Ruth Zozi, 47, dreams of becoming a member of Parliament, MP, and representing her constituency. But she says there are three factors that will never allow her dream to come true: She is illiterate. She is poor. She is a woman.
Zozi resides in the interior area of Chawama, a compound of Lusaka, the capital. Every day she leaves her home early in the morning to sell her fish at Chawama market, hoping to make a living.
Wearing a chitenge, an African garment similar to a sarong, she sits on a brown sack. Zozi says she has tried to search for someone to connect her with women already in politics who could help mentor her, but her efforts have been in vain. With her legs stretched out on the sack of fresh fish, which she sells for 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 kwachas, $1, $2 and $5.20 USD, she articulates local issues with a strong voice.
“There are women like us who really would love to join politics, but because there is no one to support us, we fail,” she says. “I am [illiterate], poor and, above all, a woman. I don’t think anyone would support me.”
She says if women were more empowered here, then they could fully participate in politics. For now, she says women’s participation is limited to voting and dancing and singing songs of praise for the president when he leaves for and returns from trips and at political rallies.
“It’s always sad to see women dancing at the airports and voting in large number[s], but not much is done to support these women,” she says.
She says that increasing the number of women politicians is the solution.
“We want change, and it is by putting women in powerful political positions that we can have such change,” she says. “If more women are adopted and supported financially in politics, then we women can be given more skills.”
In Zambia, many women say they believe women don’t belong in politics. But women already serving in the political arena – and some of their male colleagues – are challenging this stereotype, citing women’s successes. Zambians attribute the lack of women in politics to cultural, religious, legal and safety barriers. Meanwhile, the government and nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, have been working to remove these barriers in advance of the fall 2011 elections.
Of the 158 MPs here, just 22 are women. With women representing just 14 percent of Parliament, Zambia is one of the poorest performers on affirmative action in the South African Development Community, SADC, a regional interparliamentary body made up of 15 member countries.
Zambia will hold its presidential and legislative elections in October 2011. The Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, a policy organ of the SADC, aims for women to make up half of Zambia’s Parliament after these elections.
But not all women here support that goal. Karen Mbuji, 19, a nursing student, says a woman’s place is not in politics.