SPEECHES

Remarks Presented On behalf of Ambassador Katherine H. Canavan Embassy of the United States of America. 2008 Women Leadership Conference.

May 9, 2008

All Protocol ObservedLadies and Gentleman, Dumelang bo rra le bo mma, Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  It is my genuine pleasure to be here with you today, and I greatly appreciate that you have accorded me this distinct honor and opportunity to address such a distinguished group of women.  My sincere thanks go out to organizers of this conference.  Today in America, women have the opportunity to excel in all fields including law, politics, science, medicine, the military, the arts, and, of course, in business.  For the first time, a woman may win a major political party’s nomination to be the next president of the United States.  Women make up about 20% of our armed forces and are honorably serving on the front lines in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Opportunities for American women to excel were not, however, always the norm in U.S. society.  Until 1972, female Foreign Service officers were required to give up their careers if they married.  Men of course were expected to marry and their wives, although not employees, were considered in a man’s performance evaluation and promotion.  I entered the Foreign Service a few years later, and although I was fortunate to have male and female bosses and mentors who did not discriminate against me, many of my female colleagues were not as lucky and experienced systemic discrimination in the type of jobs they were offered and in promotions received.    It was not until the late 1970’s that women were accepted into our military academies, although our country had fought wars since the 1700’s.  It took our country 205 years for Sandra Day O’Connor to be made the first female Supreme Court Justice by President Ronald Reagan.  In 1968, two year’s after Botswana gained independence, President Nixon’s cabinet was made up of 12 men and no women.  The US Senate had only 3 female members out of a possible 100 in 1966 and there were only a handful of women in the 435 member House of Representatives.  In other words, at the time of Botswana’s independence, the U.S. was a long way from achieving the SADC goal of 50% women members in government even though we had been a nation for almost 200 years. I mention these examples because I see many similarities between the United State’s gender issues 30 to 40 years ago and what Botswana is experiencing today.  There was a time in U.S. history when women were not empowered economically or politically, they faced discrimination in the work place and lower wages for comparable work done by men, and although women had access to education, they were directed towards roles that were considered traditional female ones such as caretaker, teachers, and nurses, and not encouraged toward business and politics.  The similarities between the status of Botswana women today and American women in the past 40 years will, I hope, provide Botswana with some useful insights into our successes and avoid some of our pitfalls and failures.  The U.S. women’s movement was helped by laws enacted giving women equal rights and opportunities.  The Civil Rights Act barred discrimination in employment based on race and sex and Title Nine of the Education Amendments banned sex discrimination in schools.  As a result of Title Nine, the enrollment of women participating in sports and studying at professional schools has increased dramatically.  With outstanding women leaders in Botswana’s Parliament as well as in the legal profession, I am confident that Botswana will continue to pass the necessary laws to level the playing field for women. Laws are important but equally important is changing cultural attitudes toward women and women’s roles in the family, the work place, and in society.  As experienced in the U.S., this does not happen overnight and takes many years for equal acceptance of women to take place.  For all the advances women have made in the U.S., there are still examples of women not being paid equally with men, CEOs of our largest companies are still mainly men, and the U.S. Congress is still male dominated.  I don’t expect it to take as long as it did in America for women in Botswana to reach equality, but it will take time.  Botswana’s consensus style of getting things done can help as it will take the efforts of men as well as women for women to advance in society.  This is already happening in Botswana as evidenced by women now being welcomed into the Botswana Defense Force.   It is important, however, for women to reach equality with men in the economy as fast as possible.  Not only is it important for women such as yourselves, it is important for this country and its development.  The World Economic Forum has found a clear correlation between sex equality and GDP per capita, noting that “under-utilization of women stunts economic growth.”  According to the Economist magazine, “the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades.  Those women have contributed more to global growth than have either new technology or the new giants China and India.” When women engage in business activity, they make tremendous positive difference to their families, their communities, and, yes, their countries.  National economies are stronger, more stable, and more dynamic when women are engaged in the business world.  This principle is one that is broadly recognized as key to sustained economic growth.  Botswana has come a long way in its economic development since independence in 1966.  Starting out as one of the poorest countries, it is now justifiably proud to be amongst the ranks of middle income countries and a leading economy in Africa.  Using its diamond revenue wisely, Botswana is now an example to many African countries and developing countries around the world for its economic stewardship, transparency, and development programs.   President Khama begins his presidency with a strong foundation that he inherited from his predecessors including the former President Festus Mogae.  As President Khama himself said, during the President Mogae’s tenure, Botswana made “immense strides in areas such as economic management, gender equality, HIV/AIDs, infrastructure development, and social transformation, to mention but a few.” Botswana is also making strides towards equality in business.  According to a 2007 Grant Thornton International Business Report, 74 percent of businesses in Botswana employed women in senior management positions, and women occupied 31 percent of senior management positions.  Women occupy many senior level positions in government agencies, such as governor of the Bank of Botswana, attorney general, minister of communication, and minister of health. But more can and needs to be done.  Botswana’s world rankings for starting a business, dealing with licenses, trading across borders, and enforcing contracts are quite low, mainly due to excessive regulation, paperwork, and bureaucratic hurdles.  Women, more easily than men, can be kept out of the formal economy by poor business regulation such as that found in Botswana.  A World Bank report found that regulations can be particularly burdensome on women, who often start out with less opportunity and economic power than men.   The government of Botswana, therefore, needs to do more to reduce business regulation, not only for women entrepreneurs like yourselves, but for the benefit of the entire country. President Khama, in his elegant inauguration speech, said the government has to create an enabling environment for the private sector and to actively encourage it to become the driving force in the Botswana economy.  Women in business must be an integral piece of this private sector and I wish all of you large profits and high returns as you become the driving force in Botswana. Pula.