14 Jun 2023

African women have been called to rise up and find a place in political party leadership positions.

Speaking during the Women in Political Participation (WPP) Peer to Peer Learning project in Gaborone on Tuesday, the Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural

Development, Mr Sethabelo Modukanele said as ‘Africa gears up to hold at least 27 elections, nations desire to see more women elected in political decisions making positions.’

Mr Modukanele said there was need for male champions to open up space for women leadership at that level.

“An enabling environment in terms of protection of women candidates is critical to achieve an increase in numbers and quality of women in political participation,” he said.

He said there was only 19 per cent representation of women in local government in Africa. Heavy patriarchal practices still existed at political party level, he added.

He said women were missing in top executive positions of political parties, and that had contributed to nine per cent representation of women in top political leadership.

He said the entrenched patriarchy society as well as structural barriers had continuously failed the African nations in achieving the 50 per cent mark for women representation in politics.
Mr Modukanele highlighted that there had to be a drive to ensure that women in those leadership positions were necessary to propel the numbers of women in political participation.

He however called on African women to highly position themselves politically.

Meanwhile, Mr Modukanele said in the spirit of leaving no one behind as demanded by the Sustainable Development Goals, Botswana had recognized that there would be no full democracy without women’s equal participation in politics.

As Botswana prepared for its elections in 2024, government hopes to see more women elected to leadership positions at local government level, he said.

He said it was the government’s mandate to ensure that officials in local authorities, young women in particular were included in leadership positions.

Regarding the peer-to-peer learning, he said it was important for local authorities to learn from one another while at the same time encouraging each other to include women in local governance as a contribution to democracy.

He stated that peer learning mechanism was necessary if Africa was to advance in the area of women in political participation.

Mr Modukanele said countries that had done well in increasing the numbers of women in political participation should be able to share strategies with those that intended to do so.
“Knowledge products generated by the Women’s Political Participation project point towards a call to action for Africa to accelerate efforts of an enabling environment for women’s political participation,” he said

He further noted that although Africa had shown commitment to improve the level and quality of women in political participation through various platforms and instruments, there was need to invest in digital technologies for women to enable virtual outreach.

Digital resources to young women, he said, would equip them to lead in politics and be visible in the cyber space.

The peer-to-peer learning was attended by Women in Political Participation from across Africa. including Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Tanzania, Kenya, Eswatini and Botswana. ENDS