Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana has over the years made a significant progress in granting women and men equal rights and opportunities.
Speaking at a Gender Equality and Women Empowerment workshop in Gaborone, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Ms Anna Mokgethi said the abolition of Marital Power Act in 2005 was a land mark reform that significantly advanced rights of women.
The progress also included reforms in the 90’s which lifted some job restrictions for women, making the pension system more equal.
Ms Mokgethi said the historic legislations allowed women to freely choose where to live, get a job without permission from their husbands, allowed women to sign legally binding contracts, register and open businesses without husbands consent.
She said the workshop, which marked women’s month and launch of the Women Business and Law 2023 report, needed to also reflect that there were still billions of women around the world with no same rights and opportunities as men.
She said that was a fact which should prompt humanity to act because inequality was not simply unjust but also bad for the economy.
“Women’s economic empowerment is both the right thing to do and a smart investment,” she said, further explaining that, equality of opportunity allowed women to make choices that were best for them, their families and their communities.
Ms Mokgethi pointed out that when women had more opportunities, not only were their rights guaranteed, but the economy did better too, adding that greater equality led to stronger economies which benefited not just women but all of the society.
“Women empowered societies become more inclusive, equal, productive and more resilient, and this can be achieved only when we popularise actions closing the gender gap,” she said.
She observed that gender equality was key for societies, as it enabled more women to join the labour force; rise through managerial positions, and greater representation of women in key institutions, including courts and parliament.
Deputy permanent secretary Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture Mr Tshepo Mophuting said launch of a Report on Women Business and The Law, a document, which covered 190 economies and was structured around the life of a working woman was commendable.
He said gender equality was a fundamental human right enshrined in the constitution of Botswana, which forbid any form of discrimination.
“It is in this regard that the government of Botswana has enacted laws, established structures, availed resources to ensure that the statues of women is improved,” he said.
Mr Mophuting further explained that government was fully convinced that promoting gender equality and harnessing the productive potential of women resonated with the Reset Agenda, which aimed to transform Botswana from a middle income country to a high income country.
“As such government has adopted targeted support to women through programme and polices that ensure and accelerate their sustainable participation in socio-economic development, he said.
He said in 2021 Botswana enacted the Economic Inclusion Act, which aimed to promote effective participation of targeted citizens in the economic growth.
Ms Marie Francoise Marie Nelly, Country Director of the World Bank for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa said the World Bank, viewed gender equality as an important development element.
She said it was central to vision and mandate of the World Bank’s quest of eliminating extreme poverty and promoting equality, adding, women economic rights had however improved in national parliaments across the globe.
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