Young People Express Own Views on Gender Equality

Young people from various facets of life engaged in conversations and discussions on Gender Equality as part of the commemoration of World Population Day this year. Ahead of the commemoration at Ha Khabo in Leribe district, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund partnered with Limkokwing University of Creative Technology to host a dialogue for young people to dissect this year’s theme, "Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities." The young people view gender equality as one of the tenets to achieving the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals.

During this dialogue, discussions were mostly on unpacking what the theme means and how Lesotho would advance should the power of gender equality be unleashed saying with gender equality Lesotho can easily attain the Agenda 2030 agenda.

As one of the young people Zwelithini Matsoso stated, “us unleashing gender equality in Lesotho means removing barriers that among other things limit distribution of resources and unleashing the power of gender equality means unlocking both national and human resources because if we invest in humans, in young people’s education, that means we will end up with a competent and powerful resource that would contribute to our economy.” 

He continued, “Investing in gender equality is about removing barriers, about unlocking not only the human development but also national development as a whole because in the end, as a country we need to harvest proceeds from the existence of the population which sometimes we refer to as the Demographic Dividend. As we invest and bridge those inequalities in the economic sphere, we will end up with young people that are able to amass assets such as land.”

The discussion also focused on the participation of women in the country’s political activities particularly the representation of women in leadership positions. One of the young people Nteboheleng Makae elaborated, “Lesotho is still lagging behind when it comes to Gender Based Violence (GBV) and gender equality. We are still behind. Women's participation in political leadership positions like in local government is still minimal. This means as a country we need to do more so that we can be able to attain the set Sustainable Development Goals.”

The young people also focused on “Bodily Autonomy.” As one of them, Thato Thinyane asserted, “Bodily autonomy is about the right to my own body. It’s about choice, dignity.” The young people also emphasized the need to have relevant knowledge and information, the right to be able to make their own choices, and for men to understand that a No to sex is a No.

At Ha Khabo where the commemoration was held, young people repeatedly called for women and girls' voices to be heard. ‘When no one listens to the voices of women and girls, it is deadly as some may be sexually assaulted and be afraid to report. Also, for those who are LGBTQ+ if parents and the public do not accept them, some of them opt to commit suicide for fear of being ridiculed.

Kefuoe Majoro who was a part of the young people’s cohort emphasized on political participation saying, “In Local Government, people tend to elect men even when women have better qualifications just because they are men. We should try to balance local government elections. We should elect women – there is a need for women’s participation.”

Another young person Lerato Motleleng said, “when parents force young girls into marriage, sometimes for economic reasons, such girls end up being pregnant too early when their bodies are not ready resulting in them sometimes losing their lives.”