LESOTHO

By: Guillermo and Greta

 Index:
Geographical location
●

Demography
●

Politics
●

Customs and traditions

●

Present situation
●

ECOSOC and its projects

●

Gender violence, Gender wage gap, Women in education

●

Personal Opinion
●
 Geographical Location:
●
The kingdom of Lesotho is a
landlocked country within South
●
The capital of Lesotho is Maseru.
Africa. ●
Three other important cities are
●
It is 1000 metres above sea level, Teyateaneng, Mafetang and Hlotse.
it is surrounded by mountains and ●
30,000 square kilometers in space.
 General information:

●
The official languages of
Lesotho are English and
Sesotho.
●
Sesotho is the language used
in primary school, but English
is the language used in
secondary school and for
work.
●
The national currency is the
Loti.
 Demography:
The total population in Lesotho is 2.26 million.
51% of the population are female.
49% of the population are male.
Life expenctancy is 53 years

 
 Demography
• Main ethnic group: Sotho or
Basotho
• Minority ethnic groups: Zulu,
Asian and Europeans eg. aid
workers.

Lesotho does not have an official

religion. However, 80% of the
population are Christian (mainly
Roman Catholic).
Other religions include Islam,
Hinduism and Buddhism
 Politics
The government is a parliamentary
constitutional monarchy and the constitution
was adopted in 1993.
The head of state is King Letsie III but the
King’s government only participates in
ceremonial duties.

The head of government is the Prime

Minister called Tom Thabane and the
Assembly Speaker is Sephiri Motanyane.
The government is divided into 3 branches:
executive, legislative and judiciary.
 Customs
●
Basotho dress in old western style
clothes.
Both men and women wear the
popular “ Basotho blanket”. It was a
gift from the British to King
Moshoeshoe I.
●
Now Lesotho is the only nation
where the entire country identifies
its culture with a piece of clothing.
Men wear it like a cape and women
wear it around their waist.
●
The Basotho hat is also a
traditional item that is worn
everyday.
 Traditions
●
The traditional music and dance ●
Lesotho has different holidays such
depend on the season. The most as:
popular dances are: “gum boot dance” ●
Moshoeshoe day: In memory of the
and “mohobelo” that consists of high
first king of Lesotho.
kicks.
●
Family day: All of the workers
come back to be with their family.
●
Independence day: They celebrate
that Lesotho is a free state when
they were granted independence by
the British.
 Present situation - Politics
The political situation in Lesotho has led to a climate of instability in the country .
●

●
In 2017 there was a change of government and the head of the armed forces was
shot dead .
To ease the tension, a multinational security force was deployed.
●
 Present situation - Famine
●
In 2004 and 2007 the Prime
Minister declared a state of
emergency due to food shortages
caused by year long droughts.

●
The drought in 2007 was the most
severe in the last 30 years .
●
The most recent drought began in
2016, drying up water sources and
killing livestock.
 Present situation - Poverty
●
The poverty in this small mountain
●
Poverty and lack of development nation causes many deaths due to
means that many of the inhabitants diseases, especially HIV and AIDs.
of Lesotho must migrate to work,
leaving behind their children. ●
In Lesotho 57% of the population
live below the international poverty
line of $1.25 USD per day.
 ECOSOC

●
ECOSOC is a permanent UN council which is responsible for improving
economic and social conditions.
 Colaboration with ECOSOC
●
In 2010 at the annual meeting of
ECOSOSC in New York, the Minister ●In 2015 ECOSOC invited youth
of local government and delegates from Lesotho to take part
Chieftainship in Lesotho presented a in the 2015 Youth Forum at the UN
case study on the Empowerment of Headquarters.
Women in Lesotho.
 The situation of women in Lesotho
General information about women
• "A woman in Lesotho is not discriminated against - she simply
doesn't exist," says Kuena Thabane of the Lesotho
Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).
•
• Lesotho's laws prohibit women from inheriting the
chieftainship. Senate Masupha is fighting for the law on
chieftainship to be changed.
•
• In Lesotho, football is used to develop women's self-esteem
and every year the number of female players increases.
 Domestic violence
• 86% of women have experienced some form of violence.

• 40% of men have perpetrated violence against women (VAW).

• Different forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) include

Ø rape, sexual harassment and abuse.

• 63% of women who work, have been sexually harassed in the workplace.

• GBV remains one of the primary causes of HIV

infection.

• Lesotho is developing a new Domestic Violence

Bill to try and stop GBV.

• The law aims to offer protection, prevention

and criminalisation of domestic violence.

• The new law will involve different professionals

including police, social services and health
providers.
 Wage gap
●
According to the WEF, Lesotho is ●
This reflects the country's
the 8th country in the world with employment situation. In the past, a
regard to bridging the gap between large number of men left to work in
men and women. South Africa so women were forced
to occupy their jobs.
●
Women in Lesotho have realised the •
One out of five government
importance of educating their ministers is female.
daughters. •
There are 12 female judges.
●
95% of women can read and have a •
The head of police is a woman.
higher level of education. This is
filtering through to the job market. •
The mayority of workers in the
textile sector are women
(40.000)
• The average salary for women is
higher than for men.
 Women in rural area
50% of Lesotho´s population live in the rural areas, where women are powerless.
●

Until recently, women couldn´t make any important decisions in the home and had the legal status of a
●

child.
For this reason, women couldn´t sign contracts or inherit propery .
●
 Education
The education system in Lesotho has 4 different levels:
pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary.

Primary/Secondary: Tertiary/University:
•
 Primary education is free and ●
At tertiary level: 59% of students
compulsory.  74% of boys and are female compared to 41% of
77% of girls attend primary male students.
school .
●
There are two universities in
•
The ratio of girls-to-boys Lesotho.
enrolment rates in secondary
education is the highest in the
world (1.6 girls for every boy).
 Education

Despite being a low-income LITERACY LEVELS

country, in Lesotho the gender Lesotho has a higher literacy rate
gap in education favours among women than men. 95% of
females. women are literate.
High levels of female education in Lesotho spends 12% of its Gross
Lesotho is a result of male Domestic Product (GDP) on
migration to South Africa. education.
 Personal opinion
Although we didn’t know anything about Lesotho,
after having researched this tiny country located
within South Africa, it now seems an incredible place.
Despite the poverty and political instability, Lesotho
realises the importance of education, especially
among girls.
We think it is amazing that the government spends
12% of its GDP on education, much more than
developed countries like Spain do.

However, the country needs to improve the

situation of women. For example:
• Women should have more legal rights.
• Domestic violence has to be eridicated.
• Better education and medical care is vital
to stop diseases like HIV/AIDS from
spreading.
 Personal opinion
We think it is horrible how women are treated. Nobody has to suffer
domestic violence or abuse because we are all humans and we must treat
everybody equally.
Unfortunately, in some societies, rape and GBV are common problems and
this must change.
We think ECOSOSC should focus on this problem to improve the situation
of women in our country.
 Suggestions
One of the main problems in Lesotho is the situation of women. For example,
86% of female suffer violence in their jobs.
We think this can change with the education because this could be the start
of a new begining.
ECOSOC should include in the education program a new subject where both
men and women learn the importance of an equal society.
In this subject psychologist and specialists in this topic could come and
have an open conversation about the domestic violence with them and they
also could do different activities related to it so their way of thinking may
change.
 Webs used

• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.h
tml

• https://www.britannica.com/place
• https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/africa/lesotho

•• https://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Lesotho.html

•
• http://www.the-other.info/2015/south-africas-tribal-basotho-blanket-for-
• herdsmen-and-royals-alike

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13728324
• www.ls.undp.org/content/.../lesotho/.../ECOSOC-Youth-Report.pd