Southern African leaders made this commitment by signing the SADC Gender and Development Declaration in 1997.

However, there is an argument that women should occupy key and influential positions to policy change for the declaration to have a positive impact on their lives.

While women's participation in politics and such decision-making bodies as local government and civil society has improved in most countries since, women are still concentrated in the more traditional female-biased professions.

One country that has made notable progress in raising the visibility and participation of women in senior positions of responsibility is Angola. Well-qualified women occupy the key Cabinet positions of Minister of Petroleum and Minister of Fisheries.

At least seven countries -- Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- have identified power and decision-making as one of their national priority areas of concern.

Women in southern African countries are still invisible in the key decision-making in academic institutions, judiciary, financial institutions, parastatal bodies and their governing bodies, and the private sector.

To correct the situation, governments and the NGO sector in the different SADC countries have adopted various measures. Common among the measures being implemented to correct past and present gender imbalances in decision-making, are affirmative action and quota systems.

These have been introduced in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. These measures however, will only be effective if they are enforced and women are provided with the skills to hold public office.

Tanzania's President, Benjamin Mkapa, says "affirmative actions are at best temporary measures to remedy inequalities in a socio-economic and political system." In his presentation of Tanzania's commitment to implement the Beijing PFA on 7 March 1996, President Mkapa noted that "the guarantee we provide for a 25 percent women representation in local government electoral seats, and 15 percent in parliamentary seats, may not in itself sufficiently address the structural constraints which inhibit women's interest or competitive ability to enter electoral politics."

In Namibia, the number of women parliamentarians had by mid-1997 risen from seven to 14 as a result of affirmative action to include more women in decision-making.

In South Africa, a quota system exists in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) which reserves 30 percent of Parliamentary and 50 percent local government seats for women. Mozambique and South Africa have the highest percentage of women parliamentarians in the region at 25 percent and 24 percent respectively. There are fears however, that this figure will decrease as some female politicians may not contest their seats. At an International Conference on Gender and Good Governance in Harare, Zimbabwe on 18 - 20 May 1998, delegates noted that inadequate support from their families and political parties hindered women from pursuing their political career.

Most NGOs however, rely on external donor funding to remain functional as they rarely receive financial support from their governments.

In Botswana a local NGO, Emang Basadi has since 1994, been conducting a political education programme whose objective is to increase the number of women in decision-making positions. The organisation conducts workshops for prospective women political candidates in lobbying, advocacy and campaign management.

A voter education programme, which sensitises the public on gender, women's rights and capacity to lead, has been established. Emang Basadi facilitated the formation of a Caucus of Women Councillors and Parliamentarians which is intended to ensure that gender and women's issues are put on the agenda of the decision-making institutions. Emang Basadi has started focusing on sensitising women to participate as candidates in Botswana's 1999 general elections. Starting in 1998 Emang Basadi extended its work to decision-making positions in the public and private sectors. A survey of women in key positions was conducted, a directory is being prepared and sensitisation workshops are planned for 1999.

In Zambia, the National Women's Lobby Group (NWLG) in collaboration with other NGOs has been working to sensitise women on the need to participate in leadership positions. The lobby group has trained women in campaign skills, public speaking and communication skills. A campaign support fund for women candidates, regardless of their political affiliation, was set up for the 1996 elections and it contributed significantly to increasing the number of women parliamentarians to 14, the highest so far in Zambia.

Female parliamentarians have formed a caucus to strategise on how to speak with "one voice" on national issues that critically affect women and children regardless of their political affiliation.

In Zimbabwe, a two-year project that seeks to increase the number of women in politics and decision-making in cabinet, local government, parastatals, NGOs and in the churches has been launched.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funds the project, which was launched by the Ministry of National Affairs, Employment Creation and Co-operatives (MNAECC) in June 1997.

The project will carry out educational campaigns on why women need to be in key positions, and is aimed at:

• encouraging women to stand as candidates in elections;
• building the capacity of women who are already in power politics; and
• sensitising women on the need to vote for other women.

Above all these efforts, a major challenge still exists for southern Africans to intensify efforts to improve the participation of women in decision-making in the domestic sphere and in public and private sectors.

• Introduction to the SADC Gender Monitor
• Global, Regional and National Commitments
• SADC Countries' National Priority Areas of Concern