Women in politics urged to be transformational leaders
Pini Bothoko | Monday June 27, 2022 06:00
It has been pointed out that women generally support each other socially as they are in solidarity in women societies like metshelo, child birth, during funerals and weddings amongst others.
It has been noted though that women still lag behind when it comes to supporting each other in leadership positions. This was revealed by the executive director of Community Advocacy and Awareness (CRAWN) Trust, Daisy Amdany at a Regional Women in Political Participation Academy training workshop which is underway here.
The event has attracted women in politics from seven countries in Africa namely Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya, Senegal, DRC, Zimbabwe and Eswatini.
Amdany also said they have established that women believe that politics is where negative connections take place something that has since affected their fully participation in politics. Furthermore, she called on women to believe in themselves and contest for leadership positions and support each other.
“I challenge women in politics to make persuasive speech when addressing the public and be women of principle. Women just like their male counterparts are capable of holding leadership positions because they have already demonstrated transformational leadership characteristics. One can wonder why most of them are not leading,” she said.
Amdany stated that women are more prone to transformational leadership given their interpersonal agility in mentoring and building confident followers. She challenged women in politics to inspire to be transformational leaders who set higher standards of behaviour, be future focussed and act for the greater good of the community they serve.
Amdany added that despite possessing these attributes women often face more barriers than men in getting top jobs. She said some barriers can be attributed to a misunderstanding of how politics strive and lack of resources.
“Women unlike men have more responsibilities to take care of the family, bear children and be full-time parents as compared to their male counterparts and they also lack resources to sponsor their political campaigns. At times women are even forced to ask for financial assistance from their husbands who might not be willing to help because the society view them as less capable of holding leadership positions,” Amdany said.
She further indicated that moving ahead requires an adept knowledge and grounding in politics, building powerful networks and ethical lobbying.
“Women should strive for equal opportunities in leadership, fight for gender mainstreaming for gender visibility. Since women are few in leadership positions they should consider working together and support each other because men already have set character of what politics is, to them politics is violence hence when competing with them for leadership positions, one should understand how they operate,” she said.
“Men expect women in politics to inherit their enemies, follow what they do and not to take their own decisions. I challenge you to be women who make own decisions and stick to them because you have demonstrated transformational leadership characteristics,” she said.
Additionally, she stated that there is a theory that if a man is strong, loud and self assure he is viewed as role model while when a woman exhibits the same she is called sorts of names. She said there has been reports that women receive more negative feedback when they exert control and dominance in their leadership style.
Giving testimony as a woman who has been in politics for years, former assistant minister of the then, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and former Member of Parliament for Mahalapye East, Botlogile Tshireletso called on women in politics to be competitive and assertive despite their background and brand themselves.
Tshireletso said gone are the days where women should be given leadership positions because they are women but to be given such positions because they are women of quality.
“I am pleading with aspiring young women in politics to be media friendly, brand yourselves by allowing the media in your space. Do not view the media as your enemies because these are the same people that your male counterparts use to profile and brand themselves.
“Do not be media shy, majority of women in top positions refuse to exercise their leadership positions and give the media interviews and would rather refer them to their male counterparts to handle such responsibilities,” Tshireletso said.
Other participants challenged women in politics in Kenya to engage with the media and brand themselves as women's political participation remains low ahead of this year's elections.