General
Source: Mmegi Online
The Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Shaw Kgathi has said Botswwana is committed to championing gender equality in sports.
Kgathi was speaking at the official opening of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) Zone VI Women in Sports conference which opened in Gaborone yesterday.The minister said the conference should motivate women to take their rightful place in sports at all levels. He also encouraged women to come up with initiatives that will build capacity among women because assumption of leadership goes with requisite skills and experience. "I am also appealing to you as sport leaders to make use of the available body of research deposited in our universities in the region on issues of gender and sport." The minister of Trade and Industry, Dorcas Makgato-Malesu, a former chairperson of the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) encouraged conference delegates to fight, in a smart way, to be in leadership positions."There is no way you are going to be able to influence decisions in your favour if you are not in positions of power," she said. She also cautioned women against being too vocal as men would not take them seriously.Malesu who has vast experience in sports being a former athlete and administrator told women to develop a thick skin and be willing to learn for their own benefit."In sports they will not teach you anything, they will just throw you in the deep end and you should be able to swim," she said. She urged participants that sports by its nature has diverse characters and that women should be ready to deal with such."
You are going to deal with people who put their emotions before facts. In such cases just look at them and let them talk because eventually they will burn out," she said.Makgato-Malesu said there were many lessons that she learnt from sport which include time management and conflict resolutions, that made her a better person.The two-day conference is held under the theme 'Harnessing the power of sport to contribute to the broader government development agenda'.