07 Sep 2020

 It is important for women in sports to promote physical activity during COVID-19, says co-chairperson of IWG, Ruth Maphorisa.

Speaking at a women in sport pitso organised by Women in Sport Botswana (WASBO) on September 5, Maphorisa said sport was a platform through which the coronavirus could be transmitted. She said as they prepared for competitive sport to begin, it was important that they promoted physical activities in their little spaces.

She said there was no doubt that women in sport would be affected by COVID-19, adding that during the pandemic when no sporting activity was taking place, sponsors were likely to pull back.

She added that she was, however, happy that Sprint Couriers was still with WASBO.

“We know that in our setting women sport entirely depends on government, so I am calling upon government to pay attention to the fact that as sponsors pull out, who is likely to suffer the most,” she said.

WASBO chairperson, Matlho Kgosi said the organisation had made strides in implementing the 2014 pitso resolutions.

She said in 2014 they talked about the need to increase the number of women in leadership positions, adding that they also recognised that there was also a need to capacitate women both technically and in leadership.

She said in 2017 WASBO signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom based Women Sport Leadership Academy (WSLA) to help capacitate women in leadership. She added that in 2018 WSLA came to Botswana and capacitated 40 African women in leadership.

She also noted that they have ongoing training with Region 5, TAFISA which started in February.

She said WASBO also managed to develop a gender in sport strategy which was being implemented, adding that the purpose of the strategy was to advance gender equality through sports.

She said the other purpose was to dedicate resources for gender mainstreaming in order to respond to gender based violence in sports and to establish sports as a safe space to address gender issues.

Kgosi said the potential benefits was to promote female leadership, female role models and access to resources, to raise awareness on gender related issues including sexual reproductive health and gender based violence

Other benefits, she said, was a positive impact on health and reducing the risk of chronic diseases, foster mental health, self-esteem and well-being among women and girls, foster community cohesion and inclusion of marginalised groups.

On the 2017-18 WASBO gender analysis study on the participation of girls and women in sport and leadership, she said key issues were the proportion of female athletes at association level which ranged between 2 – 39.1 per cent across sports codes.

She said at club level female participation in leadership and managerial positions ranged between 0 and 66.7 per cent.

While women involvement in leadership and managerial positions as office bearers across associations ranged between 0 and 36.4 per cent, representing an average of 19.5 per cent.

She said the findings were that sport leadership positions in Botswana were dominated by men, and that female coaches and managers underrated their capabilities in discharging managerial or coaching duties as compared to their male counterparts. ENDs