11 Jul 2013

Women have been encouraged to stand for political positions in large numbers because women representation in Parliament has dropped to 11 per cent. 

Emang Basadi chief executive officer, Ms Ida Mokereitane said this during the recent Emang Basadi workshop in Palapye. Ms Mokereitane said in the 1999 general elections, 18 per cent of women were elected to Parliament while in 2004, the percentage dropped to 11 per cent.

She told women not to undermine their potential, adding that, “politics is for everyone and not men only”. Ms Mokereitane said voter education under the political education project was launched in 1993 after the organisation realised that there was a gap between women and men in political.

Through the voter education programme, she said aspiring women candidates weree taken on board on issues of decision making, campaign management, assertiveness and public presentation skills. Ms Mokereitane said the programme also provided the general public with democracy, good governance and electoral process training.

Through this project, she said, Emang Basadi participated in observation and monitoring of elections locally and regionally in order to find out if other countries adhered to the regional principles of election management and also monitor whether the elections were free and fair.

For her part, Emang Basadi representative in Palapye, Ms Ditshebo Gaborone said women should be active participants in elections because they understand issues concerning women far much better than their male counterparts.

Ms Gaborone said her organisation had been facing financial constraints, which made it difficult to conduct workshops to sensitise women on political issues. ENDS