Parly weighs in on Gender Protocol snub

Gothataone Moeng | Thursday July 3, 2014 06:59

Francistown West legislator and the first female opposition Member of Parliament, Habaudi Hobona is set to present a motion asking the House to request government to sign and ratify the Gender Protocol.

Botswana is one of only two countries within SADC that are yet to sign the protocol, seven years after its adoption by the majority of countries in the region.  

The Protocol is a commitment by countries to provide for the empowerment of women, eliminate discrimination and achieve gender equality by encouraging and harmonising the development and implementation of gender responsive legislation, policies, programmes and projects.

Yesterday, Hobona told Mmegi that Botswana’s continued non-signature of the Protocol threatens to dent the country’s “fairly good” record on human rights.

“Gender issues are human rights issues and you can’t address human rights without gender issues, because they are about socialisation and how you are looked at within a society,” she said, adding that the failure to sign makes Botswana seem as though it only pays lip-service to gender issues.

“If we don’t sign, it is as if we are just halfway on the discussion on gender equality. It’s important to show that we are 100 percent behind the gender equality and gender mainstreaming agenda,” she said.

She said the time is right for Botswana to sign the protocol as gender issues are not only centre-stage globally, but Botswana also struggles with gender inequality and challenges. Hobona also challenged government to come forward with their reservations on the Protocol as it stands, and to lead the debate on where and how it can be improved.

“If there is anything that is lacking, I would encourage the government to be forward on what they don’t like and bring those issues to public debate,” she said. The MP said even though women have made strides in a lot of areas, there are still challenges.

“How many years has it taken for a female opposition MP to appear in Parliament?  What it means is that the road is bumpy. It’s high time we go all the way or lead the debate on how we can improve the Protocol,” she said. Hobona is not the first high-profile woman to speak out about the non-signature of the Protocol. Recently National Assembly Speaker, Margaret Nasha slammed government for what she called “flimsy” excuses extended for its reluctance to sign the Protocol.  Government has previously said there are steep financial implications to the implementation of the Protocol. Representatives have also said the language set out in the Protocol is “too instructive”.