Water For Justice

Cultural oppression hinders gender equality in Lesotho.

Although there has been attempts to put in place laws as regulatory mechanisms in relation to gender equality in Lesotho. Centuries of patriarchy continue to haunt the Basotho community, as they struggle to deracinate the inequality between men and women. Stereotyping women as secondary citizens remain dominant in men and women, rural and urban areas, educated and uneducated Basotho people. Women remain victims of ‘cultural oppression' which has seen minimal participation of women in parliament and national decision making processes, the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS among women and poverty being the drive behind high rates of prostitution.

Lesotho like any low developed nation is experiencing unequal distribution of wealth, with 10% of the poorest commanding only 1% of the country's wealth with women being the sole beneficiary of this small portion, while the same proportion of the richest command over 50% of the wealth and men being the sole beneficiary of this. Patriarchy still remains the corner stone of the scocial and economic life of Basotho people. Women are shadows of men as wealth still is viewed to sorely belong to men.

Though the male dominated Parliament in 2006 enacted the Marriage and Property Act only after the American government promised the government of Lesotho funding, the law still remains just a piece of legislature. The law gave women the right to acquire wealth and property, but to date women in Lesotho still need male approval to apply for a bank loan. Such a policy keeps wealth in the hands of man and women remain subordinates and not equals.

According to UNAIDS studies over 50% of prostitution cases in Sub-Sahara Africa are as a result of poverty and Lesotho is not an exception as a result to the unequal distribution of wealth between men and women. Experts have highlighted that women in Lesotho carry out sexual activities in search for money under an arrangement called ‘transactional sex'. Women are seen to have 4 partners, one to take care of the bills, other for food, other for transport to work and the other to help with the monthly installments. Poverty and inequality increases the vulnerability of these women into taking prostitution as an after ‘work job'.

It has been estimated that in Lesotho HIV/AIDS is infecting one in every two women between the ages of 15-24 as a result of ‘transactional sex' and women are 57% of the infected population. Women in the mountainous kingdom have turned sex into cash which has transformed HIV/AIDS from an indiscriminative killer into a plague against women .More so these women suffer double tragedy as they also risk contracting HIV/AIDS through their husband that are working in the neighbouring South Africa. Due to the deep rooted patriarchal cultural society women have no say when it comes to sexual matters. Though the Government of Lesotho took steps to the Sexual Offence Act in 2003, but nothing in the law protects the married women against contracting HIV/AIDS from their spouce.

This raises the question why such a law leaves out the protection of married women against HIV/AIDS infection from their husbands in an environment where HIV/AIDS is highly prevalent. The parliament of Lesotho is male dominated with women occupying only 25% of the parliamentary seats, far short of the expected 30% by SADC. Sadly the Upper House of the (Senate), which by principle does not have women voted into this house. The few women that seat in this house are only there to place-holders for their deceased husbands while waiting for their male children to reach the age requirement for them to inherit the Senatorial seat. This is clear testimony that women in Lesotho to date are still perceived as secondary citizens and the society still does not see women as having the ability to rise to power and make decision.

Although the majority of women in Lesotho enjoy higher rates of educational attainment and literacy rates, unlike in most other countries in Africa, but the gap between females and males is shrinking at most levels, especially at primary level where the proportion is almost one to one. Despite the relatively high education levels of women, men dominate the overwhelming majority of decision-making positions. While females account for 63 per cent – almost two-third – of professional and technical positions in the formal sector, they still lag behind in administrative and managerial positions, accounting for only 34 per cent of all decision-making positions.

The cultural oppression presented by the Basotho culture in deeply entrenched in the minds and thinking of both men and women. This has caused untold misery, cutting short lives and leaving countless women living in pain and fear. This oppression has stopped women from fulfilling their potential, restricted them from economic growth and has even undermined the reflection of the degree and persistence of discrimination that women continue to face. The continued prevalence of such inequality against women is testimony to the fact that the Lesotho Government and Civil Society have yet to tackle inequality with the necessary political commitment, visibility and resources