Zimbabwe currently has 85 women parliamentarians in the National Assembly compared to 185 men.
This means that the country would not meet the 2015 Sadc deadline, as the next elections in Zimbabwe are only expected in 2018.
A REGIONAL research body, Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), has said although Zimbabwean women are largely marginalised, they still exerted a lot of influence through voting even in the face of serious fears about violence during elections.
Her confirmation in the position will take place at the party congress scheduled for December this year. This would propel her into the party's powerful politburo and mark her official entrance into politics.
No less than 35 percent of the newly elected MPs in Zimbabwe are women, thanks to a special electoral quota system to increase women's representation in Parliament. At age 29, Tionei Melody Dziva is the youngest of them.
In 1985, I made it to the front page of The Herald newspaper. It was a photo of me wearing a big smile, shaking President Robert Mugabe’s hand during the five-year independence celebrations. This roused my dream to one day become a politician and lead the country.
Women make up 34% of the 8th Parliament of Zimbabwe, with 32% in the National Assembly and 48% of Senate. Although the quota for women in parliament led to the dramatic increase from 19% in 2008 to 34%, the number of women who actually won, fell from 34 to 26.
Government should support women participation in politics as they can contribute immensely to the development of the country, a senior official with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said.
Amnesty International reports that especially in Zimbabwe's rural areas, away from any accountability, allies of Mugabe have been targeting opposition's female political activists.