Ditshwanelo on International Women�s Day
Correspondent | Wednesday March 9, 2016 17:50
International Women’s Day is a day to appreciate hard-earned gains by previous generations in the fight for gender equality.
It is a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements by and of women.
Women have made progress since the first International Women’s Day in 1908 when 15,000 amazing women marched through the streets of New York City demanding shorter work hours, better pay, and the right to vote.
At its 16th DITSHWANELO Annual Human Rights Film Festival on April 6, 2016, She’s Beautiful when She’s Angry, which chronicles the women’s movement in the USA, will be screened.
A post-screening panel will address ‘Whither the Botswana Women’s Movement?’ The Panel will comprise Mary Dore, the US-based film director, and local gender activists, including Elsie Alexander and Godisang Mookodi.
In Botswana 2016, women not only have the right to vote, but also to employment. Some have succeeded, to hold high office in the country.
These offices include, Governor of the Bank of Botswana, Attorney General, Speaker of the National Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Minister of Local Government.
However, despite this progress, some concerns remain. These include the limited number of women captains of industry; and unacceptably high numbers of survivors and victims of violence against women.
Globally, women have limited access to education, health, freedom from discrimination and safety from violence. There are also insufficient established policy and practice frameworks regulating equal pay for equal work.
DITSHWANELO recognises that no society can develop sustainably without equal opportunities, resources and choices for males, females and others, to shape their own lives. Societies with greater gender equality experience faster economic growth.
DITSHWANELO therefore:
l Calls upon men, women and others to join forces to collectively enable gender equality for sustainable development of our society,
l Calls upon the government of Botswana to adopt the National Policy on Gender and Development (Presented to Parliament in July 2015),
l Calls upon the Government of Botswana to sign, ratify and domesticate the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and,
l Calls for the strengthening of the women’s movement in Botswana, for it to engage meaningfully with the challenges facing women, 50 years after our independence in 1966.
Ditshwanelo
Gaborone
March 8, 2016