40 women succeed for Indvuna YeNkhundla

MBABANE- A total of 40 women were successful in the Primary Elections for the position of Indvuna yeNkhundla and 43 made it for the position of Bucopho.

This is according to the preliminary results which were released by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) on Monday.
The results are as disappointing as those of the women who were able to make it through the Primary Elections for the position of Member of Parliament as there were only 45 women out of 336 chiefdoms in the country. The Lubombo region had only seven women who won the primary elections for Indvuna yeNkhundla while only two were for Bucopho.  

The results raise the question of whether or not the country will achieve the 23 progressive targets set out in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol on Gender and Development set for 2015 of which Swaziland is a signatory. 
The best performing region was Manzini where 13 women stand to compete for the Indvuna Yenkhundla position and 19 women for the Bucopho position.       

The objectives of the protocol, among others, was to provide for the empowerment of women to eliminate discrimination and to achieve gender equity through the development and implementation of gender responsive legislation, politics, programmes and projects.
Since the adoption of the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development, and its coming into force, member States are now legally obliged to fulfil the 23 targets of the SADC Gender Protocol by 2015.
Among the 23 targets these

are the major ones:
l That women will hold 50 per cent of decision making positions in the private and public sector by 2015.
l Revision, amendment and repeal by 2015 of all sex or gender discriminatory laws.

l Ensuring equal participation of women and men in economic policy formulation and implementation by 2015.
l Adoption of integrated approaches to reduce gender-based violence (GBV) by half by 2015.

One of the greatest criticisms made of the SADC regional grouping is its habit to make numerous commitments and intentions only on paper without corresponding practical activity and drive to implement the plans. According to the Communiqué of the June 2 Windhoek meeting, some member states have made notable progress in Parliament by 2005, but none has yet reached the 50 per cent target set for 2015.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: