07 Mar 2022

While much progress has been made towards gender equality, more work still needs to be done to achieve parity a senior gender officer, Ms Constancia Basinyi has said. 

She was speaking at a business workshop for women in Kasane recently.

She said women heavily relied on men for financial support, which was why there were many cases of gender-based violence. 

When it came to business, women were more interested in textile, she said, and encouraged them to go into other businesses, especially agriculture, which she said abounded with opportunity.  

Another speaker, Chobe Tourism Marketing manager Ms Wapula Matshambane urged the Department of Gender Affairs to assist more women to get funding from CEDA and training from LEA. 

She said some financial institutions discouraged women because they believed they could not succeed in male dominated industries. She pleaded with lenders not to reject their applications on the basis that they were women. 

CEDA customer service advisor, Mr Katlego Lesego said more women were in the informal sector and many of them were beneficiaries of  Youth Development Fund. 

He encouraged them to always do market research, adding that CEDA funding was accessible to all Batswana.

LEA business analyst, Ms Sethunya Mopako said only 714 businesses in Chobe benefited from government’s COVID-19 relief fund, and the majority of beneficiaries were women. BOPA