Botswana is an upper-middle-income country in Southern Africa, known for its diverse wildlife. However, for women, the gender wage gap in Botswana persists in employment. Although some policies for women’s rights have made improvements over the years, the country still has further to go in achieving equal pay. 

Wage Differences  

The World Statistics Congress has reported that women in Botswana earn 82.3% of the male average earnings each month. Male citizens earn 17.7% more than their female coworkers, which creates a gender inequality.

According to the World Bank, the Botswana government has commented that it wants to work towards gender equality. In 1996, Botswana supported the UN convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Botswana has also implemented the Economic Inclusion Act of 2021, which aims to help women and targeted citizens contribute to the country’s economic growth.

Legal Acts 

Botswana has implemented some Acts to try and combat the challenges that women face. One of these is the Domestic Violence Act of 2008, which makes domestic violence a criminal offence and helps victims to receive protection. Another piece of legislation in favor of women’s rights is the Abolition of the Martial Power Act of 2004, which abolished the legal right that a husband had over his wife in marriage. 

Botswana has not taken any legal action to protect women from the gender wage gap in Botswana. It still needs to legally address issues such as maternity leave and protecting women from harassment in their jobs. 

The government has shown their support for women in the workplace by supporting programs such as the Women’s Economic Empowerment programme. Oxfam’s program promoted gender equality and aimed to make sure that people valued women’s work.

Disparities for Women in Employment 

Since 1991, vulnerable employment for women has increased in Botswana, as the World Bank reported. Vulnerable employment for women can lead to a lack of social protection and leaves them more at risk of falling into poverty. Among women, vulnerable employment is 29.4%. 

The labor force participation rate for women in 2024 compared to men is less, which could be due to gender-based discrimination. The labor force participation is 73.4% for men and 63.8% for women. However, these statistics are an increase from 1990 statistics.

EntreprenHER Programme 

The EntreprenHER programme is an initiative that is in partnership with De Beers Group and UN Women South African Multi-Country Office. The EntreprenHER programme wants to boost women-owned micro-enterprises across three years until 2026. The program will be across three southern African countries, which are Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. EntreprenHER wants to coach 1,500 women entrepreneurs by 2026. 

This is a move in the right direction for the closing of the gender wage gap in Botswana since it gives women more training to become their own entrepreneurs. Botswana currently has overtaken targets and now has 159 women with capacity building in Improve Your Business training. 

A participant of the program from Botswana, Lemogang Bathobasele, who owns a business called Car Diagnosis Solutions & Repairs and is a mechanic, has said, “I look forward to implementing what I learned this week and growing my business to hire more women electricians.” 

Women’s participation in male-dominated fields helps Botswana become closer to achieving gender equality since this program gives them opportunities in the field that they may not have had otherwise.

Education and Opportunities  

Human Development reports have noted the inequality between men and women in Botswana. Parliament comprises 8.5% women and 91.5% men. This demonstrates the lack of opportunities women receive compared to men which widens this issue of the gender wage gap in Botswana. 

Girls in Botswana have a higher rate of completing lower secondary education, with 90.3% of girls as of 2022 completing lower secondary education compared to boys, which is 86%. This could be considered a move forward with girls receiving their education, which can help them to obtain better-paying jobs. 

The World Bank has stated that many poorer and less educated women work in the private sector but also unpaid family work. This illustrates how women in poverty are more susceptible to the gender wage gap in Botswana.

Bridging the Gap 

While Botswana is actively making changes to their country and creating legal acts to improve women’s rights, it is evident that there is still further to go to close the gender wage gap in Botswana. With the help of programs like EntreprenHER, Botswana will be able to work towards a closer bridge in the gender wage gap.

– Alice Haston

Alice is based in Liverpool, UK and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Unsplash