Cows will lead the herd into a precipice!

So, in a very small nutshell my research is about why there are so few women (and becoming fewer ) in Parliament in Botswana – when there are so many in neighboring states. The parliamentary election is in October, so a good time to be here. There is much more to it than that simple question but I will leave it at that for now. I have read all or most of about eight or nine books since I got here and taken notes on seven of them (one was a novel by Motswana novelist, activist and first female High Court Judge Unity Dow). I have bought lots of books since we arrived! Most are Botswana history and politics, most written by longtime Batswana academics at UB, some of whom I have already talked with, others of whom I will. The UB library is great and has a terrific Botswana Documentation and Special Collection where I am spending lots of time including skimming all the back issues of Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies. Today I was at the Botswana Society all morning, perusing their books and journal, Botswana Notes and Records. Once I feel I have all the background I need I will start formal interviews. I am embarking upon a whole new country and people and there is a lot to learn (was not able to do much before I left). I feel quite constrained at the thought of being here for only six months. I feel like I need to lower my expectations.

In any case, I was at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation last week speaking with a Programme Officer because I had read in the paper that they are doing work with the Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics. I had done a lot of work with FEF in Namibia on trade unions and thought I would see what they are doing here with women in politics. A cultural argument about patriarchal Tswana society is often advanced as one part of the answer to my research question, but I always ask whether Tswana society is that much more patriarchal than other African societies, or any other societies for that matter. Well, this programme officer told me that they have a ‘saying’ in Setswana that ‘women cannot be political leaders.’ I said ok. She said there are lots of sayings in Setswana about what you can and cannot do. Ok. I asked if ‘women cannot be political leaders’ was the direct translation from Setswana and she insisted that it was (I asked a few times). At the end of our meeting I asked her to please write down the Setswana words and she did. I then took them to Leloba who said that what she had written was part of a longer phrase, namely: ‘If they (cattle, the herd) are led by cows they will fall down a precipice.’ There is a shorter version: they are never led by cows! I am familiar with this cattle imagery from Namibia, though not in such stark terms. I am fascinated. I also have the title for my (first) paper/article that will come out of this sabbatical…..

Images above: a 'statue' in front of the UB library and the front of the UB library. I understand that that particular artwork graces the entrance to the library because that is how the building of the University was funded. According to Seretse Khama's biography, Seretse Khama, 1921-1980, a 'One Man, One Beast' campaign was launched whereby Batswana were called upon to contribute cattle, with the proceeds of their sale going to the construction of UB in the mid 1970s. As the book further notes: "In southern African English, 'beast' rather than 'cow' is the singular form of 'cattle.' Inscribed above the library entrance, 'thutho ke thebe' means 'education is a shield.' Thebe is also the name of the 'cents' in Botswana.