Masisi commits to women empowerment
Botswana still fails to reach gender representation targets – report
Keletso ThobegaBG reporterPresident Mokgweetsi Masisi says that his government is committed to empowering women in Botswana by appointing them to key positions in governance and decision- making. “The Botswana Government prioritises the empowerment of women. For example, about 50 percent of my Permanent Secretaries are female,” Masisi said in his presidential public lecture at the Yale University during his visit to New York, USA.
Masisi said his administration is committed to ensuring that gender equality is a key priority, and that women are given a seat at the decisionmaking table, to ensure that they have access to not only opportunities but also influential roles in governance and politics.
Following the 2019 elections, President Masisi selected four ( 4) women from his Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP) as part of the six ( 6) Specially Elected Members of Parliament, a move which increased the female representation in Parliament to seven ( 7) women. Only 11 out of 210 parliamentary candidates were women in the 2019 election, representing 5 percent of the total number of candidates. This number went down from 2014, when 17 of 192 candidates were women, despite the fact that 55 percent of the registered voters nationally, were women. Only three ( 3) out of the 57 elected Members of Parliament were women, and there were no women advanced as Presidential candidates. Mpho Pheko of Umbrella for Democratic Change ( UDC) who has decried lack of support for women in politics, reiterated that the lack of access to political party funding as well as cultural barriers, hinder the progress of women in politics. “Most of the systematic challenges that women in politics face are due to archaic notions that question the capability of women,” cried Pheko. Her assertion is supported by the recently released 2020 Common Country Analysis ( CCA) report which was carried out by the United Nations Country Team in collaboration with the government of Botswana and other development stakeholders. The report indicates that Botswana is one of the countries with the fewest number of women in political positions ( government, Parliament and House of Chiefs) and a low number of women in decision- making positions such as higher courts, among other influential positions. It stated that Botswana has only 10.8 percent of women represented in Parliament.
The report states: “The level of women’s participation in politics is an indication of the limitations created by lack of political party funding; patriarchal beliefs that women are not capable of performing in office; and an unaccommodating political atmosphere for women”. The report indicates that this continues because Botswana has no legislated quotas or affirmative action, which has led to inequality in political representation, particularly of rural women who are the most inadequately represented in the political landscape.
The 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance ( ACDEG) the continental legal framework on the promotion of democracy, free and fair elections, and good governance, commits member states to encourage free and fair participation at all levels of governance.
Furthermore, the Maputo Protocol mandates member states to ensure the increased and effective representation and participation of women at all levels, particularly in decision- making, carried out through affirmative action methods.
Botswana has however neither signed nor ratified the ACDEG or the Maputo Protocol, under the excuse that they need to look more closely at the provisions of the charter. Botswana has however signed the revised SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which makes stipulations that urge countries to ensure equal and effective representation of women in decisionmaking positions. Botswana has devised a 30 percent quota for political parties, but it has not made a clear impact. Botswana adopted a National Policy on Gender and Development in 2015, and its national operational plan in 2018 as well as a National Strategy to end gender- based violence for the period 2014– 2020, however, the effective implementation of these policies remains a challenge. The 2020 CCA report also indicates that there is still a greater need for emphasis and effort towards strengthening the protection of women workers’ rights, including through ratification of core ILO gender conventions which will accelerate the achievement of equal opportunity and treatment of women and men in the world of work.
United Nations Botswana Resident Coordinator, Zia Choudury recently noted that it is important to recognise that some internal drivers of inequality call for a deep critique of the systems, bureaucracies, and attitudes in Botswana. “Systemic challenges such as inefficiency or lack of accountability in the public sector or lack of coordination between development agents, including the UN and NGOs, may lead to poor policies, or to policies not adopted or implemented with urgency”.