Women's Participation in Elections Across Africa 2011

This report, published by Make Every Woman Count (MEWC), provides an overview of the role of women in elections across Africa in 2011. It discusses the position of female candidates before and after the elections have taken place, as well as provides analysis of women's participation in African politics. By providing this data, MEWC hopes to maintain an information gateway for researchers, policy makers, students, women's organisations, and local voters against which to measure progress. According to the report, for decades, African women have been side-lined in the social, economic, and political development of the continent. However, today, African women are proving that women's participation and leadership is vital to poverty alleviation and the peace process in Africa.

Analysing the broad scope of 2011 elections across the continent, the review found that in many cases in African countries, quotas are the primary function for increasing women’s representation and participation in local, regional, and national legislative bodies. It is commonly considered that representation of women must reach 30% before they can make a significant impact. However as noted in the 2011 Millennium Development Goal Annual Report, quotas are not the only factors that influence the level of women's political participation; electoral systems are key, gender sensitive electoral arrangements; access to polling stations; literacy; family laws; visibility of female candidates; violence during elections and so on also play a role. While some may question the validity of quotas, the report suggests that, if implemented successfully, quotas significantly reduce barriers to entry for women. They also increase women's profiles as leaders and thereby encourage younger women to pursue politics.

The report states that there is still a lot to be done to increase women's political participation and put women in decision-making positions. African women also face difficulties in obtaining detailed information on their rights, obligations, and responsibilities as citizens. In some cases, such as in Gabon, this lack of information has contributed to a decline in female political participation and activism in Gabon in the latest elections. Congolese women are not effectively represented and have not participated in the governance of the country since 1960, the year of independence. In Cameron, while gender parity in political participation in Cameroon has increased slightly due to the success of some feminist movements, there remains a crisis of citizenship. Overwhelmingly, women lack the documents needed to even register to vote or run for office.
The report offers the following communication related recommendations, amongst others.

Governments should:

• make data, particularly the number of women in office/parliament, higher and lower houses more easily accessible on official national Websites, newspapers, and other forms of media; and
• encourage voting awareness campaigns prior to election to ensure voters, men and women of all ages, are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Political Parties should:

• promote men and women candidates equally; and
• publish party lists with men and women candidates side by side.

International NGOs should:

• apart from the IPU website it remains difficult to acquire relevant and reliable data on women candidates running and the number of women candidates elected. International organisations should encourage national governments to record and publically publish such information to make it available to all;
• seek a grass root approach to support women political participation in Africa at all levels and work, cooperate with women’s organisation on the ground to construct a sustainable, realistic, gradual solution; and
• support women candidates and women’s organisations throughout the political process.

Local NGOS, Women's Organisations, Civil Society should:

• encourage and support cooperation with each other to support women candidates, create and generate awareness amongst women voters to promote women’s political participation;
• establish programmes to encourage women and the youth to partake in the political realm and vote;and
• record, report, publish and share their findings, projects and experience with addressing women’s political participation at all levels.