This is the time in our history when we need to dispel all clichés, myths and stereotypes about us not supporting one another.
It is the time when we encourage women to stand for election and also rally behind all those who have taken up the courageous position to stand for elections in this patriarchal society of ours, knowing very well that the odds are stacked high against them. These women have stood up, daunting as the task maybe, they have stood up nevertheless. We are all therefore duty bound as women to stand beside them as they fight for our inclusiveness and acceptance as equals in this male dominated world of politics.Women, our plight in this country is no different to the plight of the black South African in the apartheid era, where though they were a majority they were excluded in the governance structures of their country. We constitute 52 percent of the population of Botswana and yet have only 8 percent representation in the national assembly, thereby ruled by the minority. When one pictures that 50 years down the line, since independence, we have had less than 20 women in the national assembly out of which only 5 (inclusive of the two opposition) got in through elections first time around, whilst the rest had to put their foot in through special elections first, and worst still many of those specially elected could not even get their second term on their own bidding. Furthermore, just as the blacks under the apartheid regime to whom violence and jail were the norm, we also are prisoners in our homesteads and continue to suffer mental and physical abuse under the hands of our minority rulers.
