6.0 Gender in the PRSP and its relationship to the National Budget in Zambia.

6.1 A gender analysis of indicators for the key PRSP sectors.

According to the Living Conditions Monitoring Survey of 1998, 73% of the population of Zambia lived below the poverty line. Further, poverty was higher in rural areas with 83% of the population living in poverty, compared with the 56% found in urban areas. For example, Northern Province, where about 85% of the people reside in rural areas, is among the poorest provinces in Zambia. Home to about 1.4 million people, an estimated 81% of the population in Northern Province are poor and 66% extremely poor (CSO, 1998).

Poverty is multi-dimensional and is due to multiple and complex factors. The decline of the Zambian economy after the collapse of the mining sector contributed greatly to rising poverty levels. Poverty, together with unfavourable agriculture practices, lack of market access, natural disasters such as drought and floods, animal diseases and the impact of HIV and AIDS, is one of the key factors behind Zambia's poor food security situation.

In Zambia, gender is considered as one of the main determinants of poverty. According to the 1998 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey, more female-headed households faced extreme poverty than male-headed households. Further, more female-headed house-holds faced food shortages as well as longer periods of food insecurity than male-headed households. Women are more vulnerable to poverty in part because of their lower levels of education, their smaller share in the formal sector, and their higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS than men (28). The feminization of poverty is reflected in women's limited access to and control over productive resources, social services, remunerative employment opportunities and minimal participation in political and managerial decision-making processes.

In July 2002, the Zambian Government officially launched its first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for the period 2002-2004. The PRSP had the overriding objective of attaining sustained and high economic growth, improving access and quality in the provision of social and public services (especially education, health and water and sanitation), and mainstreaming the cross cutting issues of HIV/AIDS, gender and the environment. The strategy correctly recognised that little could be achieved to reduce poverty unless measures were taken to revive Zambia's economy. Diversifying the economy was considered key to reviving the economy with agriculture and tourism, particularly given priority. Attaining macroeconomic stability, improving supportive infrastructure and good governance were also given priority in attaining high growth envisaged in the PRSP.

6.1.1 Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing

This sector employs 69% of Zambians, with 76% of the female population as compared to 63% for the males (Annex Table Z1). Whilst women constitute the majority of farmers in Zambia, their contribution to the agriculture sector and to the entire economic is not well documented, neither is it appreciated. Women in most cases only have user rights on land and this has implications on the type of crops that they can grow as well as the areas covered. In most cases, they are forced to provide labour for their husband's farms where cash crops are grown and at the same time they are expected to tend their own fields in order to ensure food security for their households. This place a great burden on their time and in most cases does not allow them to engage in cash crop production and marketing. Marketing of cash crops are often done by men despite the fact that women contribute significantly to the production process. Decisions around the utility of the funds that are realised from the sales finally rest in the hands of the men although in some cases women are consulted.

Whilst the poverty reduction programmes included investments in crop and fertiliser support, irrigation, disease control and rural electrification, evidence suggests that women were not always direct beneficiaries. Access to agriculture credit through inputs in some cases requires collateral such as land or livestock, which women do not often own. Where there are no conditionalities, lack of support from the spouse may hinder accessing such facilities. Cases have been known where programmes use household goods as collateral for agriculture inputs. In the event of default, kitchen utensils which are often owned by women are confiscated and women loose the very assets that they own due to default on the part of their spouses. In agricultural communities, the amount of disposable income for women is often negligible resulting in over dependency on men which has its own social and psychological problems. It results in high levels of gender based violence and women remain in abusive marriages because of not having other livelihood options or opportunities.

Agricultural marketing policy and interventions have not supported women farmers in terms of marketing their crops, and thus women's crops are to small local markets characterized by low returns, although the crops have potential to provide a source of cash income for women and their families. Prevailing socio-cultural norms with regard to 'crops and gender' have the effect of constraining women from selling their surplus crops due to the fact that their crops are meant for food. This undermines women's economic rights and, therefore, human rights to work and earn cash income in the market/national economy.

Women's time allocation to household based care-giving activities (childcare, wood and water provisioning, nursing sick family members, etc), though critical to operations and outputs in the market economy, has not been documented and, therefore, not reflected in national statistics that feed into policy, planning, and budgeting processes.

However, although linkages exist between the household/care economy and the market economy through the labor time allocation of men and women, and particularly women, these important linkages are not officially recognized and supported. The following table illustrates the access to and control over agriculture resources.

Given that about 70% of the population relies on agriculture (including crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry) for a livelihood, a situational analysis of Zambia must highlight this sector--which is also recognized by the GRZ as the engine of growth sector for the medium and long term. As the agricultural sector contributes just under 20% to GNP, it can be seen that most of the production in this sector is basically at small scale and for home consumption.

As a consequence, the country is still a net importer of food, and poverty is prevalent in many rural areas. The main reasons for this can be summarized as follows: limited allocation of resources to the agricultural sector; lack of adequate infrastructure in the outlying areas making the transport of inputs and outputs too costly; limited choices of production technologies available to smallholders; limited access to irrigation; non availability of financial resources for small-holder agricultural development and market outlets of their produce (as they do not have collateral or the bargaining power that derives from secured market outlets for their produce); and inadequate extension services. In fact, the availability and accessibility to high-value means of production are non-existent for the smallholders of the more marginal systems of production and areas.

Access to knowledge and technology generation, through the public research and extension network have become virtually unavailable to the majority of farmers, as well as training facilities aimed at the small-scale farmers. Lack of resources to maintain and expand structures, staffing and facilities are endemic in all provinces.

All of the problems listed above are, of course, shared by both male and female smallholder farmers. However, these problems are magnified for women when analysed from a gender perspective. In Zambia, women are the main producers, providers and traditional managers of food production for household subsistence, while men predominate in the production of cash crops. Women also grow a wider variety of crops (maize, sorghum, millet, beans, groundnuts and cowpeas) that, if a surplus is attained, are mostly sold on local markets, although women's lack of access to market support services (and, indeed, to larger, more profitable markets) limits their cash earnings through such sales.

Due to the differences in types of crops planted by gender, crop management becomes key to the distribution of income within rural households, as research has shown that the person who manages a particular crop/produce has a larger voice in how the resulting income is spent. For example, studies have shown that women either independently or jointly manage 60% of the area under local maize production (used for household consumption), but they were involved in just 25% of the management of hybrid maize (used for sales). Other studies have shown that households headed by females were less prone to adopting farming cash/export oriented crops than households headed by males. The decision-making process also varies in issues concerning storage, use of markets and marketing strategies, and use of irrigation technologies, depending on the crops planted.

Despite these negative characteristics, a conducive policy environment has been put in place that justifies a certain degree of optimism and consideration for investment in the sector. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MACO) developed the National Agricultural and Cooperatives Policy (NACP) "to promote the development of an efficient, competitive and sustainable agricultural sector, which ensures food security and increased income". This vision is in line with the Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP, 2002-2005), the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2002-2004 (PRSP), and in the more recent Fifth National Development Plan 2006-2010 (FNDP), where the GRZ has placed high priority on agricultural development. The country has taken a policy decision to use agriculture as the main vehicle for economic growth. The FNDP, which is the main document guiding economic growth and poverty reduction in the country, will rely heavily on agriculture to achieve its objectives. The FNDP states that agriculture in Zambia combines the virtues of growth and equity, and it is in this context that enhanced agricultural productivity is being given high priority. If the sector grows and measures are put in place to include the poor in this growth, poverty would be reduced. (30)

6.1.2 Mining and Quarrying

The participation of women in mining in Zambia is extremely low compared to their male folk. Zambia has a few women who are engaged in small scale mining. In order to address this gap, female mine owners have formed an association (31). The women who own mines have difficulties accessing technical and financial support to expand and improve on their mining operations. Access to credit has proved to be a challenge. They also have limited capacity in engaging in negotiations for their products. In addition value addition for their gemstones has been a challenge but the setting up of the lapidary in Ndola to train people in value addition may help to address some of these problems.

The mining sector provides opportunities for employment but within the period under review very few jobs were created for women save for support services which are often low paid. However, where this has happened, it has enabled women to earn an income and contribute financially to the household.

Apart from employment opportunities, the mines are ideally supposed to create opportunities for business growth for the locals in terms of supplying the mines with goods and services. This may provide an opportunity for business women to act as suppliers to the mines. However, it was noted in the period under review that the local indigenous business community had problems supplying the mines due to their bias towards foreign suppliers. An association of suppliers exists and it has been negotiating for better access to the supply line of the mines. There are currently no statistics to show how many women suppliers are engaged with the mines but is important to monitor this as well as the volume of the business.

6.1.3 Energy

The energy sector has a lot of bearing on the lives of women but this is often not a consideration when planning and implementing projects and programmes and like with many other sectors, no gender related indicators were developed during the PRSP process and yet they were so vital in order to cushion the effects.

Women consume a lot of productive time in search of firewood for their domestic use. In some cases they have to travel long distances to fetch firewood because of high levels of deforestation. The time spent in search of charcoal can be used for productive purposes if only interventions for alternative sources of energy were implemented. Cooking using firewood is time consuming and has proved to be a health hazard for women who have to operate in smoky places. This has contributed to the high number of respiratory diseases amongst women.

6.1.4 Transport, Storage and Communications

The growth of the transport sector has contributed to the increased mobility of women, particularly those that are engaged in local business as well as cross border trading. They have been able to conduct business in a timely fashion because of availability of transport.

The road transport sector had seen an increase in the number of bus operators which rose from 5,117 in 2002 to 7,478 in 2003. The increase was concentrated in Lusaka due to the declining level of economic activity in the other provinces at the time. Statistics do not however show how many female bus operators are registered by observations indicate that the transport sector is mainly dominated by men and therefore the benefits mainly accrue to them.

6.1.5 Manufacturing

Industrial development is a panacea for poverty reduction as it creates jobs, provides opportunities for earning incomes and it stimulates agricultural development and provides an impetus for the growth of the services sector. Women' participation in manufacturing is often related to food production and at a very small scale contributing very insignificantly to the household income. Most of the manufacturing activities are survivalist in nature because often times womens businesses are perceived as such.

6. 1.6 Tourism

The overall goal in tourism sector continues to be that of transforming Zambia into one of the major tourist centres in the world. In order to achieve the objectives in the tourism sector, Government undertook three programs during the period under review. These were the Infrastructure Development in Tourism Areas, the Promotion of Investment in the Tourism Sector and the Tourism Marketing and Promotion. Government allocated to the sector a total of K 36.45 billion during the period under

The tourism sector provides opportunities for investment for women as well as for employment. However, like with other sectors, the participation of women remains very low. Very few women are involved in the tourism sector as investors, Very few own lodges, hotels, car hire services, game ranches and all other facilitates that constitute tourism. Statistics are not readily available to indicate the number of women that are proprietors of tourist oriented investments but it is common knowledge that they are very few.

The development of tourism has its own disadvantages as it gives rise to the activities associated with commercial sex. As the sector, grows, the demands for sexual services also escalates creating complexities for women who are impoverished and desperate for survival. This puts women at risk of contracting HIV and AIDS or other STDs. In addition it results in social stigma and these women are often ostracized.

6.1.7 Education

The level of education attained is an important indicator of well-being and is key to ensuring access to other human development indicators such as employment and earnings, health, nutrition and reduced poverty levels generally. An education system that can provide high quality education to all those entitled to it is one of the most important pre-conditions for development. Development would, however, be impossible to attain without gender equity in the education system.

According to the 2000 Census of population and housing, literacy rates at all ages are higher among males than females. This is also the case in all the provinces of Zambia. Although there was a slight increase in the literacy rates of adult females between 1990 and 2000, male literacy is still much higher at 76.6 percent compared to 58.3 percent for females.

The education sector in Zambia is characterized by low enrolments, slow and low progression, and high dropout rates; poor performance; poor attendance because children (almost always girls) are engaged in household chores or tending to sick family members or younger siblings, or because they are engaged in income-generating activities to supplement family income; long distances to schools; poor infrastructure and learning environments; high student to teacher ratios (16 to 1 in 2004 in Grades 1-7); limited opportunities for appropriate skills training; malnourished learners; de-motivated and ill-qualified teachers, especially in rural areas; high illiteracy levels; ill health among teachers, students and others in the educational system; lack of motivation for parents to send their children to school; and wide gender gaps because of choices parents have to make on who goes to school.

Positive changes have taken place in the education sector since the PRSP with increased enrollments for both girls and boys. Basic school enrollment increased by 10.3 percent to 2,522,378 in 2004 from 2,286,615 in 2003. Out of the total enrollment, 1,220,211 or 51.6 percent were boys and 48 percent or 1,302,615 were girls (see table 6.2).

At the provincial level, Lusaka presents the highest level of female enrollment (50.7%) followed by Central (48.5%) and Eastern (48.2%). The lowest enrollment was registered in Northern Province at 46.1 percent (Annex table Z4).

Enrolment ratios in high schools showed upward mobility. This increased from 16.5 percent in 2004 from 13.9 percent in 2003. There was a 2.6 percent gross enrolment increase with 3.6 percent for males and 1.6 percent for females in the two years.

Table 6.3 indicates high school enrollments by gender.

It is still notable that there are differences in the male female ratio at high school despite the increases in basic school enrollments. The drop out rates increase from basic to high school amongst girls as they develop into women in which case there gender roles are increased and the social pressures on them mount making them vulnerable.

In this sector, the huge negative characteristics do, of course, hinder the educational process for both male and female children but, again, the gender biases are noticeable: Literacy rates vary (gender profile) and worse still, from Grade 5 onward, more girls than boys drop out of school, especially in the rural areas. The reasons vary, but include pregnancies, early marriages and domestic chores, distance to schools, and educational costs (textbooks, writing materials, uniforms and transport). The result is that fewer females enter colleges or universities (where there is often limited hostel accommodation for females, in any case). In 2004, just 31% of the students in the two universities were women.

Tertiary education was also characterized by increases in enrolments, though still showing gender disparities in favour of males. Student enrolments increased by 19.5 percent to 26,559 in 2004 to 22,221 in 2003 (table 6.4)

University education saw an increase of 15 percent in the two universities. This is represented by 11,561,561 in 2004 from 10,092 in 2003. University of Zambia (UNZA) had 8,471 compared to 7,558 in 2003. Copperbelt University (CBU) enrollment increased to 3,090 in 2004 from 2,534 in 2003. The increase has been attributed to the self sponsorship programme (table 6.5).

The gender disparities in the educational system are later manifested in the labour markets, where their participation is further hampered. Table Z6 illustrates the gender distribution of teachers.

There is more than 50 percent disparity in the gender composition of teachers across the country. This has implications for addressing gender issues in schools which have very few or no female teachers. Female teachers can act as role models for the girls and can be, if oriented help to deal with issues that specifically affect girls in their learning environment. Outside of the learning environment, female teachers, if trained can help provide counseling services for the girls if need arises. Apart from the girls, female teachers can help the boys to shape their thinking around gender issues and help to socialize them to see girls as equal partners in development (32).

In relation to education is the issue of Labour and Employment. Women are also seriously underrepresented in technical and vocational education (TVE) programmes, where they seem to make up less than 20% of enrolments. Even here, their training focuses on traditional females occupations, such as hairdressing, secretarial work, health care, hotel work, garment manufacture, and home economics. Specialties geared to the industrial sector, such as mechanics, electrical and civil engineering, are reserved for male students, in part because of the generally lower levels of educational attainment and literacy of the women (33).

6.1.8 Health

Within the household it is the women and girls who are expected to provide health care to the sick. This affects their labour time for engagement in productive activities and reinforces the elasticity of women's time. The burden of care that is imposed on women results in being overburdened with house chores, taking care of the sick with the resultant effect that women lose incomes and suffer from stress and fatigue.

Staff shortages have continued to compromise the quality of health care and service delivery. There has been an exodus of qualified staff to other countries in search of better conditions of service and better working environments. This continues to place a greater burden on women who are already stretched. The ratio of health staff to patients is far reaching the desired level.

6.1.9 Community Social and Personal Services

A gender analysis of this will reveal that the benefits that women derive from improvements on feeder roads may not be as much as those enjoyed by men. Socially, women are not as mobile as men and there are several factors that account for that. Women in most cases are expected to focus on the gender roles and household chores to the extent that movements are restricted to allow only for facilitation of these roles. In most cases, women in rural areas do not own bicycles, ox -carts, let alone cars and trucks for easy movement and therefore utility of feeder roads is limited. Peri-Urban Self Help (PUSH) programmes have been the preserve of women who provide labour for infrastructure development in return for food. Apart from receiving food rations they also learn new skills and create infrastructure for the community and for their use. An evaluation of PUSH from a gender perspective indicates that in some instances women who originate from male headed households are under pressure to sell some of the rations that they receive in order to give cash to their spouses who demand it from them. Resistance to this has resulted in their spouses denying them permission to participate in such programmes. However the benefits of engaging in such programmes outweighs the costs. It has however been argued that the returns on the work done should be revisited and improved upon.

6.1.10 HIV/AIDS

Currently, it is estimated that 16% of the population of Zambia aged between 15 and 49 years is HIV positive (34), and the national prevalence of HIV and AIDS has resulted in a great loss of progressive farmers and professional staff, and greatly inhibits the transfer of technology from one generation to another. Several factors contribute to the high prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS in Zambia. These include poverty, high mobility of people using the railway and the north transport routes, gender inequality, and marginalisation of certain groups like women and children (35).

Zambia has one of the highest proportions of orphans resulting from the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the world with an estimated 1,200,000 orphans by 2005 (ZHDR, 2007, p.xii). HIV and AIDS affects both sexes but is not gender neutral. Women are biologically more susceptible to contracting HIV than men in one sexual encounter. Infection rates are substantially higher among women (18%) then men (13%). This is not because of lack of information because between 2002 and 2006, HIV knowledge among Zambians was very high with 98 percent and 99 percent of the male and female population respectively, aware of the pandemic. It must be the unequal gender relations.

Moreover, HIV and AIDS worsens gender-based differences in access to land and other productive resources like labour, technology, credit and water through distress sale and property grabbing.

HIV and AIDS have exacerbated the poverty situation amongst women. Infection among young women aged 15-19 yrs and 20-24 yrs are 3.5 to 4 times higher than those of men in the same age group, furthermore women bear the burden of care. Gender based violence, which is on the increase, infringes upon the rights of women and girls and diminishes their abilities to protect themselves against HIV and AIDS. Moreover, disempowerment of women makes it more difficult for them to protect themselves from being infected by their partners, exposes them to sexual abuse, and limits their access to knowledge about how to protect themselves (36).

Women who are not infected by HIV and AIDS may be affected by the pandemic as care givers and community members. Due to their gender roles, they have taken the responsibility of looking after terminally ill people financially, materially and emotionally placing a great burden on them. This affects their ability to engage in productive work and contribute to the household income.

Poverty, gender inequality and HIV/AIDS are closely intertwined. Poverty exacerbates HIV transmission. Widespread poverty, high rates of unemployment, and generally low returns from informal sector income-generating activities have been associated with high risk sexual behaviour and the spread of HIV and AIDS. When gender is taken into account, it is clear that poverty ahs and continues to have a female face.

Some of the underlying causes of HIV transmission include early initiation of sexual activities by both genders coupled with myths and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. This is particularly acute in rural areas, where many young people do not believe that they are at risk of contracting HIV, have inadequate access to testing services, and are afraid of stigma and discrimination, while experiencing difficulty in getting treatment if infected. This also points to the lack of access to correct information on HIV and AIDS as well as the lack of systematic socialization of services.

Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) is rampant in the country and is a reflection of the low status and negative attitudes towards women. According to a GIDD report in 2003, violence against women and children is linked strongely to the socioeconomic situation of the households where such violence takes place, with a high correlation between GBV and poverty. The annual number of reported rape and attempted rape cases continues to climb, even though many cases remain unreported due to cultural reasons, lack of access to police services, a culture of silence within communities because such issues are "taboo", lack of sensitisation of police officers (particularly in rural areas), family pressure to resolve such matters internally, and in some cases because the victims are economically dependent on the perpetrators. Sexual exploitation of women and sex in exchange for rewards and security occurs across most ages. Women's lack of access to preventive methods as well as cultural norms supportive of men having multiple sexual partners, all contribute to the precarious position of women in the context of HIV and AIDS.

There is virtually no psycho-social assistance to perpetrators or programmes targeted towards changing the behaviour of these violators. There is no assistance to address the economic dependence of the majority of victims to reduce their vulnerability. Inadequate understanding of the root causes of violence hinders adequate interventions and prevention strategies.

Statistics showed that young people were increasingly delaying to start sexual intercourse. In 1998, males started sexual intercourse at 16 years while females started at 17 years. For males, the age increased to 17 in 2003 but remained the same for females at 17 years. Condom use increased among males from 28 percent in 1998 to 43 percent in 2003 and 24 percent to 34 percent among females.

6.1.11 Gender

Government's focus during the period under review was on improving the participation of women in decision-making, and promotion of women's economic empowerment through land ownership and strengthening monitoring and evaluation institutional framework. In line with achieving the 1997 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender Declaration, Government embarked on a survey, whose aims was to establish land ownership by sex. The 1997 SADC Gender Declaration required that 30 percent of all decision making positions be reserved for women. In order to achieve this, Government appointed women to decision making positions and women representation grew steadily from 10 percent in 1997 to 18 percent in 2003. Government further adopted a decision that the representation of women on all Statutory Boards should strive to attain the 30 percent mark. In 2004, the women representation in Parliament was 14 percent.

Generally, by the end of June 2004, progress could be seen in the appointment of women to decision-making positions as reflected in the selected positions

Whilst progress may have been reflected the numbers fall far short of national and international expectations. The fact that the majority of critically decision making positions are appointed by the head of state (ministers, heads of parastatals etc), their tenure of office is not guaranteed and therefore can result in reversal of achievements.

6.2 A Gender Analysis of the Macro-economic Framework

Some of the selected policies on the macroeconomic, institutional and structural fronts that are in keeping with PRSP objectives are the following:

* An increase in capital expenditures from 11.9% of GDP in 2000 to 12.7% in 2004;

* Elimination of fiscal deficit of 7.3% of GDP in 2002 to achieve balanced budgets in 2003 and 2004;

* Lowering of interest rates;

* Avoidance of borrowing by the Government from the central bank;

* Improving fiscal management through the implementation of the Public Service Reform Programme;

* Guarantee social service spending and capital expenditure against expenditure compression;

The above list, though not exhaustive, still comprised a long array of measures that, when implemented, would bring about major departures from the current practices of Government. But considerable commitment and capacity was required to implement these measures.

Similar analysis as was done for Uganda was not possible due to lack of data, but inferences may be made.

6.2.1 Impact of macro-economic framework on production and distribution

The LCMS 2004 has been used to discuss the impact of the macro economic framework on production and distribution in terms of gender, incomes and sub-regions within the country.

(a) Economic activity status

Out of the total population aged 12 years and above, 65 percent constitute the labour force. Of these slightly over half (54%) were employed, 6 percent were unemployed and 5 percent were the unpaid family workers. The proportion of females in the labour force was less than the proportion for males. There were 61 percent of females and 69 percent of males. Comparison of economic activity status at provincial level also shows variations (Annex Table Z1).

(b) Distribution of the Employed Persons by Occupation

The distribution of occupations of employed persons provides a useful indicator of the type of production and the level of technology and automation on which the economy is based. It is further argued that the occupational structure also provides a gauge about the potential for future economic growth.

At national level, the occupations in agriculture were the most predominant accounting for 69 percent of all employed persons while managerial and administrative occupations were the least accounting for 1 percent of the employed population. In the rural areas 92 percent of all employed persons were working in agriculture occupations with higher female employees participation of 94 percent as against that of male employees at 89 percent. The most common occupations by males in urban areas are production and related services and clerical services, which registered 32 percent and 17 percent respectively. The number of females with technical skills is limited (Annex tables Z2 and Z3).

(c) Household food production

An estimated 1,372,760 households were engaged in agricultural production activities in 2003/2004 agricultural seasons. Statistics further indicate that rural households accounted for 90 percent of agricultural production activities and 26 percent of urban households were engaged in the same.

An estimated 434,345 households owned livestock. Of these 53 percent owned cattle, 53 percent goats, 28 percent goats and only 4 percent owned sheep. The total number of chickens owned during the 2003/2004 agriculture seasons was 15,160,029 birds. Of these, the rural households owned 11,800,361. Unfortunately the data was not gender desegregated making it difficult to make a gender analysis based on figures

(d) Household income and assets

The LCMS reveals that the mean monthly income for a Zambian household in 2004 was K502,030. Male-headed households had higher mean monthly incomes compared to female -headed households. The mean monthly income for a MHH was K535, 790 while that of a FHH was K382,314.

Degree holders earned six times higher than those who had not attended school at II. Statistics illustrate that there are glaring disparities in tertiary education, reflecting more males than females. This therefore means that more males are likely to be in the high income bracket.

Generally MMH owned more assets than FHH except for ownership of residential buildings.

(e) Household Expenditure

Households in Zambia apportioned a larger share of their expenditure on food (65%) than on non-food items. Household expenditure share to food were higher among rural households (79%) than urban households (53%). The reverse the case with urban households where expenditure share to non -food was higher (47%) than among rural households (21%).

Thirty seven percent of total household expenditure in Zambia was on account of consumption of own produced food Since women are responsible for production of food for domestic consumption it would be right to assume that they are responsible for the production of the food that is own produced. This accounts for their limited access to income arising from agricultural activities.

(f) Household access to amenities

More than 70 percent of households in Zambia were within reach a 5km radius of key socio-economic facilities, which included a food market, middle or upper basic school, health facility, a hammer mill or public transport. Urban households had more comparative advantage in terms of access to all facilities than those in rural areas.

About half of the households nationwide had access to sources of water considered clean and safe both in wet and dry season. In ability to access clean and safe drinking water has gender implications. Women are forced to walk long distances to fetch water and in the rural areas they are more prone to water borne diseases due to their interaction with unsafe water.

6.2.2 Implications for the national budget

The PRSP document contained a detailed expose of the macroeconomic framework that would be compatible with the goal of systematic poverty reduction. It set out policies aimed at achieving economic growth. Estimates of available financial resources were based on projected domestic resources (assuming an average annual growth rate of 4.1% during the PRSP period) and projected external resources. The estimates were modest in relation to requirements. The original costing of the PRSP amounted to $4 billion, but this figure had to be brought down to $1.2 billion. Consequently, a great deal of the originally submitted programmes had to be revised. Some programmes were reduced and others postponed to later PRSPs.

Roads, Health, Agriculture and Education take nearly two-thirds of the budget (Annex table Z7). If Energy, HIV/AIDS and Tourism are added, then the percentage adds up to 85. It is quiet evident that the allocation to gender (0.1) the lowest amount compared to other sectors, did not present much effort into addressing poverty considering that women constitute the majority of the poor. This level of allocations has implications for meeting the aspirations of the PRSP.

In 2003, the PRPs were aimed at economic empowerment programmes, social safety nets operations and key socio-economic investment projects (table 6.6).

It is quite evident from the allocation to PRPs in 2003 that government was not able to achieve what it had set out to achieve in terms of poverty reduction. The inability to release all the targeted funds has implications for reducing poverty for the poor, particularly women. However, there is evident of improvements in disbursements annex table Z8).

Compromises in budgetary expenditure in the education sector may reverse the gains that were made in improving access to education for all and particularly the girl child. This may result in decreases in enrolment rates, reduced retention and a drop in completion rates especially for the girl child. Expenditure in PRPs included bursaries for vulnerable children and this may have implied reducing the number of bursaries targeting the vulnerable children who in most cases comprise girls.

Where government reduces support to the provision of education as a result of budget cuts, the burden is shifted to the household. Due to patriarchal norms that influence parental choices regarding school attendance by their girl and boy children, households are forced to sacrifice the girls' education.

The fact that only 43.9 percent (2003) of targeted funds were released for PRPs in the health sector has gender related implications. Cuts in funding deinstitutionalise health care and the responsibility is passed on to the household and the women in particular. The cut backs have resulted in reduced labour force, lack of drugs and equipment. This has further increased the burden of care on women who are expected to nurse the sick either at home or at the health facility. The cost of care is also borne by women who are already financially overburdened due to low incomes. The HIV and AIDS pandemic has further exacerbated the burden of care for women.

6.3 The Process of mainstreaming gender into the PRSP

The PRSP took cognizance of the importance of gender issues in social and economic development and thus considered gender as a cross cutting issue. The National gender policy provided the framework for consideration of gender issues within the PRSP. According to the PRSP, issues of gender play a very important role in developing a sustainable strategy for poverty reduction. The National Gender Policy defines gender as an analytical concept, which focuses on women's roles and responsibilities in relation to those of men. In economic development, these roles and responsibilities explain existing income disparities between women and men. This is also related to the differential impact on women and men.

It was the civil society that reviewed gender as a theme and formed a gender consultative group. It may be noted that there were no government working groups formed on such crosscutting issues as HIV/AIDS and Gender. It is only subsequently, perhaps in good part by way of accommodating the pressures from civil society, that the Government engaged specialized institutions to prepare papers on HIV/AIDS, gender, environment, transport, communications and roads, energy, and water and sanitation. Of these, HIV/AIDS, gender and environment were treated as crosscutting issues while the remaining were subsumed under the umbrella of infrastructure development.

Two weaknesses have emerged as a result of the above. One, there was no time for adequate consultation and discussion on the specialized papers. There was no major involvement of the stakeholders in the preparation of the drafts as was the case with the other 8 themes/sectors. As a result, they have, to some extent, suffered in their treatment as well as importance. Some of the initial drafts were poorly formulated, lacked coherence and failed to put forward a rational set of pro-poor interventions. Although the final versions of these papers were considerably improved, the general feeling was that they could still be improved upon.

From a gender perspective, it has been further argued that the majority of the Zambian women were left out of the consultative process. The participation of CSOs did not guarantee that gender issues would be taken into account in the final PRSP. Grassroots organisations which have a fair representation of women were not consulted to the extent to which their contributions would be meaningful. This resulted in the aspirations of the Zambian women not been a significant consideration. The irony of this is that statistics indicated that the majority of the poor were women, that female headed households were more impoverished than male headed ones, that maternal mortality was still high and that illiteracy level were high among women. The question that arises then is if that is the case how did government expect to reduce poverty if those that were worst affected by it were left out in the process of identification of the objectives and strategies?

The end result has been that the period of the PRSP did very little to address the gender issues that had been identified in the chapter on crosscutting issues. The first problem arose from the actual conceptualization of the whole concept of gender in the context of national economic and social development. The fact that gender was identified as a cross cutting issue did not result in it being addressed in all the sectors that were identified as priority in the PRSP.

The articulation of the implications, the impacts and benefits for men and women were not well articulated in the design of the PRSP. Ideally gender should have been mainstreamed through out the process and through all the sectors. The implications of identifying it as a cross cutting issues is evident in the inability to make significant progress in changing the social economic status of women in Zambia. Whilst GIDD had the mandate to address the issues around gender mainstreaming in the PRSP, the limited capacity, technically, financially, materially and in terms of skilled human resources in gender mainstreaming resulted in the dilution of gender issues in the paper.

6.3.1 Achievements of gender mainstreaming Despite the problems with the process, the PRSP outlined the following objectives to promote gender balance:--

* To enhance access to and control of productive resources;

* To enhance women's participation in decision-making processes; and

* To facilitate the generation and analysis of gender-disaggregated data and information.

Government continued with the process of strengthening the institutional framework for coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of gender and development activities. During the period under review, monitoring and evaluations missions were undertaken in four provinces. During the missions, four PDCCs Gender sub-committees and sixteen DDCCs Gender Sub-committees were formed. The process of capacity building for gender sub-committees, through training in gender analytical and technical skills was also commenced.

Government also disseminated over 2000 copies of the National Gender Policy and 2000 copies of the Strategic Plan of Action for the National Gender Policy. The Policy was simplified and translated into seven local languages. The implementation of the national NGP is what is of most significance. However, monitoring of gender indicators during the PRSP was challenging because most sectors did not mainstream gender in the planning process therefore making it difficult to monitor gender issues in the sectors. This has made it very difficult to make a detailed and meaningful evaluation of the status of gender in the entire PRSP. However lessons were learnt from the process which were taken into account during the preparation of the FNDP.

6.4 Conclusions and Recommendations

6.4.1 Conclusions

1. The process of developing the PRSP whilst consultative in nature failed to capture the views of stakeholders in gender and development. This resulted in gender being identified as a cross cutting issue without main streaming it through out from the conception to the implementation

2. The fact that gender was not mainstreamed meant that no indicators were developed in the sectors that were identified as priority in the PRPS process of implementation. As a result monitoring of activities from a gender perspective was not done systematically.

3. The limited consideration of gender issues was more of a result of lack of technical skills to mainstream gender in the PRSP. Most sector experts had no gender analytical skills and the gender machinery which was responsible for mainstreaming did not have adequate knowledge of the specific sectors in order to make meaningful gender interventions

4. There were inadequate resources accorded to addressing gender issues in the PRSP due to limited appreciation of the magnitude of the task of mainstreaming. Only 0.1% of the budget was allocated to gender issues reflecting the low outputs.

5. The PRSP however took cognizance of the importance of gender issues in social and economic development and thus considered gender as a cross cutting issue. The National gender policy provided the framework for consideration of gender issues within the PRSP.

6. Efforts were made to improve gender equality, and promote the empowerment of women, but results were limited. Interventions included improving the participation of women in decision-making, promotion of women's economic empowerment and development of the National Gender and Development Information System.

7. Lack of gender mainstreaming in Macro economics in Zambia has had a bearing on the inability of the PRSP to reduce poverty through gender equality and equity to the level that was initially envisaged.

8. Budget releases were not done in accordance with the allocations made and this resulted in the delay of implementation of some of the planned activities or non execution. This has grossly affected the desire to reduce poverty in line with the aspirations of the PRSP as well as in meeting the millennium development goals.

9. The Economic Sectors did not contribute significantly to changes in poverty from a gender perspective because of the inadequate programmes and resources that were targeted for poverty reduction programmes and gender related economic activities.

10. In Agriculture, the programmes that may have contributed to poverty reduction included the fertiliser support programme but data was not collected to provide the quantitative aspects. However one can conclude that though the number of female farmers was low, the few that received the support may have benefited from it. Programmes such as livestock restocking, land resettlement may not have benefited women significantly because of the socio-cultural barriers which deny women the opportunities to own land and livestock

11. The mining and quarrying sector did not contribute significantly to poverty reduction on the part of women because of low skills, low literacy levels and due to the discriminatory nature of mining which often excludes women. Jobs have been created for women in the mines but mainly as support staff. However there are no available statistics to back this assertion.

12. The Energy Sector has experienced difficulties due to fluctuating oil prices and the provision of electricity has eluded many Zambians, particularly female headed households who cannot afford the electricity tarrifs. Many households are using fire wood in the rural areas causing a great burden for women who have to walk long distances. Rural electrification has mainly benefited the commercial farmers of which women are excluded.

13. Very few women are engage din high leveled manufacturing activities which require huge capital outlays. Women are mainly involved in food processing for domestic consumption and at a commercial basis it is done in very low volumes.

14. The social sectors experienced some cut backs during the PRSP implementation in real terms, thereby not contributing significantly to poverty reduction. In the education sector, whilst there were notable increments in enrollments, it is also evident that the drop out rates were very high as girls progressed in basic and high school resulting in glaring gender disparities at tertiary level. This has implications for the labour market as many women cannot advance to high levels due to low educational status.

15. In the health sector, Maternal mortality remains high, access to ARVs is limited for women due to the fact that under PRSP HIV/AIDS programmes targeted public service workers who mainly constitute men. The burden of care continues to be imposed on women as the health sector suffers from the continued brain drain

16. All in all the PRSP had mixed blessings in that gender was identified as one of the areas to be covered, a realization on the part of government about the importance of gender in national development. Unfortunately it did not get the required support and resources that were meant to contribute significantly to poverty reduction amongst the poorest strata of society who happen to be women.

6.4.2 Recommendations

1. There is need for government through the existing gender machinery to embark on an intensive capacity building program in Gender mainstreaming for all relevant officers in planning and budgeting portfolios across all the ministries.

2. Manuals for gender mainstreaming should be developed for all the various sectors to act as reference points for all officers involved in programming and implementation.

These manuals should be developed with the officers in order to have a sense of ownership and thorough understanding of gender issues in the specific sectors.

3. Training of officers should include workshops, certificate courses, diplomas, Bachelors Degrees as well as Masters Degrees in Gender and Development with biases in the different aspects of planning, programming and sectors.

4. Capacity building should also include attachments to government ministries and departments in the region and internationally where gender mainstreaming has been done successfully.

5. The position of Gender Focal Point should be substantiated and should entail a full time portfolio so that the appointed officer is charged with the full responsibility of addressing gender issues without any other portfolios that may distract their attention to gender issues.

6. Sufficient human, material and financial resources should be made available for the Gender Focal Points to ensure that they discharge their duties effectively. The political will around gender and development should be strengthened and demonstrated and this should be spearheaded by GIDD, CSOs and all other stakeholders.

7. Budget lines for gender should be increased and released in full, if the intention to reduce poverty is to be met by then Zambian government.

References

Central Statistical Office (2004) "Agricultural and Pastoral Production" CSO, Lusaka

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2006), "Fifth National Development Plan 2006-2010" Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Lusaka

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2005): "Educational Statistics Bulletin", Ministry of Education- Directorate of Planning and Information, Lusaka.

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2000): "National Gender Policy" Gender in Development Division, Cabinet Office, Lusaka.

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2001): "Transitional National Development Plan 2002-2005" Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Lusaka.

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2004): "Economic Report 2003" Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Lusaka.

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2005) "Economic Report 2004" Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Lusaka

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2004): "First PRSP Implementation progress Report January 2002-June 2003" Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Lusaka

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2005): "PRSP Implementation Progress Report July 2003- 2002-June 2004" Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Lusaka.

Saasa, Oliver with Carlsson Jerker (2002): "Aid and Poverty Reduction in Zambia" Sida/Nordiska Afrikaininstituet

Government of the Republic of Zambia (2002): "The National Decentralisation Policy" Office of the President, Cabinet Office- Lusaka

Government of the Republic of Zambia, (2007: "Evaluation Study for Appropriate Models for Social Protection in Zambia" Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, Lusaka

Government of the Republic of Zambia, (2006): Vision 2030

GRZ, (2006): "Selected Social Economic Indicators 2004 - 2005" CSO, Lusaka.

GRZ, (2005): "Agricultural and Pastoral Production 2002/2003" CSO, Lusaka.

GRZ, (2004): "Living Conditions Monitoring Survey Report 2004"; and "2002-2003" CSO

GRZ, (2007): "Micro-Level Estimates of Poverty in Zambia 2007"; and "Labour Force Survey Report 2005" CSO, Lusaka

GRZ, (2006): "Zambia Sexual Behaviour Survey 2005" CSO, Lusaka.

GRZ, (undated): "Zambia in Figures 2004/2005" CSO, Lusaka.

GRZ, (2006): "Selected Socio-Economic Indicators 2003-2004" CSO, Lusaka.

National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council (2004): "The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Zambia" NAC, Lusaka United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Southern Africa (2003): "Gender and Development in Southern Africa after the 1997 SADC Gender Declaration" Southern Africa Office-Lusaka.

(28) PRSP, 2002

(30) This is articulated in the Fifth national Development Plan which is currently being disseminated country wide to all stakeholders.

(31) This association is called The Association of Women in Mining. It is an NGO trying to advance the interests of women engaged in small scale raining and gemstones.

(32) Caution must be applied in assuming that female teachers are naturally gender sensitive. They need gender training to help them identify gender issues which affect boys and girls in and out of school. The fact that they are female does not mean that they understand all issues that affect the pupils from a gender perspective this is due to their varying socio-economic positioning.

(33) MGP, p. 25

(34) ZHDR, 2007, p. 41

(35) Zambia Millennium Development Goals Report, 2003.

(36) NDP, 2002

Table 6.1 Men and Women Access to and Control
over Resources in Rural Households

RESOURCES                           ACCESS        CONTROL

                                    Women   Men   Women   Men

Land                                L       H     L       H
Labour                              L       H     L       H
Machinery (tractors)                L       H     L       H
Oxen (animal draft power)           M       H     L       H
Tools (hoes)                        M       H     L       H
Time                                L       H     L       H
Inputs (hybrid seeds, fertilizer)   M       H     L       H
Education and information           L       H     L       H
Technical skills                    M       H     L       H
Management Skills                   L       H     L       H
Credit/Loans                        L       H     L       H

Source: Strategic Country Gender Assessment 2004

Table 6.2 Enrolment in Basic Schools
(Grade 1-9) by gender 2000-2004

Year     2000        2001        2002        2003        2004

Female   864,682     951,377     1,023,327   1,101,949   1,220,211
Male     942,072     1,025,055   1,104,711   1,184,666   1,302,167
Total    1,806,754   1,976,432   2,128,038   2,286,615   2,522,378

Source: Ministry of Education.

Table 6.3 High School (Grade 10-12)
Enrolments by Gender 2003 to 2004

Year     2003      2004      Total

Female   80,707    63,330    144,037
Male     88,930    70,409    159,339

Source: Ministry of Education.

Table 6.4 Enrolments by Gender in TEVETA Institutions 2001 to 2004

             2001     2002     2003     2004

Male         9,698    11,282   12,439   16,455
Female       6,852    8,565    9,782    10,104
Total        16,550   19,847   22,221   26,559
Percentage
Change                19.9     12.0     19.5

Table 6.5  University Enrolment by
Gender, 2003 & 2004 for CBU and UNZA

                CBU                        UNZA

Year   Male     Female   Total    Male     Female   Total

2003   2,039    495      2,534    4,993    2,565    7,558
2004   2,465    625      3,090    5,488    2,983    8,471

Source: Ministry of Education

Table 6.6 Expenditure on Poverty Reduction
Programmes (in K'Billions) 2003

                                Total      Total              %
Sector                      Allocation   Releases   Released (%)

Rural Development                189.0      121.9           64.5
Health                            59.7       26.2           43.9
Social Safety Net                 13.0       18.2          140.0
HIV and AIDS                      30.8       18.0           58.4
Education                         37.0        4.6           12.4
Industrial Development            11.2        4.4           39.3
Housing Development               22.0        4.0           18.2
Water and Sanitation               9.3        3.9           41.9
Colleges and Universities         17.2        3.9           22.7
Human Rights                      14.5        3.4           23.4
Resettlement Programmes            4.7        2.6           55.3
Urban Infrastructure               9.8        1.6           16.3
Youth Development                  0.4        0.1           25.0
TOTAL                            420.7      212.9           50.4

Source Ministry of Finance and national Planning