144 Kariseb/Implementation of article 9 of the Women’s Rights Protocol in Namibia National Council was instituted, as of the 2014 national elections a slight improvement has been made with 26,9 per cent (7 out of 26 members) female representation in the house of law review.52 It is also notable that the current speaker of the National Council is a woman and has been vocal on women’s parliamentary inclusion. What the parliamentary statistics reveal is that the country is gradually coming to terms with the role of women in political environments. The post 2005 period reveals a transformation in political leadership that to a considerable extent remained gender sensitive and inclusive in nature. But as Namibia’s Sixth Periodic Report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has shown, women still remain underrepresented in key sectors.53 These include, mining, transport, tourism and hospitality and construction.54 Regional governance also depicts a rather bleak picture for women’s representation. During the November 2015 Regional Council elections, only 15 per cent of the 284 candidates who participated in these elections were women.55 From these 284 candidates only 16 per cent, comprising of 19 out of the 121 elected were women. The absence of women within the judicial arm of government is also a major area of concern. Out of the 14 judges of the High Court of Namibia, only four (28,6 per cent) are women.56 No female judge serves on the five permanent seats of the Supreme Court, although foreign female South African judges have occasionally been appointed on a temporary basis. The lower magistrates’ courts have a relatively fair distribution of female presiding officers, of the current ratio is 47 males to 46 females.57 The current chief magistrate is also a woman,58 and has been acting in that capacity in the main High Court on a regular basis. Moreover, only four (9,5 per cent), out of the 42 recognised traditional authorities are headed by women.59 The under representation of women in traditional authorities, as is the case with the judiciary, is concerning given the fact these two organs are crucial in the legal and social integration of women. Traditional authorities are the custodians of indigenous culture, customs, and practices and are 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 LAC Namibia ‘National gender analysis’ July 2017 31 https://eeas.europa.eu/ sites/eeas/files/namibia_gender_analysis_2017.pdf (accessed 8 April 2018). Sixth Periodic Report of Republic of Namibia, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2015) 68 http://www.achpr.org/files/sessions/58th/statereports/6th-2011-2014/namibia_state_6th_periodic_report.pdf (accessed 20 February 2018). As above. N Shejavali “A thorn in the flesh for gender equality: How the gender gap in Namibia’s Regional Council elections undermines the country’s otherwise impressive gender equity gains at other levels of governance” in Institute for Public Policy Research Election Watch Briefing Paper 2 (2015) 1 http:// ippr.org.na/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Briefing_Gender_Equality_web.pdf (accessed 3 March 2018). LAC Namibia (n 52) 31. As above. As above. As above.