The adage “before you judge a woman, walk a mile in her shoes,” rings truer than ever when it comes to women and girls with disabilities in Botswana. Disability is primarily a social construct — the result of barriers and stigma that prevent persons with disabilities from participating in society on an equal basis with others. These barriers range from social stigma, and in many contexts, they leave people with disabilities unduly exposed to poverty in its various facets and can even lead to institutionalisation.
Current statistics in Botswana show that women and girls with disabilities have very few opportunities of participating in mainstream community activities. And despite a large number of women who are of working age in Botswana registering disabilities, only about 1 percent of them have jobs.
John Sithole who provides support to people with disabilities says many young girls with disabilities in Botswana do not receive appropriate and quality education.
“Educational opportunities are often limited by others’ perceptions of their abilities, rather than their actual abilities. Worse still, girls with disabilities rarely receive Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, due to stereotypes about girls and people with disabilities, which prevents them from accessing higher paying jobs later in life. In the absence of proper and quality education to prepare them for the workplace, girls with disabilities are less likely to obtain secure jobs that pay well enough to lift them out of poverty,” says Sithole.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “The global literacy rate for adults with disabilities is as low as 3 per cent, and 1 per cent for women with disabilities.” The UN also says less than 5 per cent of children and young persons with disabilities have access to education and training; and girls and young women face significant barriers to participating in social life and development. This explains why the majority of them are poor and in some cases isolated from mainstream community activities. Worse still, women with disabilities are twice as likely to experience domestic violence and other forms of sexual violence as other women.
Majority of women with disabilities in Botswana are struggling to escape poverty and the poverty gap between women and men with disabilities is also very large. Unfortunately, women with disabilities are more frequently impacted by both their gender and their disability, resulting in even greater poverty.
In Sithole’s assessment, the high poverty among women with disabilities means there is need for government to come up with programs focused specifically on easing poverty among them, rather than just persons with disabilities. “In Botswana, women with disabilities face unique challenges which must be urgently resolved. The economy in Botswana is not performing well and there seems to be no noticeable improvements in poverty rates for women with disabilities,” he says.
Although awareness about the needs of people with disabilities has been anaemic and half-hearted, one woman living with disability narrated her everyday struggles to this publication indicating that from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the sun, her life, and that of other women and girls with disabilities, is a constant struggle with extreme lows. “I face stereotypes at the workplace on a daily basis. I am viewed as less capable. I am the longest serving employee at the company, but everyone who started work after me has been promoted but I am always skipped,” says *Keamogetse.
She also says her workstation is not physically accessible and is difficult to operate from. “There is no disabled toilet at my workplace which makes life really horrible for me. Some people with disabilities cannot apply for certain jobs at my workplace because to them this is a turn off,” she says.
When this publication randomly inquired from different companies all across Gaborone, we discovered that over 70 percent do not have toilets or bathrooms to cater for people with disabilities.
*Keamogetse says what is probably the worst issue for her is the lack of specialised transportation. Every morning and evening she has to board a bus to and from work which is a great difficulty since there is no specialised transportation. “I struggle to arrive at work on time, I always arrive home very late after work, I struggle to attend medical appointments. It is very hard just to run daily errands. This is why disability can exacerbate poverty because some women struggle to hold jobs since they are always late at work,” she says.
According to John Sithole who provides support to people with disabilities, there are other issues that need to be addressed to ensure that people with disabilities are on an equal footing with their fellow citizens. “A lot of persons with disabilities often have higher medical expenses than other members of the population,” he says.
People with disabilities continue to face multiple difficulties across Botswana. And being a woman with a disability makes things worse. A 21 year-old female student at Botho University told this publication how her blindness often leaves her at risk.
“I am always harassed at night if i am walking alone. One evening i finished school late and was at the bus rank waiting for a bus to go home. One man was trying to grab my arm and lead me somewhere else. When I refused, the man started insulting me saying: “Where is your owner and why are you walking alone?”
These might be sobering stories, but they are definitely not isolated ones. Botswana still lags behind other southern African countries in terms of promoting the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities and awareness on disability issues.
Almost five years ago, a University of Botswana study stated what was already obvious that the country was not doing enough with regards to treatment of people with disabilities. According to the study, the problems that are faced by people with disabilities are as a result of the Constitution. The study indicated that the legislature must introduce legislation specifically aimed at redressing the inequality of rights the disabled face in Botswana and assess disability rights policy initiatives and include disabled persons in decision-making processes. The study indicated that this would ensure that people with disabilities in Botswana would not suffer exclusion, discrimination and stigmatisation.
The United Nations admitted that girls and women with disabilities experience twice the discrimination, which increases the possibility of gender-based violence. The U.N.’s 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognised that women are often “at greater risk of violence, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation.”
In 2010, an office for people with disabilities was established in the Office of the President with the task of directing disability-related policies and initiatives. However because the role of specially elected members of the House of Chiefs, local authorities and Parliament is not clearly defined some pundits say this has resulted in a weak disabled movement in Botswana, hindering efforts to advocate for their rights.