- Political parties fail to establish quotas - Calls to domesticate the SADC Gender Protocol grow
Only three Botswana Democratic Party women candidates - Talitha Monnakgotla, Annah Mokgethi and Nnaniki Makwinja - were elected into Parliament through the poll in the 2019 general election.
An additional four - the current Finance Minister, Peggy Serame, who is also the BDP Women’s Wing President, Assistant Trade Minister Beauty Manake, Minister of Environment Philda Kereng and Dr Unity Dow, who has earned the opposition a female representative in Parliament after joining the BCP- were appointed Specially-Elected MPs.
Concerns have been expressed before regarding the disproportionately higher representation of males in Parliament. Further, that this cannot serve and effectively protect the needs, concerns and interests of all impartially, as men’s life experiences are fundamentally different from those of women.
The 2019 Emang Basadi National Study for Increased Women’s Representation in Politics titled, Mme O Kae? states that it is imperative that the experiences and ensuing needs, expectations and aspirations of women and girls should be understood and equally mainstreamed into all aspects of development initiatives in all spheres of their lives.
This is however, impossible with the insignificant representation of women in Parliament.
Observers say the significantly higher representation of males in Parliament is bound to result in unintentionally skewed decisions in favour of the gender in the majority, simply based on gendered views and perspectives.
They argue that in the case where there is an overwhelming majority of male representatives, the national development agenda can only be partially achieved because failing to take the needs and aspirations of women and girls into full consideration in all spheres of development is bound to exclude foundational success determinants, without which planned outcomes and impacts cannot be fully realised and sustained.
“When you have a parliament that is predominantly male, it means it will miss the female perspective,” the Mme O Kae Study suggests.
Further, that while there are often consultations with relevant bodies in formulation of laws, it will never come close to when women themselves are involved at the core and not only at secondary levels.
This suggests that as long as there is no equal participation of men and women, development, which is at the core of human existence will be compromised.
Emang Basadi Women’s Association Executive Director, Ida Mokereitane says this is a wake-up call to all stakeholders to do something about the status quo, and ensure that there is gender parity.
“We need laws that will enforce that at a minimum we should have 30 percent,” she says, adding, that is it high time that individual political parties are deliberate about empowering women by clearly-stated quotas.
She also strongly believes that the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development that Botswana acceded to will bear no fruits if it is not domesticated, and eventually translated into enforceable laws that will place women in a better position to contest elections.
Mokereitane regrets that currently, the political landscape regarding women representation is not looking so good.
“As it is now, some primary elections for individual political parties were conducted late, and others have not even started,” she said, adding that this, further disadvantages women.
She added that political parties do not want to take a firm stand regarding women representation, stating that while others have placed a quota, others have left it open.
“Quotas begin at party level. It is upon political parties to ensure that women are given equal opportunity and necessary support to contest for elections,” she said.
Mokereitane revealed that implementation of some of the recommendations of their five-year-old Mme O Kae Study is ongoing. For example, they have partnered with Ditshwanelo and BOCONGO among others, on issues of gender equality and women in politics.
She adds that their active participation in the Constitutional Review process that was spearheaded by the Presidential Commission on the Review of the Constitution demonstrates their commitment to see things change.
She believes that the constitutional review is a tool that will facilitate change, because the constitution is where all laws are crafted from.
In addition, she adds that after realisation that some of the hurdles of women participation in politics is lack of finance, they have partnered with the African Development Fund among other partners to kick-start a fund resource mobilisation for women politicians.
“While this fund might not help in the coming elections, we believe that at least in 2029, the fund will support women efficiently,” Mokereitane told Botswana Guardian.
Among the things that Emang Basadi Women’s Association has lined up this year, is intensive training for women that have indicated interest to contest for elections.
“We will train them in leadership, self-confidence, assertiveness, public speaking, profiling and campaigning, among other things,” she said.
According to the Mme O Kae Study, it is important to have equal number of women and men in political office. The study presents six arguments that support women representation.
Firstly, the justice argument holds that women account for approximately more than half of the population and therefore have the right to be represented as such.
Secondly, the experience argument stresses that women’s experiences are different from men’s and need to be represented in discussions that result in policy-making and implementation.
Third, the interest argument on the other hand presupposes that the interests of men and women are different and even conflicting and therefore women are needed in representative institutions to articulate the interest of women.
While, fourth, the critical mass argument says women are able to achieve solidarity of purpose to represent women’s interest when they achieve certain levels of representation.
Fifth, the symbolic argument believes that women are attracted to political life if they have role models in the arena, while lastly the democratic argument says the equal representation of women and men enhance
democratisation of governance in both transitional and consolidated democracies.
So far, the opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has announced five women parliamentary candidates that have already been confirmed to contest this year’s general election in October.
They are, the country’s first female judge Dr Unity Dow, who will contest the Kgatleng West constituency, Mpho Pheko for Gaborone Central, Daisy Bathusi for Boteti East, Ethel Manka Gampone for Mahalapye East and Julia Chepete for Mogoditshane West.
BCP Women’s League President, Tshimologo Dingake told Botswana Guardian that as the BCPWL they have always been concerned about the low representation of women especially in parliament.
“We have also observed how it has been handled as a privilege of men leaders to decide that women serve at their pleasure through special nomination.
“While we appreciate the gesture, we consider that this creates an allegiance to the people in power that gags women from objectively representing women issues.
“It is our preference that as many women as possible should contest an election. It is however a steep slope for many reasons,” she said.
The five women parliamentary candidates for this year’s general election present a commendable progress because in 2019, the party only had one woman contesting under the UDC banner, Dr Pheko and she lost Gaborone Central.
According to Dingake, the BCP never ceases to engage in continuous efforts to ensure that women within the party are empowered to stand for political office. The BCPWL has a women Leadership Programme where they train women all over Botswana, then encourage them to contest.
The party also has affirmative action for women, youth and disadvantaged communities, including Rural Area Development Programme (RADS).
“These groups pay half the fees to register as candidates. The BCP has 42 women council candidates for 2024 elections,” Dingake reveals.
The BCPWL has also lined up activities to empower their members.
“We are currently on a mission to fundraise for the candidates, we will then be doing more leadership training and then also the on the ground work for which we have created supported teams.
“Re mo mosepeleng wa Kgololesego ya sechaba (we are in a journey to liberate the nation),” she says, adding that the BCP is ready and determined to unseat the BDP which they feel is failing Batswana.
Further, that the women of the BCP have found it necessary to be part of the race to Save Botswana because at the end of the day when the country is hit by an economic slum of any sort, women and children are the direct victims.
According to Botswana National Front (BNF) Women’s League President, Katlego Morolong, a lot of women from the BNF have expressed interest in contesting elections.
So far, there is just one-woman parliamentary candidate, and 50 women for Councils wards.
“This is a good number looking at the fact that women mostly struggle financially,” she said, adding that the number will be augmented by women candidates from other parties in the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)
Coalition, that comprises BNF, Botswana People’s Party (BPP), Alliance for Progressives (AP) and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).
In Morolong’s view the expression of interest from the BNF is a good indication that the total number of women candidates for both Council and Parliament from all contracting parties will be good, once they have reconciled numbers from partners.
She adds that BNF has lined up a number of activities to ready and empower women to stand for political office.
“On February 10, we will have a roundtable leadership forum that will include all women candidates where different stakeholders will train them on public speaking, people’s relations and financial literacy.
“We will also have a representative from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) who will be talking on political education. In addition to this, there is a leadership forum on the cards all in an effort to assist women candidates as much as possible.
Candidates will also be assisted as far as campaigns are concerned, to show support.
Morolong told Botswana Guardian that they have also reached out to the South African Communist Party (SACP), African National Congress (ANC) inviting them to assist in policy drafting and opportunities to benchmark from their parties, as well as funding assistance.
Morolong said the BNFWL believes that the proposed P50 000 for political party funding is the beginning of positive things to come because political funding is an issue that has been a topic of discussion for years.
“We will see how this will help and perhaps renegotiate going forward for even better,” she said.
Morolong added that the BNFWL is involved in the negotiation of wards.
“If a woman shows interest in contesting in a particular constituency, where there are male candidates, the women’s league comes in to negotiate for the woman candidate,” she said.
BDP is yet to conduct primaries, and announce their women candidates. In Africa, Rwanda is the only country with the strongest female participation in the continent followed by Senegal. According to https://www.statista.com over 60 percent of the seats in Rwanda's national parliament were held by women as of December 2022. Rwanda also ranked first globally, with the highest proportion of women in power in lower houses than in any other nation.
Second in the African ranking, Senegal registered 46 percent of parliamentary seats occupied by females. South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique also recorded a level of women participation above 40 percent. It is noted that the best performing countries regarding female representation had in common the adoption of electoral quotas for women, a condition not present in the nations on the bottom of the ranking.
An additional four - the current Finance Minister, Peggy Serame, who is also the BDP Women’s Wing President, Assistant Trade Minister Beauty Manake, Minister of Environment Philda Kereng and Dr Unity Dow, who has earned the opposition a female representative in Parliament after joining the BCP- were appointed Specially-Elected MPs.
Concerns have been expressed before regarding the disproportionately higher representation of males in Parliament. Further, that this cannot serve and effectively protect the needs, concerns and interests of all impartially, as men’s life experiences are fundamentally different from those of women.
The 2019 Emang Basadi National Study for Increased Women’s Representation in Politics titled, Mme O Kae? states that it is imperative that the experiences and ensuing needs, expectations and aspirations of women and girls should be understood and equally mainstreamed into all aspects of development initiatives in all spheres of their lives.
This is however, impossible with the insignificant representation of women in Parliament.
Observers say the significantly higher representation of males in Parliament is bound to result in unintentionally skewed decisions in favour of the gender in the majority, simply based on gendered views and perspectives.
They argue that in the case where there is an overwhelming majority of male representatives, the national development agenda can only be partially achieved because failing to take the needs and aspirations of women and girls into full consideration in all spheres of development is bound to exclude foundational success determinants, without which planned outcomes and impacts cannot be fully realised and sustained.
“When you have a parliament that is predominantly male, it means it will miss the female perspective,” the Mme O Kae Study suggests.
Further, that while there are often consultations with relevant bodies in formulation of laws, it will never come close to when women themselves are involved at the core and not only at secondary levels.
This suggests that as long as there is no equal participation of men and women, development, which is at the core of human existence will be compromised.
Emang Basadi Women’s Association Executive Director, Ida Mokereitane says this is a wake-up call to all stakeholders to do something about the status quo, and ensure that there is gender parity.
“We need laws that will enforce that at a minimum we should have 30 percent,” she says, adding, that is it high time that individual political parties are deliberate about empowering women by clearly-stated quotas.
She also strongly believes that the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development that Botswana acceded to will bear no fruits if it is not domesticated, and eventually translated into enforceable laws that will place women in a better position to contest elections.
Mokereitane regrets that currently, the political landscape regarding women representation is not looking so good.
“As it is now, some primary elections for individual political parties were conducted late, and others have not even started,” she said, adding that this, further disadvantages women.
She added that political parties do not want to take a firm stand regarding women representation, stating that while others have placed a quota, others have left it open.
“Quotas begin at party level. It is upon political parties to ensure that women are given equal opportunity and necessary support to contest for elections,” she said.
Mokereitane revealed that implementation of some of the recommendations of their five-year-old Mme O Kae Study is ongoing. For example, they have partnered with Ditshwanelo and BOCONGO among others, on issues of gender equality and women in politics.
She adds that their active participation in the Constitutional Review process that was spearheaded by the Presidential Commission on the Review of the Constitution demonstrates their commitment to see things change.
She believes that the constitutional review is a tool that will facilitate change, because the constitution is where all laws are crafted from.
In addition, she adds that after realisation that some of the hurdles of women participation in politics is lack of finance, they have partnered with the African Development Fund among other partners to kick-start a fund resource mobilisation for women politicians.
“While this fund might not help in the coming elections, we believe that at least in 2029, the fund will support women efficiently,” Mokereitane told Botswana Guardian.
Among the things that Emang Basadi Women’s Association has lined up this year, is intensive training for women that have indicated interest to contest for elections.
“We will train them in leadership, self-confidence, assertiveness, public speaking, profiling and campaigning, among other things,” she said.
According to the Mme O Kae Study, it is important to have equal number of women and men in political office. The study presents six arguments that support women representation.
Firstly, the justice argument holds that women account for approximately more than half of the population and therefore have the right to be represented as such.
Secondly, the experience argument stresses that women’s experiences are different from men’s and need to be represented in discussions that result in policy-making and implementation.
Third, the interest argument on the other hand presupposes that the interests of men and women are different and even conflicting and therefore women are needed in representative institutions to articulate the interest of women.
While, fourth, the critical mass argument says women are able to achieve solidarity of purpose to represent women’s interest when they achieve certain levels of representation.
Fifth, the symbolic argument believes that women are attracted to political life if they have role models in the arena, while lastly the democratic argument says the equal representation of women and men enhance
democratisation of governance in both transitional and consolidated democracies.
So far, the opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has announced five women parliamentary candidates that have already been confirmed to contest this year’s general election in October.
They are, the country’s first female judge Dr Unity Dow, who will contest the Kgatleng West constituency, Mpho Pheko for Gaborone Central, Daisy Bathusi for Boteti East, Ethel Manka Gampone for Mahalapye East and Julia Chepete for Mogoditshane West.
BCP Women’s League President, Tshimologo Dingake told Botswana Guardian that as the BCPWL they have always been concerned about the low representation of women especially in parliament.
“We have also observed how it has been handled as a privilege of men leaders to decide that women serve at their pleasure through special nomination.
“While we appreciate the gesture, we consider that this creates an allegiance to the people in power that gags women from objectively representing women issues.
“It is our preference that as many women as possible should contest an election. It is however a steep slope for many reasons,” she said.
The five women parliamentary candidates for this year’s general election present a commendable progress because in 2019, the party only had one woman contesting under the UDC banner, Dr Pheko and she lost Gaborone Central.
According to Dingake, the BCP never ceases to engage in continuous efforts to ensure that women within the party are empowered to stand for political office. The BCPWL has a women Leadership Programme where they train women all over Botswana, then encourage them to contest.
The party also has affirmative action for women, youth and disadvantaged communities, including Rural Area Development Programme (RADS).
“These groups pay half the fees to register as candidates. The BCP has 42 women council candidates for 2024 elections,” Dingake reveals.
The BCPWL has also lined up activities to empower their members.
“We are currently on a mission to fundraise for the candidates, we will then be doing more leadership training and then also the on the ground work for which we have created supported teams.
“Re mo mosepeleng wa Kgololesego ya sechaba (we are in a journey to liberate the nation),” she says, adding that the BCP is ready and determined to unseat the BDP which they feel is failing Batswana.
Further, that the women of the BCP have found it necessary to be part of the race to Save Botswana because at the end of the day when the country is hit by an economic slum of any sort, women and children are the direct victims.
According to Botswana National Front (BNF) Women’s League President, Katlego Morolong, a lot of women from the BNF have expressed interest in contesting elections.
So far, there is just one-woman parliamentary candidate, and 50 women for Councils wards.
“This is a good number looking at the fact that women mostly struggle financially,” she said, adding that the number will be augmented by women candidates from other parties in the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)
Coalition, that comprises BNF, Botswana People’s Party (BPP), Alliance for Progressives (AP) and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).
In Morolong’s view the expression of interest from the BNF is a good indication that the total number of women candidates for both Council and Parliament from all contracting parties will be good, once they have reconciled numbers from partners.
She adds that BNF has lined up a number of activities to ready and empower women to stand for political office.
“On February 10, we will have a roundtable leadership forum that will include all women candidates where different stakeholders will train them on public speaking, people’s relations and financial literacy.
“We will also have a representative from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) who will be talking on political education. In addition to this, there is a leadership forum on the cards all in an effort to assist women candidates as much as possible.
Candidates will also be assisted as far as campaigns are concerned, to show support.
Morolong told Botswana Guardian that they have also reached out to the South African Communist Party (SACP), African National Congress (ANC) inviting them to assist in policy drafting and opportunities to benchmark from their parties, as well as funding assistance.
Morolong said the BNFWL believes that the proposed P50 000 for political party funding is the beginning of positive things to come because political funding is an issue that has been a topic of discussion for years.
“We will see how this will help and perhaps renegotiate going forward for even better,” she said.
Morolong added that the BNFWL is involved in the negotiation of wards.
“If a woman shows interest in contesting in a particular constituency, where there are male candidates, the women’s league comes in to negotiate for the woman candidate,” she said.
BDP is yet to conduct primaries, and announce their women candidates. In Africa, Rwanda is the only country with the strongest female participation in the continent followed by Senegal. According to https://www.statista.com over 60 percent of the seats in Rwanda's national parliament were held by women as of December 2022. Rwanda also ranked first globally, with the highest proportion of women in power in lower houses than in any other nation.
Second in the African ranking, Senegal registered 46 percent of parliamentary seats occupied by females. South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique also recorded a level of women participation above 40 percent. It is noted that the best performing countries regarding female representation had in common the adoption of electoral quotas for women, a condition not present in the nations on the bottom of the ranking.
