ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections Table: 15 Women’s seat quota allocation Province Bulawayo Harare Manicaland Mashonaland Central Mashonaland East Mashonaland West Masvingo Matabeleland North Matabeleland South Midlands TOTAL MDC-N MDC-T ZANU-PF 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 4 3 2 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 21 1 3 4 5 5 5 4 3 3 4 37 Along with the 25 women who were directly elected to the National Assembly, this brings the total number of women in the National Assembly to 85, meaning that women secured 31.5 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly. This is an improvement from 2008 when just 15.2 per cent of the National Assembly was female. In the Senate women secured 39 out of the 80 seats available.61This was an improvement from 2008 when 24.7 per cent of the Senate was female. Cumulatively this means that there has been an increase in the number of women holding political office in Zimbabwe. 18.12 per cent of Parliament was female. Following the 2013 elections there are now 124 women in the legislature out of a total of 350, meaning there is a 35.4 per cent representation of women in the legislature. This has almost doubled the representation of women since the last election. This is a welcome development and shows that the introduction of quotas has had a positive effect on the representation of women at least in terms of numbers. However, this increase came against the backdrop of a decrease in the number of female candidates who were actually contesting for the 210 constituency seats. It is hoped that these women who are now in Parliament will capitalise on their 61 ‘‘Political parties field fewer women candidates’ available at <http://www.herald.co.zw/political-parties-field-fewerwomen-candidates>. 67 | P a g e