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 Women in Cabinet 393. The number of women in Lesotho cabinet is still disproportionately low in Lesotho. Women Constituted 38 percent of the 2007 Cabinet in that there were 9 women out of 24 Ministers and Deputy Ministers. 394. In 2012 women the number dropped to 28 percent in that there were 8 women out of 29 cabinet posts of Ministers and Deputy Ministers. 395. In 2015, the number of total Cabinet seats went up to 35 Ministers and Deputy Ministers. However, the number of women remained 8, thus bringing the percentage of women down by 5 percent to 23 percent. 396. In 2017 the Cabinet was made up of 36 members, five of whom were women ministers and three women deputy ministers. Thus women currently constitute 22 percent of Lesotho’s cabinet. 397. The decrease of women in cabinet is attributed to formation of coalition governments as each party puts its leaders (who are men) first and in the 2012 and 2015 coalition governments the leaders were all men. The difference with the 2017 cabinet is that one of the leaders of the four parties which formed the coalition is a woman. However, the challenge with representation of women in cabinet remains. Women in Local Government 398. Lesotho’s first Local Government Elections were held in 2005. In these elections, women constituted 58 percent of the elected. The UNDP acknowledged that Lesotho was the highest in SADC, but warned that “there remain complex social, cultural, political, economic, electoral and legal obstacles that continue to pose challenges for aspiring female Parliamentary representatives in Lesotho.” 138