Botswana Congress Party’s Women’s League has urged the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to implement the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol on gender.
The protocol calls for equal representation of women and men in political leadership positions.
They said this during the International Women’s Day (IWD) on Monday under the theme: Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in A Covid-19 World.
BCPWL President, Tshimologo Dingake said leadership structures throughout the socio- political and economic environment leaves a lot to be desired. She said political leadership structures in Botswana are embarrassingly skewed against women.
Tshimologo stated that according to Genderlinks Botswana Elections Report 2020, women make 18% of leadership at local government, 11% at the National Assembly (which was enhanced by Special Nomination), and 25% at cabinet level.
Adding that this is the status report with only 2 (two) elections left before 2030; the deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of which one of its goals is “No one should be left behind.”
Dingalo stated that Botswana is very far from reaching the equal and effective representation in parliament as advocated by the SADC Gender Protocol.
BCPWL are now calling on the government to treat issues of gender equality with urgency and for the political leadership to make this ideal practical in relation to gender equality.
“We have looked on with awe, least to say embarrassment, as to how the political leadership in Botswana has chosen to be gender blind in this era. We call on the political leadership to stop paying lip service to equal participation in national leadership, by instituting proportional representation as a system that embraces societal diversity and therefore representation in political leadership,” she noted.
The Women’s League commended their party leadership (BCP) for embracing within the constitution that they should have 30% representation in all structures.
They said observed that it was not enough and call for 50 percent representation at all levels.
For her part, Ruth Maphorisa member of the BCPWL said with regards to women in public service, things are getting worse. She noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation highlighting that the Presidential Task Force consists of only men. “One would wonder if the pandemic affects men only,” said Maphorisa.
She also called for political party funding noting that it is the reason most women do not contest for political office, adding that women as bread winners in most households have to make a decision on whether to use money that could help them raise their families or use it to run for political office.
