They are there de-bushing in Windhoek. Why can't they also go to their hometowns and villages and de-bush there? This is why I say they are not fight… - Angelika Muharukua

As children, they suffer discrimination within their own family, which is followed by a lack of opportunity in education and training. As young women, they suffer the consequences of their lower levels of literacy, education, legal understanding, confidence and awareness by finding only poorly paid jobs that require a low level of skill. As young mothers, they put up with their lack of financial autonomy and free time to honour their family commitments. Constrained by their reproductive role, when they return to part-time employment after a period of motherhood, they frequently experience what is known as downward occupational mobility, and get stuck in lower-grade positions.

The Namibian government attaches great importance to gender issues, with the aim that women can operate on par with their male counterparts. To illustrate this, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare was created, with one of its core functions being the mainstreaming of gender into all government and private institutions.

It is a well-known fact that women in most parts of the world face a multitude of injustices, disparities and discrimination, unlike their male counterparts. Women workers, for example, face many barriers on their way to equal participation and leadership because entry to that world is based on credentials– which many women have never obtained.