Women’s empowerment through investing in profitable ventures is now an area of concern and is of top priority to the partnership formed by government and non-governmental organizations.
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has been working hand in hand, vouching for non governmental organizations, such as the SADC Gender and Development Committee, which advocates for women’s rights.
This was recently said to The SUNDAY STANDARD by the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Peter Siele, at a glamorous affair held in the name of women, the Ninth Annual Women’s exposition at Boipuso hall.
Women with extreme talents from across the country were hauled together in a bid to expose them to the community and lay foundations to their up and coming businesses.
International representatives, senior government officials and ministers from different sectors, heard Siele disclose that the women’s exposition is one of his ministry’s many carefully planned strategies to empower the women of Botswana, most importantly those living in rural areas.
“Women are given a chance to expose and contest their business skills on the international level and familiarize themselves with market requirements.”
Throughout the presentations and skillful displays by the women, it became apparent that the ministry’s outmost focus is mainly on women living in rural areas because they are unaware of much of the development that enables them to be in control of their economic situations.
The ministry has been offering free courses to women citizens in the form of arts and crafts, upholstery and many other forms of handwork.
Segakweng Tsiane, from the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, suggested that the community should note that the theme had remained the same as that of last year. The theme’s key words read: Innovation and Creativity, and according to Tsiane, those are major driving initiatives behind the prevailing success of this year’s exposition.
An award ceremony was also held to hand out prices to the women whose works stood above the rest.
“Women in most parts of the world, listen to men at home while men listen to women at work,” said the VIP guest, Ding Xiaowen, China’s ambassador to Botswana.
This evens the scales of equality but he feels that more should be done for Batswana women.
The ninth annual women’s exposition was held at Ditshupo Hall at Fairgrounds and ended on Friday June 28th.
