Female Supremacy Articles - Page 13

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More young women than men go to university.

In reading, girls had "significantly higher average performance" in all countries except Liechtenstein. The biggest gap was in Iceland.

Science showed the smallest average gender gap, with boys doing a little better.

The Saturday Profile: A Tribe in Botswana Follows a Leader Called Woman

December 11, 2004

By SHARON LaFRANIERE

RAMOTSWA, Botswana - Mosadi Seboko's first name is not really a name. Rather, it is a reflection of her father's shock when he first saw her. Translated from Setswana, the local language here, it means simply "woman."

Her father was chief of the Baletes, one of the eight major tribes of Botswana, who settled in this region just south of the nation's capital, Gaborone, more than a century ago. In the Balete royal family, it is a given that the chief's firstborn child will be a boy so that he can inherit the throne.

"My dad said: 'Well, it's a woman. What can I do? It's my child,' " Ms. Seboko said.

Woman Seboko is now 54, and lo and behold, she is the leader of the Baletes herself, the first female paramount chief ever in Botswana. She was enthroned 15 months ago after challenging and overcoming her own family's efforts to keep the chiefdom a patriarchy.

"She had uncles who could definitely ascend to the throne," said Loabile Mokosi, a cousin on her late father's side. "But the question became: What stops her?"