Dow Challenges Youth
Pini Bothoko | Monday March 9, 2020 14:49
Chairperson of Parliamentary Caucus on Women, Unity Dow, made the challenge while officiating at this year’s commemoration of International Women’s Day that was held at Parliament grounds.
The commemoration was held under the theme, ‘I am generation equality: realising women’s rights’. Dow, who is also the Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, said the youth are not only the future of tomorrow but they are also problem solvers of today.
She challenged the youth to be the generation that will ask the hard questions and also provide the hard answers. Dow said to date women leadership remains a challenge with fewer numbers of women in leadership positions. “You can see that after so many years at leadership position, women representation in Parliament of Botswana can fit one table,” Dow said.
“But you are generation equality, you are going to realise women’s rights, and how are you going to do that, I have brought you here so that you can feel this is really your event because you are the generation that asks the hard questions.”
She further told the youth that one day they would be parents, have families, married and there is no doubt that they would be different from today’s leaders.
Dow urged lads to aspire to be different, aim to be fathers who would take part in raising of their children because they are the generation equality.
“Young men who are generation equality say, ‘I will take personal responsibility of my action, be there for my children because I will be part of the generation that takes responsibility of my action’. In addition, you are the generation that would say ‘I will not beat my girlfriend’ with young women being the generation that would say ‘I refuse to be beaten’. That is generation equality,” she said.
Dow also challenged young people to be the generation that would aim to frame a new way of interaction between men and women. She said the youth are the generation that would be bold and refuse to be more polite by asking hard questions. Motivating the youth, Desmond Lunga representing men and boys for gender equality said young men have lost the map because they do not have father figures at home. He said mothers raise their sons as single parents and the only men they get to see were those on social media.
“The violence incident that recently occurred at Riverwalk Debonairs outlet that circulated on social media has been spreading in our schools with lads seeing bullying as a way of showing strength and leadership. We need to re-socialise our boy children,” he said.
Lunga challenged lads to look at themselves and look at how they do things at schools as they celebrate women’s day. He said they should find out if they respect or bully girls and what kind of young boys they are or would become.
He said there are generational challenges hence today’s youth should be able to establish their challenges and how they intend to overcome them.