enter politics and joined the Botswana Democratic Party. She ran in the 2014 general election for the Mochudi West District, but lost her bid for a seat in the National Assembly. On 28 October 2014, Dow was nominated, along with six other candidates, by President Ian Khama of Botswana as a special elected member of parliament. Along with Kenneth Matambo, Kitso Mokaila, and Eric Molale, she won the ballot and was appointed as the Assistant Minister of Education in the Government. In February 2015, she was appointed as Minister of Education and Skills Development by Khama, succeeding Mokgweetsi Masisi, the sitting Vice President of Botswana. During her time in the Ministry, Dow established a programme to train teachers from Seychelles in Botswana and send Batswana teachers abroad to assist Seychelles with their teacher shortage. She served in that capacity until September 2016, when in a cabinet shuffle, she was appointed as Minister of Basic Education. After Khama stepped down as president in March 2018, Dow was shifted by incoming President Masisi from Education to the post of Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development. On 20 June 2018, in a cabinet reshuffle, she was named Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, swapping her seat in Infrastructure and Housing with Vincent Tina Seretse, who had held International Affairs previously. Masisi won the presidency in the 2019 general election and reconfirmed Dow as Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation for the 12th parliament of Botswana. Along with her daughters Cheshe and Natasha, Dow opened the Dow Academy in Mochudi, Kgatleng District in January 2020. The private school offers primary and secondary education. In August 2020, Dow relinquished her ministry and was replaced by Lemogang Kwape in a cabinet reshuffle. Dow said of the move, "As a minister you speak predominantly about your portfolio. But the backbench gives you the liberty to interrogate a wide variety of issues of national interest. The only limitation is my party position on a given subject". Writing In 2000, when Dow began publishing fiction, few Batswana writers had produced works which reached an audience outside Botswana. One of the reasons for this was the staunch opposition of the Batswana leadership for the British to merge their territory with that of South Africa, which led to a defensive resistance to Pan-Africanism and also a lack of investment in the nation's infrastructure and academic development. Both her non-fiction and fiction