14 Oct 2018

Although Botswana has handed International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) coordination to New Zealand, the country still treats the issue of the empowerment of women in sport as crucial.

This was said by Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Dikgang Makgalemele when giving a keynote address during the launch of Tsosi Magang Sports Trust in Gaborone recently.

Makgalemele said discussions that had been started by the founder of the trust, Tsoseletso ‘Tsosi’ Magang were laudable. He also said “government takes the issue of the empowerment of women in sport and other fields seriously.”

“Discussions around sport must take place, we believe that sport can be one of the biggest employers in the country if we put enough effort into developing it. We need to look at the value chain and it is good to have discussions around how best to ensure that everyone is on board, and that women, a significant portion of our population, are allowed to fully take part,” Makgalemele said.

Noting that there were still few women in the leadership of various sporting institutions and codes in the country, Makgalemele said it was exciting that a platform for discussion around how best to improve representation had been created.

Ruth Maphorisa, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, who co-chaired the IWG hosted earlier this year in Botswana and is also co-chair of the plenary committee for the eighth IWG to be hosted in New Zealand, encouraged female leaders in sport to help mentor future leaders.

“Leadership is about breeding other leaders; if you make it to a leadership role, mentor other girls. Also, it is important to be cooperative to others; you cannot be a leader if you cannot be led. But it is important to know that you must have a principle that you are prepared to defend because as a leader you cannot please everyone, you need to stick to your guns and remain focused,” Maphorisa said.

She said that in the past people had wrong perceptions about the women’s movements such as the advocacy group Emang Basadi, and that they had to be careful to ensure that everyone saw their work in a positive light and came on board in promoting gender equality in sport.

“We have maintained the momentum over the past four years until we hosted the IWG Conference earlier this year. Now, we need to continue with the legacy and look at sustaining our advocacy for gender inclusion in different aspects of sport including media coverage, accountability and representation,” Maphorisa stated.

Adding her worth, Magang said her own experience over the years as an athlete involved in athletics, volleyball and as a sport administrator, proved that barriers had existed for the full participation of women and she developed the urge to assist in empowering other females to be involved in sport.

Grace Muzila, the chairperson of Women and Sport Botswana (WASBO) commended Magang for her initiative and also encouraged other sport leaders to do the same.

“We need younger ladies to be confident enough to seek leadership positions in sport, politics, civil society and business. I am grateful for the role Tsosi Magang is playing, she goes out to acquire skills then develops others. Having worked with her over the past few years, I have noticed her empower herself with the skills needed in leadership, in crucial traits such as social awareness, personal competency, relationship management and we saw her grow,” Muzila noted.

Giving a testimony of a woman in sport, Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) vice secretary general Oreeditse Marakakgoro said she had been an active participant in sport from childhood and had faced the barrier of people’s perceptions over the years.

“When I was young, my mother did not think sport is a vocation that could be treated seriously, but thankfully my father was supportive and my mother eventually relented. When I was older and gave birth to my children, some people complained when I left them behind when they were a few months old so I could participate in international competition as a national coach for the netball team. Women need to build courage, we also need mentorship and sponsors,” Marakakgoro said.

Magang said the purpose of her Sport Trust was to work towards the empowerment of women in sport, and that the details would be revealed at a later date. ENDS