CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS
5.8 Impacts of women’s experiences on prospective policy-formulation 67
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There was only one woman who declared that her wage is spent on satisfying her needs, although it was inadequate for satisfying them all. The husband has to satisfy those of the household, as stated by respondent 9 (17 January 2012):
“Sometimes I just get satisfied by the fact that I am able to pay fees for my child and buy a few items for myself as I get a small wage. When it comes to the household needs, it is my husband who deals with them”.
Basically, it was not all the women who were aware of the prevalence of gender inequality and its disempowering capacity for women, as well as the efforts of actors of empowerment of women. This is accentuated by some responses from interviewees, as one respondent stated:
“I do not see anybody who is working successfully towards empowerment of women. Except for the workshops that we have recently attended; these workshops empower us as we are counselled. These sessions have been eye-openers in terms of our being oppressed, as it never rung in our minds. We thought it was important for us to be in such a position, it is only recently that we are realising that subordination is bad. It is not easy for a housewife at home to realise that she is being oppressed. You only realise it clearly when you work, that some practices are to your disadvantage”. Respondent 1 (05 January 2012).
None of the respondents at Setsoto depicted that they had recently attended workshops in relation to gender equality in the country, as one of them stated that it is necessary for women to attend such informative sessions.
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can be learned that their perception of the market is its inability to cater for their needs as producers.
According to the management of both projects, the projects might not to be empowering because respective ministries were not engendering relevant markets for these projects. These were the Ministry of Tourism which was not maximising the efforts to attract additional tourists into the country, and the Ministry of Trade which did not provide requisite support to projects of this nature, as indicated:
“The market is not always reliable and it is the greatest problem that we have. The system itself is not encouraging tourism, so the inflow of tourists into the country is very low and these are the people we rely on, so this is the main problem. Again, any time the ministry of tourism is looking for items to give out as gifts or for display; they just come and take from here. We are never considered when they are taking part in shows outside the country. When government ministries want quality products, they all come here. We are number one on the list but we do not get that essential support”. Respondent 14 (06 February 2012).
The Ministry of Trade is not responding to the needs of the projects like these ones. Some women asserted that the ministry is shying away from the fact that there are no good markets and one of its tasks is to ensure the existence of such markets. One of the respondents stated:
“What I think should change for the better is mainly the market. When we have bought mohair and woven some items for sales it is necessary for us to have a reliable and sufficient market, but if it is not there, our business will not empower us. What I think is necessary is for the government to organise a reliable market for us, so to enable us to deal with our challenges”.
Respondent 5 (09 January 2012).
Generally, the marketing environment in the country has not encouraged the evolution of projects which are of craft nature, as affirmed by the respondents.
5.8.2 Gender and equality policies
When investigating the practicability of some of the policies that have been put into place in the country, with the purpose of striving for gender equality, most women in both projects stipulated that this has only benefited a few women in the urban localities. The rest of the women are still
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victims of masculine bias that impede their efforts to benefit from gender equality hence their being economically empowered. Some women in both projects affirmed that they have hardly heard of such policies, therefore they were not in a position to verify their benefits for women in the country. Box 5.1 shows the view of one respondent who acknowledged a change in her life time in terms of gender equality and empowerment.
Box 5.1: Gender equality and empowerment changes
“There is a change because when I refer to my situation, to be more specific, I did not acquire education on the grounds of the domination that my father had in his household. It is a very sad story. You can understand what it felt like when my father said proudly that he was not going to send me to school. My mother was still there; but she was not even allowed to work, as women were not allowed to leave their households and children so to be at workplaces. It was even worse for women in the rural areas who could not sell products in the market, which could be possible for women in towns. The rationale behind this is that my elderly sister fell pregnant after completing her high school studies. Was that a valid reason for not sending me to school? I do not think so. According to my father, it was not worthwhile to educate a girl child as it was likely for girls to be out of control. I do not think this can happen in the present era, I do believe that a child can even present such a case to the appropriate legal officials for protection of their rights”. Respondent 9 (17 January 2012).
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