women in local government posts.

However, half the SADC member states still have less than 15 percent of women in parliament, well short of the target.

Moreover, women still face discrimination when it comes to family law. Married women often do not have the same rights as their husbands over family property and decision making, and in some countries daughters do not have the same inheritance rights as sons.

Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa already have legislation that aims to curb domestic violence, while Botswana, Namibia and Zambia are working on similar laws.

Micere Mugo, Professor of African-American Studies at Syracuse University and Chairperson of the Board of the Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Studies (SARIPS), contributes to the report with a fierce denunciation of women's position in Southern Africa. She recalls that:

· Sub-Saharan Africa shows a steep deterioration in economic conditions;

· the region is the worst affected by growing indebtedness, with 22 out of 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in a 'critical' condition;

· regionally, there is a proven association between increased indebtedness and deterioration in education for girls - especially enrolment in secondary school;

· there is an increase in household inequality, most of it affecting poor women;

· in the region, 55 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS are women; and

· women typically spend 70 percent of unpaid time caring for the family.

Women, Professor Mugo argues, "are not just being wasted but are greatly undermined... through draining conditions that are not of their making."

- For instance, men make coups and wars, elevate themselves from warmongers to warlords and... after overseeing the wiping out, maiming and displacement of their populations, they transform into peacemakers.

- ... In the meantime, women remain languishing in refugee camps, serving the warlords as 'managers' of hunger, suffering, destitution and often disease.

- In other situations, male despots have so mismanaged, looted and ruined national economies that basic public facilities such as hospitals no longer function. Faced with family members threatened by the HIV/AIDS scourge, women are forced to become involuntary indentured family nurses.

- In these and other ways, Professor Mugo observes, "women are robbed of their democratic rights: they end up with no representation, no choices and no opportunities." 

Professor Mugo concludes by advocating that women should "make the year 2005 the deadline for honouring all the conventions, legislations and declarations on their empowerment."

Source: Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC)

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