accords to women the right to custody and guardianship, and makes void all laws, customs, cultural practices and traditions that infringe on the rights of women and girls. Certain sections are further elaborated to ensure certainty in the application of these rights. The policy and legislative framework and the prevailing social, economic and political developments provide a firm basis to pursue gender equality and equity defined in this NGP. 2.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS 2.1. Overview Since 2004, significant progress has been made towards providing the legislative, planning and implementation frameworks for gender equality programming. From these developments there are positive outcomes namely – (i) increase in awareness that has stimulated gender mainstreaming in public programmes including economic and fiscal planning; (ii) the gender gaps are closing in and in some instances gender parity has been attained e.g. primary school enrolment and literacy; (iii) increased participation of women in political decision making; (iv) reduction in HIV and AIDS infection rates particularly among women. Despite these achievements, Zimbabwe is still ranking lowly in gender equality ranking. The 2011 Human Development Report revealed that the Gender Inequality Index (GII) is at 0.583 compared to an ideal of zero. This indicates the generally low status of women with respect to reproductive health, empowerment, access, control and ownership of economic resources and economic opportunities, and participation in decision-making. An intensive internal policy consultation and review of the current achievements also confirmed this position. A clear picture of the current situation is best demonstrated by an analysis of the 28 substantive targets for achieving gender equality outlined in the 2008 SADC Protocol on Gender and Development accountability framework. Guided by these 28 targets, the current situation relating to progress and gaps in Zimbabwe is summarised in the next section. 2.2. Analysis of specific areas (i) Gender in Governance (Representation and Participation): The past eight years have recorded a series of mechanisms to ensure a 50:50 balance in representation and participation by 2015. There has been a corresponding increase in awareness and sensitivity to gender representation in public institutions in addition to increased sensitivity to equal representation in development planning at grassroots. The constitution of the Senate and Provincial Government is based on the proportional representation principles. In some instances the 30% quota set by the African Union (AU) has been achieved or surpassed. For example, statistics from ZWRCN show that, in Public Service in 2012, women represented 56% of employees, the percentage of women employed as Ambassadors and in Missions was 30%, Public Service Commissioners was 67%, Deputy Directors to Principal Directors in Public Service averaged above 60% and Magistrates 41%. Advocacy on equal representation has resulted in the inclusion of far reaching provisions in the new Constitution. 3