Policy Alternatives for Strengthening Women’s Representation in African Local Authorities: Insights from Zimbabwe

Local authorities in Africa are male-dominated. Women are, thus, not adequately represented, and their role is neglected in decision- and policy-making. The underrepresentation of women in influential decision-making bodies threatens the achievement of sound service delivery by local authorities in Africa. Yet literature is scant on the policies for improving women’s participation in African local authorities. The purpose of this study is to draw lessons from the case study of Zimbabwe on how to strengthen women’s representation in African local authorities. A mixed research approach was adopted for this study. The study revealed that there are several reasons for the poor participation of women in local government institutions and proffered cocktail of strategies is needed to support women’s representation in local authorities and these include strong legal and institutional frameworks, vibrant advocacy efforts, and multi-stakeholder partnerships. The study also proffered recommendations to address the causes of poor women’s representation in councils, including awareness campaigns to promote women’s involvement in council issues and fair and practical person specifications for the desired posts in the council to encourage women to apply for posts among other factors. Therefore, the study concluded that indeed there is poor women representation in local authorities in Zimbabwe, hence the need of strengthening women’s capacities in local government institutions in Africa.