02/08/2026
ZAMBIA’S WOMEN’S MOVEMENT CAPTURED
By N’gengela – The Researcher
I have worked in international development organisations, NGOs and quasi-government institutions for almost twenty years now. Some of these organisations focus on gender related issues. Through these engagements, I have been exposed to decent as well as toxic working environments, good leaders and bandits posing as leaders! Now that I am on this subject, I realize that I have actually been shaped by very strong women: first, my dear mother, who is my lifelong mentor; next, my female prayer partner of 20 years; and finally, my first female supervisor, followed later by two other female supervisors. Two of my three female supervisors served as Cabinet Ministers and the other was on her way there until tragedy struck.
This background only serves to highlight the fact that I have experienced women leadership, the strength of women and how they fight in the background for the good of others! But I also know about their struggles, their frustrations and their moods!! At the end of it all, they are human beings who deserve a place in the governance of the country like everybody else.
Now you can imagine how troubled I was when I began to have some inner dialogue about the women in our country including the entities advocating for women’s rights and found myself posing this question: Is the women’s movement in Zambia effectively advocating for women’s rights? I also wondered whether it was a thought I wanted to seriously engage with, or just dismiss and continue acting on blind solidarity. Well, as you can see, I decided to confront this deep state of mind and address my research question.
Therefore, over time, I studied the key actors, their behavior and actions, and 'connected the dots' or triangulated the data, as we say in research. My first conclusion is that the women’s movement in Zambia is not effective in advocating for women’s rights. The second, which has reignited my revolutionary spirit, is that the women’s movement is captured, in fact completely captured. By the way, the women’s movement here refers to non-government entities that work on gender related matters.
Here is the detail to my conclusion. Firstly, the women that work in this space have a centre, a core network of god mothers, that decides who is in and who is out of their circle. They stick to labelling theory, if you are labelled to be against the god mothers’ agenda, then you are out and they will fight you tooth and nail. It is amazing how many women have suffered their wrath and continue to suffer silently!
Secondly, they know they can not survive without external support and so they have penetrated the external financing networks. They lobby for their so-called 'good girl network' to secure positions and financing from these entities, which they then distribute based on their own agenda. One of the agendas they have been executing the past few years is to de campaign the UPND government and President Hakainde Hichilema.
Thirdly, President Hichilema is under attack from them because he bruised one or two godmothers. Basically, their motto is: 'You disturb one, you touch the whole swarm of bees!' They will fight anyone who takes away any god mothers' bread and butter because the redistribution network suffers!
Therefore, it is not that they do not know that free education addresses the structural barriers that women face, that the bursaries that university girls receive are helping these young souls from being abused by older men, that the increased payments to old women is helping them live dignified lives, that the young employed teachers and health workers are living independent lives and showing girls in the villages that school and hard work pays, that having 20 women straight into Parliament is a good start to the problem of women representation. They know these things but they have vowed to fight.
How do they fight? They are calling upon women, using other women, to support a party that does not even have a female running mate. A party that is full of men and without any proper structures! Doesn't this go against their cause?
Now think about their reaction if the UPND had not fielded a female running mate! There would have been a thousand press briefings!
I want to end with a message for President Hakainde Hichilema and the female voters, young and old.
To our President: Mr. President, we see you, we love you, we pray for you and we appreciate what you are doing for the girl child, especially with the push towards gender parity especially in schools. We acknowledge your support to old women. Please know you have tried your best in these five years and as you start your new term, don’t forget the women of Zambia. Keep building on what you started!
To the female voters: I urge you to reflect on what our president and his government are building. Remember education is transformational. It changes the lives of women and girls more that you can even imagine.
To young women: You need to seriously begin to think about building a women’s movement that really reflects your aspirations. Be patriotic, speak out and let the godmothers and those who finance them know their time is up!
