Botswana is counted amongst countries, which still struggle when it comes to increasing women's representation in Parliament.
In the 2014 General Election, women who stood for parliamentary elections were a mere 17 out of a total of 192 aspirants, and sadly the number dropped to 11 out of 210 parliamentary aspirants in the 2019 General Election. Hopefully, registration of the Women in Politics Caucus will give women the necessary support to join politics. While things were slowly improving, women for a long time were at the receiving end as compared to their male counterparts. Women are still faced with a lot of discrimination and inequality. They face violence, abuse, and unequal treatment, at work and in their communities. Women need substantial representation in decision-making positions and it is high time women come together and elevate each other for the good of the women and girl-child folk.
During the launch of the Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics NGO its former chairperson, Margaret Nasha: “We need strong, vocal women who can stand their ground on issues affecting women. There are still policies that disadvantage women compared to men, and this organisation must speak out about them. Your contribution to the ongoing constitutional review being debated in Parliament is crucial. It's not too late, as no proposals have been made to improve women's lives." Women need a lot of education on a variety of issues. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, from the grassroots to ensure that women and their male counterparts become partners in ensuring that the voices of women are heard. Nasha at the launch stressed that: "No one can speak on behalf of women better than themselves in both leadership levels." There is no greater truth than that one, policies that talk to issues that affect women cannot be made without women’s voices, otherwise, it will just be that policies that don't improve the lives of women in any way! We need to move with the times and join other nations across the globe in making representation in both Parliament and local government proportional.
Women have time and again proven that they, like men, have the capabilities to lead and steer big multinational corporations to prosperity! Hopefully, the caucus will be the beginning of greater things to come and we'll begin to see more and more women confidently joining politics and freely advancing their views. It is through such institutions that women can get support such as training to navigate the political sphere with a better understanding. Hopefully, with unfair treatment out of the equation, we'll see a difference during the upcoming general elections and going forward.
