THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO COMBINED SECOND TO EIGHTH PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS AND INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Total 87.0 100.9 Source: 2011 LDS 293. Table B2 reflects further that the district of Maseru, which is Lesotho’s capital city, has the lowest male population of 48.3 percent and highest female population of 51.7 percent. This variance is influenced by employment of women in the textile industry enabled by African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This status is also reflected in table 10.2 which shows that there are more females in the urban areas than in rural areas in Lesotho: 87 males to 100 females in the urban areas and 101 males for every 100 females in the rural areas. 294. Despite women constituting majority of the population, the working class and voters in Lesotho, they are still not represented in decision making positions at both the central and local government levels.58 Sadly, women are also majority of the poor.59 295. Factors which act as barriers to women’s full participation in economic and political governance include culture, tradition and social norms which are influenced by patriarchal ideologies which negatively affect women in Lesotho. 296. In order to address these challenges, the government of Lesotho has adopted several legal, judicial and administrative measures which have contributed to Lesotho having a Gender and Development Index score of 65 percent and ranking 4th of the 14 SADC countries in terms of gender and development. While Lesotho has made good progress in promoting gender equality and empowering women and female participation in the political and socio economic sectors, it has however not met all its targets under MDG 3. According to LCN (2015) The status of women in Lesotho 8, ‘women in Lesotho are spectators who play the role of voting others into political space’. 59 LCN (2015) The status of women in Lesotho 108 58