Status of Women in Botswana
Linda Ruzzo

Status of Women in Botswana Botswana government leaders began with a vision in 1997, their vision was to make the country a better place to live for its citizens. The government has proposed equalization between genders. This will be a challenge since the majority of citizens are Tswana and their culture is to have women be subordinate. This is in relationship to job, inheritance, sexual behavior, abortions, and sexual harassment (Mookodi, Ntshebe, & Taylor, 2004).
Culture
Over 75% of the population is Tswana, their culture makes a clear division between public-political and the private-domestic world. Women are largely responsible for child care and taking care of the home (Mookodi et al., 2004). Women hold a significant proportion of the electorate; but they hold only 9 of the 40 parliamentary seats ("MDG," 2010). This is possibly why 46% of the households now are headed by women and women are presently choosing not to marry ("MDG," 2010). This is the world’s highest ratio of female headed households. At this time 33.1% of women live below the poverty level ("MDG," 2010, p. 34).
Healthcare
Botswana has the second largest rate in HIV within its borders and in its pregnant women at 38% ("MDG," 2010). In 2009 the estimate still stood at over 300,000 adults living with HIV, or twenty-five percent of its population over the age of fifteen years old. The high rate of HIV in pregnant women is caused by three central factors; the position of women in the culture, their lack of power in negotiating their sexual partners, cultural attitude toward fertility, and social migration patterns (Crowne, 2005). This also has to do with that there are no laws presently that prosecute rape between a married couples ("MDG," 2010). There is also a preference of “dry sex”, preferred by men in this country which raises the chances of infection due to bleeding and lesions (Mookodi et al., 2004). It is done by mixing powdered stems and leaves of the Mugugudhu tree with water, and wrapping this in a nylon stocking, and inserting it in the vagina 10-15 minutes before intercourse. Some women use soil mixed with baboon urine, still other use detergents, salts and shredded newspaper. All these processes make the vagina swell, it becomes hot and dry. This is very painful and leads to infections (Mookodi et al., 2004, p. 10). Although, prenatal care stands at a rate in this country of 94.1%, this count is skewed, because a woman only has to go to the clinic once during her pregnancy to be in this count. Most women in this country do not go back because of HIV testing, they are afraid to find out that they have the disease. So therefore, the testing of HIV has an adverse effect on the pre-natal care of the women and child. The actual rate of pre-natal care to term is at 20%. The fertility rate as of 2010 rests at 2.8. The biggest impact on this is the education of contraceptives in this country which has increased to 95% ("MDG," 2010).
The work leave factor for women is another example that leads one to think of the cultural influence in this country. Women get paid at half salary for 12weeks when they are pregnant. Six weeks before they deliver they are paid half and then when they return to work they are paid for the other 6 weeks. This could lead to the malnutrition rate of a woman that is already living in poverty now must wait until she returns to work to receive the salary, so she receives no salary while she is off from work taking care of a newborn. This in itself could do two things; one the woman returns back to work too early or stays at home and is malnourished ("Labour," 2007). The abortion rate is not a valid number due to the restrictions on abortions in this country. Abortion is only permitted due to rape, incest, the health of the mother, or the physical or mental deformity of the baby ("Abortions," n.d.”). This law affects the poverty of a woman, since wealthy women go to South Africa where it is legal.
Safety
Violence against women, including murder, rape, and battering, is one of the main gender inequalities in Botswana today. Botswana is number one in rape in the world. Although this might be skewed since some countries do not even report rape. As of 2011, Botswana stands at 92.9 out of 100,000 women and children are at 25.8 out of 100,000 ("Sexual Violence," 2012). These numbers are under reported due to the culture that remains, being family pressure, members of the women’s family, stigma, economic dependence of the perpetrator, and the quality of institutional support.
Government
The government in this country has made many strides to accomplish equality in gender. It has equality in education although there are still limited women in male predominant jobs, on a ration of approximately 3:1("MDG," 2010). It has allowed women in the military and the university. It has made laws against consanguineous marriages, but families still are allowed to arrange the marriage of their daughter. Inheritance by the laws still go to the brother or eldest son, and brothers still marry their brother’s widow. It was the first country to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa with the help of the Bush administration. Orphans, women and the poor all have social programs set up("MDG," 2010).
Conclusion
Although there are no civil uprisings, the government is presently dealing with developing immigration laws to protect its borders where the crime rate is the highest. Historical and culturally entrenched in inequalities toward women, it will take time and education for women to be paid and treated equally. They will have access to opportunities, access to resources and access to power. Strides are being met through regulatory laws to produce equality to women and children in this country. This country has a strong leadership and will most likely meet all of the goals it has set to meet in its vision by 2016. It has already met its primary and secondary gender disparity in education and half of its university students are now female, except that it still shows disparity in vocations. They have recently abolished the Marital Power Act of 2004. This law made wives the minor to their husbands. The government has also adopted a new policy on pregnant girls. They may now return to school after six months of giving birth instead of two years. This was looked upon as a punitive measure ("MDG," 2010). The government in 2008 just passed the Domestic Violence Act to protect those who are abused at home. In trying to eliminate the gender inequality culture of the Tswana society the government has taken a stand in these laws that have been passed. ("MDG," 2010). There is hope for women and children in this country, it just will be slow.

References
Botswana millennium development goals. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.web.undp.org/africa/documents/mdg/botswana_2010_pdf
Crowne, S. (2005). A special world aids report. Retrieved from http://origin-www.unicef.org/inforbycountry/botswana_30241.html
Labour. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.bedia.co.bw/article.php?lang=&id_mnu=60
Mookodi, G., Ntshebe, O., & Taylor, I. (2004). Botswana. Retrieved from http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/ccie/bw.php
Sexual violence. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.odc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime.html
Unsafe abortions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gov.bw.en/Citizens/Sub-Audiences/Women/Unsafe-Abortions/