Women urged to vote women

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Wednesday October 5, 2011 00:00

 

Speaking during the opening of a two-day workshop for Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA) women commissioners held in Gaborone yesterday, Kruger urged women to be responsible for increasing their numbers in politics. 'Women are the majority in everything.  We are the cornerstones of our families, of the church and of our economy,' she said.

Kruger said women should elevate each other rather than looking down upon their fellow females. 'If you belittle another woman, then you are belittling yourself as a woman,' she said.  She said women politicians have the weakness of forgetting about other women on the ground once they are voted into office.

Delivering the opening address, principal gender officer from the Women's Affairs department Game Makondo said it is important as a department to empower councillors concerning gender matters.

'We will never cease to overemphasise the importance of empowering councillors in relation to gender matters because councillors are very near and close to the communities and therefore if we reach them, we then have a greater chance of having information reach communities,' she said.

Makondo said the low representation of women in decision-making and in local government makes it difficult for the women's affairs department in establishing partnerships to help push the gender agenda into local government. The women's commission was launched by the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA), a Pan African organisation founded in 2005, out of the need for the unity of the African people in general and municipal movements in particular. The commission's general aims and objectives are to empower and capacitate women through effective participation in decision making in local governance, to be the united voice of women elected and appointed leaders in African local governance and to facilitate networking opportunities for women elected and appointed to serve local communities.

The two-day workshop is aimed at assessing issues affecting women in local government.  It will also culminate in voting in of new women commissioners today, who will represent the 16 councils in Botswana. The workshop was attended by councillors from most of the councils in the country.