08 Mar 2020

Chairperson of a parliamentary caucus on women, Dr Unity Dow, says it is still not easy for women to take rightful positions of leadership.  

Dr Dow, who is also a specially elected Member of Parliament and Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, said this during commemoration of International Women’s day in Gaborone on Friday.  

She said there had been notable strides in promoting women to leadership positions, acknowledging the increase of women parliamentarians in the 12th Parliament.  

She explained that the parliamentary caucus on women committee was a crucial structure of parliament tasked with the responsibility to ask the hard questions concerning gender equality.  

The committee also tackled issues such as inclusivity of women when key decisions were made in Parliament and whether special issues affecting women were considered when making policies. 

In trying to tackle these issues, Dr Dow said it was surprising that in Parliament, there was only one bathroom for women.  She said this showed that when parliament was built, maybe there was only one woman. 

She said this showed how some decisions could impact society when women's representation was lacking.Nonetheless, she challenged the younger generation to be different and aspire to do the right things and work hard to earn leadership positions as well as challenge some policy decisions that limited inclusivity.  

Member of Parliament for Lentsweletau/Mmopane and also Assistant Minister of Basic Education Ms Nnaniki Makwinja, a member of Parliamentary Caucus on Women said this year’s commemoration marked its silver jubilee.  

Therefore, Botswana had made strides and achieved a lot in gender equality in different sectors especially at the school level where boys and girls were given equal opportunities to learn.

She further stated that children began to acquire a sense of themselves, their identity and their place in the world through interacting with caregivers, parents’ teachers and their environment at a very early age.  

Therefore, she stated that how boys and girls learn the societal and cultural rules and norms about how boys, girls, men, and women ought to behave play a tremendous role in shaping their identities and in influencing dozens of gender-related outcomes later on in life.

Giving a motivational talk, Mr Desmond Lunga, said they had launched a booklet titled Monnatia because young men had lost direction because fathers and uncles were absent and as a result, boys were raised by single parents. 

He said in some instances, young boys saw bullying as strength and masculinity.  

He challenged young boys to reflect on this day and play their roles in the society.

Member of Parliament for Maun West and Leader of Opposition, Mr Dumelang Saleshando challenged young girls to emulate Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala who fought for the rights of young girls in her country.  

Malala Yousafzai, is a Pakistani activist for the right to education, especially female education. ENDS