09 Mar 2015

Government is committed to the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms of the people as well as fulfillment of national and international instruments Botswana is party to, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Mr Edwin Batshu has said.

Speaking during the international commemoration of women’s day in Molepolole on March 5 he said to this end, Botswana had made deliberate efforts to strengthen the legal and policy environment towards realisation of gender equality in the country.

“Its import to note that Botswana is a signatory to regional and international instruments that promote gender equity most noteworthy today, being the 1995 Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action,” he said.

The minister said government, among other things, had moved to capacitate women including their exposure to local, regional and international markets, a feat which saw the annual national women exposition grow from enrolment of 70 entrepreneurs in 1999 to 350 in 2014.

Mr Batshu said at the national level, gender equity and equality is guided by the constitution of the republic, national vision 2016, NDP 10, the gender strategic Framework, the revised population and development policy and the revised national policy on rural development which has aspects promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

He however said despite notable achievement in women empowerment in other spheres of life, women in decision making particularly in political decision making positions was an area where the nation should be challenged to empower women to be able to participate fully.

“This calls on critical stakeholders to develop strategies through which the current status can be changed. May I urge you, therefore to start mobilising and preparing women for the 2019 general elections,” the minister said.

For his part USAID country representative Mr Blake Crystal said it i is important that men stand in solidarity with women on issues of gender equality, and acknowledge in public forums the incredible accomplishments of the women’s movement.

He said it has been more than a century since courageous women took to the streets to demand better working conditions, better pay and the right to vote “and we have come a long way since women made those demands, but we have yet to finish what they started. Since that day, we have witnessed an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights world-wide, from Botswana to the United States of America (USA)more girls are going to school. More women have entered the labour market. More women are in positions of leadership. And women live longer”.

He said Botswana has made some major strides since Beijing, establishing the Women’s Affairs Department, which later become Gender Affairs department , showed positive growth and commitment to gender equality and this has seen an increase of women in decision-making positions, including Parliament and heads of Ministries.

Mr Crystal said today, there is more equitable access to education and work leading to improved economic status of women in the process, and a lot of women have moved into even the most traditional male-dominated spaces, including the Botswana Defence Force.

He also said USA was in partnership with the Government of Botswana, advancing women issues by addressing gender-based violence (GBV) by capacitating communities to respond and prevent GBV.

“We must aspire for a society where the women and children do not live with secrets of sexual exploitation, psychological torture, verbal abuse and isolation. We want to see families where women are equal partners when it comes to decision-making in health, financial and other social responsibilities in the home,” he said.

From the initial 12 critical areas identified in Beijing, Botswana prioritized six issues identified as key constraints to women’s human rights which are; poverty including economic empowerment of women, women in power and decision making, training and education of women, women and health, violence against women and children including Women’s Human rights and Focus on the girl child. ENDS