about women in politics and motivate other women to take up political positions in future. • The challenge of addressing gender parity issues emanate from political parties that have not shown willingness to do so. As much as Zimbabwe is bound by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, political parties have not embraced it fully and continue to pay lip-service to the issue of increasing women participation. The party structures are designed to serve the interests of a few and they reward the women based on patronage and to window dress. This window dressing in political parties will continue to relegate women to pawns in a game played by men. • The media was identified as failing to promote understanding on the roles of Members of Parliament under Proportional Representation and that of women in general. Instead of capturing the issues that are being generated by women in Parliament and in their respective Portfolio Committees, it has instead focused on negative stories about the personal lives of the MPs and their educational background. The reporting environment is skewed in favour of the male voice and trivialising women issues. Why Gender equality? RAU shares the view that full participation of citizens is at the cornerstone of democracy and this can never be achieved if one dominant section of the population continues to speak on behalf of others. Therefore having equal representation of women is a rights issue and should be treated as such, recognising that: • • • • Women account for more than half the population and therefore, have a right to be represented at all levels of decision making: the continued existence of election-related violence scares women away from participating in electoral processes; More women in positions of power can influence policies and strategies for enhancing women’s economic opportunities; Women’s experiences are different from men’s and they do things differently, and, therefore, they need to be represented in discussions that involve policy making and policy implementation; Women and men’s interests are different and conflicting sometimes and hence the need for women in representative institutions so that they can articulate the interests of women. Recommendations The increased proportion of women in the current setup is not really a route to achieving the critical mass as envisaged by the women’s movement, but seems rather a system of windowdressing. The real battle for equality thus lies outside parliament, in the political parties and the value they place upon women’s participation. Political parties have to show their commitment to