close
close

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Part - Newstatenabenn

Thu. Oct 17th, 2024
patheur

Namibians support equal access to jobs, but say more must be done to protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment

By Sheisoe
Namibians support equal access to jobs, but say more must be done to protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment

Only half of citizens consider it likely that complaints will be believed.

Key findings

  • Three-quarters (74%) of Namibians support equal access to employment for men and women, even when jobs are scarce. Men are less in favor of gender equality than women when hiring (69% vs. 80%).
  • According to respondents, barriers to women’s entry and advancement in the labor market include a lack of necessary education and skills (26%), the preference of some employers to hire men (16%) and a lack of schemes for remote or flexible work (12%). ).
  • More than seven in ten Namibians (72%) believe women should have the same opportunity as men to be elected to public office.
  • Minorities report that girls in their communities “often” or “always” face discrimination, harassment, and requests for sexual favors from teachers (26%) and are even prevented from attending school because their families prioritize education boys (10%).
  • Three in ten respondents (29%) say women in their community are “often” or “always” sexually harassed in public places such as markets, on the street or on public transport.
  • About a fifth (19%) say women in their communities are “often” or “always” prevented from taking up paid work by their husbands or other family members.
  • Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Namibians believe the police and the courts should do more to protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment in schools, workplaces and other public spaces.
  • Only half (49%) of Namibians consider it likely that people in their community will believe women or girls when they complain about discrimination or harassment in schools, workplaces or other public spaces.

Namibia ranks eighth out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2024, making it the highest-ranked African country (World Economic Forum, 2024). It shares the No. 1 position globally in educational attainment and health/survival, and ranks 17th for economic participation and opportunity and 21st for political empowerment. But despite the impressive achievements, meaningful gender gaps exist in pay equality (90th place), ministerial positions (46th) and the number of years with a female head of state (17th).

This election year, public attention in Namibia will turn to the participation of women in the country’s political processes, both as candidates and as voters. After the 2014 National Assembly elections, the ruling SWAPO party implemented a “zebra-style” party list with alternating male and female candidates, increasing the number of women in the National Assembly. Only three out of ten opposition parties have female MPs, including the largest, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), with women in 44% of the sixteen parliamentary seats (Institute for Public Policy Research, 2020). These developments have allowed Namibia to achieve gender equality (50% women) in parliament, with the fifth highest percentage of women in legislative positions in the world, after Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2024).

While men continue to dominate leadership positions on most party lists, the SWAPO party has chosen Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as its first female presidential candidate, paving the way for Namibia to potentially have its first female president. In the race for State House, she is joined by four women running as independent candidates: Lisbeth Kaumbi, Rosa Namises, Lydia Kandetu and Ally Angula (Matheus, 2024).

Despite political progress, gender gaps persist in the workforce, with women working significantly less full-time than men (Kalimbo, 2018). Women’s labor force participation is significantly lower than men’s, and women are underrepresented in the formal sector. Even taking education level and occupation into account, men still earn significantly more than women in most industries.

According to UN Women (2021), Namibia has made great progress in developing legal frameworks to promote, enforce and monitor gender equality. Yet only about a third of the indicators needed to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from a gender perspective are available. As a result, the exact extent of gender inequality in Namibia remains unknown.