16 Sep 2014

Self-understanding of a woman is often confused and inspired by the ideal woman according to western understanding of an ideal woman, Father Monnamongwe Letsatle said in Rakops on September 13.

Delivering a speech on women of substance during the Women Empowerment Network (WEN) workshop sponsored by Karowe Diamond Mine, Father Lesatle said the past 100 years had been dramatic for an African woman.

He said during the period trade, colonialism, industrial developments, global ideas and cultural practices found expression within the traditional life.

He indicated that capitalism, apartheid, democracy and new military techniques added to the evolution of women; therefore the life of modern African women was more or less different from that of the past with either negative or positive effects.

The changes affected family values, cultural values, as well as political, economic, spiritual, and environmental outlook, the pastor pointed out.

“All these and more have rendered women the most vulnerable group provoking militant feminists groups,” he said, adding that men had on the other hand, taken advantage of the situation as they propagated systematic ideas that silence the African woman.

The story of a Motswana woman was yet to be told and only Batswana women could give the story the substance it needs, he said, adding that research on women in politics and economics was required if the story of a Motswana woman is to be told.

Father Letsatle said education had also elevated white collar jobs and in the process the creative art or work and architecture that were traditionally a woman specialisation were seen as cheap.

Art is disappearing and only women could give honour to Botswana art, architecture and renew society, churches and other aspects of life including politics, he said.

A woman of substance, he said, would find a door on a wall and must be a model of holiness, prayer and reflectiveness.

Briefing women on emergency obstetric, Ms Joyce Mukani noted that lots of women were losing lives, and that babies also died during delivery; therefore, as health practitioners, their aim was to attain millennium development goals such as achieving 75 per cent live births.

Ms Mukani cautioned that what pregnant mothers did during pregnancy period determined the future of the child and their health status.

She urged women to register Ante Natal Care early during pregnancy so that they could identify and rectify some of the anomalies earlier and save the lives of both the mother and the child.

She stated that there were about 85 deaths of women in Botswana in August and loss of blood during pregnancy claim 28 per cent of women’s lives while 15 per cent of women lost their lives due to abortions.

Councillor Batoli Manyoni of Rakops urged women to put the knowledge they acquired during the workshop in to practice in such a manner that it would impact positively in the lives of other women in their communities. Ends