News / National
Survey exposes serious employment gender imbalances
08 Jan 2014 at 14:20hrs | Views
A 2012 survey by the Urban Planning Services Department in Harare has exposed serious employment gender imbalances in the transport sector where men operate 81% of public transport vehicles in the capital.
The survey was aimed at establishing gender distribution in the drivers of public service vehicles and their registration status.
"Only 14% of commuter transport operators in Harare are women with men having a lion's share of 81%," reads the report, adding that men own 3 666 registered kombis in the city against 641 women.
The report said 246 of the registered kombis plying city routes were owned by companies.
"These figures represent the registered public transport vehicles only, implying that the proportional representation could change if all the public transport vehicles were registered with council."
The report also revealed that records of transport vehicles were in shambles as most cars were not registered.
In the report, the Urban Planning Services Department urged transport operators to register their vehicles saying registration of the public transport vehicles allowed the city to effectively plan for the sector.
"Of the metered taxis in Harare 254 are owned by women representing 29% while 564 are owned by men (64%) and 58 are company owned (7%)," they said.
Zimbabwean women have always called for equal representation in all sectors including business, politics, industry, commerce and other positions of high authority.
Although they have not been successful in achieving this, the current Eighth Parliament Session has set aside 60 seats for women through proportional representation.
In the just-ended national elections, political parties failed the gender balance test after they jointly seconded a paltry figure of 90 female candidates against 663 candidates of the opposite sex.
The survey was aimed at establishing gender distribution in the drivers of public service vehicles and their registration status.
"Only 14% of commuter transport operators in Harare are women with men having a lion's share of 81%," reads the report, adding that men own 3 666 registered kombis in the city against 641 women.
The report said 246 of the registered kombis plying city routes were owned by companies.
"These figures represent the registered public transport vehicles only, implying that the proportional representation could change if all the public transport vehicles were registered with council."
The report also revealed that records of transport vehicles were in shambles as most cars were not registered.
In the report, the Urban Planning Services Department urged transport operators to register their vehicles saying registration of the public transport vehicles allowed the city to effectively plan for the sector.
"Of the metered taxis in Harare 254 are owned by women representing 29% while 564 are owned by men (64%) and 58 are company owned (7%)," they said.
Zimbabwean women have always called for equal representation in all sectors including business, politics, industry, commerce and other positions of high authority.
Although they have not been successful in achieving this, the current Eighth Parliament Session has set aside 60 seats for women through proportional representation.
In the just-ended national elections, political parties failed the gender balance test after they jointly seconded a paltry figure of 90 female candidates against 663 candidates of the opposite sex.
Source - NewsDay
