Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia

most powerful women in African politics

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

Ngozi Okonjo-Lweala

  Continuing on when I left the last time, I searched for the more female politicians in Africa and came back with two but just a few. 

If male politicians looked at the progress that the above mentioned female politicians have brought to their respective countries then maybe Zimbabwean female politicians would be given a better platform to express themselves. female politicians from Zimbabwe cannot perform on the world stage because back home they are not given a relevant voice to better express themselves, how then can they compete with the above mentioned female politicians. 

The standard newspaper( 22-28 february 2015), published a full page about the Liberians re electing a woman as their president. Ellen Johnson is 77 years old but she got re elected because she ran her country progressive (lhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson_Sirleaf). in that same paper under the opinion column, Ellen Johnson was even compared to some male politicians from this country with the example of Robert Mugabe. the contrast was that were this woman was getting better with age, this man from Zimbabwe was getting worse the more he grew up, and his country was suffering for it. 

according to UN women(http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/9/zimbabwe-women-mps-sworn-in), Female politicians in Zimbabwe were told to vacate the most competitive sets in Parliament and to reserve them for men. what this means then that women do not have enough competition in them to stand against men, is that So? why would men tell women such things?

in a way female politicians in Zimbabwe are not meant for the more serious cases, they are supposed to be in the back ground all the time.

But then do male politicians in Zimbabwe not see how some countries like Liberia are progressing because they do  not keep their women in the background.

 

I was looking at the political atmosphere in Zimbabwe lately and noticed something quite disturbing in two ways. Zimbabwe is a country that advocates equality for all despite your biological make up. Even ZIMASSET advocates for that. but that is just a blue print, if the political atmosphere is anything to go by. You have a situation where there are less women in Zimbabwean politics compared to their male counterparts. And those women that find themselves in politics are kept at bay, given positions that would not allow them to make any significant changes to the ordinary Zimbabwean.

Irinnews (27July 2007) published a story concerned with the number of female politicians that are in Zimbabwe. women in politics support unit, a Non Governmental Organisation here in Zimbabwe was advocating for more female politicians. Their argument was that there are more women than men in Zimbabwe, but there are more men than women in Zimbabwean Politicis, which in itself is worrying. They believe that if more women enter the political arena then the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans might be impacted. Fast forward eight years into the future and the situation is roughly the same even worse.

ZBC's News at Eight and current affairs program extensively covered the ouster of one of the most influential female politicians in Zimbabwe, Joice Mujuru, from being a vice president to being a no body in less than a year. her position was overtaken by a man. 2014 saw many of prominent female politicians falling from grace. an example is that of Olivia Muchena who lost her post as minister of IT to a man. Instead of replacing these positions with ladies, they were filled with men. this then means that the number of prominent female politicians in Zimbabwe fell, meaning that politics is once again a male dominated game.

Another thing that happened in2014 was, most women politicians were thrown into 'women affairs' issues. We have the likes of Grace Mugabe who became the Zanu Pf Women affairs Boss and Oppa Muchinguri who is just  politburo member. Just a member. These positions will not give these women the power to make a change in the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans. This is something that is left to the men.

bleak future ahead

Today   i am writing about something that I came across in the letters to the editors in one of these private owned newspapers. the letter had this statement "...Zimbabwe is not ready for a female president..' says who? It is commentary like that, that gives male politician the power to continuously sideline their female counterparts. i mean how are people even sure that Zimbabwe is not ready for a female politician? for all people know, Zimbabwe might benefit from having a female politician as a president.

No one questions a mother's love and touch. we are all here because of mothers. Why then would someone question a mother's capability to run a country? Basically what I am saying today is people should stop giving ,ale politicians the platform to continuously sidetrack and sideline their female counterparts by posting things statements like the one mentioned above. personally I believe that women are better leaders than men. I mean look at the Liberia for example, according to the Standard of 22 to 28 February, the Liberians re elected a woman as their president. look at the progress that country is making. why won't Zimbabweans see that a female politician is just a good a contestant for presidency as a male politician

potential that remains potential

Normally i would comment on how female politicians are not given the same space as their male counterparts. but maybe its their own fault because you have Grace Mugabe, for example, one of the most powerful opinion leaders in Zimbabwean politics talking about the things that have been  surgically removed from her body at a gathering of more than five thousand people. Most of those people in the gathering were women who see her as their role model. From a political perspective, her audience would have expected her to address issues related to the current political situation and how it is affecting them. She has the capacity and the power to do so. Surprisingly she got to the podium and began to tell anecdotes and stories pertaining to her personal health,  that are in no way helpful to the ordinary women out there!

Grace Mugabe  has the potential to create a change in Zimbabwean politics  because of her power. But then you have a scenario were thousands of people recently going to the airport her and instead of using the gathering to revive their political consciousness, she turns it in to melodrama with her in the lead.

OF SHALLOW MINDS AND ILL TREATED WOMAN: the relationship between the media and female politicians.

Female politicians like every other woman in the world are judged more for their bodies and the clothes they put on rather than for the content of their brains. The photos are taken at an angle that shows either jewellery  

or clothes. This is done to undermine these politicians in the eyes of the public so that they get ridiculed more for what they are putting on their bodies and less for what they have to deliver. This is especially true for Grace Mugabe who has been called names for her allegedly spending a lot of money on herself and on shopping while Zimbabwe wallows with hunger.

These three pictures I have selected from a pool of other offensive pictures. offensive in the terms of the framing and the angles taken to produce them. The pictures are focusing on the earrings, and their quality, and the attitre basically.
The second picture of Grace Mugabe, the one she is dressed in blue, focuses on her face and to be specific on her make up.Amai Mujuru's picture focuses on her pearls. A picture like that, with its focus on her pearls is most likely to produce backlash from the general public. this is because, Zimbabwe has been experiencing economic problems since the early 2000s and here you have women dressing in expensive pearls, nice head wraps and expensive earrings.

Following this, the Media takes a back sit and let the public do the rest. When these women stand in front of people to make their arguments, already they are being judged. The public then make an ill informed decision based on the outward appearance of these women as opposed to their arguments.

Today's the daily news carried a story about Joice Mujuru and how ready she is to face those who are persecuting her, as well as spreading malicious rumors about her activities. nothing wrong with that, everyone deserves a  right of reply. however, the daily news went on to include that Mujuru is widow to general Mujuru. including something like that is reminding people of her 'source' of power and hence undermining her political career. a political career that she brought about on her own. including her husband in a piece that has nothing to do with her husband is the Daily news's way of reminding the world that Joice without her Husband is not a powerful politician. facts, as we have seen them, tend to differ. the woman was able to shake up Zanu pf without without her hsuband