BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Alice Deliwe-Ngoma is a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) aspiring parliamentary candidate for Mzimba Luwerezi.
She is among 217 other female aspiring politicians that have presented nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) expressing their interest and willingness to battle it out in a game that has for some time been regarded as a “no-go zone for ladies”.
But Deliwe-Ngoma attests that she has an uphill task to convince people she wants to serve that she can deliver. She knows how difficult it is to convince Malawians who have all along been made to believe that women are capable of nothing, but cooking and making a home.
“It is very hard,” she confirms, “but I am determined to prove that women can perform miracles if given a chance.”
Deliwe-Ngoma makes this brave statement in a society that is synonymous with rampant cases of gender-based violence; a society where men use everything at their disposal to suppress women aspirations.
In her speech during the commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative, Esperance Fundira, said gender-based violence in this country is still persisting despite the many efforts government and its development partners have stepped up to raise ladies’ profiles to match friends of the opposite sex.
Men have dominated almost every sector of life apart from preparing food at home and washing clothes and looking after the children at home.
It is, therefore, not surprising that some men have sarcastically referred to married women as “goal-keepers” for the mere fact that they had been relying on their husbands, parents or guardians for everything including simple basic needs.
All this has been happening despite the fact that Malawi is a signatory to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), global platform for action and the Beijing Declaration; and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, just to mention a few.
At the regional level, Malawi is a signatory to the African Charter on Human Rights, the Solemn Declaration on Gender equality, and the protocol to the African charter on people and human rights on the Rights of women in Africa.
However, the question one would ask is: despite all these commitments government has made, are we in the right direction to the achievement of 50-50 campaign for women representation in decision-making positions? What exactly is this campaign about?
UNFPA’s Fundira says 50-50 campaign programme is not just about numbers, but making a difference in all levels of decision-making. It is about making a difference in repositioning gender equality issues in politics and national development agenda.
She believes that all these cases of domestic violence are a result of lack of empowerment and would have been history by now if women were empowered.
“If these girls and women were empowered enough to challenge any forms of gender-based violence, definitely they would never suffer the devastating and humiliating condition of fistula, unwanted pregnancies and HIV and Aids,” she says.
Fundira further states that women in decision-making positions like parliamentarians have the potential of fostering socio-economic development since “it is common knowledge that a woman has a loving heart”.
“Already the sitting female MPs have demonstrated that women can make a difference in the country’s social and economic development,” agrees Weston Msowoya, project manager of the Malawi Human Rights Youth Network (MHRYN) who is based in Lilongwe.
Msowoya concurs with Fundira that gender-based violence is one of the major challenges facing the campaign for 50-50 women representation in decision-making positions.
“We, first of all, have to champion for zero tolerance to violence against women and girls in schools, public places, homes, workplaces, worship centres and all our communities. It is time for men and women, boys and girls to work together to end these shameful violations of human rights,” he says.
However, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Undule Mwakasungula observes that there is need for concerted efforts to support and enhance the skills of the current crop of aspiring female parliamentarians ahead of the coming elections if Malawi wants to realize its dream of achieving the 50-50 campaign programme.
Mwakasungula discloses that experience from the previous general elections had shown that lack of confidence and campaign skills were two of the major obstacles to women’s entry into parliament and other decision-making structures.
In view of these facts, the CHRR boss said his NGO decided to come up with a capacity building trainings to enhance the skills and confidence of aspiring female MPs as the country is preparing to have general elections slated for May 19 this year.
It is not the civil society organizations that that shown their keenness to support women in their struggle to match men in decision-making positions.
Senior Chief Mabulabo of Mzimba has joined the bandwagon of the campaigners of the 50-50 women representation. Mabulabo declares that he will champion for the rights of women in his area including supporting women in politics.
Speaking at Emfeni LEA School ground during this year’s International Women’s Day where, among other things, he appealed to his subjects to desist from abusing the rights of women, girls and children saying the practice is detrimental to human and psychological health of the victims.
“Time has come my fellow Malawians that we should give women a chance to run the affairs of the society,” said the traditional leader.
“Gone are the days when women were confined to household chores like cooking, fetching firewood and water. Time is gone for discriminating women on the basis of sex; we were all the same in the eyes of God and we all have the capacity to change things if given a chance,” stressed Mabulabo.
The chief explained that he summoned his subjects to join government in commemorating the women’s day to show his commitment towards the achieve 50-50 women representation in decision-making positions.
“Malawi is today commemorating this year’s International Women’s Day and I thought it would be important that we, too, should take part. As a guard of traditions, I want to tell you that this day is very important to us all, not only women, to renew our commitment to the fight against gender based violence,” said Mabulabo.
On politics, the traditional leader asked people to support women in politics to enhance good governance and achieve gender equality. He, however, warned his subjects against voting into power people who cannot articulate issues saying that would dilute the whole idea of choosing responsible leaders.
“If I say we have to support women; I do not mean to say just vote for anyone as long as it is a woman, no. Let us vote for women who can help bring development in our area. Let us give people a vote on merit,” he said.
Minister of Gender, Women and Child Development, Anna Kachikho, said when she officially launched a Resource Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming of Human Resource Management at Capital Hotel that government was committed towards empowering women as evidenced by the initiatives being taken in social, economical and political spheres geared towards addressing imbalances that have all along existed.
Kachikho said the societal stereotypes that breed discrimination of one group of people from others is a major that retards development of the world economy.
“The world economy could have been so miles better off had it been that the problems of discrimination and bias against one sex group were inexistence,” she emphasizes.
And during the International Women’s Day under theme: End Violence: Support women in politics, Kachikho said: “We have made the theme to relate with the 50:50 campaign, which is currently underway. Women have been experiencing violence in many forms on of which are political in nature.”
“We, therefore, would like to set an environment where women are not subject to violence politically but instead they should be supported for the development of his nation,” she appealed.
But Kachikho has one thing to clarify to the general public if people have to take her seriously for her ministry is said to be discriminating the same women they are championing their rights and empowerment for.
The ministry recently issued a press statement stating that it will not support female aspirants standing on independent tickets. This is a drawback to the fight for equal opportunity to politics.
It is for this reason that the MCP’s Alice Deliwe Ngoma feels CHRR and other non-governmental organizations should continue lobbying political leaders and other agencies, such as the media, to create a more conducive environment for women participation in decision-making to become reality.
Ngoma complains that media houses only concentrate on candidates contesting in urban areas while neglecting those living in rural areas.
She, therefore, appealed to the media to open up and reach out to all candidates across the country to ensure that all voters are accorded opportunity to elect deserving people into positions of authority. She emphasized that media has a key role in providing eligible voters with relevant information about their candidates.
CHRR is running a series of campaigns aimed at promoting the role of women in decision-making with funding from Danish Church Aid.
Under the project, the organization is targeting female aspirants from the districts of Karonga, Rumphi and Mzimba in the north while in the centre Kasungu, Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntchisi, Ntcheu and Salima districts to build capacity for the women aspiring candidates so that they may be able to face men during campaign podia.
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