'Cows will lead the herd into a precipice': where are the women MPs in Botswana?

Abstract

Around the world Botswana has been lauded as an 'African miracle', with steady high rates of economic growth for more than three decades and a stable political system since independence. And yet, unlike many of its neighbours in Southern and East Africa, Botswana has not significantly increased the percentage of women in its National Assembly despite being a signatory to the 1997 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Declaration which committed countries to 30 per cent women in positions of power and decision making by 2005. Women made their greatest gains in the 1999 election achieving a total of 17 per cent women members of parliament in the National Assembly, but then fell back to 11 per cent in the 2004 election and 8 per cent in the 2009 election. This article asks why women's representation in parliament remains so low in Botswana, in particular in comparison with some Southern and East African neighbours. The article finds that women's low representation in parliament in Botswana may be attributed to the lack of a political opening leading to the adoption of an electoral gender quota, the typical barriers to women's participation in politics, and insufficient effort on the part of political parties especially during the primary election process.

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