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

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

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

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)

Women

Leaders

Women

Experts/Managers

Women Care Providers

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

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

„‟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.

BLOCK INDEX

Social Power 0.926

Economic power 0.724

Political power 0.266

ALL 0.639

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

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.

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.

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

Election outcomes : Candidates fielded at national level

Source: Report on Parliamentary and Presidential elections – May 2009

CANDIDATE NATIONAL LEVEL

Bingu Wa Mutharika ( DPP ) 2,946,103

John Zenus Ungapake Tembo ( MCP )

1,370,044

Kamuzu Chiwambo (PETRA ) 35,167

Stanely Masauli (RP ) 33,887

Loveness Gondwe ( NARC ) 32,160

James Mbowe Nyondo ( Independent )

27,328

Dindi Gowa Nyasulu 20,151

YEAR Total No. Seats

Men Women % Women

2009 193 150 43 22.28

2004 187 160 27 14.44

1999 193 175 18 9.33

1994 177 167 10 5.65

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1994 1999 2004 2009 2015

Category Total Men Women % Women

Ministers 20 17 3 15

D/Ministers 13 7 6 44

All 33 24 9 27

Political Party

Total Men Woman % Women

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 - All

193 152 41

Category Total No. Of Men No. Of Women

% of Women

Permanent Secretaries/DG

45 40 5 11

Senior Managers

329 276 58 17

All 379 316 63 28

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Zikomo

Merci Beaucoup

Asante sana