21 Nov 2017

Positive upbringing of the boy child can help bring better knowledge and understanding on how to support life time partners.

That was the view of panelists at the International Working Group (IWG) on Women in Sport 3rd panel discussion held in Gaborone recently.

The panel discussion was held under the  theme ‘Balancing career, family and sport’ and was hosted by Tsoseletso Magang, Boineelo Hardy and Lulu Rasebotsa.

On how she balanced time between career, family and sport, Hardy, who is Botswana Basketball Association (BBA) president and former basketball player, said having the right partner in marriage was an important aspect.

She said the reason why she managed to excel both at family and sport was because of shared family responsibilities, noting that support from her partner was key in holding her in sport and achieving her dream of being a sport woman.

Hardy said women had a big mountain to climb as they were also expected to excel in their careers.

Former volleyball president, Magang said women were in most cases forced to quit sport in order to give preference to marriage responsibilities and professional work.

She said some roles were laid in such a way that men could not help their counterparts with household chores.

Cooking, cleaning and caring, she said were directed to females while providing and leading roles were left for males.

“Even if the wife had professional work, she is expected to do both professional work and household roles satisfactorily,” she said.

Magang said women were expected to be submissive, caring and be soft while their male counterparts were expected to be assertive, aggressive and dominant, noting that marriage and motherhood were viewed as ultimate career for women and that in most cases women ended up quitting sport to pursue child bearing.

Liberty Life Botswana managing director, Rasebotsa said women were living under societal pressure resulting in losing their career in sport in trying to balance their lives.

Rasebotsa thus encouraged women not to be defined by marriage adding that one would live a regrettable life. ENDS