11 May 2014

Population of women in Botswana is favourable for them to become strong agents of change.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative, Ms Aisha Camara-Drammeh said at the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) women’s conference in Gaborone on Saturday, May 10. She said with women proportion at 51 per cent in Botswana, it showed that there was possibility of their voice to be heard.

“It is no secret that women pose a high number of representatives in the church pews, and with their strength, they can form a formidable force that can bring change and impact in the society. It is this token that women come together today, as change makers,” she said.

Ms Camara-Drammeh said there was growing consensus that gender equality and the empowerment of women must be at the heart of the Post 2015 agenda which were set in Cairo and Vienna 20 years ago to address the needs of women and children.

She pointed out that women around the world were faced with serious issues of inequality and constraints in relation to socio-economic development.

“Women have been subjected to vulnerabilities and bearing inequitable burdens in situations of social and economic crisis, significantly many of them are abused, discriminated against, victims of rape, living with HIV/AIDS, faced with maternal deaths and disabilities.”

However, Ms Camara Drammeh said although the world was grappling with issues of gender inequalities UNFPA strongly believed Botswana was making progress to achieve the international goal of gender equality and women empowerment. “It is quite apparent that in the last score of years, women have reached significant mileage with regard to key roles in the church. 

In some churches in Botswana, women have since been elected, consecrated as bishops, and this is true with other countries within the SADC region and the rest of the continent,” she said.

Ms Camara-Drammeh commended BCC for playing a significant role in the development of women with regard to spirituality, health and education as well as issues of boy and girl child. 

Meanwhile, Ms Camara-Drammeh implored the women to join the rest of the world in prayer for the over 200 girls abducted in Nigeria.

“This is another form of violence against the girl child, denying them fundamental right to access education,” she said.

The BCC women’s conference was held after six years to elect a new committee, to strengthen unity amongst women in Botswana, to seek ways of building partnerships with men in the church and wider society on gender based violence among others.

For her part, Women’s chairperson since 2008, Ms Edith Phirie encouraged women to persevere and rise above challenges when elected into committees. She pointed that their committee has since thinned from seven members to three members during the six years of holding the fort Ends