BEST PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF WOMEN’S POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
4.8 Poverty and inequality in Zambia
4.8.1 Nature of poverty and inequality at the national level in Zambia
Article 51(1,2,3) of the constitution of Zambia (2016) states that, “Women and men have the right to equal treatment, including the rights to equal opportunities in cultural, political, economic and social activities. Women and men are entitled to be accorded the same dignity and respect of the person. Women and men have an equal right to inherit, have access to, own, use administer and control land and other property.” Similarly article 62(1)(a,b,c,e,f) of the same constitution declares that,
“A person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the highest right to health, which includes the right to health care services and reproductive health care; accessible and adequate housing; be free from hunger and to have access to adequate food of acceptable quality; clean and safe water in adequate quantities and to reasonable standards of sanitation; social security and protection, and education.”
Notwithstanding, the above constitutional declarations and Zambia’s stable economic growth from 1990 to 2015, poverty remains a major challenge to national development (MNDP, 2017).
At the end of 2015, it was predicted that extreme poverty would be eliminated, however, Zambia is ranked as one of the poorest nations in the world with approximately 54.4 percent of poverty levels. Poverty remains stubbornly high despite a good period of economic growth (ADBG, 2013; MNDP, 2017; World Bank, 2018). The African Development Bank Group contends that:
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“Zambia achieved GDP growth rate above 6% for most of the past decade, the GDP per capita increased from US$330 in 2002 to $1469 in 2012... However, Zambia’s high level of economic growth has yet to make major inroads into poverty reduction... similarly inequality has also increased with the Gini Coefficient (a standard measure of income inequality) rising from 0.51 in 2004 to 0.55 in 2012. This suggests a growing divide between those who benefit from the high economic growth rates and those who remain trapped in poverty (ADBG, 2013).”
The Ministry of National Development Planning confirms that half of the population of Zambia presently survives below the poverty line, which is US$1.09, while 40.8 % are not able to meet their everyday essential needs like food. This condition is much worse in the countryside where approximately 76.6 of the population is poor (MNDP, 2017). The overall number of disadvantaged families across the country is steadily increasing and is made up of individuals with limited access to critical public services that are essential for survival, such as quality health care, quality education, clean drinking water, and sanitation. It has also been observed that these households have poor nutrition, which indicates a situation of food insecurity within these families. This further deprives people of human capital potential and further buttresses intergenerational poverty, keeping these families in a vicious cycle of poverty. Female-headed households, children-headed households, persons with disabilities, orphaned children, and chronically ill and the elderly are likely to be more susceptible to poverty in society (MNDP, 2017).
The Report by the Ministry of Gender and Child Development of Zambia indicates that most people in Zambia live in poverty; this situation being exacerbated by the inequality that exists between the sexes in relation to available opportunities. The most affected are the people in rural areas rather than urban dwellers. In 2010, the population and housing census showed that 65 percent of the Zambian population lived in rural areas. Urban poverty in 2010 was approximated to stand at 28 percent compared to 78 percent in rural areas. Dire poverty where households are unable to meet dietary needs was approximated to stand at 58 percent in the countryside and 13 percent in urban areas (MGCD, 2014). The Ministry of Gender and Child Development (MGCD, 2014) also argues that in accordance with the Living Conditions Monitoring Survey of 2010, poverty is higher amongst women, which stood at 80 percent when compared to men, with 78 percent. Similarly, severe poverty levels affected more female- headed households than male-headed households. Women's poverty has continued to be an encumbrance to their involvement in general decision-making since women find themselves overwhelmed by their gender roles, which contributes to them being less educated and
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unskilled and as such find themselves dependent on men. Women are also unequally affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic, consequently, they continue to be victims of gender-based violence and remain the poorest with limited formal and informal power.
In Zambia, poverty affects women more than it does affect men. H. M Consultancy Services (2005) reports that “High poverty levels are more prevalent among women than men. In comparison with the male-headed households, there were 70% extremely poor households among the female households as compared to 57% among male households.” Poverty is a rural phenomenon in Zambia. The United Nations (2013, p. 4) reports, that poverty in Zambia is mainly a rural phenomenon. According to the United Nations (2015), most of the Zambian people, specifically 60 percent, live in the countryside where their main economic activity is subsistence farming for their livelihoods. Women living in rural areas seem to be more affected by poverty than those living in urban areas. Available literature shows that gender-based inequality persists in favour of men in education, decision-making, health, farming and numerous other areas (H. M. Consultancy Services Ltd, 2005). More literature has also shown that economic development does not necessarily imply poverty and inequality alleviation. It is supported that:
“It is commonly acknowledged that consistent and strong macroeconomic growth in Zambia has not been accompanied by a concomitant reduction in poverty. Despite registering a robust GDP growth averaging 5.5% annually over the last decade and 7.3% in 2012, poverty levels remain stubbornly high. In fact, evidence continues to show that growth in Zambia is not trickling down. This is mainly because of the capital-intensive sectors it concentrates on. Additionally, the concentration of economic activity in urban areas and its inability to expand especially to the smallholder agricultural sector is exacerbating the situation. This raises the question of how and to what extent persistent poverty has shaped and driven inequality both in terms of access to opportunities and in terms of outcome (United Nations, 2013).”
It is further argued that although Zambia’s GDP went up at a notable rate during the past ten years, this growth was urban area focused and concentrated only in just a few sectors profiting only a small group of the Zambian people. About 80% of rural Zambians are poor, and 64%
lived below US$1.25 per day poverty line. It is important that in addressing this situation that rural areas and its population become the focus of development and means of including them in the economy (USAID Zambia, 2018). The following section will look at the kind of inequalities experienced by women in Zambia.
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