Women politicians push for a place at the table

Chinyepi says civil society has intensified efforts to bring more women to the game of politics
Chinyepi says civil society has intensified efforts to bring more women to the game of politics

Botswana is so used to positive international ratings that when the question of gender equity in politics arises, the blight dot is blamed on culture. While in the corporate world, the progress or lack of gender is put down to qualifications and experience, in politics these do not matter.

The regression in seeing women ascending to positions of power in politics has seen Botswana sitting at the bottom of the 15-member SADC countries, and hitting 123 in global rankings.

The statistics show Botswana in bad light. In Parliament for example, women make up only 11 percent of representation, with 22 percent in Cabinet.

Editor's Comment
The people have spoken

In fact, early election results in some areas across the country, speak to large voter turnout which suggests that voters crowded at polling stations to decide appropriately. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) revealed that 80% of the 1,037,684 people who had registered to vote turned up to exercise their right.It’s unfortunate that at the time of cobbling this editorial comment, results had just started trickling in. We recognise that...

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