We just do the same duties that a man soldier does. It is the same as being a woman engineer,” she told Mmegi last weekend at the Botswana Defence Force Donga camp where she played netball for Namibia in the bi-lateral military games.
She asserted that there should be no hassles over the living conditions of soldiers as “we are all humans. Why should the other gender be given any preferences?”
She said it is all about passion in defending one’s country and what a person wants in life.
France does not look like a soldier with her short hair extensions and her petite body. She looks more like a model. But she said she has chosen to be in the military rather than elsewhere. “I have always wanted to be a soldier since I was a young girl. So when I finished school, there was no debate between me and my parents. They had to respect my wishes and choices,” France said with a smile.
When she told her parents about her career choice, there was nothing they could have done to stand in her way.
She told Mmegi that when people want to follow careers in the army, they should not be discouraged by the many negative things said about soldiers. “What harsh conditions? If women can afford to work tirelessly in the fields with babies strapped on their backs all day long, then there is nothing wrong with them joining the army. What makes you think that women in Botswana can fail to enlist in the army?
In fact they may do the job better than the men. Women are hard workers and have been exposed to all kinds of hardships, in one way or the other in their lives. Going to the army will not change anything,” France emphasised.
She said that for women, being a soldier is the same as being an engineer or working in other male dominated fields.
She said that in many instances, women usually work very hard to prove they have what it takes. “If you are an engineer, do you think you can sit back and be discriminated against at the expense of your male counterparts?
You cannot. That is why I have vowed to defend my country if there is war because that is what I have chosen to do,” she said.
France explained that she has been exposed to the grueling training with her male counterparts and she survived. To her, the training was just part of the initiation for the job and she had to endure all the hardships to represent her country with pride.
“Up till now, I have not been exposed to any dangerous situation where I have to think about my family. If that situation arises, I will tackle it like a soldier,” she vowed.
