Women representation: A serious democratic deficit
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday September 5, 2022 06:00
TSABONG: Results of the just ended elective congress in Tsabong show that the under-representation of women in the BDP central committee (CC) constitutes a serious democratic deficit, something Masisi himself admitted.
The winning lobby led by Vice President Slumber Tsogwane did not have any women candidates. On the contrary, the rival lobby led by former Cabinet minister Nonofo Molefhi had two women in key positions but they ended up losing dismally.
The women, Tebelelo Seretse lost to Jagdish Shah for the deputy treasurer position while Unity Dow could not overcome Lemogang Kwape for the deputy secretary-general position.
Masisi said he is fully aware and worried that there is this bias against women. He also said this has been evidenced by the number of women in leadership positions. Masisi stated that in the Botswana political landscape it is a legacy issue. He said the problem is that women are unwilling to participate in politics. He indicated while they want to promote equality and democracy but they cannot achieve any of that if they continue to marginalise women.
Masisi also expressed sentiment that the under representation of women in the political landscape is a national problem. “It is not just a BDP one, it is a national problem. But we are proud in the BDP because we have women in Parliament and the opposition have none and they ought to be ashamed of themselves. We are doing well as the BDP but not as we would have liked,” he said.
Still on the matter, he said the political landscape is rough for women because politicians bully other politicians. However, he said they will keep on trying to enhance the chance of achieving gender parity. Parity democracy suggests the equal representation of women and men in decision-making positions but that seems far-fetched.
Masisi disclosed that he is working very hard in the party to encourage and promote conversations on and about women assuming any position in the party. He said he cannot force an individual on BDP members because he could end up becoming an unpopular leader. Masisi said when it comes to leadership, gender is secondary.
Defending his decision not to include any woman on his lobby list, Tsogwane was utterly dismissive putting the blame on the voters. He said if the BDP members wanted women, they could have voted for the women who contested under Molefhi’s lobby. Tsogwane felt that voters had the opportunity to bring in women but they didn’t. “I could not force the voter not to vote for women,” he indicated. Tsogwane also said it was not the responsibility of his lobby list to bring in women but it was also the choice of the voter.
Tsogwane said elections are a process and do not work like tendering where there is expression of interest.
“People join lobby lists by choice and they are not forced. Those women in the other lobby list did not approach me,” he highlighted. He said women who approached him wanted to be additional members and never expressed interest to contest other positions like secretary-general.
It cannot be questioned that women’s equal participation in political life plays a pivotal role in the general process of the advancement of women but the women themselves cite a number of reasons for their low or zero participation in politics. There is often self-doubt from women in the field, and policies which excessively benefit only men, but the recent incident involving a woman in the BDP was intimidation and harassment.
Specially Elected Member of Parliament Dow, who has fallen out with the BDP leadership, revealed that she was facing death threats and intimidation ahead of the Tsabong congress. Women are often discouraged from entering politics through pre-election tactics, and Dow says the only sin she had committed was to stand for elections at the elective congress in Tsabong. She further accused the BDP legislators of looking the other way as she continues to be subjected to harassment and cyber bullying. During the congress this past weekend in Tsabong, Dow told this publication in an interview that the harassment she has suffered at the hands of pseudo Facebook account France Museveni cost her.
This is not a new thing in the BDP especially when a woman is contesting for a key position. On the eve of the 2019 general election, Pelonomi Venson- Moitoi withdrew from the presidential race at the 11th hour stating that she would not take part in a ‘sham’ election. This was after Venson-Moitoi lost her challenge to the Kang congress after the court ruled she was not rightfully before the court and her case had no urgency. The former minister and Serowe West legislator had dragged the BDP to court on urgency arguing against its decision to cut 26 names from her list of sponsoring delegates, a decision that effectively ended her challenge against Masisi.
The 26 names cut were councillors whom the BDP said cannot be delegates for the elective congress. Moitoi later indicated that she ran against Masisi for the party presidency because she believed that she had a chance to offer the party a choice of leadership at its congress. Talk about a choice of leadership, the public face of BDP politics comprises men and the lack of representation of women at the top level even forced BDP Women’s Wing to rope in finance minister Peggy Serame as the chairperson. Serame believes that there is a need to increase women’s representation in both Parliament and councils.
Serame, who was elected into the office in June, said her committee will have to come up with strategies that could help women win both primary and general elections in upcoming polls. Before Serame became the chairperson of the BDP Women’s Wing, former Women’s Wing chairperson and current deputy chair, Veronica Lesole indicated that they roped Serame in because they wanted a woman who could represent them in both Cabinet and CC. When she took over as the chairperson one of Serame’s goals was to strengthen women’s stance in the party and amplify their voice but the weekend outcome shows that she still has a lot of work to do.
“I will work hand-in-hand with different Cabinet ministers to ensure that some policies that women have long been crying about are re-looked into and also bring in some new policies that could help to empower women,” she said at the time. Speaking of new policies that could help to empower women, in July women in politics through Gender Links pointed out that a review of the Constitution would provide a unique opportunity for Botswana to strengthen equality and non-discrimination clauses in the Constitution.
The women who came from five major political parties namely the BDP, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the Botswana National Front (BNF), the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and the Alliance for Progressives (AP) added that the review will provide for broad affirmative action and enhance women’s political participation specifically. One of the women politicians, Daisy Bathusi of the BCP said the 2015 Gender and Development Policy outlines priority areas of concern among them the low representation of women in politics. Last year Bathusi was vying for the vice presidency of the BCP but she later lost to Bobonong legislator Taolo Lucas. Bathusi wanted to be the first woman in the BCP vice presidency position, empowering women to pursue careers in politics and creating new precedents for other political parties.
Bathusi was shocked when the Botswana Congress Party Women’s League (BCPWL) snubbed her by endorsing Taolo, a male politician. “We are living in a patriarchal country where societal norms say that leadership roles are a preserve for men,” Bathusi told Mmegi in a previous interview.
Although the BDP’s dismissive Tsogwane could not address the lack of parity democracy in his party, the lack of promotion of women in decision-making positions is not just a BDP thing but it is also rampant in the opposition political circles.
The recent BNF elective congress where Duma Boko was re-elected as party president was another indicator. There were no women in all the key positions of the CC and none had contested. This lack of gender parity at party level is said to be undermining the sincerity of the modern democratic ideal.
Currently the representation of women in Parliament remains the lowest in SADC with 11%. This was just a slight one percent increase from 10% in 2014 to 11% in 2019. Only seven women legislators made it to parley following the general election that was held in 2019. Three of those were elected from the 57 seats whilst the rest were appointed as Specially Elected Members of Parliament.