Harare — The women's movement has over the past 20 years been fighting for greater participation in all facets of life, especially in the economic and political spheres.

This has seen the Government coming up with a number of developments and programmes while Parliament has enacted laws to bridge the gap between men and women in accessing resources and providing equal opportunities to all.

However, despite efforts that have been made by Government and other stakeholders, there is still a big gap between men and women in positions of authority with women still lagging behind in accessing resources and opportunities.

In the current Parliament, women constitute approximately 16 percent of the total number of legislators, way below the minimum 30 percent agreed by Sadc.

The same scenario replicates itself in Cabinet and other sectors even the private sector with an insignificant number of women occupying top posts or sitting in boards of the public-listed companies.

Because of the above-mentioned scenario, Women's Parliamentary Caucus, a grouping of female legislators drawn from all three political parties in Parliament, declared that in the current constitution-making process they would be more vocal if not militant in pushing for equal opportunities between men and women.

They would push for 50-50 representation during the outreach programme and they are already in the process of engaging their own rapporteurs to capture women's views.

Apart from that they also threatened to mobilise against the adoption of the new constitution come the referendum if it did not address their concerns.

Here is what the chairperson of the Women's Caucus and Goromonzi West House of Assembly representative, Cde Biata Nyamupinga said on the issue.

"We are prepared to push for 50-50 representation during the outreach programme. Women want human rights to be observed across the 17 Thematic Committees. If the rapporteurs do not take women's issues seriously we will meet at the referendum.

"We are ready to fight for our rights and ensure that there is equal opportunities to all," she said.

Cde Nyamupinga said they were serious in having their concerns addressed so that the status of women is uplifted.

She said the starting point was in ensuring that the constitution, which is the supreme law of the country guarantees equality so that it becomes easier to demand those rights.

"Women constitute a greater percentage of the population and that should be reflected across all the sectors of society. That is what we want in the new constitution," Cde Nyamupinga said.

The Women Caucus last week organised meetings in Mashonaland Central, Manicaland and Matabeleland South provinces to gather views on what the women want in the new constitution.

Of the 17 Thematic Committees, there is one that would be dealing with the specific issues related to gender and women's affairs but the Women's Caucus want all the committees to include the gender dimension when they elicit the views of the people.

This is an interesting scenario and it just remains to be seen whether the female legislators will succeed in having their concerns adopted and included in the new constitution.

However, the major drawback seems always to be on implementation.

While the constitution might address the concerns of the women and other gender activists what is of importance is the implementation part and that is where the country has been found wanting.

It therefore remains to be seen what the outcome would be this time around but if Cde Nyamupinga's views are to be taken seriously then the women might have succeeded in ensuring that their concerns are addressed this time around.

In the committees

The Air Zimbabwe issue took a new twist amid indications that the workers misled the Committee on Transport, Communication that management at the parastatal was not banking money but operating on a cash basis.

The workers told the committee that the company was making over US$300 000 a day but was not banking it and in the process creating situations for possible abuse of funds.

The Air Zimbabwe board chairman, Mr Jonathan Kadzura challenged the workers to prove their allegations. He said the parastatal was instead making a turnover of US$25 000 a day.

It appears the situation at Air Zimbabwe urgently needs Government intervention, as there seems to be a lot being swept under the carpet. However, the Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Communications and Infrastructure Development and Kwekwe legislator, Mr Blessing Chebundo said it was premature for them to talk of taking any action.

"We are in the process of gathering evidence and we have not reached a stage to say who is lying or not.

"As required by Parliament's procedures we will gather the evidence and then consider it then we will make our recommendations," he said.

It is a crime to lie to Parliament under oath and one faces a jail term or a fine if found guilty.

In other matters before the Committees, the Attorney General, Mr Johannes Tomana, had his appearance before the committee on lands and agriculture postponed to a later date because he was engaged with the Cabinet.

The Attorney General is supposed to give his evidence on what is being done to recover over US$3 million owed to the Grain Marketing Board by their Zambian counterpart dating back to 1998.

Lecturers at polytechnical and teachers' colleges want Parliament to enact legislation that recognises the role they play in manpower development and also address their conditions of service.

The College Lecturers Association said their situation had been worsened by a lack of recognition as compared to their counterparts in the education fraternity.

The president of COLA, Mr David Dzasunga, appearing before the committee on education, said he wanted Government to come up with a Higher Education Bill.

"The legislative framework we are dealing with is quite confusing to us. Universities are governed by their Universities Acts and are quite autonomous.

"We have the Manpower Development Act, but it does not say much about us.

"Our welfare issues are governed by the Public Service Act and this kind of framework does not give us real identity, we are not recognised and this has affected our welfare," he said.

Lecturers at these institutions have been on the receiving end, as they are not getting the kind of incentives that teachers or university lecturers are getting.

It is also worrisome that some of them were now staying in hostels together with students compromising the respect that should exist between them.

Hopefully, Government acts quickly to address the plight of lecturers and prevent the collapse of our education system.