10 Jul 2022

Women leaders have underscored the significance of ensuring that women  have equal voice in politics and policy making.

Deliberating at a panel discussion during International Summit on Constitutionalism and Democratic Consolidation in Africa on Thursday, panelists highlighted the need for political parties and institutions to take important steps to accelerate inclusion of women and young people in all levels of politics.

They said women continued to face overwhelming barriers to assume highest offices of the land, despite demonstrating respect for constitutionalism and the rule of law than their male counterparts.

Botswana’s Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Ms Annah Mokgethi, said democracy was about sharing power and that concentration of power by some African leaders was unpalatable. 

In that regard, she said respect of term limits opened possibilities for more women to participate and unlock diversity of leadership.

“Women’s potential should be put to test at national level. If the current systems in governments allow us to actualise our potential, we will rise to the occasion,” stated the minister.

To address issues of gender parity, she said, Botswana should adopt an affirmative action or have clauses in the constitution for women quotas in political representation. 

“Our constitutions should put quotas of women in political representation in order to achieve the gender parity we want,” she stressed.

Ms Mokgethi further emphasised that gone were the days of patriarchy that held women back to participate in politics. 

“It is high time we deliberate on these issues. We should be deliberate about this because the pace at which we are going, we will not reach gender parity in more than 100 years,” she said.

She said it was regrettable that at political party level, there were no deliberate decisions to ensure that a certain number of women made it to national elections. 

“This is evident as none has a clear quota of how many women they want to have at primary election stage, at local government and at national level,” she stated.

She, however, told attendants that Botswana had made right ticks in other positions of power, but the country still lacked behind in political positions.

She reasoned that none of the African women in leadership positions had defied their constitutions.

Ms Mokgethi further argued that women respected the rule of law and easily stepped down voluntarily at the end of their term limits, therefore they should be given a chance to lead.

For her part, former president of Malawi, Dr Joyce Banda, said constitutionalism and term limits provided avenues for women participation in governance and politics.

She said there was need for more vibrant political systems for women and young people to change the status quo and assume positions of power. 

She also regretted that women leaders were the most abused and misunderstood compared to their male counterparts.

Former World Bank vice president, Dr Oby Ezekwesisli said it was high time leaders accepted that constitutional processes not citizen-led did not yield sustainable democracy, while Kofi Annan Foundation executive director, Corinne Momal-Vaniel said representation of women was the same across the world and thus there was need to challenge the status quo.

Discussants also reflected on lack of women candidates in local elections, challenges faced; from access to campaign resources to media opportunities, and the continued use of misogynistic language in political messaging. Ends