22 Jan 2015

Botswana Netball Association is the first sporting code in the country to endorse Brighton plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration.

Speaking at the signing of the declaration, BONA president, Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego said women stayed in the shadows of their male counterparts in sport recognition and rewards. She said the stereotypes were perpetuated by the leadership and the media who idolised men.

“And we know that for a female athlete to receive the same recognition bestowed upon her male counterpart, she has to work 10 times as hard,” she said

Some of the Helsinki recommendation were that sport organisations and governmental institutions should take action to bring to the public attention the positive, life-long impacts of participation of girls and women in sport and physical activity, for example, through education and training, awareness-raising programmes and campaigns including the fight against stereotypes in sport, with specific attention to those groups of girls and women in societies which face particular barriers to sport because of their abilities, position and status in a society.

The recommendation further said sport organisations and/or communities identified measures, which withdrew the barriers restricting women and girls from participating in sport and physical activity, such as cultural based stereotypes that certain sports were not suitable for women, lack of information about the positive values of sport, safety, accessibility and child care services.

Lebotse-Sebego said a declaration that recognised the important role that sport and physical activity played in the lives of girls and women and encouraged a sporting culture that enabled and valued the full involvement of females in every aspect of sport was a welcome development that BONA eagerly embrace

She said as the biggest women sport in Botswana and in the world netball was played in over 80 countries by over 20 million women and they have felt first-hand the continued barriers that impede the equal opportunity and recognition of women in sports.

According to Lebotse-Sebego said netball was not yet played at the Olympics, which were the pinnacle of sport excellence. She however, said they would continue to fight this battle and ensure that they get netball into the Olympic programme, adding that another fact was that among the Top 10 world highest paid athletes; there was no woman.

The highest paid athlete, she said was a man, a boxer, Floyd Mayweather. She said though boxing was a sport for men and women, the highest paid female boxer did not even make it in the top 100. BONA president said the highest paid female; Maria Sharapova of tennis was at the world’s number 34 whilst her male counterpart Roger Federer was the world’s number seven and earned almost three times what Sharapova earned.

She said the same inequalities persisted at soccer, athletics, golf, basketball and many other sports, to that effect, she said it was prudent for sports leaders, volunteers and especially the women to ‘lead the change and be the change’. At netball, she said, the next three years were a deal breaker in the development of netball in Botswana.

“As the proud host of the 2017 World Netball Cup, we have a tall order to achieve excellence. This is history in the making for international netball as the first world cup in African soil and Botswana needs to impress,” she said.

International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG), Secretary General, Game Mothibi said her organisation has found it practical to use four netball players, Violet Oneile, Hilda Binang Sarona Hans and Letang Mogotlhwane who would be plying their trade in Singapore as IWG ambassadors.She said their desire as IWG, is to be known across the work since the organisation itself is international.

“We wish the four to take with them our information, and sell Botswana as the 2018 IWG conference hosts,” she said.

Mothibi said of the 419 signatories, Singapore is yet to sign the declaration, adding that she wish the four players will make an impact. ENDS