VOTES FOR WOMEN AN ECONOMIC CASE

Elections are upon us and Eswatini will be voting to place Members of Parliament (MPs) into office.

In essence, the results of the political process ends in placing your trust on certain individuals to drive fiscal policy; the Executive arm of government is directly responsible for deciding how the resources are spent. Furthermore, MPs are the individuals we entrust with forming His Majesty’s government, ensuring they drive service delivery. A vote carries a lot of power and is instrumental in closing the gender gap; furthermore, engendering Parliament carries a lot of economic benefits. I am not writing to canvas votes for women, but I am simply making an economic case for votes for women, ensuring that the public has enough information to make a wise choice on the polls with the full understanding that the political process has serious implications on the economy.

Engendering decision making

Successful votes for women ensure that the decision making process is inclusive, improving the coverage of economic and social policy and ensuring that government works for all emaSwati. It is imperative that the votes are used to break glass ceilings and opening a way for women to take up decision making positions across all sectors of society. This will result in closing the gender wage gap, reducing the effects of adverse selection in the labour force, ultimately improving productivity in commerce and bolstering economic output in the kingdom. It is imperative that we drive a merit-based employment system rather than utilising gender biases in employment, creating a situation where we leave out the best of women labour.

Closing opportunity gap

Electing women into decision making positions will ensure that social and economic policies are gender aware. Historically economic systems of production are patriarchal; the market place was generally built for men such that economic opportunities and the flow of information favours men more than women. A simple example would be to take a look around all offices in the kingdom, men and women have an equal amount of toilet stall, yet the sanitary needs of women exceed those of men. The workplace is not gender aware, there are no nurseries in all workplaces in Eswatini, a clear example of the abject failure for the workplace to cater for the reproductive needs of women. This is testament of the fact that the workplace was not built for women, yet for women to be fully productive it is imperative that gender needs are taken into consideration. The costs of setting up ablution facilities and nursing stations within the workplace may appear bad for the bottom line at a glance, yet over the long-term this is a capital expenditure that spans over a longer period of time, hence there is a huge return on investment given that productivity will also be improved.

Women tend not to take up opportunities because they are often tied to reproductive duties. We cannot discount the economic importance of the reproductive role of women as it translates directly to producing a labour force, which at present, until the machines rise, is the bedrock of the economic system. Women should, therefore, not be disadvantaged in economic opportunities as they care for the future labour force. Voting women into decision making positions will improve the policy making outcomes, which will ensure that the policies coming out of the august House are gender aware and ensure equality of opportunities.

Case on current policies

Also, note how from a young age women get disadvantaged; if a lady falls pregnant while in school she loses an entire 15 months of school while her male counterparts continue schooling. There is need to ensure that the Marriage Act, which is being discussed at present, is gender aware and allows women the autonomy to amass economic wealth. Also, there is need to look into the ‘Inheritance Act’ and inheritance practices in the country to ensure that intergenerational wealth can also be transferred to women, not only as an empowerment tool but also as an impetus for redistribution of wealth. It would take a generous, altruistic and benevolent man in decision making positions to consider the needs of women and the likely impact on the economic outcomes of women of the decisions that are made within the House. I call on all MPs, and senators, to just invest a day walking in women’s shoes, literally, just for a single day so that they can be a bit sympathetic of their gender needs and the resulting impacts of the policy decisions that are made.

Changing Parliament gender

It is assumed that incorporated institutions and public service institutions do not have a gender identity, therefore, they produce outcomes that are gender neutral. I contend that is fallacy; neutrality is a concept we use to avoid responsibility to women. Institutions have a gender and currently identify as men, it shows in the decisions that are made. It is imperative that we include women in the decision making frail so that we create a benevolent identity for our institutions.

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