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This research paper aims to discuss one of most significant issues that many developing countries are grappling with: the gender representation gap in the African political sphere. The purpose of this research paper is to make a comparison in terms of the available legislative frameworks of South Africa and the kingdom of Lesotho. This research focused on bridging the gender gap and promoting the representation of women in the national parliaments of South Africa and Lesotho. In this article significant efforts were made to explore goal three of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which deals with the promotion of equality and empowerment of women. The following aspects were considered: the promotion of access to higher education for women, the protection offered by the constitution and the elimination of discriminatory practices against women, legislative provision in bridging the gender gap and affirmative action policy. The methodology that was adopted in this article was a qualitative approach. An unobtrusive method was employed to analyse the secondary data. The aim of this research is to contribute to and enhance the relevant body of knowledge. Although serious strides have been made in closing the gender representation gap and promoting women in politics, some countries are still lagging behind in the representation of women in key influential positions like parliament. However, other African countries have made progress in empowering women in their respective countries. This includes countries like Rwanda, where the national parliament consists of more than 63% women. Finding are discussed in greater detail as well as the limitations of the study, and lastly possible recommendations are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrimination according to gender has been in practice in communities globally since time immemorial. This discrimination has infiltrated all spheres of life including the naming, shaming, blaming, and persecution of deviant people as witches. The phenomenon of witchcraft has historically been negatively skewed towards women, with women's gender and sexual diversity being used against them in accusations of witchcraft. In some modern-day African communities, gender and sexual diversity are still regarded as witchcraft or a result of bewitching. While activism against witchcraft has gathered momentum across Africa, it is worth noting that in Lesotho, such activism began in the precolonial era through the leadership of Chief Mohlomi. In this paper, we explore the understandings and experiences of constructions of difference as witchcraft among the Basotho of Lesotho. Using a qualitative research approach, we employed life-history narratives and focus group discussions to generate data with 10 Basotho men and women aged 70-93 years. We used sankofa theory to frame our analysis of the data, which was done thematically. Drawing on the ethnographic data, we discuss lessons regarding constructions of difference as witchcraft, and Chief Mohlomi's (1720-1815) activism against the discrimination of those labelled as witches. The findings reveal that divergent gender and sexual characteristics and identities were used in labelling certain individuals as witches and unexplainable phenomena as witchcraft. However, the findings also show that Chief Mohlomi set in motion a spirited activism against the persecution of divergent people through his teachings, which led to transformed views on gender and sexual diversity among the Basotho. These findings have implications for an education that embraces diversity in all spheres of life to promote inclusive and sustainable communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a combination of nationally representative individual level time use, household and community data to further our understanding of time poverty. With a common, and growing, perception in the empirical literature being that Sub Saharan African females are typically disadvantaged in market-based activities because of the large time burden of having to undertake both formal work and domestic duties, it is important to understand some of the key processes and issues that underpin, and link with, poverty reduction. Using nationally representative data from Lesotho we are able to provide unique insights into gender-related, formal and informal, work allocations and specifically obtain insights regarding the main determinants of those who are “time poor”, and how key infrastructural elements impact on this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a comparative situational analysis of comprehensive abortion care (CAC) in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia. We conducted systematic literature searches and country consultations and used a reparative health justice approach (with four dimensions) for the analysis. The following findings pertain to all four countries, except where indicated. Individual material dimension: pervasive gender-based violence (GBV); unmet need for contraception (15−17%); high HIV prevalence; poor abortion access for rape survivors; fees for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services (Eswatini). Collective material dimension: no clear national budgeting for SRH; over-reliance on donor funding (Eswatini; Lesotho); no national CAC guidelines or guidance on legal abortion access; poor data collection and management systems; shortage and inequitable distribution of staff; few facilities providing abortion care. Individual symbolic dimension: gender norms justify GBV; stigma attached to both abortion and unwed or early pregnancies. Collective symbolic dimension: policy commitments to reducing unsafe abortion and to post-abortion care, but not to increasing access to legal abortion; inadequate research; contradictions in abortion legislation (Botswana); inadequate staff training in CAC. Political will to ensure CAC within the country's legislation is required. Reparative health justice comparisons provide a powerful tool for foregrounding necessary policy and practice change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health systems analyses are touted as mechanisms through which health policy and planning may be implemented. An example is the WHO health systems approach that connects people (needs, rights, perspectives) with services and technologies (equitable access, quality of care, mix of interventions) and with policies and institutional capacities (laws, regulations, human/physical resources, management and financing). The approach is comprehensive and multi-faceted, which is a strength. We argue, however, that health systems analyses should be supplemented with a focus on reproductive justice. Using the WHO health systems approach as an exemplar, we show how the reparative reproductive justice approach outlined by the first author and colleagues assists with outlining comprehensive remedies to the inequities identified in the systems analysis. We argue for attention to remedies at individual and collective, material and symbolic levels. We illustrate our argument using unsafe abortion, legal abortion services and post-abortion care in Lesotho as a case study. We outline the policies, services and people components of abortion in Lesotho using the WHO systems model, followed by a reparative justice analysis of remedies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care for AIDS orphans in southern Africa is frequently characterized as a “crisis”, where kin-based networks of care are thought to be on the edge of collapse. Yet these care networks, though strained by AIDS, are still the primary mechanisms for orphan care, in large part because of the essential role grandmothers play in responding to the needs of orphans. Ongoing demographic shifts as a result of HIV/AIDS and an increasingly feminized labor market continue to disrupt and alter networks of care for orphans and vulnerable children. This paper examines the emergence of a small but growing number of male caregivers who are responding to the needs of the extended family. While these men are still few in number, the strength of gendered ideologies of female care means that this group of men is socially, if not statistically significant. Men continue to be considered caregivers of last resort, but their care will close a small but growing gap that threatens to undermine kin-based networks of care in Lesotho and across the region. The adaptation of gender roles reinforces the strength and resilience of kinship networks even when working against deeply entrenched ideas about gendered division of domestic labor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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It is incontrovertible that in Lesotho poverty is more pronounced in rural areas. The paper argues that in order to combat extreme poverty, there is need to first understand its causes. Thus, the study sought to establish causes and solutions of poverty as prescribed by the rural people. Random sampling was utilised to select 120 unemployed people from Manonyane rural area in Lesotho. A mixed method approach was employed, hence, a questionnaire and an interview schedule were used to gather quantitative and qualitative data between 07 February 2018 and 15 January 2019. For frequencies and percentages, data were analysed using GraphPad Prism version 5.03. Chi-square tests were computed using SPSS version 23.0. Lack of inputs, government failure and absence of NGOs were cited as causes of poverty, amid others. Solutions of poverty included job creation by government, availing of capital by both government and NGOs and enrolment in income-generating projects. Looking at perceptions on causes of poverty by gender, at the 0.05 significance level, p=0.827 for laziness, p=0.766 for few NGOs but for lack of inputs it was 0.004. For solutions of poverty, p=0.004 for capital from the government, meaning perceptions were not dependent on gender, they all had high expectations from the government. The study was anchored on the materialistic and economic perspectives on poverty. Research on poverty is crucial in order to inform poverty alleviation debates, policies and initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern African nation of Lesotho has an HIV seroprevalence of approximately 25%. To address the need for HIV care in rural Lesotho, a project called the Rural Health Initative (RHI) was launched in seven clinics in 2006. Data on enrolment were collected retrospectively and analysed for trends in gender enrolment over time. Of 6001 enrolled, 3904 were women (65.1%) and 2097 (34.9%) were men. When analysed by month of enrolment, there was a higher percentage of men enrolled in December compared with the other months of the year (χ2= 15.98, P < 0.001). This may be due to the migratory work of the men in the mines of South Africa and suggests a need for targeted interventions to increase male enrolments over the entire calendar year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A doctoral study on constructions of gender in Lesotho rural primary schools has found that meanings attached to children’s identities play a role in undermining gender equality in schools. The study employed the social constructionist paradigm as its theoretical framework. Drawing from ethnographic data (conversations, observations and informal discussions), this article discusses boys’ constructions of gender and their implications for gender in/equality in the schools. Analysis shows that being a boy was closely linked to certain qualities that every boy had to perfect. Boys’ strivings to attain these qualities was the source of gender-based violence. Boys’ failure to attain these qualities was the source of anguish and embarrassment for them. Gender inequality in the schools could be traced to forms of masculinities that boys were encouraged and pressured to perform. The conclusion provides strategies that Free Primary Education could employ to address the scourge of gender inequality in Lesotho schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]