10 Mar 2019

There is need to combine efforts towards promoting gender equality and advancing women empowerment across sectors.

This was said by the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Mr Ngaka Ngaka at the launch of International Women’s Day national commemoration in Jwaneng on March 8.

He said even though the government was making strides in addressing gender inequality, other stakeholders had to come on board to augment what was already in place.

“Let me highlight that the road to transformation cannot be reached by government alone, but requires a concerted effort, hence the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach,” he said.

He said this year’s theme, ‘Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change’, emphasised the need for innovative systems geared towards promoting gender equality and women empowerment.

These, he noted, would ensure that women and girls had access to public services that could improve their lives.

The minister also underscored the need to remove barriers and include all stakeholders in developing effective systems that could work towards achieving the goal.

“Botswana commemorates this day not only to honour the achievements of women, but to also review progress on the journey towards gender parity as well as to determine necessary actions to be taken to accelerate the advancement of women at country level,” he noted.

Mr Ngaka said to show commitment, Botswana was a signatory to various policies and programmes that sought to promote human rights gender issues, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, among others.

Additionally, he said in 2015 the government adopted the National Policy on Gender Development in order to facilitate the mentioned instruments at local level.

However, the minister noted that despite significant progress in sectors such as education and health, there were still challenges such as Gender Based Violence (GBV) and low representation of women in leadership positions.

He said the government continued to undertake sensitisation campaigns geared towards addressing such challenges.

Mr Ngaka called on public members to align their lives towards these campaigns and not only make it a one day event.

“Let me urge you therefore, that we continue focusing on these themes and adopt a 365-day campaign so that we do not only remain conscious during these days,” he said.

Jwaneng deputy mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie appealed to women to take time to introspect and strategise on how they could increase their representation in positions of power such as politics.

She urged them to support one another during elections as well as support one another’s businesses so that they could grow.

Further, Ms Ditsie said it was time for them to collectively put pressure on the government to amend laws so that GBV perpetrators could be severely punished.

For his part, MP for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile commended government for giving women platforms to fight for their rights so that their voice could be heard.

He also acknowledged the important role played by leaders of women organisations, which he said would go a long way in making a positive impact on the society.

He appealed to big companies such as Debswana to augment government’s efforts by improving Maths and Science learning so that girls could venture into male-dominated careers. ENDS