Mercy Karuuombe
The vice chairperson of the National Council, Emma Muteka, says women are devalued in society, especially when it comes to politics.
Muteka said this at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA-UK) delegation meeting with female National Council MPs on Thursday at parliament.
She was responding to a question posed by a UK delegation member of Parliament Sarah Coombes regarding the safety of women politicians.
Muteka said people have studied women so well they know the most effective way to hurt a woman is to target her emotions.
“They will body-shame you, they will say the most interesting things. You don’t walk a certain way, you don’t speak a certain way, you don’t dress a certain way,” she said.
She added that this has now extended to ageism, where people undermine an MP for being either too young or too old.
“Or it becomes a sexism thing, or it becomes a thing of, you probably got to that position because you slept with A, B, C, and D, which is very undermining to say. So basically, we are devalued as women in society or when it comes to politics. So yes, this is what we basically are experiencing,” she said.
Councillor Iswarin Rooi from the Hardap region said women often do not support one another and would rather support a man. She said this is something she has experienced herself.
National Council MP Inecia Brandt added that while some men share this sentiment, others are supportive.
“But then from the men’s side, also there was a case where on the last day of the elections, they pointed out that we are not going to be led by a woman,” Brandt said.
She said such remarks must not discourage leaders as long as they stand for the truth and demonstrate their capability.
Coombes said she asked these questions because women, especially women of colour, receive disproportionate amounts of abuse.
“I tend to just not look at Facebook comments or Instagram comments these days, but it’s getting quite shocking really. Some of my female colleagues have to go through the comments because they are getting death threats,” the UK MP said.
She added that these issues are part of a wider discussion about social media in Britain.
