African Women in Politics: An Analysis on the Challenges faced by Women in Politics in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The rights of women in politics and women equality in political representation has been a case of struggle in many countries around the world. The study is set in a context in which there are very few women in political positions in Zimbabwe and around the world, which is cause for concern, It aims to understad gender relations in general and in the political sphere in particular by assessing womens status at the local political level. This study focuses on the case of women in politics in Zimbabwe, where women occupy less than 30% of the seats in parliament. The aim of the study is to analyse challenges faced by women in politics in Zimbabwe, with a special focus on the s124 Clause of the constitution that was introduced in 2013 and that introduced 30 extra seats for women in Parliament of Zimbabwe, women constitues 52% of the population but on both levels of politics, they occupyless than 30% of the decision making seats. The aim of he study therefore was to identify the challenges faced by women in politics in Zimbabwe and come up with interventions to adress these challenges. The study utilies the document study approach to research where the perceptions, insights and experiences of participnats wa tabulated. The study therefore utilises sceondary sources of data collection which were deemed effective due to the nature of the study whuch has beeb wideky documented. Through content analysis, the study comprehens on all the information gathered across various journals, articles, social media platforms and other sources to have and informed understanding on the matter under investigation. From the study, a discussion of the causes and factors that work against womens political representation was held. Also as discussed were the reasons why women should be politically represented as well as the legal and structural policies that promote womwns political representation, The thesis was supported by theories.