SADC Promotes Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision-Making
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), in partnership with UN Women East and Southern Africa Regional Office, hosted a two-day regional workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, to validate the Draft SADC Framework for Achieving Gender Parity in Politics and Decision-Making Positions (2025–2035).
Held from November 20-21, 2024, the workshop aimed to review and update the 2015 Gender Parity Framework to guide the region toward achieving gender parity in political and decision-making positions.
The workshop brought together representatives from 15 SADC Member States, government ministries, civil society organizations, and regional stakeholders, including the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Southern African Youth Forum, and IDEA International. Participants discussed the progress towards ensuring that women occupy 50% of decision-making roles in the public and private sectors, with a particular focus on politics.
Opening the workshop, Ms. Kealeboga Kelly Dambuza-Chifani, representing the SADC Secretariat, emphasized the importance of women’s voices in decision-making processes for building peaceful and prosperous societies. She reaffirmed SADC’s commitment to gender equality, as reflected in its Treaty, the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development, and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
Ms. Aleta Miller, Country Representative of UN Women Southern Africa Multi-Country Office, highlighted the need for governments to uphold women’s rights to participate in political and public life. She also pointed out that women currently represent only 23.3% of Cabinet ministers globally.
Ms. Miller further stressed the growing impact of artificial intelligence and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) on women in public life, urging stakeholders to address these challenges within the Gender Parity Framework.
The workshop also featured presentations from IDEA International on the 2024 Africa Barometer on Women’s Political Participation and the Southern African Regional Centre for Communication (SARDC) on the 2022 SADC Gender Monitor, shedding light on the current status of women’s political participation in the region.
The final output of the workshop was a strengthened Draft Framework, which will inform policy reforms and gender commitment actions in SADC countries. With the goal of accelerating gender parity in political and decision-making spaces, the framework aims to guide the region toward more inclusive governance in the next decade.
Source: SADC
