09 Mar 2014

There are more women in decision making positions in the public service sector than in the private sector and politics, says deputy director in the department of gender affairs, Thapelo Phuthego. 

Speaking during the Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) International Women’s Day commemoration on Saturday March 8, Phuthego said the public service sector has about 45 per cent of women in power and decision making positions, while the private sector has only 27 per cent of its women in power and position. 

Further, she said about 22.6 per cent of women in power were found in Cabinet and 8.2 per cent found in Parliament .

Phuthego regretted that although the country has made progress in some areas, there was still a long way to go to meet the 30 per cent target of women in power and decision making positions across all sectors.

She said they were liaising with non-governmental organisation to call for politicians’ stakeholders meeting to address the issue of women in politics.

Further, Phuthego said the department has economic empowerment programmes and she encouraged women to take advantage of such. 

One of the seminar participants, Molefi Nkwete of Mafia Soul Clothing encouraged the attendees to believe in themselves and work hard in attaining their dreams. 

Nkwete said a journey into entrepreneurship would not come easy, adding that he had to go through hurdles to realise his dream.

Another participant, a radio and television personality, Gaona Tlhasana encouraged the young people to make use of available oportunities. The half day training seminar for the BTTA women under the theme, Equality for women is progress for all, was part of the international woman’s day commemoration. It was to empower sports women on entrepreneurship skills and prepare them for the challenge of unemployment faced by most of the graduates. Ends