Paradox of the Relationship Between Democracy and Women’s Representation in SADC Parliaments | Paradoxo da Relação entre a Democracia e a Representação das Mulheres nos Parlamentos da SADC

This article examines the paradoxical relationship between democracy and female parliamentary representation within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional bloc comprising South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The key question guiding the debate is: To what extent does female representation in national parliaments reflect the level of democracy in a country? The study used a qualitative approach, which included a review of existing literature, analysis of data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a platform that tracks the number of women in national parliaments globally,Freedom House data, which assesses the adherence of countries to democratic principles, and the Gender and Development Monitor for the SADC region. The study concluded that democracy is an important factor that enables women to participate in political life on equal terms with men. However, there was insufficient evidence to support the claim that democracy is a sine qua non condition for improving female representation in the national parliaments of Southern African countries.