Botswana, celebrated the International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March 2010 under the theme ‘Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All’. Notably, 2010 marks the 15th year since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action in 1995. Beyond observing the WID with celebratory events and speeches by ministers [as Siele did on 08/03/10], it is time to reflect on our achievements and ask, ‘do we have reason to celebrate the WID?’

To situate the debate in a proper perspective, it is a useful digression to discuss the evolution of the IWD. Although there were efforts to reflect on gender-based disenfranchisement through women-focused celebrations (see the US celebration of Women National Day in 1909), the International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910 is largely credited with the origins of the IWD. At the conference, Ms. Clara Zetkin, then Leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed the idea of an IWD and same was unanimously adopted. Following the Copenhagen conference, IWD was first celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in March 1911 though on different dates. Overall, the IWD rallies, attended by both sexes (not genders!), vigorously campaigned for women's rights relating to, amongst other things, the right to work, training and holding public office and non-discrimination. Subsequently, IWD celebrations diffused to other countries and, to date, they are celebrated every 8 March. Besides governments, the IWD is celebrated by non-state actors; e.g., UNIFEM, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Ditshwanelo the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, etc.

In short, the IWD ‘gives an opportunity to nations to recognise the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women (BOPA 09/03/09).’ Notably, the IWD views women-related issues from different perspectives; however, for reason of economy, this installment cannot cover all the angles. Hence, it will, instead, focus on the gender front and specifically asks, ‘how have women and girls fared in public resource allocation? It is important to note that the term ‘women’ is a sex concept which is distinctively different from gender (Majoto 2007:5). All the same, although the two concepts are differentiated, they are related as to be discussed simultaneously.

Thus, the above question is appropriate given the fact that women and girls still face pockets of economic discrimination despite efforts to bring them into the mainstream of public resource allocation (see Sharma 2010). To this end, women were absent from discussions regarding development theory and practice during the first United Nations (UN) Development Decade; 1960-70 (Young 1993). In view of this, there followed advocacies that resulted in women conferences beginning with the first one that was held in Mexico City in 1975 under theme: ‘Equality, Development and Peace’ and 1975 was declared the International Year of Women. Afterward, other conferences followed, the most important being the Beijing Conference in 1995. The conference birthed the Beijing Platform of Action, which identified 12 critical areas, one being “inequality in economic structures and policies in all forms of productive activities and in access to resources”. Besides the Beijing Platform, there are cognate ones - the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Millennium Summit of 2000 that birthed eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); see particularly, MGD3 (promote gender equality and empower women).

To conclude, the 1980s marked a shift from Women in Development (WID) to a Gender and Development (GAD) approach as sufficiently instanced by ratifications of gender protocols worldwide (regarding Botswana, see Mookodi 2005). All the same, women and girls are yet to be streamlined in resource allocation tools; development plans and budget. Consequently, phenomena such as poverty and HIV infections and resultant deaths have a gender face. Thus, the next installment will examine economics and gender in Botswana and ask, ‘is there ground to celebrate the WID?’

RETRACTION: ‘In an article, ’Peering into the blackbox’, (13/10/09), I wrote that a Mr Monty Chiepe, amongst others, as a member of the BDP, had expressed interest in standing for election as MP in the soon to be vacant Serowe North-West constituency in 2006.Mr Chiepe has since intimated to me that it is on record that he has never been a member of any political organisation and has never harboured such political interests. I apologise for any inconvenience occasioned on Mr Chiepe especially by the delayed retraction.’

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