<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id>2795-4757</journal-id>
<journal-title><![CDATA[Political Observer]]></journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title><![CDATA[Political Observer]]></abbrev-journal-title>
<issn>2795-4757</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name><![CDATA[OBSERVATÓRIO POLÍTICO ]]></publisher-name>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id>S2795-47572025000200101</article-id>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.59071/2795-4765.rpcp2025.24/pp.101-121</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[Paradox of the Relationship Between Democracy and Women&#8217;s Representation in SADC Parliaments]]></article-title>
<article-title xml:lang="pt"><![CDATA[Paradoxo da Relação entre a Democracia e a Representação das Mulheres nos Parlamentos da SADC]]></article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name>
<surname><![CDATA[Bambo]]></surname>
<given-names><![CDATA[Tomé Fernando]]></given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="Aff"/>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
<aff id="Af1">
<institution><![CDATA[,Universidade Alberto Chipande  ]]></institution>
<addr-line><![CDATA[ ]]></addr-line>
<country>Moçambique</country>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="pub">
<day>00</day>
<month>12</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>00</day>
<month>12</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<numero>24</numero>
<fpage>101</fpage>
<lpage>121</lpage>
<copyright-statement/>
<copyright-year/>
<self-uri xlink:href="http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&amp;pid=S2795-47572025000200101&amp;lng=en&amp;nrm=iso"></self-uri><self-uri xlink:href="http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&amp;pid=S2795-47572025000200101&amp;lng=en&amp;nrm=iso"></self-uri><self-uri xlink:href="http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_pdf&amp;pid=S2795-47572025000200101&amp;lng=en&amp;nrm=iso"></self-uri><abstract abstract-type="short" xml:lang="en"><p><![CDATA[Abstract This article examines the paradoxical relationship between democracy and female parliamentary representation within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional bloc comprising South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The key question guiding the debate is: To what extent does female representation in national parliaments reflect the level of democracy in a country? The study used a qualitative approach, which included a review of existing literature, analysis of data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a platform that tracks the number of women in national parliaments globally,Freedom House data, which assesses the adherence of countries to democratic principles, and the Gender and Development Monitor for the SADC region. The study concluded that democracy is an important factor that enables women to participate in political life on equal terms with men. However, there was insufficient evidence to support the claim that democracy is a sine qua non condition for improving female representation in the national parliaments of Southern African countries.]]></p></abstract>
<abstract abstract-type="short" xml:lang="pt"><p><![CDATA[Resumo Este artigo analisa a relação paradoxal entre a Democracia e a Representatividade Parlamentar Feminina na SADC, uma comunidade regional constituída por África do Sul, Angola, Botsuana, Lesoto, Madagáscar, Malavi, Maurícia, Moçambique, Namíbia, República Democrática do Congo, Seychelles, Swazilândia, Tanzânia, Zâmbia e Zimbabwe. A questão de partida que norteou o debate é: em que medida a representatividade feminina nos parlamentos nacionais reflete o alto ou baixo grau de democracia do país? A pesquisa lançou mão do método qualitativo, que consistiu na revisão da literatura, na análise dos dados de União Interparlamentar, plataforma que avalia o número das mulheres nos parlamentos nacionais a nível mundial, nos dados do Freedom House, instrumento que mede o grau de cumprimento dos princípios democráticos dos países a nível internacional e no Monitor do Género e Desenvolvimento na SADC. A pesquisa concluiu que a Democracia constitui um dos condimentos necessário que permite às mulheres participar na vida política de forma competitiva com os homens, contudo, não foram achados evidências suficientes que comprovassem que a Democracia é uma condição sine qua non para melhorar a representatividade das mulheres nos parlamentos nacionais dos Países da África Austral.]]></p></abstract>
<kwd-group>
<kwd lng="en"><![CDATA[democracy]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="en"><![CDATA[women]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="en"><![CDATA[parliament]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="en"><![CDATA[representation]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="en"><![CDATA[SADC]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="pt"><![CDATA[democracia]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="pt"><![CDATA[mulheres]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="pt"><![CDATA[parlamento]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="pt"><![CDATA[representatividade]]></kwd>
<kwd lng="pt"><![CDATA[SADC]]></kwd>
</kwd-group>
</article-meta>
</front><back>
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