A Theoretical Perspective on Women and Poverty in Botswana

Botswana has made remarkable progress in terms of economic and social development. The position of the government is that policies and programmes should benefit all citizens equally. More specifically, the government of Botswana has recognised women’s role in economic development and efforts have been made to integrate gender in the development process. Although women constitute more than half of the population in Botswana, they are more vulnerable to poverty and make up the majority of the unemployed. They are poorer than men, have less access to and control over economic resources and skill training. Female-headed households have to survive on the lowest incomes relative to those households headed by males. To analyse the situation, the paper utilized various theoretical perspectives including the gender analysis approach which covers such perspectives as the Women In Development (WID); Women and development
(WAD); and Gender and Development (GAD). The paper also applied the Power and Patriarchy Theory and the Life Course Theory. To present a comprehensive picture of the status of women, the study utilized data derived from 2009/10 Botswana Core Welfare Indicators Survey (BCWIS) and the 2011 Population and Housing Census.
https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2053&context=jiws