Emerging role of women

1. Female-headed households
 Between 1981 and 1991 the proportion of female-headed households
in Botswana increased from 45% to 47% and in the rural areas over
half of the households are headed by females.
 According to the 1991 census, 45.6% of all female-headed house-
holds had none of their members employed in cash earning jobs.
 As an indicator, population pressure on family resources shows
that 28.1% of total female-headed households have between 7 and
10 dependent members in the household.
 Characteristically, these households are generally poorer than the
male-headed households which have about 2.6 times and eight
times more earning power in the urban and rural areas respectively.
 This situation has adverse implications for productivity and income
generation at the household level as well as for child survival and
development

2. Female-headed households cont.
 Of increasing significance and concern is the rising number of young women who
are heads of households on their own.
 They account for a third of all female-headed households.
 The income earning capacity of this group is constrained by numerous dependent
children, lack of opportunity to accumulate productive resources like cattle and
farming implements and difficulty in getting access to credit.
 They are further constrained by limited education and training which limits their
employability.
 I hope you know that having female-headed households is nowadays very common.
 In traditional African societies it was very rare to have a household that was headed
by a female.
 This was because women were not allowed to have children until they were married
however; this is no longer the practise resulting in the widespread of female-headed
households.
 Women have also proved their worth in a number of ways as they can manage to
support and maintain their children on their own.

3. Equal access to jobs
 In the previous lesson you learnt that many women have
remained in rural areas while their husbands went to work in
the cities.
 Nowadays, however, many women have gone to the cities too
to look for paying jobs.
 As a result of gender discrimination in the past women were
often denied good jobs.
 As many women were less educated compared to men, they
had to take some of the worst paid jobs.
 There were instances when women did the same jobs as men
yet paid less money.
 This is slowly fading away as today certain job qualifications
are tied to salary scales which do not favour people of a
particular gender over the other

4. Equal access to jobs cont.
 Many women around the world work for low paying factory jobs.
 In the factories of Latin America and the newly industrialising countries of
Asia, women often work very long hours for a very low pay.
 Women are considered to be more likely to put up with bad conditions and
less likely to go on strike for better wages as they are considered passive
fighters.
 Since these women are often poor and have families to support, they are
afraid to complain lest they lose their jobs, and they put up with the bad
conditions and always ensure that they make the best out of the worst
situations.
 Large numbers of young girls who did not perform well at school become
domestic workers and they too worked long hours for very low wages.
 Some even worked outside their own countries like the half-a-million
Phillipino girls who worked as servants in the cities of the developed
countries.

5. Equal access to jobs cont.
 Today many uneducated women in the urban areas of developing
countries are unable to find jobs in the modern sector.
 Instead, they set up as street traders selling things such as
vegetables, traditional cures, home-made beer and cooked food to
mention a few.
 A few build up successful businesses such as traders, hairdressers
and dressmakers.
 Some of the most desperate women become prostitutes and live a
dangerous life, risking the dangers of AIDS and sexual abuse,
among others.
 All over the developing world women in urban areas are getting
together to set up small businesses, getting credit, arranging for
child care and generally working to improve their lives.

6. Equal access to jobs cont.
 Learner, I hope you are well aware that in Botswana the
success of some women in both the public and private sector
does not reflect the situation of the majority of women.
 The nature and extent of gender inequalities in access to
employment and income is reflected in the occupational
distribution of the labour force.
 The most important single occupation of females in 1991 was
domestic work as nearly one in four of all females working for
cash was a domestic worker.
 In Botswana today, there still exist some professions that are
almost 100% male dominated.
 This mostly affects the armed forces especially the Special
Support Group.

7. Equal access to jobs cont.
 In many African countries such as South Africa and
Zambia women are encouraged to join the armed forces.
 The women who did not get employed in those forces
ended up working as domestic workers for those men
employed in the armed forces.
 The disparities in access to education and employment
are further reflected in the opportunities available for
entry into professional jobs.
 Women account for just a third of all professional posts
across all industries including the civil service.
 They are most prominent in the educational profession
(43%), Local and Central Government (33%) and
Services sector (29%).

8. New Policies
 The government of Botswana has realised women's
constraints or (disadvantages) particularly in rural
areas.
 This has forced the government to introduce policies
which try to encourage and equip women with all
necessary skills to be able to participate and benefit
equally as their male companions.
 Some of these policies are discussed below:

9. Education
 The government has an Education Policy of 1993 which
does not discriminate by gender, i.e. both males and
females are given equal opportunities throughout the
education system from primary to tertiary.
 The school curriculum was reviewed to include business
studies in secondary schools for both boys and girls.
 The Revised National Policy on Education (1993) also
introduced technical subjects and teachers were asked to
encourage children to take technical subjects which train
them for the world of work.
 For example, boys can do Home Economics and girls can
enrol for Design and Technology or for any other subject
that was initially considered masculine.

10. Training
 The Ministry of Education has a special programme of career
guidance which guides the youth in their training
opportunities.
 The programme aims at removing job stereotypes which are
used to bar females from training in certain jobs.
 For example, there were some jobs traditionally considered as
females such as nursing, clerical jobs and others, and those
which were traditionally considered male jobs such as
engineering, piloting and other science related jobs.
 The programme encourages equal employment and training
opportunities by offering women courses which will enable
them to penetrate the world previously dominated by men.

11. Entrepreneur activities
 In the past women did not participate in business because they did not
have access to credit facilities.
 This constraint forced the government to introduce credit facilities
accessible to women.
 The aim of these credit facilities is to provide money for females so that
they could establish businesses which would increase or improve their
income. Some of these credit schemes are;
 Though the credit facility was open to both sex groups, it offered more
credit to women than men. The Financial Assistance policy has since been
replaced by the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA)
which gives loans to potential business men and women.
 LEA offers training programmes to potential entrepreneurs particularly
women or females engaged in the informal sector of the economy since they
are in the majority.

12. Agriculture
 Learner, the government has also introduced agricultural programmes meant to improve the
standard of living of people in rural areas.
 Through these programmes women have access to land and finance e.g. ISPAAD The
government has also opened a forum to discuss issues affecting women.
 More information is distributed to women throughout the country through the Women's
Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
 Through Women's Affairs Unit agricultural policies are communicated to women and it is the
responsibility of this unit to increase the women's knowledge as well as level of awareness if
they need it.
 This is especially important as women can only fully participate in such activities, such as
agriculture when they have been fully told about the policies and what they stand to benefit in
the programme.
 The Ministry of Agriculture has new up-coming schemes and the Women's Affairs Unit
encourages women from all walks of life to take advantage of such schemes.
 This unit holds workshops and conferences to equip interested women with the skills and
information they would need to exploit the available schemes.

13. Local and International Organisations
 These organisations have also realised the plight of
women and introduced programmes to assist them.
 Most of these organisations are organised by women
themselves.

14. Local organisations
 There are a number of local Non-governmental Organisations
(NGOs) which advocate for women empowerment in Botswana.
These include the following:
 (i) Emang Basadi; which educates women on their basic human
rights and also finances projects started by women.
 (ii) Botswana Council of Women (BCW); which provides
training opportunities for young women in different commercial
subjects.
 (iii) Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA); which offers
training and also educates the youth on society issues.

15. International organisations
 There are a number of international organisations that
also support the plight of women and provide help in
various forms.
 Some of these organisations include the United Nations
Organisation (UNO).
 The United Nations Organisation supports advices and
funds some of the Nongovernmental Organisations
which are dealing with issues related to women through
its agency, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP).

16. Women Oriented Schemes
 So far there are not many female orientated schemes in Botswana.
 What happens is that women are or were given more preference
over men to use some of the strategies in place.
 Schemes such as FAP SMME, and ISPAAD were credit schemes
which women were encouraged to use so that they could earn an
income. For instance, under FAP women were to contribute 10%
towards a project that they wanted to undertake while men
contributed 15%. The newly formed department of women's affairs
helps women from different backgrounds in a number of ways as
some of those schemes have since ceased to operate.