�Where are the women in Unions?�
Baboki Kayawe | Thursday March 9, 2017 15:37
As the world celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) yesterday, women were reminded of the stark gender disparities existing in trade Unions, and were called on to close the gender gaps.
Despite women-folk making up the majority of the labour movement’s membership, a very meagre percentage of them are in Union leadership positions.
Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union’s (BOESTU) gender secretary, Refilwe Malemane said the labour movement continues to be male-dominated despite boasting huge women membership, as well as having women with ample potential.
“Currently at BOSETU there are only two female members of the National Executive Committee, and one sits in the National Governance Council. Where are the women?” asked Malemane.
The Union will be going for its elective congress in August, and women are encouraged to stand together and elect fellow women.
Women are generally invisible in all facets of the economy, Malemane said, adding that an example was the Women in Sports movement, a concept which she described as beautiful, but said was now difficult to spot. She encouraged women to stand up and be counted in the political realm too, saying the low level of women’s political representation remained an eyesore.
This year’s International Women’s Day was held under the theme #BeBoldForChange. Malemane said the theme challenged all people to recognise that gender is crosscutting and does not speak to women alone.
“We need to reflect and think about all women instead of focusing on the heterosexual women alone, there are transgender women, bisexuals and female sex workers, and we need to empower them, their livelihoods need to be empowered,” Malemane added.
Former Union additional member, Remember Kelefhile who also spoke at the event said women should bear in mind gender disparity prevails due to the cycle of socialisation. She advocated for serious de-socialisation to happen because until then, women will always lag behind in positions of leadership and decision-making platforms.
“Gender disparity is even rampant in trade Unions, it’s a domain of men, we need to find a way to de-socialise,” she said.
IWD originally called International Working Women’s Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the struggle for women’s rights, also celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements.