Representation of women. A case study of the parliament of Lesotho

Table of contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Table of contents

List of tables and figures

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1. Background
2. Statement of the Problem
3. Research Questions
3.1 General research question
3.2 Specific research questions
4. Research Objectives
4.1 General objective
4.1 Specific objectives
5. Significance of the Study
6. Scope
7. Limitation of the Study
8. Outline

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
9. Conceptual issues
10. Theoretical framework: Marxist Feminism
11. Empirical literature review
12. Gaps in the literature

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
13. Research design
14. Study area
15. Population
16. Sample size and sample frame
17. Data sources
18. Data collection Technique, instrument and procedures
19. Data Processing and Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
20. Data Presentation
21. DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
22. Conclusion
23. Recommendations

References

Appendix

COPYRIGHT

No part of this study may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying or otherwise without the prior permission from the author or the Pan African University.

DEDICATION

To Lira Ralebese and my lovely wife Helene Gouanlewueu Kali

ABSTRACT

Though women are relatively active and win political positions at lower rungs of political offices, in parliament, their involvement is perceived to be small. This study is anchored on Marxist feminism to explain the cause of underrepresentation of women in the parliament of Lesotho. Data collected through a questionnaire distributed using simple random sampling demonstrate that socio-economic and cultural factors militate against women’s involvement in politics. Most importantly, two factors undermine the representation of women in top political structures. Firstly, poor participation of women during public gatherings where their voices are suppressed makes women lack self-esteem and discourages them from aspiring for leadership positions. Secondly, gender stereotypes perpetuated through the courtyard gathering and initiation (lebollo) compel men to see women as minors, unworthy for high political posts. Apart from these, the findings show that women’s poor access and control of land undermines their representation in parliament. In addition, the results of the study demonstrate that traditional-leadership institutions contribute to the preeminence of men in parliament at the expense of women. Conversely, since women are not present in the traditional institutions like the courtyard, they find it difficult to be represented in parliament, especially in numbers that reflect their demographic strength. In order to bridge the underrepresentation gap between men and women in the parliament, the researcher suggests that the government has to create alternative institutions dedicated to women with the purpose of grooming them and cultivating them for leadership. Moreover, it has to reconcile the contradiction between the customary laws and the constitution.

Keywords: Women representation, parliament, Marxist feminism, land, Lesotho.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

If it were not for the unwavering support and different forms of help I received from special individuals and bodies, this research project would not have been successful. I would, therefore, like to thank them all heartily for their invaluable contributions. My special gratitude is foremost devoted to the African Union which financed my studies, Pan African University teaching staff that imparted much knowledge to me and my classmates. Equally important, I feel very indebted to my Supervisor Dr G. Fah Fombo for his professional guidance, reading and commenting critically on every part of my research proposal and thesis. I am grateful to him for having remained committed to seeing me through this process despite his tight schedule. I would also like to acknowledge the unrelenting support I got from Lillo Mohale and Helene Gouanlewueu Kali who helped to correct some typos in the thesis and to Lehlohonolo Mokopotsa and Lehlohonolo Nkole who assisted me with data collection and Mosala Qekisi who also contributed in the process. Most importantly, I would like to give honour and profound gratitude to the God of heaven, earth and the seas for the strength and wisdom He imbued on me to accomplish this work.

List of tables and figures

Table 1 Marital status versus the level of Political Participation

Table 2 Influence of marriage regime on Political behaviour

Table 3 Men who earn more than M 5000 and their level of political participation

Table 4 Respondents who earn more than M 5000 per month

Table 5 Respondents who had at least a tertiary certificate and were politically active

Table 6 Questions on support for women leadership

Table 7 Influence of ownership of land on political activities

Table 8 Politicians who attended ‘Khotla’

Table 9 Pitso [Public Gathering]

Figure 2 Age Category of respondents

Figure 3 Sex of Respondents

Figure 4 Marital Status of Respondents

Figure 5 Figure Marriage Regime

Figure 6 Monthly Income of Respondents

Figure 7 Parliamentarians who own land

Figure 8 Initiation school (LEBOLLO)

Figure 9 Chances of entering parliament for the initiated and non-initiated

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. Background

Most of the world democracies are grappling with the problem of underrepresentation of women. Even though women outnumber men, their share of parliamentary membership worldwide is just 22.0% and 22.2% in Sub-Saharan Africa (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2015). However, in Rwanda, more than 60% of parliamentarians are women (Turianskyi and Chisiza, 2017). On the contrary, the gender gap is very acute in Lesotho where the representation of women dropped from 26% to 25% in 2015 (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2015). Women representation is a concern in many countries where gender inequality is still skewed against women over men in politics (Lewu, 2005:62). Women are usually the ones who suffer most from the negative effects of quantitative underrepresentation such as gender discrimination and abuse across the world.

In an attempt to reverse the adverse effects of having only a few women in parliament, the Government of Lesotho became a signatory to the following treaties and protocols: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which was ratified on the 22nd August 1995, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and many other gender protocols. It also established the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation ( African Development Bank, 2006:2-25; Lesotho, 2014). The situation in Lesotho is still worrying notwithstanding the government being a signatory to the above gender-based multilateral agreements.

Although the government has not adopted gender quotas for the national assembly seats, there is a gender quota imposed on political parties by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) under the proportional representation (PR) system. At the lower level of political office, political parties are expected to place their candidates under PR with respect to sex to ensure gender balance (EISA, 2008). The quotas imposed by the IEC on political parties, however, do not apply on the candidates contesting for the constituencies and that is a larger portion of the parliament- 80 seats out of 120 but it applies only to the members of parliament appointed under the PR electoral model. Nevertheless, positive changes were witnessed after the implementation of these solutions carried out by the Independent Electoral Commission.

For local government, women constituted 58% of the elected candidates to community councils and out of this only 29 % of the chairpersons of the district-councillors were women, which are just 37 women out of 127 leading community councils (EISA, 2008). Over and above that, we witnessed for the first time, a woman forming her own political party (Reformed Congress of Lesotho) and even making it to parliament. However, it was during this period that we encountered setbacks when the women’s share of parliament dropped from 26% to 25% (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2015). Also, the number of female ministers in Lesotho remained very low as women occupied only 22% of ministers (Schwab, 2015:8). The problem remains dire, because, even where women outnumber men as we saw in the local government, men tend to dominate strategic positions and less significant positions are delegated to women. Without the quotas, therefore, the problem would be dismal suggesting that there are still lots of factors that perpetuate the gender gap in the national assembly.

Apart from that Lesotho expressed a desire to redress the problems of having only a few women in parliament by various methods. First, Basotho women started waging a vigorous campaign against gender inequalities, particularly targeting the country's laws, customs, traditions and social norms that govern the relationship between men and women (Makoa, 1997:5). Second, Lesotho proved its commitment to addressing gender disparity by signing CEDAW, MDGs and many other gender protocols and by establishing the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation as well as the Bill of Rights which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex ( African Development Bank, 2006:2-25; Lesotho, 2014). Equally important, the IEC imposed the gender quota on political parties to curb the numerical underrepresentation of women at the lower level of political office instead of the parliament. In spite of these efforts, certain factors still undermine the representation of women in decision-making, especially in parliament.

2. Statement of the Problem

Lesotho’s efforts to curb underrepresentation of women in parliament seems to be failing. Though the measures taken by the government to empower women improved the situation in several areas of life (such as in education, health, access to loans and access to jobs), it is failing in one important area (Kali, 2018). The problem is still acute when it comes to increasing the number of women in the parliament. Despite the fact that the country has 970 males per 1,000 females and an estimated population of 2.2 million, the women are relatively too few in parliament (African Development Bank, 2005:1). Similarly, the house of principal chiefs has few women and the cabinet has 22% female ministers as opposed to 78% male ministers and less than 30% women in parliament (Schwab, 2015:8).

Due to their underrepresentation in the parliament, average women are still affected by different forms of violence. It is in this respect that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed some concerns about the high pervasiveness of gender-based violence in Lesotho (Adams and Nkuebe, 2018:5). Moreover, advocates suspect that 125 cases which are often reported per week are but only a tip of the iceberg. In the light of the foregoing, it is suspected that certain overt or covert elements persist that continue to account for the underrepresentation of women in the legislature of Lesotho. This study seeks to unearth these factors by asking the following questions:

3. Research Questions

3.1 General research question

1. What are the factors militating against women’s involvement in the parliament of Lesotho?

3.2 Specific research questions

2. How does women’s ownership of land affect their representation in the parliament of Lesotho?
3. How does males’ belonging to institutions of traditional leadership affect women’s representation in the parliament of Lesotho?

4. Research Objectives

4.1 General objective

1. To assess the factors militating against women’s involvement in the parliament of Lesotho.

4.1 Specific objectives

2. To examine the ways in which women’s ownership of land affect their representation in the parliament of Lesotho.
3. To examine the ways in which male traditional leadership institutions affect the representation of women the in the parliament of Lesotho.

5. Significance of the Study

The study is useful for academic purposes and referencing. The theme adds to the growing literature on the subject of gender politics. The literature on women’s representation in parliament has often concentrated on elections and quotas. This study brings a new area which adds to the discourse on the representation of women in decision-making. The author uncovers the relationship of land, traditional system and representation of women in decision-making. This helps unearth the root causes of women’s problems. In addition, this study is carried out for the award of a master’s degree.

Moreover, it bears social significance as it has the potential to benefit the concerned Basotho to close the gender gap in certain aspects of life. It also offers policymakers a guide to combat sources of gender inequality and less involvement of women at the top political offices. This contributes to the solutions to curbing violence and other ills committed against them. The research also points out other gender-related challenges.

6. Scope

The study examines the period from sixth parliament when Lesotho commenced implementing the various gender protocols to the ninth parliament (2017) and exclude the parliament session that started in June 2017. The year 1998 which mark the sixth parliament is significant in that the international community, namely the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sent its special envoy to help change the electoral model in Lesotho. Subsequently, women started increasing in parliament. June 2017 is the cut off because a totally new government took over and collapsed before completing its term.

7. Limitation of the Study

The major limitation of this research is the time frame. Compared to longitudinal studies where the behaviour and reaction of the respondents can be followed over time, this study was only once off. Hence, it could not capture the change in behaviour over time.

8. Outline

The first chapter of this research introduces the reader to the work and focuses on the background information, problem statement, research questions and objectives of the study. Justification, scope and limitations of the study follow the aforesaid sections. After this outline is chapter two which entails literature review, theoretical framework and gaps in the literature. The third chapter presents a description of the methodology while the fourth chapter contains the presented results. The last chapter, which is chapter five, entails recommendations and conclusions.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Studies on gender disparity in politics are becoming more prominent in recent days. They tend to focus on sources of inequality between men and women. Those that assess the influence of institutions often focus on how political structure, access to the franchise, electoral system and the closeness of elections influence underrepresentation (Caul, 1999; Shvedova, 2005). Most of the studies conducted regarding these themes try to explain the factors that militate against equality between the two sexes (Makoa 1997; Mapetla, 1999; Phohlo, 2011). From the theoretical perspective, others established that the causes of underrepresentation of women are located within the cultural and socio-economic norms of the society (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005; Caul, 1999). Under this light, this study aligns with Marxist Feminism to explain the factors militating against women’s representation in parliament.

9. Conceptual issues

Representation of women in parliament, in the literature, is taken to mean the involvement of females in the highest decision-making arm of government- the legislature. The participation of women in parliament can be passive, active or symbolic. According to Mosher (1968), on one hand, passive representation implies the extent of congruence between the composition of parliament and the society in which it is found. On the other hand, active representation of women denotes a group of women who get to participate in making decisions and debating policies in parliament that would eventually affect other women in society. According to Reid, Miller and Kerr (2003), descriptive representation refers to the representation of a group (women or men, for instance) in its proportion to its numbers in society but this does not imply either active or passive representation. This forms the basis for this research. The researcher is concerned about the proportional representation of women in the parliament of Lesotho without considering the impact women make when they are in parliament.

Cook (1992:417) contend that descriptive representation- unlike substantive representation- is less likely to advance the interests of the underrepresented group in the parliament. Notwithstanding, the author maintains that before we talk of substantive representation, we first have to assess the descriptive representation. In this respect, one has to first find out whether the underrepresented group is available in decision-making and obstacles to its representation. It is upon establishing its presence in decision-making and clearing the obstacles that militate against its representativeness that we can now evaluate the impact it has in those settings. This is not contrary to the belief that those few elected women who make it to parliament have the potential to help others to make it as well (Saltzsei, 1986; Dye and Renick, 1981; Eisinger, 1982).

10. Theoretical framework: Marxist Feminism

The theoretical framework of this thesis is anchored on the Marxist feminism school of thought. It is a set of theoretical frameworks that is a product of the intersection of Marxism and feminism. The two schools of thought analyse forms of systematic inequalities that culminate in the oppression of some marginalized individuals (Ehrenreich, 1976, Banks, 1986:38). Marxism on its own examines the inequality that is brought about by the dynamics of capitalism. Put differently, the theory is just feminism focused on examining and explicating the manner in which women find themselves oppressed in the system of private property and capitalism. This theory posits that the basis of oppression and exploitation in any capitalist society emerges from class inequality (Ehrenreich, 1976). On one hand, feminism considers gender inequality to be the basis for oppression in any society.

The purpose of the Marxist feminist framework is to discover a way that can transform the society by changing the oppressive and exploitative conditions in order to liberate the oppressed class. In other words, it is a framework that is critical and emancipatory in nature and aims to comprehend gender oppression experiences in a systematic way (Holmstrom, 2002:160). The theory posits that a radical restructuring of the capitalist system is necessary if the liberation of women is to be realized. It is a sub-type or a combination of feminist ideology and Marxism and attempts to dismantle capitalism with the purpose of liberating women under the patriarchal society (Chesler, 2005).

The theory put forward that inequality arising from the economic conditions, political confusion, dependence and the oppressive social relations between men and women is the source of the unhealthy social relations that disadvantage the latter sex in society (Holmstrom, 2002:160). It states that women are under the oppression orchestrated by a dominant power structure. This theoretical framework points out how capitalism functions in the oppression of women. For this theory, class contradictions form the thrust of analysis. Classes in society form the unit of analysis for the theory. The discussion on Marxist feminism revolves around the contradiction between classes in society.

According to the theory, women empowerment and equality between the sexes cannot be realized as long as the two sexes interact under capitalism (Holmstrom, 2002:163). Unless the capitalist structure is dismantled women empowerment cannot be achieved. The theory recognizes that women are not a homogeneous group with similar interests and aspirations and should not be treated as though they were a homogeneous stand-alone group (Holmstrom, 2002:160). It can be distinguished from other feminist schools of thought by its critical and systematic approach to the economic organization of society, which includes stratification along the class lines. It is also distinguishable by its commitment to end capitalism and by its allegiance to working-class and oppressed or impoverished women.

Marxist feminism, in this study, facilitates an informed analysis of the two classes in society-women and men. It explain the ways in which their interaction lacks equality. It helps the researcher to explain the source of male-domination and preeminence in parliament contrary to women’s subordination. Moreover, the theory helps explain the ways in which men have significant ownership and control over land and use it to perpetuate the status quo to the suffering of women.

11. Empirical literature review

Researchers identified sources of gender disparity having a significant influence on political participation of women in parliament, namely: Political party rules, a masculine model of politics, socio-economic factors, and education (Caul, 1999:83). However, scholars do not agree on which factor holds more influence. In relation to patriarchy, scholars argue that party rules are responsible for the gender disparity in parliaments. Some studies argue that the following factors militate against women’s involvement in parliament:

The party rules and masculine model of politics: According to Shvedova (2005: 35) and Caul, (1999:83) women are confronted with a big challenge which is that the political domain is largely dominated by men and they formulate the rules of the political game. Furthermore, it is male norms and values that organize society and political life. When it comes to occupying decision-making positions within political parties and parliament women are often excluded. Political parties rarely offer financial support. They contribute significantly to their underrepresentation in parliament because they are the major deciders of who gets nominated for a political post and who makes it to parliament.

On the other hand, Phohlo (2011) argues that the challenge is that in the selection and nomination of a candidate, male characteristics are often emphasized. The process is absolutely biased against women. In relation to Lesotho, this explanation reflects the ancient tendency of attributing good actions to masculinity and using femininity to defame failures (Phohlo, 2011). If women are recognized they are not usually placed in winnable positions on a party list. To solve the problem, some countries, Lesotho and Sweden, inter alia, for instance, have obliged the political parties to use the ‘zipper’/zebra list whereby in the party list, there is an alternation of names in terms of sex (Shvedova, 2005:377; Bergqvist, 2000).

Furthermore, some researchers on gender disparity and the role of women in politics have managed to identify some of the factors that affect political participation of women in parliament, either negatively or positively in politics. Among the factors explored and discovered, Alexander and Welzel (2007:5) have established an elaborate set of factors that influence political participation or presence of women in parliament, inter alia, they pointed out the following: Socio-economic factors and cultural factors.

Socio-economic factors: the discourse here focuses mainly on socioeconomic development or economic modernity. In connection with gender disparity in parliament, this argument asserts that economic development is of paramount importance to expand the pool of women eligible for positions of social power (Alexander and Welzel, 2007). The literature in this field holds that high economic development is associated with a broader-based distribution of educational and occupational resources.

The more women gain access to education, employment and other substantive resources the higher the possibility for them to develop their profession thereby establishing a larger pool of women eligible for power positions such as political office (Alexander and Welzel, 2007:5). The other side of the argument holds that the more women develop economically the more will social services to the society increase and a decline will be realised in the field of reproductive roles such as child-rearing and unpaid domestic work. Women then get a chance to pursue other goals that could help them to develop their political career for instance.

Cultural Modernity: It is also dubbed the Human Development Perspective. This debate maintains that as women get more educated they turn to reflect self-expression values that emphasize human choice and autonomy, (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005). This change in orientation caused by the rise in knowledge, in turn, emancipates women and creates mass expectations targeted at making elites responsive and inclusive. Thus, rising emancipative values lead to an increase in women’s involvement in parliament (Inglehart & Norris, 2003).

In contrast, other studies have approached this cultural factor from a different angle. They turn to incline toward the institutional forms in place and point out the nature of the interaction and relationship between men and women. For these researchers, cultural norms and customary practices play a greater role as far as women’s political participation is concerned (Bari, 2005). Patriarchy seems to be at the centre of the discussion on cultural factors that influence the position of women in public affairs. According to Appadorai (1974:35), patriarchy negatively impacts the participation of women in politics, especially one that is characterized by male kinship, permanent marriage and paternal authority.

On the contrary, Shvedova (2005) argued that socio-economic factors such as ownership of land and level of education are the ones that play a very critical role in influencing women’s participation hence gender disparity. The economic and social status of women in society directly influences their chances of participating in high-level politics. Unless women hold significant resources in the society they will not find it easy to keep pace with men who have taken centuries to establish themselves. It is argued that if women had resources they would be able to access education and when educated they can no longer be disenfranchised (Shvedova, 2005). Education gives women the training and skills necessary to effectively participate in parliament.

However, Longwe (2000) contend that it is a fallacy to believe that educating women contribute to their political empowerment and increases their numbers in parliaments. For example, Basotho women are still numerically underrepresented in parliament though they registered a 95% literacy rate against 83% of men (UNESCO, 2011:48). According to Longwe (2000), the literature has failed to produce substantive evidence that correlates the level of political engagement to education, in fact, in her opinion, there is no absolute evidence to support this assumption. In contrast, the root cause of the low presence of women in parliament, according to her, is the socialization process. She observed that discrimination against women is a hidden agenda inculcated at an early age where girls are socialized to believe that the field of politics is a domain of men (Longwe, 2000:27).

In a nutshell, within cultural factors are two schools of thought. The first paradigm presupposes that everywhere across the globe men dominate over women and the latter are perpetual minors under a patriarchal institutional arrangement rampant in every sphere of life. On the other hand, there is a paradigm shift which holds that as women increasingly get educated they acquire values of self-expression and expand their activities so that they can finally emancipate themselves from the bonds that held them under oppressive conditions.

In summation, the scholarship has put forward that the socio-economic variables, education, party rules, and the masculine model bear a significant measure of influence on gender disparity and qualitative representation of women in politics. If women are educated and own more resources and society is not having an adverse attitude on them, then there is a high probability that they will be fairly represented in parliament. On the contrary, if politics are dominated by men and the political rules drafted by men do not favour women in decision-making then women will remain underrepresented in parliament.

On the other hand, when explaining the factors that could attract or forestall women from equally participating in parliament or politics, institutional theory offers an explanation by assessing the structures that moderate political participation (Piven and Cloward, 2000). The theory posits that the power to set the rules of the game rests with institutions and they play a significant role in making equal representation impossible or possible, easy or difficult and accessible or inaccessible. They have the power to effectively set out certain actors and allow some. The institutional theory identifies as a barrier, the fact that customary law discourages equal perception of sexes, deems males as superior to females, and the cultural norms favour men over women in decision-making. Such factors add to the cost of political participation and thus equal representation is affected (Ramakrishnan and Espenshade, 2001; Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1981).

The theory, however, offers an insufficient explanation as to why women decide to either abstain or join parliament. It makes no effort at all to account for personal attitudes, skills, resources and one’s ideology and belief system that may motivate him or her to aspire to be a parliamentarian. This weakness, therefore, necessitates a search for a more precise and comprehensive theory.

Contrary to the institutional perspective, the socio-economic theory makes a better attempt to explain the sources of gender disparity. The thrust of the theory examines factors having an influence on the representation of women not from a structural level but rather a person’s environmental context (Heywood, 1997). The theory argues that the more women get educated and earn much income, the more they participate in politics and can aspire to be in parliament. Exponents of this approach posit that there is a relationship between gender representation and socio-economic status (Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1980). According to this theory, education imparts the knowledge necessary for filling electoral forms for candidacy (Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1980:35). One has to understand that the function of education is not to increase political participation but rather to impart skills that lead to greater participation in politics at the national level.

Critiques have contended that there is no correlation between income, ownership of land, education and level of gender representation- in fact the evidence prove that higher education leads to a decline in the degree of gender representation in parliament (Piven and Cloward, 2000). The theory is misleading because it diverts our attention from the real issues at work. Nonetheless, we cannot simply afford to discard the theory for its arguments are rigorous and undisputable just that they are longitudinal or applicable at a single point in time (Piven and Cloward, 2000). For the lack of plausibility in this theory, this study adopts Marxist Feminism.

The literature has established that among other factors the socio-economic factors, cultural factors and historical legacies are responsible for the level of political participation hence representation of women in parliament (Alexander and Welzel, 2007:5). Studies show that women’s access to and control over land is restricted by a customary legal system in many societies. Some states have attempted to address this problem by either rectifying their legal system or adopting quotas in order to ameliorate the number of women in legislatures. Equally important, studies found out that in Lesotho, the economic resources notably land, the cultural and institutional designs such as the ‘khotla,’ (courtyard assembly) ‘ pitso ’ (public gatherings) and ‘ lebollo ’ (initiation school) are responsible for the minor status of women in decision-making domains (Mapetla, 1999; Phohlo, 2011).

Research has shown that land is a critical asset not only for agriculture but also as a means to acquire loans from financial institutions. It is also an essential source of wealth which one can use to finance political activities. Nonetheless, a customary land tenure system often precludes access, ownership and control of land by women in societies, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mapetla, 199). Women who own land in African constitute just 15%, while in Mali they constitute less than 5%, in countries such as Malawi, Cape Verde and Botswana they only constitute less than 30% (African Development Bank, 2015: 12). Customary legal system severely restricts women’s access to land because land inheritance often favours men.

This leads to under-investment on land by women, as a result, their political activity is weakened. Consequently, women find themselves qualitatively underrepresented in legislatures (African Development Bank, 2015:12). Many countries have sought to rectify the problem of underrepresentation by resorting to the quota system while some have addressed the source of the problem by rectifying the customary practices and laws.

Gender quotas have emerged as a global fast track strategy to redress the historic qualitative underrepresentation of women from the parliament. For more than two decades now, many countries have instituted gender quotas either voluntarily or through legislation. However, the gender quota is marred with discursive controversy. Without debating the two opposing views, studies demonstrate that a quota is an effective tool in addressing women’s underrepresentation and ensuring their presence in the formal structures of politics.

Recent studies put more emphasis on party leadership and associate the increasing number of women in politics to quotas (Kittilson, 2006). The scholarship point to conscious acts by the party leadership, such as the implementation of gender quotas or other gender-specific measures, as important determinants of the number of women elected (Kittilson, 2006). The author observed that the number of women elected has increased in parties that have never adopted quotas; however, the average number of women elected is significantly higher in parties that have adopted quotas.

In a study carried out in Western Europe, Kittilon (2006) found out that from 1975 to 1995 few parties (out of 71) had adopted quotas. As a result, the number of women who were elected remained below 10% across the surveyed political parties. In addition, in 1995, it was established that political parties that adopted quotas saw a 35% increase of women elected while those that did not have a quota realised a 25% increase. The latter had a sample of 21 political parties while the former was conducted in a sample of 50 political parties.

The researcher divided parties with quotas into two subgroups: Those that adopted quotas between 1975 and 1985, and those that adopted quotas between 1986 and 1991. The study demonstrated that averages within quota parties, in each separate subset, jumped above averages within non-quota parties shortly after quotas were adopted (Kittilson, 2006:64). In short, parties that adopted quotas performed better than those without quotas with respect to promoting gender equality and ensuring women’s quantitative representation in parliament.

Researchers went further to evaluate the role played by quotas in different context, especially where ownership of land used to favour men. They took two country cases, namely Sweden and Rwanda. According to Wangnerud (2009:57), it has been observed that if the development in Sweden is contrasted with the development in Rwanda, the differences in the models are striking. By the beginning of the 1970s, parties in Sweden had started to implement measures, often referred to as soft quotas, in order to increase the number of women elected. Similarly, Bergqvist et al., (2000) found out that, in Sweden, women representation rose above the 20% threshold for the parliament in the 1970s. According to the authors, in the subsequent two decades, the proportion of women in parliament rose by 10% per decade. This development resulted from a 47% figure for women that was reserved for parliament.

On the contrary, Devlin and Elgie (2008) observed that Rwanda’s situation is not the same as that of Sweden and Western Europe. This is because the aforementioned places enjoyed political and economic stability, peace and development. On the contrary, Rwanda grappled with poverty for many years. Moreover, Rwanda adopted gender quotas as mechanism for reconciliation of the 1994 genocide aftermath. During the genocide period women representation in parliament was recorded at 17.1% while with the 2003 elections it climbed past 48%. Furthermore, in less than a decade women representation in parliament had reached 50% (Devlin and Elgie, 2008; Jane, 2015).

Rai (2005:6) doubts ability of quotas to increase representation of women in parliament and other political structures. The controversy revolves around the effectiveness of quotas as a mechanism of promoting women’s representation in decision-making. This debate raises doubts on the modalities of gender quotas and attempts to expose their limitations. It is in this respect that others have argued that women empowerment strategies in Lesotho are a myth (Kali, 2018). In this light, some strategies fail to reconcile the problem of land ownership that disadvantage women due to inheritance practices (Kali, 2018).

In addition, Rai (2005:6) argues that without addressing the structural constraints to women’s political exclusion, their inclusion through gender quota cannot lead to effective qualitative representation. The author does not wholly reject the importance of quotas but urges governments to find other effective strategies since there is a plethora of strategies for promoting representation of women in parliaments. Effective strategies form women empowerment are ones that take the distribution of socio-economic resources such as land into consideration (Rai, 2005; Kali, 2018:3). The importance of such strategies is that they will help women to enjoy both their economic and political rights without limits. Furthermore, Rai (2005) contend that gender quotas work better when accompanied by the redistribution of socio-economic resources.

On the other hand, literature shows that customary laws in Lesotho are still in place and women’s access to land is still restricted (Make Every Woman Count, n.d). To start with, the study conducted by Makoa (1997) and Phohlo (2011) discovered that patriarchy dates back to the founding of the Basotho nation and the factors that reinforce male chauvinism are the public gathering which will from now onward be referred to as ‘ pitso ’, courtyard assembly (to be referred to as ‘ khotla ’) and the initiation school (to be referred to as ‘ lebollo ’). He noted that during the pitso king Moshoeshoe I and subsequent leaders used to allow only the circumcised men to talk, express their opinion but women were not permitted to participate and so could neither enjoy the freedom of thought nor that of speech. So these rights were but the prerogative of men (Phohlo, 2011:41). The following three traditional institutions still exist in Lesotho even though with major modifications hence they are worth investigating in order to unravel the effects and impact they have on gender disparity in parliament:

The khotla: This is a traditional setting where men gather together with the chief to discuss public affairs, deal with lawsuits and take strategic decisions regarding the community. This institutional setup is exclusive to men. It is this institution that inculcates into men the notion of male supremacy. Apart from that, men acquire leadership skills from this setting. It is their experience that privileges them over women in politics (Phohlo, 2011:98). The khotla instils attitudes of superiority in men. The laws of Lesotho, particularly the customary laws codified as the laws of Lerotholi were the product of this institution that privileged men over women (Makoa 1997:6-10). The modern setup known as the national assembly is the replica of the Khotla. The same institution that used to exclude women has been modernised and efforts are being made to allow women to participate in this institution which we now refer to as parliament. Lebollo, according to other scholars is the main concern undermining representation of women in parliament more than the khotla (Phohlo, 2011).

The lebollo: Lebollo is complementary to the khotla. This traditional school exclusively reserved for men instructed men on the conduct and ways of khotla - which are basically issues relating to leadership. Men who do not go through this rite are deemed ‘womanish.’ Lebollo was also responsible for the grooming and preparing of men for hard work (Phohlo, 2011:61). This rite has the purpose of turning Basotho boys into “real” men. The ritual passage was also meant to prepare boys for the responsibility of fathers and loyal citizens among others. Nonetheless, this scholarship fails to correlate the impact of these institutions with women’s presence in parliament hence Phohlo (2011) found that the real problem seems to be emanating from the public gathering (Pitso) not mainly from the issue of land ownership, khotla or lebollo.

The pitso: Just like the khotlo, the pitso can be considered as a replica of the modern parliament sessions where a prime minister consults the senators or ministers on certain issues. In a traditional setting, pitso was a forum where a chief would consult the opinion of his subjects on crucial issues of public welfare. This forum was also exclusively a man’s prerogative for women were not seen as worth contributing significantly to the development of their communities. According to Phohlo (2011:99), the two institutions served as instruments by which Lesotho’s male-dominated scheme of laws was replicated and maintained. These systems were crucial for the marginalisation of women in public affairs and political forums.

Phohlo (2011) observed that men interpreted the presence of women in the aforesaid institutions as a kind of demotion or loss of dignity. It was sheer humiliation for women to attend khotla but they could attend pitso though they were expected to be docile. Women had to only absorb and hearken to the announcements without questioning them or discussing the issues presented on an equal basis with men. This is probably the reason why some women still find it hard to strive to be in parliament. In spite of these institutions, some women made it to the highest political positions and even became regents and role models for other women to follow. The lack of enough role models is suspected to be the cause of gender disparity (Phohlo, 2011).

In addition Phohlo (2011) maintained that besides the khotla, pitso and lebollo, the lack of role models is also another factor that discourages women from participating effectively in sufficient numbers in parliament. According to Phohlo (2011:42), Chief Job once alluded to the maxim that holds that “a woman has no chief but her husband.” It was on this regard that Makoa (1997) remarked that Basotho women before getting married are considered their father’s children, after marriage, they belong to their husbands and upon widowhood, they fall under their husbands’ heir. The eldest sons inherit the entire family property including land and thus the widow can only inherit it if she has no male offspring (Phohlo, 2011:42).

In addition, the author contend that the family, power is exercised by men over women and children. If a woman managed to own land, flourish and her prowess is manifested, it would not be recognised but rather male attributes would be bestowed on that woman. Thus Basotho women who were role models were given manly attributes so they become impeccable. As a result, we cannot talk about female role models because they are referred to as men. The same applies to men who are weak; they are called women so that the cliché and the notion of a woman as incapable-beings persist. According to Phohlo (2011:44), chieftess ‘Malerotholi was praised for ruling with distinction and integrity and he found that people believed that no man could match her in Mafeteng district. However, she did not carry the glory as a woman. This was so because when a woman or man does something good and expected of men the act is said to be manly. Subsequently, there is a “woman man” and this is one way to demote one from manhood status to illustrate that one is not living up to the expected standards.

It is against this backdrop that Phohlo (2011:48) discerned that the glory of women as role models in Lesotho dissipated once a masculine shadow was cast upon it to further privilege men. It is in this sense that we can establish that outstanding women like Keketso Rants’o (the leader and founder of Reformed Congress of Lesotho), Nthloi Motsamai (former speaker of parliament) and the likes of Ponts’o Sekatle (Minister of local government affairs) would fade away like the rest (Lesotho Times, 2015). The populace cannot manage to bestow the glory that is due to women hence they cannot be seen as role models because they are seen as deviants- because they are simply manly. Lack of role models thus continues to be a problem which hinders women from garnering support to win elections in Lesotho. Eventually, women are made to believe that it is a prerequisite to be manly for one to be a leader.

Contrary to Phohlo (2011), some women have remained womanly and their glory is not seemingly fading away. It is unfounded therefore to claim that Basotho do not recognise the prowess of women. In fact, Basotho women have been speakers of parliament for a number of terms. From 1999 to 2012 Nthloi Motsami (a woman) was the speaker of parliament in Lesotho (Make Every Woman Count, n.d). She was then replaced by Sephiri Motanyane from 2012 to 2015 and she occupied, again, the position as a speaker of parliament in 2015 after the national elections that resulted in a coalition of seven political parties (Make Every Woman Count, n.d). This illustrates that those women role models are there in Lesotho so what remains to be established is the impact of their presence on other women who join politics.

Moreover, in 2014, a milestone was realised as we saw women endeavouring to take control and be part of the government machinery so that they would contribute to decisions that affect their lives (Make Every Woman Count, n.d). For the first time in history, Keketso Rant’so, a woman who was a minister of labour and employment broke away from a male led-party (Lesotho Congress for Democracy) whose leader was Mothejoa Metsing to form her own party- Bolekana also known as Reformed Congress of Lesotho (Lesotho Times, 2015). For the first time, a woman-led a party whereas in the past they had been parliamentarians and ministers though only in few numbers. As a result of lack of plausibility in the argument of lack of role models and shadowing women’s prowess we need to assess other alternatives which women have resorted to in order to complement their efforts and tried to control significant resources such as land to boost their bargaining power in society.

Contrary to Makoa (1997) and Phohlo (2011), according to Marxist feminism the problem of women's underrepresentation in Lesotho centres on access to resources. The land is seen as a crucial means of production and those who control it have power and influence in politics (Mapetla, 1999). The scholarship established that a woman’s access and control over land in Lesotho is still constrained hence women are few in parliament (Mapetla, 1999). In Lesotho, access to land is controlled under both customary and common law operating paradoxical to each other within a patriarchal culture. The firstborn males have rights to inheritance of land and property. Those who have full rights to own or transfer land are widows, unmarried women and those that are married under antenuptial contract (Mapetla, 1999:71).

According to Mapetla (1999:72), Lesotho Constitution and Bill of Rights application is contravened by the Land Act (1979) and the Deeds Registry Act (1967). Together the laws give women access to land and prohibit discrimination while at the same time taking the rights away from women to entrust it to men. The interviews of the study revealed that in practice women still need the consent of men to buy land, sign or sell their land or for banks to give them loans even when the laws do not require it to be so.

The study revealed that there is a vicious circle of land circulating around the hands of men. In order for women to circumvent this practice, they keep the land they bought under their maiden names so that it would be easily inherited by their daughters without inevitably being inherited by the first-born males (Mapetla, 1999:72). The findings of the research established that in Lesotho women’s access to land is constrained by factors embedded in the legal system. The other factor is the patriarchal system which has the tendency of entrusting land and property to males (Mapetla 1999:76). Nevertheless, there are gaps in the reviewed studies.

12. Gaps in the literature

The literature does not account for the factors that made it possible for other men to make it to parliament in numbers. Over and above that, the factors that make the society to have confidence in men than women are not accounted for in the literature. Again, the scholarship makes no effort to describe the factors that bolster men leadership more than that of their female counterparts (Make Every Woman Count, n.d). Furthermore, the scholarship makes little or no effort to explicate the origins of male preeminence in society.

The lacuna in the reviewed literature is that the three studies (Makoa, 1997; Mapetla, 1999; Phohla; 2011) were not conducted in relation to understanding the correlation of land to women’s underrepresentation in the parliament which is something new this study seeks to introduce. Moreover, the scholarship made less or no attempt to determine the contribution of the khotla, pitso, and lebollo to the preeminence of men in parliament so as to establish the relationship between these institutional designs and the preeminence of men in parliament.

Studies conducted focused on the use of quotas, electoral systems, and the author finds that these factors have been explored yet there is no significant improvement regarding the qualitative underrepresentation of women in parliament. As a result, the author seeks to unravel the significant factors embedded in the society which many scholars tend to ignore. The study also endeavours to determine the impact of role models in the field of women leadership and to assess its effect on the number of women in parliament. Most importantly, the study endeavours to establish the relationship between the traditional institutions and women’s numerical underrepresentation in parliament. Thus the gaps in the literature would be bridged.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research design, methods and techniques used in this study. For data collection purposes, a questionnaire was administered in order to acquire the data and the information was collated and computed using Microsoft Excel Analysis ToolPak. Statistical analyses made include frequency distribution tables, bar charts, pie charts, and simple percentages. A total number of 80 respondents were requested to fill a questionnaire each. From the data, short descriptive analysis of the tables and charts have been provided together with an elaborate interpretation of the results.

13. Research design

Research design facilitates an informed assessment of variables, clear data collection methods as well as logical analysis (Cooper, Schneider and Sharma, 2012). A survey was employed to obtain the data required for the study. The study is predominantly qualitative since it is meant to get opinions and behavioural patterns of respondents (Kothari, 2004:5). The qualitative design has been chosen for its instrumental value in acquiring the insider’s perspective of a phenomenon. A questionnaire was used to collect the data for this research. The study sought to assess attitudes, opinions and behaviour of women and men and to obtain these a questionnaire was used. The responses obtained through the questionnaire have been helpful for answering the research questions.

14. Study area

The study targeted all the districts in the country both urban and rural. The parliamentarians were mostly found in the capital city. However, it proved hard to locate them because at the time data was collected the parliament was dissolved and elections were about to be held. Nonetheless, efforts which were guided by a snowballing approach were made to find those outgoing parliamentarians. As for the rest of the respondents, the researcher met with them across the eight randomly selected districts which had to include the three most developed ones namely, Maseru, Leribe and Berea. This was meant to cover the disparity and diverse perception from the citizen living in various parts of the country.

15. Population

The population in research denotes all individuals of interest to the researcher. It includes the entire set of individuals on which the researcher will use the results of the study to generalize (Marczyk, DeMatteo and Festinger, 2015). According to Kothari (2004, p. 14), it denotes all the items under investigation and are put under consideration by the researcher. This study targets women, men and parliamentarians in Lesotho.

16. Sample size and sample frame

A sample size consists of a segment of the entire population. Usually, it is virtually impossible to investigate the whole population as a result only a sizeable and manageable portion of this population gets to be studied. It is in this sense that Kothari (2004, p. 56) explains the sample size as the number of items which will be selected for an inquiry from the entire population to make up a sample. In this light, the sample size of this study consisted of 39 women and 32 men. The sample consisted of parliamentarians and citizens (men and women). The total sampling size was 71 people.

17. Data sources

This study relied on both secondary and primary sources of data. The secondary sources formed part of the literature review as the researcher reviewed journals and other published and unpublished sources. For primary sources of data, the researcher consulted field sources which were the respondents to this study.

18. Data collection Technique, instrument and procedures

According to Cooper, Schinder and Sharma (2012), data collection instruments refers to tools that are used when measuring variables in a study and these instruments can include a lot of methods like questionnaires and interviews. The researcher gathered data from two sources, namely primary and secondary sources. The researcher used probability sampling to ensure that the data is collected from respondents who have been picked up randomly (Kothari, 2014:60). This technique has been preferred above the rest because it reduces the bias in the selection of the respondents. Having selected the first respondents using random sampling, the subsequent respondents were subjected to systematic sampling except for parliamentarians.

In this sampling technique, the most pragmatic way of sampling is to choose every nth item of the population (Kothari, 2014:62). This process was adhered to until the sampling size of 80 respondents was met. In order to gather information and obtain data from parliamentarians, since the parliament was closed and it proved difficult to meet them, snowballing was used to find them. In this process, the parliamentarians met by the researcher were asked to help locate others. Data were collected using a questionnaire with semi-structured and open-ended questions which was administered to 80 respondents.

19. Data Processing and Analysis

Data processing or analysis denotes the process of cleaning, modelling and converting data with the aim of determining valuable information so that an informed decision can be taken (Dudovskiy, 2019). In this respect, the data generated in the form of notes was classified, coded, tabulated, analysed and computed based on the research questions. The Microsoft Excel Analysis ToolPak was engaged in computing quantitative data.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

The data in this study illustrates the demographic characteristics of respondents- their age, income, sex, education level and marital status. It also goes further to depicts the proportion of respondents who own land and those who attended the three traditional leadership institutions (Khotla, lebollo and pitso). The data presented consists of results obtained from questionnaires and elaborate analysis of the findings. The discussion reveals the major barriers that hinder women from occupying seats proportional to their numbers compared to their male counterparts in parliament. A total of 80 questionnaires was administered to respondents but only 71 were successfully recovered with 39 filled up by women and 32 by men culminating in 88.8% response rate.

20. Data Presentation

20.1 Demographic Data of Respondents

The figure below shows the age category of respondents:

Figure 2 Age Category of respondents

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Source: Author

The respondents were categorised into four groups. They were classified with respect to their age range. The first range was those aged between 20-30 years, the second was those aged 31-40 years, the third were those aged between 41-50 years and the last were those whose age was 51 years and above. Majority of the respondents were aged between 20-30 years (28.17%). The second category that made up 22.54% was aged between 31-40 years while the third that made up 26.76% was aged 41-50 years. Similar to the group of 31-40 years, the fourth category aged from 51 years and above made up 22.54% of the total respondents. The respondents were also classified in terms of their gender. The following figure illustrates the percentage of respondents in terms of sex:

Figure 3 Sex of Respondents

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Source: Author

Out of the 71 respondents, 39 (55%) were females while 32 (45%) were males as depicted in figure 2 above. Figure 3 below depicts the marital status of respondents. The study found out that 49% of the respondents were single while 38% of them were married. A relatively smaller percentage was no longer living with the spouse. It was found that 6% of the respondents were divorced, 4% widowed and 3% separated.

Figure 4 Marital Status of Respondents

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Source: Author

The study went further to group respondents based on their marital status and the corresponding level of political engagement. Those who were single were grouped together and their average political participation was rated and the same was done with all those who are married, separated, divorced or widowed. Table 1 below illustrates the number of respondents who engaged in politics with respect to their marital status.

Table 1 Marital status versus the level of Political Participation

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Source: Author

The study established that 51.42% of those who are single engage in politics while 48.57% of the same groups do not engage in politics in whatsoever, be it by means of voting or being partisan. Equally important, the study discovered that 59.26% of those who are married will engage more in politics while 40.74% of them abstain from any of the aforementioned forms of political activity.

Out of the 16 respondents who are married, 11 (69%) are married under customary law while 5 (31%) are married under communal property regime. Figure 4 below illustrates the percentage of respondents married under the two respective regimes.

Figure 5 Figure Marriage Regime

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Source: Author

Moreover, the respondents were again categorized in terms of their marriage regime and their level of political participation was recorded. The table below shows the number of respondents under each of the aforementioned marriage regimes and their rated level of political engagement.

Table 2 Influence of marriage regime on Political behaviour

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Source: Author

The respondents were also classified with respect to their monthly income in order to assess if the level of income one earns may have a significant impact or influence in one way or the other on his/her political activity. Figure 5 below depicts the percentage of respondents whose monthly income is either below or above M 5000 (USD 366) per month which is the amount one can need at least to be able to finance his or her own rally for a political post within a constituency.

Figure 6 Monthly Income of Respondents

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Source: Author

The respondents were categorized with respect to the income they earn per month in order to establish if income influences their political activity and behaviour as shown by Table 3 below. The study found that out of 71 respondents only 30 (42%) earned more than M 5000 and 41 (58%) earned less than the aforementioned amount.

The study went further to establish the level of political participation for those who earned more than the M 5000 in order to discover the impact of increased income on the level of political participation of individuals. Table 3 below shows the number of people who earned more than the aforementioned amount and manifested either low or high level of political participation.

Table 3 Men who earn more than M 5000 and their level of political participation

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Source: Author

The study established that 63.33% of those who earn more than M5000 per month manifest a high level of political activity, and support gender-related issues. In contrast, 36.67% of the same group of people who earn the same amount showed a low level of political engagement and did not support gender-related issues. The table below depicts the number of women and men whose income is above M5000 per month.

Table 4 Respondents who earn more than M 5000 per month

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Source: Author

Out of the 30 respondents who earned more than the specified amount per month, 12 (40%) were men while 18 (60%) were women. The respondents were further classified with respect to their educational background. The table below shows the number of men and women who have at least a tertiary certificate and demonstrate a high rate of political participation.

Table 5 Respondents who had at least a tertiary certificate and were politically active

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Source: Author

Out of all the male respondents 18 (56%) were at least tertiary certificate holders or a university degree holder. At least 67% of men who have a tertiary certificate or above were found to be deeply involved in politics beyond simple voting. They either were partisan or contesting for general or local elections. Out of 18 tertiary certificate holders, 12 (66.67%) are more likely to be found politically mobilised and active. On the other hand, out of 32 females, 26 (66.67%) were tertiary certificate holders and 14 (53.85%) of these tertiary certificate holders were politically active.

Table 6 Questions on support for women leadership

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Source: Author

Table 6 above illustrates answers relating to questions on support for women leadership. It was found out that 42.86% of the respondents could support the spouses in political activities and 51.43% of the respondents wished to see Lesotho elect a female prime minister. The respondents were also asked if they could support their wives if they want to vie for a political post and 42.56% of them admitted that they could. In contrast, only 34.29% of the respondents claimed that they can vote for a female-led political party. They were also asked to name their preferred sex of a member of parliament and 45.07% of them choose a female. The respondents were also asked if sex influences their voting behaviour and 29.58% admitted that it does while 56.34% said it is rather education that influences their voting preferences and the remaining 11.08% mentioned other various factors.

Table 7 present opinions and views of respondents in relation to effect of land ownership and women’s representation in parliament. The researcher sought to find out if the respondents believed that ownership of land affects one’s representations of parliament since it can be used to generate income necessary to launch political campaigns. However, majority of the respondents thought land is not a significant factor facilitating their campaigns and access to parliament. As indicated by the table below:

Table 7 Influence of ownership of land on political activities

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Source: Author

The findings of the study revealed that 73.24 % of the respondents said that having fields or owning a piece of land for farming does not facilitate their political activity. On the other hand, 26.76% of them had a reason to believe that land ownership serves as a security for them to acquire loans from banks so that they can fund their political activities. Figure 6 below illustrates the number of parliamentarian women and men who own land.

Figure 7 Parliamentarians who own land

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The above diagram depicts the number of Parliamentarians who own land and those who do not have any claim to land ownership. Out of 03 male parliamentarian respondents 02 (66.66%) owned land. Equally important out of 05 parliamentarian respondents whom the questionnaires were randomly administered to, at least, 04 (80%) of them owned land. The researcher also sought to establish the impact of males’ belonging to traditional leadership institutions (which promote male chauvinism) and their effect on women’s representation in parliament. The findings show that males’ belonging to these institutions affect women’s representation in parliament negatively.

Figure 8 Initiation school ( LEBOLLO )

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Source: Author

Figure 7 above shows the number of male respondents. They are divided into two categories, namely, those who went through the initiation school (Lebollo) and those who did not. The curve in the diagram above shows the number of initiated men who ended up in parliament. It was found out that of 32 male respondents only 01 was initiated and eventually became a parliamentarian. The table below shows the number of male respondents who were groomed at the courtyard (Khotla).

Table 8 Politicians who attended ‘Khotla’

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Source: Author

The above table illustrates the total number of male respondents and those who attended khotla. Out of 32 respondents, 09 attended khotla and 07 out of the 09 were found occupying high political posts. The data was also broken down into other categories and classified respondents into two categories: Those who ever attended the courtyard and those who never did and their political engagement was rated.

The graph below illustrates the difference in political activism between men who attended khotla and those who have never been to Khotla. Out of 32 men, 18 attended Khotla (Referred to as alumni) but only 07 demonstrated a potential to be in parliament by either being partisan, intending to contest for a post or occupying a strategic post within a political party. Equally important, out of 32 men, 23 never attended khotla (Referred to as non-alumni) but 18 of them proved to be striving to be in parliament. The graph below depicts the probability at which the khotla alumni and non-alumni end up being parliamentarians:

Figure 9 Chances of entering parliament for the initiated and non-initiated

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Another important traditional institution that is responsible for perpetuating male dominance or preeminence in parliament, in particular, is probably the public gathering known as the pitso. This is a setting where women’s presence is important but their voices are suppressed, inhibited and subjugated. Table 9 below illustrates the number of men and women who attended pitsos and demonstrated high political activism in the long run:

Table 9 Pitso [Public Gathering]

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Out of 39 female respondents, 27 reported having attended pitso. Only 15 of the 39 female respondents claimed to be aspiring to be in parliament or were already in political parties attempting to climb the political ladder. On the other hand, out of 32 men, 24 reported having attended pitsos. Moreover, out of the 24 men who attended pitso 16 showed a high level of political engagement such that they were either aspiring to be parliamentarians, they were already partisan or political post contenders.

21. DATA ANALYSIS

The respondents have been classified in terms of age (Figure 1), sex (Figure 2), marital status (Figure 3), marriage regime (Figure 4) and income (Figure 5) other demographic characteristics to facilitate data analysis. Though the targeted number of respondents was 40 females and 40 males the response rate could only allow the researcher to secure 32 male and 39 female respondents. The other challenge is that at the time of data collection the parliament was closed and the country was going for snap elections- making it difficult to use random sampling thus compelling the researcher to use snowballing to find the parliamentarians.

The males constituted 45% of the respondents while females constituted the 55%. In order to cater for any possibility of marriage influence on spouses, the respondents were also classified in terms of their marital status. Most of the respondents (49%) were divorced and 38% of the respondents were married and the minorities were either separated, divorced or single. As illustrated in Table 1, the study found out that those who are separated, divorced or widowed engage more in politics than all the other groups such that every individual under the aforementioned categories was found politically active. All the respondents who were separated, divorced or widowed recorded high political activity while only 59.26% and 51.42% of the married and single respectively demonstrated high political activity. The classification of respondents was done to facilitate the following research questions:

21.1 What are the factors militating against women’s involvement in the parliament of Lesotho?

The married respondents were further classified into two categories with respect to their marriage regime in order to discover the influence of the marriage regime on their political engagement as illustrated in figure 4. The study showed that 69% of the respondents were married under customary law while 31% were married under the communal property. The assumption was that those who are married under customary law, and who happen to constitute a majority, will lack adequate resources such as land at their disposal.

This is so because their property is controlled by their husbands and is likely to be inherited by their firstborn males. This issue has been well demonstrated in other studies as well (Pule, 2002). As a result, one suspected that women married under customary law are more disadvantaged contrary to their female counterparts who are married under communal property regime. The study established that 06 (54.55%) of those who are married under customary law are prone to engage in politics on one hand 04 (80%) of those who are married under communal property are likely to engage in politics. The findings show that there is some connection between the marriage regime and one’s level of political participation.

The study also found that 42% of respondents earned M 5000 or more per month while 58% of the respondents earned less than the aforementioned amount as depicted in figure 5. These groups were further broken down into two categories, notably, those who are politically active and those who are politically inactive. Table 3 shows the monthly income of respondents and the rating of their political activity. The study revealed that 63.33% of the group of people who earn M 5000 and above showed high level of political engagement supported gender-related issues.

This implies that there is a link between the level of income and political participation since majority of those earn more than M 5000 are likely to be found engaging in political issues. This behaviour is better explained through socio-economic theory which postulates that those who have resources get access to education and realise a change of mindset as it has been well elaborated in other studies (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005). This helps them acquire new values and keep them informed thus putting them in a better position to contest for political posts.

In contrast, 36.67% of the same group earning the same amount per month demonstrated a lot of political apathy and could not even support gender issues and even expressed that they cannot vote for a female candidate. Institutional theory better explains this occurrence because it points out that the problems of underrepresentation of women are embedded in the culture, structures and institutions of society (Bryson , 2003:1). It is not wealth that will transform and eradicate the mind-set and the fact that society is patriarchal and male-dominated.

Just as it has been illustrated by the study conducted by (Edighji, 2006), the society believes that a woman’s place is in the home and not the political domain and even if the laws have been levelled the issue remains intact at the family level and the grassroots. Even if people have access to equal opportunities some men may still remain chauvinists. It is, therefore, partly the process of socialization that is responsible for the numerical underrepresentation of women in parliament. This belief has been demonstrated in other studies (Fairlier, 1940).

The same group of respondents who were classified in with respect to their monthly income was further reclassified in terms of sex as illustrated in Table 4. It was found out that 40% of men and 60% of women earn more than the aforementioned amount. It is clear from the statistics that income is not the main hindrance that precludes women from occupying number of seats equal to those of men in parliament. It is also not the level of income that is mainly responsible for the preeminence of men in the parliament of Lesotho. Income may serve as a facilitating factor which compliments one’s effort to win elections but it is not a factor of paramount importance. If not since more women than men earned the specified amount it would be logical that women should be dominating the political sphere including the parliament but that’s not the case.

In a nutshell, one’s standard of living as determined by his/her salary has significant influence on his/her political conduct and activity though not necessarily to win a parliamentary seat. As a result, women need to perhaps triple their income such that every woman will earn more than M 5000 per month in order to increase their chances of having increased political activity hence making it to parliament.

The study also assessed education as a factor that may contribute to the preeminence of males in parliament. The respondents were divided in terms of sex and their political activity was measured with respect to the level of education as illustrated in Table 5. The study intended to discern if higher education, starting from tertiary to university has an impact on one’s participation in politics. The findings are bolstered by other studies that demonstrated that education stimulates political participation (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005).

The results showed that at least 54% of women who have at least a tertiary certificate and at least 67% of the men who have at least a tertiary certificate as well are likely to be highly political active. This study found that tertiary education caused more men to be more politically engaged, politically informed and more likely to contest for political posts. This is in line with the postulations of socio-economic theory which put forward that education is a factor that reinforces political activism. As informed people recognise their political rights, they get informed about politics and get intellectually equipped to take action and thus they start to immerse themselves into politics (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005).

One could easily extrapolate that there is a positive correlation between education and political participation. The higher one goes with education the more he will be found more and more engaged in politics. It is from this evidence that we derive the basis of male preeminence in parliament. The level of education among men is responsible for their increased political participation and probably their dominance in parliament. Education may not be a key factor but it is one of the integral factors that inspire the presence of men in politics and in parliament. One implication becomes immediately obvious from the results which demonstrate that 67% of male respondents who are holders of a tertiary certificate are politically active as much as their female counterparts who constitute 54%. The implication is that education is responsible for the level of women participation in politics and influences their decision to join politics to a significant degree.

Nevertheless, the impact the education factor has on women is slightly lower than that which it has on men. The level of exposure is likely to increase political participation by 12% among men than among women. Increased education connotes political exigency and engagement to men than to women. Increased education can only have equivalent impact on both sexes only if 12% more women enrol for universities and increase in knowledge so that the number of highly educated women exceeds that of men by at least 12%. These findings depart from that of the previous studies that found no correlation between education and political participation (Longwe, 2000).

The results revealed that increased education does not have equal impact on both men and women. It is extrapolated from the above results that higher education has an influence on political participation but the effect differs across gender. Education is not the main factor responsible for male preeminence in parliament; nonetheless its impact should by no means be underestimated.

The respondents were also asked to explain what inspires their political activism or makes them interested in politics. Some of the things they mentioned were as follows: the quest for power; the quest for change; the obligation to serve the nation; responsibility to lead; patriotism; and ability to manipulate voters. They were also asked to mention the factors responsible for their political prowess and success in politics. The mentioned aspects and qualities were, inter alia, humility, loyalty, honesty, courtesy, transparency, skills, education, personality, self-esteem, lies, ethics, gender supportive policies, and ability to deliver.

The other question had to do with the factors or challenges hindering their success in politics. They enumerated several of them and among them were the following: pride, illiteracy, confidence, bribe, lies, corruption, lack of resources especially money, lack of knowledge, lack of experience, inadequate fame or popularity, political instability, rampant kidnappings and murder, greed, jealousy, and hatred.

To the above problems and challenges, the respondents proposed a list of diverse solutions. On what they think could be a solution to all these problems they identified they proposed the following recommendations:

- The civil society should hold seminars and workshops to sensitize the public about their rights and empower them to take action.
- The civil society should seek to transform society and bring about a change of mindset which will encourage women to be in politics.
- The society should encourage honesty so that politicians can become transparent and accountable.
- The society should take lead to inculcate political tolerance.
- The government should educate the public about the laws, their rights and responsibilities.
- The government and society should eliminate all obstacles against women, including prejudice and stereotypes.
- The government should establish a truth and reconciliation commission to bring about sustainable peace and put an end to the political instability and threats to life.
- The government should assist those who lack the means and financial resources to make it in politics by putting jobs at their disposal.

The other question pointed out that in the parliament of Lesotho; women are not as prominent as men are. It further asked the respondents to give their opinion on whether they believe it is men or women who are responsible for such an imbalance. Those who believed that women are responsible for this imbalance pointed out that women do not vote for their fellow women; women are not supportive of one another and that women lack self-esteem and confidence.

Those who apportioned the problem to men maintained that the society has set standards for both men and women and the society favours men over women; men think that women are incapable; men do not have confidence in women; men still believe in a patriarchal system and try to suppress women; the society still perpetuate male chauvinism, and men discriminate against women in politics.

The respondents were also asked several questions on whether they can support women politicians or not. The questions were whether they could vote for a female candidate, support their spouse if she wants to contest elections, whether they can support a female political party, encourage women to vie for political leadership and what factor influences most their choice of preference. On whether they could support their spouses, 30 (42.86%) admitted that they could while majority could not.

On one hand, 36 (51.43%) of all the respondents said that they would like to see Lesotho having a female prime-minister one day. On the contrary, only 30 (42.56%) admitted to having at least encouraged women to vie for political posts in their lifetime. Moreover, only 24 (34.29%) admitted that they can vote for a political party whose leader is a female yet 32 (45.07%) claimed that they prefer female members of parliament to male ones.

The respondents were also asked what factor mostly influences their choice of a parliamentarian. Majority of them who made up 40 out of 71 (56.34%) said that their choice of a parliamentarian is influenced by the candidate’s level of education while 32 (29.58%) of them responded that they vote alongside sex. Respondents were also asked if landownership facilitates their representation in parliament.

21.2 How does women’s ownership of land affect their representation in the parliament of Lesotho?

The findings of the study revealed that 73.24 % of the respondents said that having fields or owning a piece of land for farming does not weaken their political campaign or boast it in any way as shown in figure 8. They were of the opinion that land ownership does not influence political behaviour or does not contribute to their political campaigns. On the other hand, 26.76% of the respondents held that lack of land or fields hinders them from campaigning on an equal basis with those who have the means and it gives leverage to those who own land. They believed it is a vital resource that generates income or acquires loans necessary to hold political rallies and pay for transport of political party supporters to attend rallies.

Some mentioned that owning land relieves one of the burdens of being a breadwinner and makes the needs of the family less pressing so that one can have ample time to join politics. They pointed out that politics is an endeavour that demands a lot of time and dedication so that those who do not have land and have no other means of income cannot afford to have time to meddle in politics.

This argument is corroborated by the Marxist feminism which argues that those who own the means of production such as land are often state managers and monopolise decision-making to keep the have-nots under oppression and exploitative conditions. Women could curb this and transform the status quo by also owning the means of production, especially land in order to generate the income necessary to take care of the household and campaign for political posts.

Nevertheless, according to the views of some respondents, land ownership does not prove to be the greatest impediment to women vying for elective positions. One maintains so because the majority of them were not able to see how landowner impacts on political activity. It means that there are other factors more significant and influential other than ownership of land which is more obvious to see. The belief that men form a majority in parliament because land ownership has always favoured them compels one to maintain that land is important for political resources.

Data was also collected from parliamentarians in order to establish the number of parliamentarians who owned land as illustrated in figure 8. The purpose was to discover the impact of land ownership on political participation and political activism in order to discover if it facilitates acquiring or winning parliamentary seats. Out of 05 parliamentarian respondents whom the questionnaires were randomly administered to, at least, 04 (80%) of them owned land. Superficially, this implies that land could have been a critical factor that facilitated the success of women’s campaign.

Nevertheless, when asked if they believe ownership of land is significant to their political activity, many respondents did not associate their success to land ownership and found no relationship between land ownership and their political activity. Nonetheless, the statistics, contrary to the opinions of the respondents, revealed that land can be a crucial factor especially to women who need to make it to parliament. It may not be the most salient and integral factor to a successful campaign but its importance should not be discarded. This idea is corroborated by Mapetla (1999), who demonstrated how strategic land is for women who need to finance their political rallies in Lesotho.

The two divergent views do not make it irrational to conclude that there is a link between low women’s ownership of land and their numerical underrepresentation. It may be true that land is not the most critical factor for men to make it to parliament but it is surely an important factor to women. The descriptive statistics illustrated that 80% of women who managed to make it to parliament owned land which means land is very crucial for women who wish to contest for general/national elections.

It is, therefore, reasonable to assert that poor access and ownership of land by women has a negative impact on their representation in the parliament. In fact, women’s ownership of land facilitates or undermines their representation in the national assembly of Lesotho. Studies demonstrate that land is a critical asset which can help finance political campaigns (Mapetla, 1999). It may not be obvious for respondents to recognize the value of the land. The results are contrary to what previous studies have established nonetheless when one critically scrutinizes the responses from the survey it is obvious that the respondents were not able to comprehend some complex issues such as the correlation between land and political campaigns. The study also asked the following question:

21.3 How does males’ belonging to traditional leadership institutions affect women’s representation in the parliament of Lesotho?

Figure 7 illustrates the number of men who underwent the initiation school. It was found out that there is a high probability for one who was groomed at the initiation school to end up in parliament since out of the 32 respondents the only initiated responded was also a parliamentarian. Male leadership or traditional institutions, lebollo in particular, improve the probability of political engagement at an individual level hence being in parliament. The probability of an initiated man to be in parliament is one. Given the relatively low percentage of men who enrol for lebollo, the study discovered that most of the initiated men are likely to be parliamentarians. It could be extrapolated that if all men were to attend the initiation school their dominance in parliament would more than double. These findings are in harmony with other studies that show that patriarchy in Lesotho has been nurtured by traditional leadership institutions (Makoa, 1997).

The results, therefore, offer a positive answer to the study question since the results revealed that there is an impact made by males’ belonging to traditional leadership institutions to their representation in parliament. This leads to their superiority and predominance in parliament. On one hand, the cases are too sporadic and inadequate for one to establish and assert with certainty that there is a positive correlation. Lebollo can, therefore, be deemed or considered to have a positive impact on men who wish to enter parliament since its alumni after being groomed have a probability to end up in parliament.

Figure 8 illustrates the total number of male respondents and those who attended khotla. Out of 32 respondents, 9 attended khotla and 7 out of the 9 were found occupying high political posts. This signifies that at least 78% of those who have been groomed from the khotla are likely to exercise their skill in national politics and strive to enter parliament. There is a connection therefore between khotla attendance and the preeminence of men in the parliament of Lesotho.

Table 8 also illustrates the difference in political activism between men who attended khotla and those who have never been to Khotla. Out of 32 men, 18 are alumni but only 07 of them manifested a potential to be in parliament by either being affiliated to a political party, intending to contest for a post or occupying a strategic post within a political party. Similarly, out of 32 men, 23 were non-alumni but 18 of them claimed to be striving to make it to parliament.

The study found that khotla attendance and training made some men more politically inclined such that the propensity for them to join politics increases in the long run. The study discovered that at least 70% of men who attended khotla will either be in political parties or vying for political posts. Thus we established that khotla attendance positively affects political activism. The more men attend khotla the more they will reinforce their prominence in parliament and in politics at large. Nonetheless, the study also established that khotla proceedings did not have a substantive effect on the behaviour of some men. At least 30% of the men who attended khotla remained apolitical and were not associated with any political party or vying for political posts.

Equally important, out of 09 parliamentarians 07 reported having participated in the khotla discussions which signifies that 78% of the khotla alumni are likely to end up in parliament. There is, therefore, a positive correlation between khotla attendance and male presence in parliament. Khotla inculcates values of leadership in men so that they start aspiring to lead. There is a high probability that if all men attend khotla, their prominence in parliament will endure. There is a strong link between khotla training and the level of political engagement such that an increase in one concomitantly results in the increase of the other and the inverse is logically true. Khotla alumni are more politically mobilized and politically charged than those who have never participated in the khotla proceedings at all. The findings are in concord with other studies that show that khotla equips men with political skills which inspire them to engage more in politics (Mapetla, 1999; Makoa, 1997).

Unlike average citizens, khotla alumni tend to go beyond voting and immerse themselves into political life. The study revealed that khotla substantially increases the level of political participation beyond ordinary voting so that one becomes a member of a party, contests for a political post, or aspires to be in parliament. In a nutshell, an exposure to khotla increases political participation among men by 78%. The results therefore positively answer the question relating to the ways in which males’ belonging to traditional leadership institutions affects their numerical superiority in parliament.

There are good reasons to believe that khotla is responsible for male preeminence in the parliament of Lesotho. First, it inculcates into the minds of men the sense of authority. Second, it teaches men to be decision-makers and therefore promotes male leadership hence dominance. Second, it makes men feel qualified to lead society and rule. Lastly, khotla keeps men informed about the politics of their communities and inspires them to take decisions to solve problems that affect their communities. This institution is responsible for male chauvinism and reinforces patriarchy. Since parliament is the principal or main centre of political decision-making and machinery of government, men find their way to parliament through joining political parties and contesting for parliamentary seats in order to exercise the leadership skills acquired from khotla.

The khotla and lebollo have been instrumental in inculcating the chauvinist values into the minds of Basotho men. This is bolstered by one of the male respondents who said, “They [women] are not firm enough to lead the country.” These findings are in line with other studies that show that men believe that they are the only group able to lead and find women as weak, fragile, unworthy of leadership and less superior to men (Longwe, 2000; Phohlo 2011). The other respondent claimed that they cannot vote for a woman because he has not seen a woman lead a country; “I have never seen a female leader in any other country,” he uttered. The Marxist feminism explicates this practice very well and helps us to comprehend how the power structures and institutions like khotla and lebollo have been created to keep women under oppressive and submissive conditions in order to maintain male domination and perpetuate it (Bryson , 2003:1). Female role models are either few or not recognised by the society that is male-dominated.

This implies that one of the reasons why women are not as successful as men in politics is because of the lack of role models. However, a closer look at the picture allows one to discern that the issue is not really a problem of role models, for role models exist but the populace is inadequately informed, especially by the media which inadequately covers and broadcast gender issues.

One other explanation as to why some men do not believe in women leaders is because they are conservative. The society has long been ruled and dominated by men so much that it becomes unimaginable to conceive of a female leading the country for they believe that a human’s place is but the home (Moser, 1989). People are afraid to take the risk, to venture into something that has not been tested in their own realities and localities. It is clear that some people are conservative and afraid of change. There is a probability that among those whose income is high; some have not secured better education which could lead transformation so that they realise a change of mindset. In that case, education would be necessary to deconstruct the mindset of those who still believe and insinuate that only a man is born with leadership qualities.

Table 9 illustrates the results of pitso attendance for both sexes which helps us to test and predict the relationship between pitso attendance and the preeminence of men in parliament or their level of political participation. Overall, out of 39 female respondents, 27 reported having attended pitso. However, from those who attended pitso, only 15 were found to be politically active by either aspiring to be in parliament or in political parties to climb the political ladder, or occupying a political post. Overall, 56% of women who attended pitso had the chance of being in parliament or in political parties. The results show therefore that pitso has a relatively significant impact on the level of political participation. There is in fact a positive impact pitso attendance makes on one’s level of political participation.

In the same way, out of 32 men, 24 reported having attended pitso. Out of 24 men who attended pitso 16 showed a high level of political engagement such that they didn’t only vote but were either partisan or political post contenders. Overall, 67% of those who attended pitso showed increased levels of political participation. The results connote, therefore, that pitso attendance has a positive impact and contribute to male preeminence in the parliament of Lesotho. The results positively answer the question relating to the ways in which traditional male-leadership institutions impact or affect their political representation. Pitso is a significant, positive predictor of political participation among men more than in women. The effect of pitso is at least 10% stronger in men than in women. This is true for a number of reasons.

During pitso (Public gatherings) men usually dominate the discussions. The relationship between the two sexes is not of equals but men are deemed superior. Moreover, the atmosphere is that of a patriarchal society where men still believe that women have no place in the public sphere. The findings are not different from the ones established in previous studies that show that patriarchy makes men feel like they are the ones who own the political domain (Longwe, 2000; Moser, 1989). Further, women often attended pitso to listen and not to be active participants in the forum. They just hearken to the announcements which are often than not chaired and led by men and organised or called by men. Over and above, this process unconsciously impresses in the minds of men that they have the privilege to lead and the leadership is their prerogative. It is from this basis that men develop the mindset that the political domain is their niche and as a result, they fight their way to parliament and eventually make it as a majority.

The ownership of economic resources, especially land is skewed to the advantage of men. The relationship between the two sexes favours men. The unhealthy social relation which results from the preeminence of men in parliament is partly a result of ownership of private property and patriarchal system. This pattern of behaviour and social relations of unequal sexes compel us to espouse Marxist feminism theory as the overarching theory for this study. The main idea put forward by Marxist feminism focuses on the analysis of power structures meant to oppress the female sex by using ownership of land as an explanatory factor. The belief is that the institutional structures of power and cultural practices are constructed in a way that will maintain and bolster male supremacy by those who own the means of production and reinforce the inferiority of women (Moser, 1989).

Marxist feminism argues that oppression or exclusion of women in key areas of decision-making, which is equated to oppression or violation of political rights, is at the core of patriarchy which is omnipresent- from the family to the public sphere (Mies, 1986; Wills, 1984, Eisenstein, 1984). In essence, they seek to overthrow patriarchy (Bryson , 2003:1). This variant of feminism would advocate for women to have access and control over land and other means of production in order to increase the potential to campaign and make it to parliament. The Marxist feminist theory is appropriate in informing this study because it helps expound on why women lag behind with regard to political quantitative representation in parliament and participate in lesser numbers than men in parliament as opposed to their male counterparts.

In summation, the study found that landownership affects the representation of women in parliament even though many women do not believe that there is any form of relationship between the two variables. The study also established that the traditional male-leadership institutions facilitate the preeminence of men in the parliament of Lesotho.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

22. Conclusion

This study sought to comprehend the sources of women’s underrepresentation in the parliament of Lesotho. Data collected through a questionnaire which was randomly distributed to 80 respondents was analysed mainly qualitatively. Out of 80 questionnaires, only 71 were recognized as valid. Out of the 71 respondents, 08 were parliamentarians and 05 were females while 03 were males. The respondents represented 08 out of 10 districts in the country.

The main objective of this study was to assess the obstacles militating against the involvement of women in the parliament of Lesotho. The study was based on two specific research questions. The first question sought to establish the ways in which women’s ownership of land affect their numerical representation in parliament. The second question attempted to determine the ways in which men’s participation in traditional leadership institutions affects their representation in parliament.

The results revealed that there is a relationship between women’s numeric underrepresentation in parliament and their access to land. However, the linkage was not so significant that one can conclude in absolute terms that the connection is positive because of the discrepancy between the opinions of the respondents and the statistical data. The mismatch was triggered by the fact that respondents did not believe that there is any connection between the land ownership and their political engagement. On the one hand, the data revealed that women who own land are more likely to be in parliament than those who do not have any claim over the land.

With regard to the second specific research question, the study shows that men who are groomed at khotla, lebollo or assisted at the pitso are likely to be politically active and engage more in political affairs. Furthermore, the results of the study revealed that there is a link between the two variables (preeminence of men in parliament and their participation in the traditional institutions). The study shows that the correlation between the two variables is positive.

Women access to land is adjudged from the extant data thrown up by the research to be a secondary factor militating against their participation the parliament. This is because many respondents did not associate their political prowess with their access to land. The connection between the two variables, notably, land and women’s representation in parliament is weak but remains an issue in that it has a significant bearing on the economic strength of women in society. Nevertheless, the study found out that 80% of women who make it to parliament own land even though most of the respondents do not believe land contributed to their political activities.

This study highlights the importance and the need for women to have access and control over land in order to ameliorate their representation in the national assembly. The statistics indicated that women who own land are likely to be in parliament. This can come to pass if they use the land to facilitate their campaign or augment their political resources. The study is concerned about the descriptive representation of women in the legislature because it is a necessary means for gaining sufficient control over decision-making in the legislature. This facilitates the making of changes necessary for women to participate in parliament in satisfactory numbers. Therefore, women need to own land as much as men do in Lesotho in order to improve on their level of participation in the political process.

The second question sought to establish the effect of traditional institutions, notably, the khotla, pitso and lebollo on males’ representation in parliament. The results of the study revealed that there is a link between the two variables (preeminence of men in parliament and their participation in the traditional institutions). The study shows that the traditional leadership institutions have a positive effect on men’s representation in parliament.

With regard to the other independent variable, namely lebollo, one could argue that the conclusion made lacks rigour. That there is either a strong or positive correlation between lebollo and the numerical superiority of men in parliament is a far-fetched argument- grounded on sporadic cases. The evidence offered by the study is so scant that one suspects that had the study been continued until the number of initiated men is exhausted the inverse might have been possible. Nonetheless, the results of the study cannot wholly be discarded because the study did not only tie the correlation to lebollo as a single variable but even to the other two independent variables, namely, khotla and pitso. It is in this regard that we cannot dismiss the plausibility of the results.

Moreover, the study shows that there is some effect that khotla asserts on the political preeminence of men in parliament. The study went further to establish the type of effect that exists between the two variables. It was revealed that the effect is a positive one. The study shows that men who are groomed at khotla are likely to be politically active and engage more in political affairs. This factor is, inter alia, responsible for the preeminence of men in the parliament of Lesotho. This is bolstered by the fact that the study results revealed that at least 78% of the khotla alumni are likely to end up in parliament if they participate in politics.

Equally important, the study examined the impact of pitso on the political representation of men in the legislature. This was motivated by the insight that men usually dominate the discussions during pitso. They preside over discussions and even their voices seem to matter than those of their female counterparts. This atmosphere inculcates into men the notion of superiority and male chauvinism. The results illustrate that pitso has a strong impact on the representation of men in the parliament hence their predominance. This is supported by the fact that at least 67% of men who attended pitsos are likely to be in parliament or occupying high political posts in political parties. Thus the question relating to whether the traditional male-leadership institutions are responsible for the preeminence of men in the legislature was answered positively.

The study went further to discover whether there are other independent variables which may have a significant influence on the two dependent variables: namely, representation of women in parliament and the preeminence of men. The results show that there is a link between one’s level of income and his level of political participation. There is, in fact, a positive correlation between income and political participation. The study revealed that 63.33% of those who earn more than M5000 per month manifest a high level of political activity, and support gender-related issues more than those who earned less .

Apart from income, the study examined the impact of education on one’s level of political engagement in order to comprehend if there is a link between education and representation of women in parliament. The study shows that there is a link between education and women’s representation in parliament but the effect education has on women’s numerical presence in parliament can only be extrapolated from the results. It is not too evident that education increases women’s presence in parliament. Nonetheless, there is a link between education and political participation.

Contrary to previous studies (Shvedova, 2005) that claim a positive correlation between women and political participation, this study supports other studies (Longwe, 2000) that show that the connection may be weak or even negative. In fact, the study shows that education implies high political exigency and engagement to men than to women. The study demonstrates that education can only have an equivalent impact on both males and females, only if 12% more women enrol for universities and increase in knowledge so that the number of highly educated women becomes equal or exceeds that of men by at least 12% or more.

23. Recommendations

The results show that ownership of land and attendance of traditional leadership institutions militate against the involvement of women in parliament and advantage men. It is recommended that the government rectify the discriminatory laws that inhibit women from owning land without the consent of their husbands and ensure their enforcement. The study also recommends that the government amend the laws of land ownership in order to put to an end the discrimination that exists so that more women can own land. In particular, it has to rectify the Constitution and Bill of Rights whose application is contravened by the Land Act (1979) and the Deeds Registry Act (1967). The claw-back nature of the laws should be corrected since the laws still require women to own land with the consent of their husband. Over and above that, where the laws have been put right, in practice, the inconsistency still prevails and therefore, the enforcement of the laws have to be strengthened.

Equally important, the government should reconcile the contradiction between customary laws and the constitution, especially laws that concern the inheritance of property. Under customary law, the first male born inherits the land and all the property. This practice is responsible for the unequal distribution of land between men and women. The government has promulgated a law that allows parents to write a bill to any of the family members including girls to inherit property. Nevertheless, the practice, culture and stereotypes that the first male son is the heir are still predominant. These stereotypes could be reversed by using the media to publicize this law to the nation (Childs and Krook, 2008). The government can also resort to schools and make gender courses mandatory starting from primary school. With such a syllabus the government should assist the society to recognize the efforts made by women and start acknowledging that the political domain is not confined to men only.

The study also revealed that traditional leadership institutions promote the preeminence of men in parliament. The three traditional leadership institutions (khotla, lebollo and pitso) that groom men and inculcate into them the idea that they are superior, they are born to lead and reinforces the notion of male chauvinism undermine the efforts to achieve equality between men and women. These traditional institutions prove to be the stronghold and anchor of patriarchy in Lesotho. The results show that patriarchal influences are very strong, and even when governments know their obligations towards women, there is no real political will to fulfil their obligations to women. This is because these institutions are still intact. Less has been done to curb this problem emanating from these institutions.

The government should create alternative institutions dedicated to women with the purpose of grooming them for leadership. It should create schools that train girls from an early age to be leaders and make them aspire to lead their country. These schools would be instrumental for and capable of reversing the effects the three male traditional institutions have made so far in order to usher the males into politics. Such a school needs to be fully funded by the government so that even the less privileged women can access it.

Moreover, NGOs should form a synergy with the government to address the problem of underrepresentation of women in parliament. They have to organize conferences, workshops and seminars throughout the country with the purpose of reversing gender stereotypes. Since the aforementioned male-leadership institutions have developed over time, it requires more than the government alone to curb the underrepresentation of women in parliament. The non-governmental organizations have to form a synergy with the government to unite efforts to pursue the aforementioned purpose. The NGOs in Lesotho need to organize a lot of conferences, seminars and workshops to train and educate women in order to create a pool of women leaders for the country. These pieces of training can be held across the country every month throughout the year.

The results show that the traditional leadership institution has a positive influence on political participation. In order to make up for the absence of traditional leadership that groom women for political leadership, women should make an effort to enrol for and participate actively in programs meant to empower them. Without the will and spontaneous reaction of women to participate in seminars and schools meant to empower them, the empowerment efforts would be futile. Women have to develop for themselves self-esteem, passion for politics and should manifest the desire to acquire the skills necessary for them to contest for elections. Women role models should also see a need to inspire those who look up to them.

The study also found out that some men and women are not willing to vote for women and less than 50% of the respondents preferred female respondents. To ameliorate the number of preferred female parliamentarians, women should start believing in one another. Women should, first of all, develop class consciousness and recognise themselves as a sex class, suppressed by men under patriarchal systems. This class consciousness will help them to start believing in one another and they will start recognizing that they need to support one another. Eventually, women will start voting alongside sex and will vote for each other. Thus women would ameliorate their miserable conditions of being underrepresented in the parliament.

Equally important, some men claimed that they cannot vote for a female party or female prime minister because they have not seen the women occupying such posts. This is so because female role models are either few or inadequately covered by the media. In order to curb this challenge therefore, the local media (Television, radios and newspapers) should always cover and broadcast women’s efforts and those of female role models and prominent female politicians. This will help motivate young women to follow in their footsteps and to show to men that women prime ministers exist and even perform well.

In the same way, in order to speed up the process and broaden the coverage the media has to cover conferences meant to groom women for leadership. The media can also be useful when utilized as a platform for women role models to inspire other women to be politically active. Lack of role models as one of the barriers to the effective participation of women in politics can be curbed by such endeavours. Once women recognize that other women are ministers and parliamentarians they will also aspire to be and men can no longer find it to be a culture shock to be led by a woman.

In retrospect, the researcher established that landownership, khotla and lebollo are among the factors that militate against the involvement of women in parliament. This study has successfully established that ownership of land has an impact on women’s representation in parliament. Access to land increases or decreases the chances of women to be represented in parliament. In addition, participation in traditional leadership institutions has an impact or effect on representation in parliament. Involvement in these institutions increases one’s chance to make it to parliament hence it perpetuates men’s preeminence in the parliament. Notwithstanding, this study is not entirely exhaustive on the factors responsible for women’s underrepresentation in the political structures. The researcher also found out that there are some legal frameworks that militate against women’s involvement in politics. Owing to this reason, research still needs to be done to implore the legal framework responsible for the underrepresentation of women in decision-making.

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Appendix

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

CONSENT FORM

To whom it may concern

I am Kali Moeketsi, a Masters student studying Governance at the Pan African University of Humanities and Social Sciences hosted by the University of Yaoundé II, in Cameroon (Under Pan African Union). The objective of this research is to assess the obstacles militating against women’s acquisition of seats in the parliament of Lesotho. The purpose of this study is purely academic and is meant to identify and evaluate factors leading to underrepresentation of women in parliament. Accepting to participate in this study means that you will be filling the questionnaire administered to you. The entire study is absolutely voluntary- meaning that you have the right to accept, decline, or withdraw from participation at any point in time.

THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING TAKING PART IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT.

If you have any further questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at:

Email: xxx Phone/ WhatsApp: xxx Skype: xxx

Questionnaire

Instructions: Please tick [ ] inside the box or fill in the spaces provided. Your responses should be as honest as possible. The information you give will be kept in strict confidence and will be used for nothing other than this research. Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

1. What is your age range? 20-30 years [ ] 31-40 years [ ] 41-50 years [ ] 51 years and above [ ]
2. What is your marital status? Married [ ] Single [ ] Divorced [ ] Widowed [ ] Separated [ ]
3. What is your sex? Male [ ] Female [ ]
4. What is your average monthly income? Less than M 5000 [ ] Above M 5000 [ ]
5. What is your highest level in politics? A voter [ ] Partisanship [ ] I hold a position within a party [ ] I am a parliamentarian [ ] other [ ] None of the above [ ]
6. What is your highest level of education? None [ ] Primary [ ] Secondary [ ] High school [ ] Tertiary college [ ] University [ ]
7. Which district are you from? Maseru [ ] Leribe [ ] Berea [ ] Botha-Bothe [ ] Quthing [ ] Mokhotlong [ ] Mafeteng [ ] Qacha’s nek [ ] Thaba-Tseka [ ] Mohale’s hoek [ ]
5. Do you think the following factors have influence on someone’s decision to vie for a parliamentary seat?

(ii). Marital status and the marriage regime? Yes [ ] No [ ] N/A [ ]
(iii). Level of education? Yes [ ] No [ ] N/A [ ]

6. What type of regime is your marriage contract? [ ] Communal property [ ] Customary marriage (Lenyalo la likhomo) [ ] None of the above [ ] N/A
7. Have you gone through the initiation school or its rite of passage (Lebollo)?

(i) Yes [ ] No [ ] N/A [ ]
(ii) Do you think it has influence on one’s ability to vie for political posts? [yes] [no]

Please explain

8. Have you ever participated in public gathering (Pitso) discussions? Yes [ ] No [ ]
9. Have you participated in courtyard (khotla) discussions at any point in your life? Yes [ ] No [ ]
10. What inspires your political activism or makes you interested in politics?
11. As a politician, which factors do you think are responsible for your success in politics?
12. What are the main challenges hindering your success in politics?
13. What do you think could be a solution to all these problems you identified?
14. As a politician (parliamentarian), do you have fields/farms (Masimo) ? Yes [ ] No [ ]
15. Do you think that this is a factor that affects ability to get involved in politics at the higher level? (i) Yes [ ] No [ ]

(ii) If yes, state four ways ownership of landed property has influence on your political activities

16. Women are not as prominent in Lesotho’s parliament as men; do you think the men or women are responsible for this imbalance? Men [ ] Women [ ] Other reasons [ ]

If other reasons, please explain

17. Can you support your spouse if s/he wants to contest for elections? (i) Yes [ ] No [ ]

(ii) If no please explain why

18. Would you want Lesotho to have a female Prime-minister? (i) Yes [ ] No [ ] I don’t know [ ] (ii) If no please explain why
19. Do you encourage women to participate in political leadership positions? Yes [ ] No [ ] I do not know [ ] N/A [ ]
20. Do men encourage women to vie for political leadership positions? No [ ] Yes [ ] I don’t know [ ]
21. Would you vote for a political party whose leader is a female? (i) Yes [ ] No [ ]

(ii) Why?
(iii) What is your preferred sex for a PM (Prime minister)? (i) Female [ ] Male [ ]

i. What reason have you for your preference?
ii. What factor influences most your choice of a parliamentarian?
iii. If any other, please specify

[...]