05 Mar 2020

Botswana has achieved gender parity in tertiary education as in 2013 female enrollment stood at 52 per cent at the University of Botswana and 68 per cent at colleges of education.

This was said  First Lady Ms Neo Masisi during the commemoration of International Women’s Day in Otse March 5.

which was held under the theme "Realising Women’s Rights, Our Guarantee to 2036."

Ms Masisi said  the achievement showed the country's commitment  in addressing gender equality and disparity  between the boy and girl child.

“It is no longer an option now to empower women. Those who don’t will soon become irrelevant,” she said.

She noted that historically women were confined to raising and bearing children, subsistence farming, providing for the family and general upkeep of the family.

But today women in Botswana  constituted a higher percentage in areas such as hotels and restaurants, business ventures and workforce in central and local government among others.

However, she said there were areas such as mining where women representation was still low hence the need to mainstream gender in those areas.

Ms Masisi pointed out that there was a high number of women engaged in the Ipelegeng Programme which she said indicated that women were still trapped in poverty.

For her part, Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Ms Anna Mokgethi said the commemoration was aimed at celebrating progress and achievements made in the empowerment of women.

Botswana, she said, had  over the past five years made tremendous progress in women empowerment.

Ms Mokgethi said the country had strengthened some national legislative and policy frameworks for gender equality and women’s empowerment such as Anti-Human Trafficking Act, Married Persons Property Act and Legal Aid Act among others.

She said Botswana had also signed the SADC Protocol on Development and Gender in 2017 thereby solidifying commitment to the promotion of human rights.

The country had also strengthened access to justice for women including those in rural areas by establishing maintenance courts in major centers to enable women to access payment of maintenance.

For his part, Kgosi Mothusi Tsetse of Otse encouraged women to take advantage of empowerment programmes to avoid dependency.

He encouraged women to fight against any kind of abuse and actions which deprived them of their rights.ENDS