The Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) says Southern Africa is making marked progress in terms of both the number of women in security service institutions and the number of women deployed in UN peace missions.
The inauguration of Joyce Banda as President of Malawi on 7 April 2012 changed the status quo regarding gender representation in the region. South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma also made history when she, as the representative for Southern Africa, was elected as chair of the African Union Commission in July 2012.
The ISS in its weekly report pointed out that it was difficult to access information on the human resource component of the security sector in Southern Africa, and provided the following breakdown across the different regional security sectors:
For policing, Seychelles is leading the way with a 38% representation of women, followed by South Africa with 32.5%, Namibia with 31%, Zimbabwe with 25% and Botswana with 24%. The DRC, Mauritius and Mozambique are below 10%. There is no available information on Angola and Swaziland. Women are primarily located at the lower levels, but some progress is recorded at decision-making levels. This year South Africa appointed its first female national police chief, Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega.
Women are primarily located at the lower levels, but some progress is recorded at decision-making levels.
For defence, South Africa leads the way with a 27% representation of women, closely followed by Namibia with 26% and the Seychelles and Zimbabwe at 20%.
The DRC has approximately 7% and Malawi and Mozambique are at 5%. Botswana, in 2008, opened its defence gates to women, but has made year-on-year substantive progress. The number of women in the Angolan, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzanian and Zambian defence forces is not available.
South Africa saw a reshuffle in ministerial portfolios with Lindiwe Sisulu being moved from Defence to Public Service and Administration and Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakulu shifted from Corrections to Defence. South Africa has one woman as Major General (2%) and 31 women (18%) as Brigadier Generals. Namibia has 2 women Brigadier Generals and the Deputy Minister of Defence, Lempy Lucas, is a woman.
Only the representation of women in the correctional services of six Southern African countries, namely Seychelles (52%); South Africa (28%); Lesotho (26%); Madagascar (16%); Malawi (15%); and Mauritius (8%) is known.
The ISS says data for women in peacekeeping is easier to access, as UNDPKO has started to disaggregate its statistics for its respective peace missions by gender.
The compilation of this data indicates that South Africa deploys the majority of women in terms of numbers, but as a percentage of overall deployments, women peacekeepers averaged around 14%-15% for UN missions in 2011. Namibia at 54% is doing very well in terms of the percentage of women deployed, but has a relatively low number of peacekeepers deployed. Zimbabwe, too, is doing well averaging at 31%.
In 2008 the Southern Africa Development Community’s Heads of State and Government adopted the SADC Gender and Development Protocol. This Protocol consists of 28 Articles, with specified indicators, designed to promote gender equality by 2015.
Malawi President, Joyce Banda.(SABC)