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Women Empowerment
State of women in an independent Malawi
By Watipaso Mzungu Jnr
It is for this reason that all Malawians, every other 6th July, congregate to celebrate their freedom from external political influence and interference.
Independence Day, therefore, offers Malawians an opportunity to look back and share memories of colonialism and what it means to be independent.
Since 1964, Malawi has registered and achieved a number of social and economic strides worth celebrating about. But as we celebrate this year’s Independence Day, it is important that we take a look at the situation of women in our societies.
While all Malawians can pride themselves as a country on the move, it is sad to note that women continue to play second class in almost all sectors of life.
There are few women occupying positions of authority in our country despite gender campaigners calling on governments to come up with affirmative action on women empowerment.
Most women in Malawi are socialized to be followers, not leaders. Malawian women lead their communities as democratic representatives and participate in state politics, but only to a limited extent.
Contemporary formal state politics is constructed as a masculine domain, and just 13.6 per cent of parliamentary seats are held by women.
UNDP figures show that the average life expectancy of a Malawian woman is 39.6, slightly below that of her male counterpart with 40. Adult literacy statistics show that only 54 percent of women can read and write compared with 74.9 percent of men.
Strong cultural constraints and belief systems relegate women to non-political roles. According to traditional cultural beliefs, acceptable women’s roles are those in the private sphere, not public life.
This is largely attributed to social attitudes entrenched in Malawi culture, which discriminates against women. Consequently, most women are subjected to severe and harsh living conditions; they also shoulder a higher percentage of responsibilities and manage heavy workloads in the community.
The social situation of women in Malawi leaves them seriously disadvantaged in almost every sector of development compared with men.
Christopher Naphiyo, Regional Civic Education Officer of the South but speaking in personal capacity, faults the society for long looking at women as being dependent on men in families and the role of a breadwinner for most households has been left to the men in most instances unless where the man unfortunately leaves through death, divorce and other means.
This thinking, observes Naphiyo, has left most women incapacitated right from their families where education for the girl child has generally not been taken so seriously as compared with that for boys until of late when we have seen institutions championing the cause of the girl child's education and well-being. This has led to more girls easily dropping out of school because the thinking is that they will get married away to men who will support them financially.
He further finds faults in policies and legislation, which he says have not favoured women for a long time until recently that internationally the fight for gender equity has gained momentum with international conventions, protocols and declarations like that of Beijing and the SADC from which other advocacy initiatives have got their authority.
But what, exactly, is hindering Malawian women’s full participation in formal, national-level state politics?
In her contribution in Gender and Development, Alinane Priscilla Kamlongera tries to highlight a few constraints that hinder women from participating in politics which include limited income, education, and gender stereotypes.
Kamlongera observes that socialization processes are a key constraint on women’s participation in politics. Girls are treated differently from boys, and the focus of their upbringing is on domestic tasks. This limits time available for education, blunts ambition and lowers self-esteem.
In addition, the lack of resources (time, education, training) brought about by poverty is a significant barrier to women entering politics. Women’s economic status is lower than that of men and this holds women back from political leadership.
And as NGO Gender Coordinating Network (NGO GCN) chairperson Emma Kaliya observes, these plus many other challenges make women feel condemned to kitchen work.
Men continue to assume top jobs while their counterparts are mainly assigned to take up house-keeping roles.
In some workplaces, female employees are treated as sex objects; they are even dismissed from their jobs if they refuse to sleep with their masters.
They face challenges to access loans from banks or indeed other money-lending institutions. It is not easy for a woman to get a loan of K100,000 from our banks unless they have some connections.
Kaliya thinks the best way to empower women is to introduce deliberate policies that would promote the needs and aspirations of women.
“We don’t want women to be given free money. All we are asking for is economic empowerment of women through such initiatives as Women Development Fund,” suggests Kaliya.
Women and access to health care
Women in Malawi continue to face challenges in accessing quality medical and healthcare in the country’s hospitals. Maternal mortality rate remains high. Latest estimates for Malawi suggest that roughly between 3,100 and 6,000 women and girls die each year due to pregnancy-related complications, according to a Tool for Maternal Health Advocates developed by USAID.
Additionally, another 62,000 to 180,000 women and girls will suffer from disabilities caused by complications during pregnancy and childbirth each year.
At least 16 women are dying every day in pregnancy or childbirth. Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world at 807 deaths per 100,000 live births. Though government has shown strong commitment to the issue and has launched a roadmap for maternal health, a number of obstacles hinder progress.
There is a serious shortage of doctors and nurses, with vacancy rates of over 60 per cent. Access to delivery kits, critical drugs and other supplies is limited. The fertility rate remains high - about six pregnancies per woman.
Young women in Malawi tend to marry early, risking teenage pregnancy, obstetric fistula and HIV.
What should be done?
It seems the other challenge we have in Malawi is that of looking at personalities, not issues. Thus women have long been victims of this mentality. But as Naphiyo suggests it is time we started looking at issues and not personalities.
In some instances, the cultural factor has made more women live in fear since when a woman acquires property and assumes economic prosperity of certain proportions or levels, more eye-brows are raised and more questions asked than when a man does the same. Most communities speculate negatively on the manner in which the property has been acquired. Generally when people fail to understand issues regarding women and their property, they associate them with prostitution. These days there is a new dimension of this negative speculation - satanism.
What is more unfortunate sometimes is that women themselves lack the spirit of supporting each other. But as Naphiyo suggests all Malawians should assume responsibility of pushing this country forward in all aspects including the area of governance.
On the other hand, Kaliya suggests that government and the civil society should develop deliberate policies that will see women benefiting more than their counterparts.
Banks and financial institutions should open to women and give them more money for them to invest in meaningful businesses.
“Banks should start lending women enough money that can help them transform their economic base. It is sad that, in the past, money-lenders have been giving women K5,000s, K10,000s, which is not enough to embark on a business that can bring change in someone’s life; this is just enough for hand-to-mouth,” she says.
Women’s participation as active citizens and high-ranking politicians has to be normalised. They have to strategically and consciously make their voices heard.
Kamlongera, on the other hand, recommends that more effort must be made to challenge underlying attitudes and beliefs about women’s role in society. Malawian female politicians should support and campaign for other female leaders. Women leaders need to work together, and inspire other women to move into positions of power. Powerful and well-known female politicians could be encouraged to visit schools and talk to girls about their experiences in politics. Schools could run competitions, choosing bright girls with leadership abilities to be mentored by female politicians.
END
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