However, she said Botswana’s performance in the political arena was not encouraging, as only eight per cent of parliamentarians were women, according to the SADC Gender Protocol 2013 Barometer. She said this did not compare well with the SADC regional average that had gone up.

Seychelles and South Africa were in the global top 10 of women’s presentation in Parliament. She cited the Seychelles, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania and Zimbabwe as having achieved or surpassed the 30 per cent women representation in Parliament.

At the local government level, Lesotho had the highest, at 49 per cent, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Namibia had all surpassed the 30 per cent mark.

Ms Camara-Drammeh expressed concern that SADC countries would fall short of the original 30 per cent target and would not reach the 50 per cent target by the end of 2015,

The deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Ms Kelebogile Kgabi said government welcomed any strategy aimed at creating awareness and efforts towards gender equality in the society.

Ms Kgabi said Botswana’s good progress was, however, clouded by the high rate of Gender Based Violence visited on women and children. However, she said the country would continue to make efforts towards an effective and efficient response to gender related matters.

She explained that the objectives of the workshop were to lobby for a strong post 2015 SADC Gender Protocol that would incorporate missing areas such as sustainable development and to strengthen the commitment to women’s rights, as well as build linkages between the media and local government work on the ground. ENDS