13 Mar 2017

The chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus on Women, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso said the country continued to make efforts in achieving gender parity.

Speaking at the commemoration of International Women’s day at Parliaments Grounds on Thursday, Ms Tshireletso said over the years there had been numerous policy reforms and reviews of national laws to make them gender sensitive.

She said some of the laws included Domestic Violence Act of 2008, Children’s Act of 2009 and the National Policy on Gender and Development of 2015.

However, she said despite the noticeable successes, Botswana continued to fare badly on women empowerment especially in political leadership, given that women share for parliamentary seats rose from 7.9 per cent in 2009 to 9.5 per cent in 2014.

Ms Tshireletso said the limited progress could be attributed to factors such as Botswana’s first-past-the-post electoral system, cultural norms regarding gender roles and difficulties women faced in raising campaign funds.

She said according to Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in 2015, the ranking for women representation in parliament stood at 22.1 per-cent and 22.6 per-cent for the world and Sub-Saharan Africa respectively.

International Working Group on Women and Sport co-chairperson, Ms Ruth Maphorisa said over the years there had been an increase in women leadership positions in the public service.

She however said there were major setbacks in women representation in politics and sport leadership and that alone had an impact in the development of women.

Ms Maphorisa, who is also the director of the Directorate of Public Service Management said gender mainstreaming had the potential to raise the levels of socio-economic and political participation by both men and women.

“We can achieve this if we are committed to providing a conducive environment for both women and men to participate. May God indeed grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference,” she said.

The chairperson of the National Gender Commission, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko said the commission was established to provide strategic leadership for the national gender response, and advise government on gender issues particularly development and implementation.

She said during her tenure at the helm of the commission she boldly pledged to monitor Botswana’s progress towards gender equality in relation to regional and international gender commitments, nurture and advise organs of society to ensure that gender equality was safeguarded and promoted.

Kgosi Mosadi said she would also mobilise resources for research, investigation of concerns and gender related issues.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Gladys Kokorwe said it was imperative for women as they celebrate their international day to also appreciate and pay respect to all women who came and paved the way.

She said although there were women in leadership positions in their respective organisation, the joy was bitter sweet given that women had a long way to go in increasing women representation in Parliament.

“If we cannot improve on these number, women will slowly lose their voice in the one institution which has power to change the lives of women and those of future generation. The day was celebrated under the theme “BeBoldForChange. ENDS