GCL Event-Gender equality and female empowerment 1st November 2011

1. CASE STUDY: WOMEN AND POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN THE MALAWIAN CONTEXT
BY
Hon. Dr. Jean Alfazema Nachika Kalilani, MP
Edinburgh City Chambers-Scotland: Tuesday, 1st November, 2011
Global Community Links

2.  Background information
 Women in Malawi
 2009 Malawi General Elections
 Women in decision making positions
 Contemporary priorities and challenges
 Efforts to reduce challenges through projects
 Concluding remarks

4.  Malawi, popularly known as “The Warm Heart
of Africa”, with friendly people.
 Bordered by Tanzania to the North,
Mozambique to the East, South and
Southwest‟ and Zambia to the Northwest.
 Third largest fresh water lake in Africa, called
Lake Malawi, good for swimming all year
round

5.  Population: 13.1 million (Population and Housing
Census-2008-NSO) of which 6.7 million are
female while men account for 6.4 million.
 Urbanization: 15.3%
 Capital: Lilongwe
 Area: 118,484 sq km (45,747 sq miles)
 Major languages: English, Chichewa (both official)
 Major religions: Christianity, Islam
 Life expectancy: 56 years (men), 57 years
(women) (UN)

6. Women
Leaders
Women
Experts/Managers
Women Care Providers

8.  To go from the base of the pyramid to the
top we need :-
1. Role Models ( motivation/Self esteem )
2. Education ( Attitudes/Practices/Behaviours )
3. Resources ( Time/money/parents-guardians)
4. Political Will & Commitment
5. Local & Global Links
6. God

9.  Malawi government values women
empowerment as a backbone of our nation
and households
 It is a Constitutional Issue reflected in section
24 of the Republic of Malawi Constitution
 „‟Gender Equality Bill „‟ formulated &
developed ready for debate in parliament
 Reviewing National Gender Policy to reflect
emerging issues such as HIV/AIDS

10.  „‟Discrimination of persons and „‟all persons
are under any law, guaranteed equal and
effective protection against discrimination‟‟
on several grounds, one of which is sex.....
 While equality and non-discrimination are
some of the key tenets of the constitution,
these concepts have neither been defined nor
adequately articulated under statutory law in
country.

11. BLOCK INDEX
Social Power 0.926
Economic power 0.724
Political power 0.266
ALL 0.639

12.  Malawi Growth & Development Strategy
( MGDS II ) is an overarching policy
development towards achieving the MDGs
 Gender related MDGs ( 2) Universal education
; (3) Gender Equality & Woman Empowerment
& (5) Health including Maternal
 Great efforts are being done through the
MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) with of
UNDP & other development Partners

13. Candidates
 Apart from having a woman among the
presidential candidates and a woman running
mate in 2009 general election,
 Malawi witnessed the highest number of
women candidates aspiring for parliament,
increased from 136 women contesting and
27 elected in 2004 to 237 women contesting
and 43 elected in 2009.

14. Conduct of the polls
 Malawi experienced peaceful elections in
2009 with no serious incidents of voter
intimidation observed.
 The MEC set up a Media Monitoring Unit
(MMU) to ensure that all contesting parties
had equal access to the media.

15. Election outcomes : Candidates fielded at national level
Party MOST RECENT ELECTIONS
Men Women TOTAL % Women
Ruling (DPP) 141 52 193 27
MCP 112 22 134 16
UDF 139 32 171 19
AFORD 25 4 29 `4
TOTAL 417 110 527 21
Source: Report on Parliamentary and Presidential elections – May 2009

16. CANDIDATE NATIONAL LEVEL
Bingu Wa Mutharika ( DPP ) 2,946,103
John Zenus Ungapake Tembo ( 1,370,044
MCP )
Kamuzu Chiwambo (PETRA ) 35,167
Stanely Masauli (RP ) 33,887
Loveness Gondwe ( NARC ) 32,160
James Mbowe Nyondo ( 27,328
Independent )
Dindi Gowa Nyasulu 20,151

17. YEAR Total No. Men Women % Women
Seats
2009 193 150 43 22.28
2004 187 160 27 14.44
1999 193 175 18 9.33
1994 177 167 10 5.65

18. 50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1994 1999 2004 2009 2015

19. Category Total Men Women % Women
Ministers 20 17 3 15
D/Ministers 13 7 6 44
All 33 24 9 27

20. Political Total Men Woman % Women
Party
DPP 114 82 32 28.07
MCP 27 24 3 11.11
UDF 17 16 1 5.88
AFORD 1 1 0 0.00
MAFUNDE 1 1 0 0.00
MPP 1 1 0 0.00
Independent 32 27 5 15.
National - 193 152 41
All

21. Category Total No. Of Men No. Of % of Women
Women
Permanent 45 40 5 11
Secretaries/
DG
Senior 329 276 58 17
Managers
All 379 316 63 28

22.  3 year project Parliamentary Women Caucus &
Active Learning Centre
 Women MPs encourage respective
communities to voice their developmental
concerns on a range of topics in interactive
meetings
 Insights gained used to inform constituency
activities; or to lobby ,propose amendments
to law, policy or service.

23.  Skills to map, explore, listen and record the
views of the constituents developed in project
workshops, plus
 Skills to carry issues forward and influence
public debate, legislation and policy,
strengthening the women‟s caucus and the
political profile of women MPs in the process

24.  Reproductive Health as policy area
 Access to clean & safe water
 Income Generation & Micro-loans Program
as a policy area for women in the
constituencies
 Access to justice securing Gender Equality in
political representation

25. 1. Specifically, Malawi government is active to lay
policy and legislative frameworks on Gender
related areas such as Deceased Estates ( Wills,
Inheritance and Protection) Act 2011, Child
Protection and Justice Act 2010, among others
but one worth mentioning is the gap on policy
and legal framework to guide Economic
Empowerment of Women.
2. Government is active to consider on this vivid
gap.

26. 3. I , therefore , would like to kindly request this
forum , as we will be looking at way forward to
work with Malawi government. The government
is open to invite all meaningful partners to
support this initiative. Malawi needs support of
the Scottish – Malawi Partnerships in this
process to address the priorities & challenges.
4. The development of the policy and legal
enactment and programs to operationalize such
frameworks would help to realize the
aspirations of women and girls in Malawi. This
will complement the Gender Equality Bill which
indeed focused on the rights.

27.  Zikomo
 Merci Beaucoup
 Asante sana