Source: National Assembly and National Council, 2005.

The above table shows that there has been an increase in the number of women members of parliament, from 20 per cent to 27 per cent . This has been largely contributed by the increase in the number of women members of the National Council from two during the previous elections to seven currently. It is important also to note that there have been major new developments with the new parliament – the appointment of a woman Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy-Speaker of the National Assembly, Minister of Justice and Attorney- General, the Minister of Finance and the Deputy Chairperson of the National Council.

Table 2: Women in Regional and Local Authority Councils

Position	Total	Males	Females	% of female
Regional Councilors	107	94	13	12%
Regional Governors	13	9	3	23%
Local Authority Councilors	299	165	134	45%
Mayors	30	22	8	27%
Deputy – Mayors	28	14	14	50%

Source: National Council 2005, ALAN 2004.

There are greater improvements at regional and local levels with the increase in the number of women regional councilors from 5 to 13, governors from one to three. Women in local authority have increased their representation from 42 per cent to 45 per cent , hence making local government the only area in Namibia , which has gone far beyond the Southern African Development Community minimum target of 30 per cent women representation by 2005.

16. The Government has enacted Affirmative Action Act (Act No.29 of 1998), as well as to reach the African Union and SADC benchmark of 50 per cent of women in senior management level in public service by 2015. Statistics have changed since the 2 nd and 3 rd report was submitted in 2004. Namibia ’ s public service has achieved 33 per cent of women in management positions in the public sector. This is an indication of the commitment of the Government to promote gender equality, more specifically the empowerment of women. Gender Sensitization and Legal Literacy are continuing programmes which are educating the community on the equality between women and men and this will help on the achievement of equal representation of both women and men in senior management level.

Education

17. Please note that this information is always a year behind as it is monitored as such. It means report in 2005 will be end of 2004 figures. This is an international accepted reporting:

Promotion, repetition and school leaving rates from 1997 to 2003
	Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
School Phase	Grade
Promotion rates
Lower Primary	Grade 1	81.5%	80.1%	80.4%	79.6%	78.8%	77.0%	76.3%
	Grade 2	87.8%	85.9%	86.7%	86.2%	85.3%	84.4%	83.7%
	Grade 3	84.9%	84.8%	87.5%	86.1%	86.3%	85.9%	85.6%
	Grade 4	78.7%	79.0%	85.2%	85.9%	85.1%	84.7%	84.6%
Upper Primary	Grade 5	81.3%	78.4%	75.3%	72.6%	73.4%	73.2%	74.2%
	Grade 6	85.1%	84.0%	83.1%	80.1%	79.9%	81.0%	81.8%
	Grade 7	80.8%	82.9%	82.5%	78.2%	77.4%	77.5%	76.8%
Junior Secondary	Grade 8	77.8%	74.4%	69.7%	69.6%	70.8%	67.9%	67.2%
	Grade 9	80.9%	75.8%	74.1%	73.4%	73.8%	74.3%	73.6%
	Grade 10	46.7%	51.9%	53.6%	58.2%	51.8%	51.8%	48.4%
Senior Secondary	Grade 11	94.4%	94.2%	95.5%	95.6%	95.7%	94.4%	95.2%
Repetition rates
Lower Primary	Grade 1	14.6%	15.0%	16.4%	17.7%	18.9%	18.6%	18.8%
	Grade 2	12.1%	11.8%	12.6%	13.0%	13.8%	13.7%	13.5%
	Grade 3	12.1%	12.8%	11.9%	12.7%	13.0%	12.7%	11.9%
	Grade 4	16.7%	15.5%	12.6%	13.5%	14.8%	14.4%	13.4%
Upper Primary	Grade 5	12.7%	14.7%	19.9%	22.0%	22.0%	21.9%	20.5%
	Grade 6	9.0%	9.1%	11.9%	14.9%	15.7%	14.1%	13.8%
	Grade 7	10.9%	6.9%	10.5%	14.5%	16.1%	15.9%	15.6%
Junior Secondary	Grade 8	12.4%	13.5%	20.2%	20.3%	21.0%	22.4%	21.5%
	Grade 9	10.5%	12.5%	15.6%	15.6%	16.9%	16.7%	15.8%
	Grade 10	7.5%	4.9%	4.3%	3.5%	4.9%	4.9%	5.0%
Senior Secondary	Grade 11	0.7%	1.0%	1.1%	1.3%	2.0%	1.5%	1.3%
School-leaving rates
Lower Primary	Grade 1	3.9%	4.9%	3.2%	2.7%	2.3%	4.4%	4.8%
	Grade 2	0.1%	2.2%	0.7%	0.8%	1.0%	1.8%	2.9%
	Grade 3	2.9%	2.4%	0.5%	1.1%	0.8%	1.5%	2.5%
	Grade 4	4.6%	5.4%	2.2%	0.6%	0.1%	0.9%	2.0%
Upper Primary	Grade 5	6.1%	6.8%	4.8%	5.5%	4.6%	4.9%	5.2%
	Grade 6	5.8%	7.0%	5.0%	5.1%	4.4%	4.9%	4.3%
	Grade 7	8.3%	10.2%	7.0%	7.3%	6.5%	6.6%	7.5%
Junior Secondary	Grade 8	9.7%	12.2%	10.2%	10.0%	8.2%	9.6%	11.3%
	Grade 9	8.7%	11.7%	10.3%	10.9%	9.3%	9.0%	10.6%
	Grade 10	45.8%	43.2%	42.1%	38.3%	43.4%	43.2%	46.6%
Senior Secondary	Grade 11	4.9%	4.9%	3.5%	3.1%	2.3%	4.0%	3.5%

Promotion, repetition and school- leaving Grades 1-11 between 2003-2004
	Promotion rates	Repetition rates	School-leaving rates
Grade	Total	Female	Male	Total	Female	Male	Total	Female	Male
Total	77.4%	78.9%	75.8%	15.1%	13.6%	16.6%	7.5%	7.4%	7.6%
Grade 1	76.3%	78.7%	74.1%	18.8%	16.5%	21.1%	4.8%	4.8%	4.8%
Grade 2	83.7%	86.5%	81.0%	13.5%	10.9%	16.0%	2.9%	2.7%	3.0%
Grade 3	85.6%	88.5%	82.7%	11.9%	9.4%	14.3%	2.5%	2.1%	3.0%
Grade 4	84.6%	87.3%	82.0%	12.4%	11.0%	15.8%	2.0%	1.8%	2.3%
Grade 5	74.2%	78.4%	70.1%	20.5%	17.5%	23.6%	5.2%	4.1%	5.3%
Grade 6	81.8%	83.8%	79.7%	13.8%	12.6%	15.1%	4.3%	3.6%	5.2%
Grade 7	76.8%	78.4%	75.1%	15.6%	15.0%	16.4%	7.5%	6.7%	8.6%
Grade 8	67.2%	67.7%	66.6%	21.5%	21.5%	21.5%	11.3%	10.7%	11.9%
Grade 9	73.6%	71.8%	75.7%	15.8%	16.5%	14.9%	10.6%	11.7%	9.4%
Grade 10	48.4%	46.0%	51.2%	5.0%	6.4%	3.4%	46.8%	47.6%	45.5%
Grade 11	96.2%	94.8%	95.6%	1.3%	1.7%	0.9%	3.5%	3.6%	3.5%

18. Implementation of the Policy on Pregnancy among Learners: Circular Formal Education Number 5/2001 dealt with this issue after the Cabinet has resolved that it should be implemented across the education system.

Cabinet Resolution stated that: (a) While the report is awaited from the ad hoc Cabinet Committee on the above issue, as a temporary guideline, pregnant school girls are allowed to attend special afternoon /evening classes and they should also be allowed to sit for examinations. (b) A pregnant girl should be allowed to attend regular classes at least until her pregnancy is visibly clear. (c) As a temporary guideline, girls who become pregnant should be allowed to return to normal schooling after spending at least a year with the baby and, (d) The same condition should apply to the schoolboy who is held responsible for the pregnancy.

This is the current policy and is being implemented as per the Cabinet Resolution in all our schools. Where there is deviation, such deviation can only be through the approval by the Ministry of Education.

Employment

19. The Government has taken steps by training women in qualifying training courses and those who are educating them that both men and women have equal right to employment and to earn salaries in line with their qualifications and experiences irrespective of their sex. The Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry and MGECW also has programmes in place, which encourages women to come up with projects, which are assisted, by Small and Medium Enterprises. The government also encourages private sectors especially financial institutions to provide financial assistance to women in order to create different projects. This form of programmes creates employment of a considerable number of women.

20. The MGECW the then MWACW have supported eight hundred and seventy three income-generating projects owned by both women and men’s since 2000. Ninety per cent of these projects are owned by women since 2000. The overall numbers of women who run small businesses in the country are difficult to measure since most of them are not registered.

21. The following national development plans or poverty reduction strategies are in place in the country and they all have a gender perspective as well as contributing to the implementation of CEDAW:

(a) National Gender Policy

(b) The Poverty Reduction Strategy for Namibia

(c) Namibia Millennium Development Goals (2004)

(d) Vision 2030: Policy Framework for Long-term National Development

(e) Mid-term Expenditure Framework

(f) Affirmative Action Loan Scheme

(g) Second National Development Plan: (NDPII) 2001/2002-2005-2006

(h) The National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS. Third Medium-term Plan (MTPIII) 2004 – 2009

(i) Green Scheme

Health

22. The general public is being educated on the danger of unprofessional abortion, which is done illegally without medical experts; they are also informed about the laws in place regarding situations in which abortion is allowed in Namibia .

23. Yes, the Government has included a gender perspective in the strategic operational plan on HIV/AIDS developed by the Ministry of Education the then Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture and the Ministry of Higher Education in 2001. A more progressive approach has been adopted by Namibia to tackle the high rate HIV infection not only for women but by everyone. The National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS: Third Medium Term Plan (MTP III) 2004-2009 which is consistent with the United Nations General Assembly Special Session Declaration of Commitment. Also the Ministry of Health and Social Services has developed a National HIV/AIDS Policy.

24. In Namibia there is only one cancer screening unit, therefore cervical Pap smear or specimens are collected at various clinics, health centers and hospitals where there are trained or skilled personnel and sent to Windhoek Central Laboratory for diagnosis.

A very limited number of health service providers at health facilities have skills to screen for breast and cervical cancers, however, in-service training on cervical and breast cancer screening has been planned by the Ministry of Health and Social Services to develop the skills of the health service providers at regional and district levels to facilitate early detection, referral and treatment and to prevent death.

Rural w omen

25. The Namibian Constitution Article.10 states that “All persons are equal before the law; and no persons may be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social and economic status”. Also Article 23 (3) states that “In the enactment of legislation and the application of any policies and practices contemplated by Sub-Article (2) hereof, it shall be permissible to have regard to the fact that women in Namibia have traditionally suffered special discrimination and that they need to be encouraged and enabled to play a full, equal and effective role in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the nation”. Article 66 (1) states that “Both the customary and common law of Namibia in force on the date of Independence shall remain valid to the extend to which such customary or common law does not conflict with this Constitution or any other statutory law”.

These constitutional provisions are some of the enforcement and monitoring mechanisms in place. Legal Literacy Programmes and Gender Sensitization Programmes which are aiming at educating communities including traditional leaders on law and policies in place and gender issues; are some of the awareness raising activities, which the government is conducting through the MGECW.

Marriage and family relations

26. Yes, the Government of the Namibia adopted a National Land Policy in 1998, under which a unitary land system was proposed, whereby all citizens have equal rights, opportunities and security across a range of tenure and management systems. The Communal Land Reform Act (Act No. 5 of 2002) , provides for the equal rights of women to apply for and be granted land rights in communal areas. Section 26 (2) (b) of Act provides the following:

“A customary land rights ends when the person who held that right dies. The Communal Land Reform Act determines that a customary land rights reverts back to the Chief or Traditional Authority who has to re-allocate it to the surviving spouse. If there is no surviving spouse, or the spouse refuses the allocation, the right has to be allocated to the child of either the first or a later marriage. The Chief or Traditional Authority must determine which child is entitled to the allocation of the right in accordance with the customary law.”

27. The consultation between the Ministry of Justice and the Traditional leaders took place countrywide. The b ill is now at its final stage and it will be tabled into Parliament in the near future.

28. The proposed b ill makes clear that existing polygamous marriages will be recognized, but not future polygamous marriage. The Law Reform and Development Commission report on the b ill argues that the prohibition of polygamy will eliminate disputes between women competing over a man’s resources.