The story goes that when President Thabo Mbeki meets his counterparts from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, they grumble that he is putting pressure on them. With 42 percent women in his cabinet (second only in the world to Sweden) Mbeki makes it hard for his colleagues to justify why they still lag so far behind. Their performance will come under scrutiny at the SADC Heads of State summit in Lusaka in August where activists are mounting a campaign to get them to elevate the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development to a Protocol. In Johannesburg this week, the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) is convening national consultation on the draft Protocol that would break new ground globally, in that it would be the first time that existing commitments to gender equality are brought together and enhanced in a binding sub-regional instrument.

In recent elections, all SADC countries except Botswana (where the drop sparked a massive outcry) have increased the proportion of women in Parliament. The increases have been especially marked in the most conservative countries such as Swa- ziland, Malawi and Mauritius. But decision-making is only one of the gender gaps that needs bridging. The proposed Protocol seeks to use the positive experience of having a target in this area to set several more strategic benchmarks. These include requiring that all SADC countries amend their Constitutions to include guarantees of gender equality (in line with the more recent constitutions in the region) by 2010.