27 Feb 2022

Women have been urged to take advantage of their numbers to advance political aspirations.

“Women are in the majority than men statistically and it is time they increase their motivation and have equal opportunity in political aspirations. They hold the power, and if they can collectively put their voices together they will surely influence change in the politics dynamics” said Dr Onalenna Selolwane of Emang Basadi during the Women in Politics workshop in Gaborone recently.

She said it was about time women put aside their differences including political affiliation to build a collective voice for them to be heard.
Dr Selolwane said in the past, Botswana used to be given accolades something which had changed, saying for that reason there was need for women to network to achieve good things together.

“We are dealing with struggles at hand, rapists, school performance has gone down, there are no jobs, drug use is high and these are our children,” she said.

Dr Selolwane urged women not to shy away from their active participation in leadership positions, adding that since women and young people had been left behind, it was time they prepared themselves for greater future to contribute positively to politics.

She said if fully engaged, women would have the capacity, confidence and space to assume leadership leading to their active role and influence in politics and decision making.

For her part, country team leader for Democracy Works Foundation (DWF), Ms Ntlogeleng Modise said there would be no meaningful political progress without inclusion of women.

Ms Modise said the meeting aimed to increase the role and influence of women participation in political institutions and decision making in Botswana by building and strengthening the capacity of current women’s networks and groups across the political spectrum.

She further mentioned that the idea was to also build an enabling environment that would be supportive of women’s meaningful political participation within political institutions.
Participants pledged their commitment to develop and adopt responsive policies and procedures that would enable them to take up leadership roles and participate in political processes. ENDS