'\ I\ I\'\ Women in '\I \I '\_J Development Southern Africa Awareness
UNIVERSITYI OF MALAWI UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESR .\.RCH P.O. Box 278, Zomba, Malawi Tel 265 - 522914 Fax 265 - 5225- E-Mail 5:7231/1.53 Telex 45214. 1l
SOUTHERN AFRICAN RESEAR CH AND DOCUMENTATION CE iTRE 1 • Women In Development Southern Afri (WIDSAA) programme Box 5690, Harare, Zimbabwe Tel 263-4 - 738694/5/6 Fax 263- - ;~ E-mail [email protected]
© UNIMA, SARDC 1997 © Boxes, Tables, Figures, Map as specified
ISBN 0-7974-1753-2
This profile may be reproduced. used acknowledgement of the co-publishers and
Citation: UNIMA Centre for Social Research and SARDC-WIDSAA, Beyond Inequalities: Women in • .falawi. L ;nL SAROC. Zomba and Harare, 1997.
Available in book form in English. Watch for \VIDSAA Home Page.
Cover and text design/DTP by Paul Wade of Ink Spots Design Studios, Box CH 387, Harare Zimbabwe
Origination by Scanographixs, Harare
Printed by Cannon Press A Profile of Women in Malawi produced by the T;niversity of Malawi Centre for Social Research and the Women In Development Southern Africa Awareness (WIDSAA) programme of the uthern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC)
en by e er M. Mvula and Paul Kakhongwa Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi :ith a contribution from Diana Cammack - the WIDSAA Gender Reference Group
IDSAA is a southern African partnership initiative with national partners in the 12 member tries of the Southern African Development Community(SADC), funded by the regional WID ~e of the Netherlands Government Directorate of International Cooperation (DGIS). BEYOND INEQUALITIES
Women In Development Southern Africa Awareness (WIDSAA)
a programme of the
Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC)
WI DSAA Programme Staff Bookie Monica Kethusegile, Head of Programme Barbara Lopi, Projects Manager/Editor Raymond Chibatamoto, Documentalist Grace Kwinjeh, Writer/Research Assistant Rufaro Chigoma, Secretary/Assistant
WID Advisor Monique Calon
WIDSAA Reviewers Diana Cammack, Rose Jengo, Barbara Lopi
Series Editors Phyllis Johnson, B. M. Kethusegile, Hugh McCullum
Editorial Assistant Constance Mkombwe, Naume Zyambi
Development Indicators Tinashe Madava
Design Paul Wade, Ink Spots Design Studio Women in Malawi PREFACE
Beyond Inequalities is a series of publications which pro file the status of women in southern Africa and the initia tives being made to mainstream gender in development processes in the region. The series presents the situation of women and men in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a region, and in each member country.
In the process leading to, and after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995, southern Africa has seen slow but noticeable change in the attitudes towards the integration and mainstreaming of gen der issues and perspectives in natiohal and regional programmes and poli cies. This has culminated in the SADC Council of Ministers adopting a set of recommendations in February 1997 to make gender an important element in the region's programme of action and community-building initiatives. The fruits of these policy declarations are still to be realised.
The reality of the women of southern Africa is that they remain a vulnera ble, marginalised group that is yet to enjoy equality in status, and access to services and resources with male counterparts. Women are found at the "bottom rung of poverty, of illiteracy, of landlessness";' and are concentrat ed in the rural areas where facilities and services are scarce. Women are the most affected by negative impacts of economic adjustment programmes. Cuts in social expenditure such as in health and education mostly impact on women and girls, who are victims of the worst forms of violence.
While women are the daily managers and users of natural resources, large ly for the benefit of others, women are not involved in the major decisions that affect these resources and the environment.
In politics and decision-making, women turn up in the largest numbers every election year as they constitute more than half the population of the different countries. Yet women are visibly absent in decision-making posi tions of government, of parastatal organisations, and of private companies. Women remain concentrated in the so-called "female professions" and at the very best are in the middle-management positions.
For strategies to be developed that address the subordination and vulnera bility of women, it is important that the causes of this situation are identi fied. The series Beyond Inequalities reviews the roles and responsibilities, access to and control over resources, decision-making powers, needs and constraints of women vis a vis men.
The identification of the causes of these problems should lead to appropri ate strategies to resolve them both at national and regional level.
The 12 country profiles in this series document and analyze information along themes drawn from the Critical Areas of Concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action (PFA) and derived from what the countries of lhe region consider to be priorities. The profiles are therefore part of an ini tiative that seeks to bring to light gender issues as they relate to the devel opment process. In addition to providing information for planning and BEYOND INEQUALITIES
development purposes, the profiles indicate gaps for future research focu, UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI CENTRE FOR SOCIAL and will be updated at intervals. RESEARCH The Centre is a department within These national profiles on the status of women in southern Africa are .i the Uni versity of Ma lawi whose achievement of Women in Development Southern Africa Awareness (WID mandate is to undertake research, SAA), a regional networking information programme that covers the I= training and consul ta ncies. It con member countries of the SADC region. WIDSAA is a programme of the ducts workshops on ge nder sensi Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), in col tisati on and has done research in laboration with a range of national partner organisations and supported h: in come-generat in g activities for the Netherlands Government Directorate of International Cooperatio1 ru ral women, girl -c hil d ed uca (DGIS), through the Royal Netherlands Embassy regional WID pro· tio n, and women and HIV/AIDS. The Centre has produced a gramme. Directory of Women Researchers in Malawi, an Annotated The WIDSAA objective is to contribute to the improvement of the statu ~ Bibliography on Women in and position of women in the SADC region through awareness-building. Malawi and a Bibliography on and to collect, document and disseminate relevant and accessible informa Fa mily Planning Literature fo r the tion based on national and regional perspectives. WIDSAA aims to collect country. and organize gender information in such a way that it is easily accessible fo1 analysis and presentation toward the development of policy frameworks: SOUTHERN AFRICAN and seeks to assist governments, organisations and peoples of the region to RESEARCH AND move quickly and effectively towards the empowerment and involvement DOCUMENTATION CENTRE Th.e Southern African Research of women in development. and Documentation Centre (SA RDC) is a regional resource A workshop of WIDSAA national partners and local consultants reviewed the centre coveri ng the SADC region. Terms of Reference and defined a framework for preparation of the profile Its objective is to improve the series. base of knowledge about reg ion al, economi c, po li tical, cultural The WIDSAA partners consulted national stakeholders, interest groups and and social developments, and gender activists in the process of developing the national profiles. their implications, by maki ng in fo rm ation accessible to po licy A regional profile on Women in Southern Africa, mainly deriving from the makers, non-governmental organ isations, the private sector, devel 12 national ones, includes further contributions of more than 30 profes 2 opment agencies and the media sionals from throughout the SADC region. An advisory Gender Reference in the region and internationally. Group guided the process of organising and presenting information. SA RDC's main programmes are on the environment and disaster An Introduction to each profile outlines the methodology and conceptual management, gender, sustai nable framework. democracy and SADC informa tio n. SA RDC has offices in Part I gives the national perspective and context, including a historical Harare, Maputo and Dar es summary, macroeconomic framework and demographic information. This Sa laam. Patro n is Jul ius Nyerere. is followed by a situation analysis of gender issues by theme, containing baseline data on women in society and how they fare relative to men.
Part II reviews the programmes and policies of government, non-govern mental organizations (NGOs), donor and development agencies, communi ty-based organizations (CBOs) and other stakeholders involved in main streaming gender into development, assessing the extent to which gender imbalances receive due attention.
Part III highlights the achievements and commitments in the context of the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as priorities for future action. This sec tion seeks to establish links between the current situation and the future ideal, contrasting the situation of women with the policy intentions to address it.
Part IV contains a reference of materials used in compilation of the profile as well as a bibliography of country-specific WID documents and addition al statistical tables.
2 Women in Malawi
The series title Beyond Inequalities is a forward-looking one, based on an assessment that inequalities are now generally acknowledged as an imped iment to development and economic growth in most countries and regions of the world. The challenge, therefore, facing women and men is to look beyond inequalities to cooperation, peace, development and prosperity.
Critical Areas of Concern Box 1
A review of progress since the Nairobi Conference highlights special con cerns - areas of particular urgency that stand out as priorities for action. All actors should focus action and resources on the strategic objectives relating to the critical areas of concern which are, necessarily, interrelat ed, interdependent and of high priority. There is a need for these actors to develop and implement mechanisms of accountability for all the areas of concern . To this end, Governments, the international community and civil society, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, are called upon to take strategic action in the following critical areas of concern : + The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women + Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to education and training + Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to health care and related services + Violence against women + The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those living under foreign occupation + Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive activities and in access to resources + Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels + Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women + Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and .protection of the human rights of women + Stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and participation in all communication systems, especially in the media + Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the safe-guarding of the environment + Persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl-child.
SOURCE: Pla tform fo r Action and the Beijing Declaration,, United Nations Department of Publ ic Information, New York, 1996
Malawi National Platform for Action
+ P.overty alleviation and empowerment + The girl child + Violence against women + Peace
SOURCE: Centre for Social Reseach, Univers ity of Malawi, 1997
3 BEYOND INEQUALITIES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SARDC-WIDSAA would like to thank all of our national partners and members of the Gender Reference Group (GRG) for their active participa tion in a continuing process. We also want to thank national and regional readers and reviewers, who gave constructive comments on contents and presentation. Names of the individuals and organisations in each country are listed in Appendix 1 and 2. Very special mention must be made of Monique Calon, who was the regional WID Advisor at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, during this process and was our partner in nurturing the programme from conception to maturity. Margaret Samuriwo who was instrumental in the conceptualisation of the programme is also acknowledged.
To my other colleagues, the staff of WIDSAA listed in the frontpiece, who worked so hard in the early stages of production of these profiles, and the peo ple in the other SARDC departments - R. Salimu, M. Sachikonye and their staff - who assisted in so many ways, goes the satisfaction of a job well done. Thanks to all of them, and to the SARDC Executive Director, Phyllis Johnson, who supported the process throughout, and to the Director of SARDC's envi ronment resource centre, Munyaradzi Chenje, who shared his experience of the process of developing information tools for the SADC region. Most of all, recognition goes to the University of Malawi, national partner for Malawi, and to the Royal Netherlands Government Directorate of International Cooperation (DGIS) without whose financial support this mammoth task would not have been accomplished. All others who were involved with the process in any way, at any time, are gratefully acknowledged.
Bookie Monica Kethusegile, Head of Programme SARDC-WIDSAA, Harare
Many individuals and institutions in Malawi have contributed to this work. The assistance of Mrs Sinoya and Mrs M. Shawa, both of the Ministry of Women, Children's Affairs, Community Development and Social Welfare, who fully understood the necessity and importance of this exercise, and provided detailed information on the activities of the Ministry regarding government policy and programmes, was essential to the process. Thanks are also extended to other WID contacts listed in PART IV who provided data on policy and programmes for women in Malawi.
Colleagues at the Centre for Social Research read earlier drafts and made helpful comments and suggestions. To them we express our sincere appre ciation. We also want to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Ms P. Kandiado and Mr M. Chiocha who did the typillg and formatting of the report.
In spite of such attention and support, errors may have been made. For these, we claim sole responsibility.
Peter M. Mvula~ Paul Kakhongwa Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi
4 Women in Malawi CONTENTS
PREFACE 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 CONTENTS 5 List of Tables, Figures and Boxes 7 ACRONYMS 9 MALAWI DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS 10 MAP of Malawi 11
INTRODUCTION 13 Methodology 13
Profile of the Country 14 Historical overview 14 Political context 15 Role of women 15 Governance 16 Macro-economic structure 17 Agriculture 19
PART I SITUATION ANALYSIS 21 Economy 21 Land and agriculture 21 Employment 25 Income 26
Women's workload 27 Food production/food security 27 Water collection 28 Gathering firewood 28 Sex workers 29
Politics and Power 29 Laws and legal reform 29 Decision-making 30
Social structures 30 Kinship 30 Sexuality 31 Culture 32 Socialisation 32 Marriage and access to children 33
Education and media 34 Formal education 34 Adult education 35 Access and control of media 36
5 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
Environment 36 Living conditions 36 Natural resources and management 37
Health 37 Nutrition 37 HIV/AIDS 38 Access to health services 39 Reproductive health 39
Violence and conflict 40 Personal violence 40 Domestic violence 41 Displaced persons and refugees 41
PART II POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES 43 Structures and organisations 43 Declarations 46 Non-governmental organizations 46 Aid and relief 48
PART Ill THE WAY FORWARD 49 Economic empowerment 49 Political power 51 Health and fitness 52 Culture 52
PART IV REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 55 Endnotes 55 Organisations in Malawi with an interest in gender issues 57 WID contacts in Malawi 58 Libraries and offices visited 58 Selected Bibliography 59
APPENDIX 1 List of National Partners in 12 SADC Countries 63 2 List of Gender Reference Group 64 3 SADC Gender Declaration 65 4 Beijing Declaration, from Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, 4-15 Sept. 1995 66 5 Platform For Action (PFA) Mission Statement, from Fourth World Conference on Women 68
6 Women in Malawi
List of Tables, Figures and Boxes
Tables 1 Selected Economic Indicators 18 7 Distance to Firewood Supply 29 2 Female and Male Heads of Households 22 8 Female Enrolment as a Percentage of 3 Farm Characteristics by Gender Total Enrolment 34 of Household Head 23 9 Gender Gap in University Education 35 4 Recipients of Advice from Agricultural 10 National Adult Literacy Programme, Extension Workers, 1980-81 25 1986-92 35 5 Average Number of Hours/Day Spent on 11 Urban/Rural Households' Access to Farming by Gender Over Two Seasons 27 Safe Drinking Water, 1992 37 6 Population Growth and Maize Production 12 Low Birthweight by Weight and Region 38 in Malawi, 1987-94 28
Figures 1 Female and Male Heads of Households 22 3 SACA: Credit Uptake and Participation 24 2 Size of Landholdings 22 4 Women in Parliament 30
Boxes 1 Critical areas of concern 3 11 National Plan of Action for Women 2 Work for maize 27 in Malawi 44 3 Woman worker 28 12 Celebrating womanhood 45 4 Ordinary business women are 13 Constitutional guarantees 46 neglected, says director 30 14 Unity before equality, say women activists 47 5 Widows cry 31 15 NASAME: Women just as good as men 50 6 Decency Dress Act 32 16 Women lobby for increase in marriage age 51 7 Woman stripped naked in broad daylight 33 17 "Give women a chance" 52 8 Education and training of women 34 18 Fight for gender equality misunderstood 53 9 Abortion is a woman's right 40 19 "Malawi Human Resources and Poverty: 10 Working women harassed 41 Profile and Priorities for Action" 54
7 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
8 Women in Malawi ACRONYMS
ADB African Development Bank ADMARC Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation ADD Agricultural Development Division AIDS Acquired lmmuno-deficiency Syndrome BASW Business Advisory Services for Women CBO Community Based Organisation CCAM Chitukuko Cha Amai M'Malawi CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women CONGOMA Council for NGOs in Malawi DGIS Netherlands Government Directorate of International Cooperation DHS Demographic and Health Survey EMPOWA Malawi Professional Women's Association FHH Female-Headed Households GDP Gross Domestic Product GG Gender Gap GIN Gender Initiative Network GNP Gross National Product GOM Government of Malawi GTZ German Technical Cooperation HIV Human lmmuno-deficiency Virus ILO International Labour Organisation MACOHA Malawi Council for the Handicapped MBC Malawi Broadcasting Corporation MCP Malawi Congress Party MHH Male-Headed Households MOF Ministry of Finance MOWCACS Ministry of Women, Children's Affairs, Community Development and Social Welfare MSIS Malawi Social Indicator Survey 1995 MUSCCO Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives NABW National Association of Business Women NAC Nyasaland African Congress NALP National Adult Literacy Programme NCWID National Commission on Women in Development NFWCM National Family Welfare Council of Malawi NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NPAWM National Plan of Action for Women in Malawi NSO National Statistical Office NSSA National Sample Survey of Agriculture PFA Platform for Action (Beijing) SACA Smallholder Agriculture Credit Administration SADC Southern African Development Community SARDC Southern African Research and Documentation Centre SAPM Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi SAPs Structural Adjustment Programmes SAW Society for the Advancement of Women SEDOM Small Enterprise Development Organisation of Malawi UDF United Democratic Front UNFPA United Nations Fund for Population Activities UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNIMA University of Malawi US AID United States Agency for International Development WIDSAA Women in Development Southern Africa Awareness WB World Bank WWB-MA Women's World Banking-Malawi Affiliate 9 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
MALAWI DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS
Official Name Republic of Malawi Capital City Lilongwe Independence Date 6 July 1964 Head of State and Government B'akili Muluzi Last Election Held May 1994 Ruling Party United Democratic Front Political System Parliamentary Democracy Legislature National Assembly Languages English, chiChewa, chiNyanja Land Area 118 484sq km
POPULATON (1994) Total (estimate) 9.6 million women 51% men 49% Density 81 people/sq km Estimate by the year 2000 11 million Annual growth rate 2.3% Doubling date at current rate 2024 Urban population 13% % of total annual growth rate 5% HEALTH (1994) Life expectancy at birth 41 .1 years women 41 .5 years men 40.6 years Crude death rate* 22.7 Crude birth rate** 50.2 Total fertility rate*** 7.1 Infant mortality rate 560/1,000 live births Maternal mortality rate 147/100,000 live births Population with access to health services 35% safe water 37% sanitation 6% EDUCATION (1994) Adult literacy rate 55 .8% women 40.4% men 71.7% Primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment ratio (combined) women 63% men 71% ECONOMY (1994) Gross National Product (GNP) US$1.6 billion per capita US$170 annual growth rate 2.9% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) US$1 .3 billion as % of GDP -agriculture 31% -industry 21% -services 47% Average annual rate of inflation 21.8% Foreign Debt US$2 billion Export-import ratio 61% (exports as % of imports) Currency (1 kwacha = 100 tambala) exchange K15.30 = US$1 (March 1997)
• Crude Death Rate: Annual number of death per 1,000 population. •• Crude Birth Rate: Annual number of births per 1,000 population. ••• Total Fertility Rate: The number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates. SOURCE: UNDP Human Development Report, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 1997. Figures given here are taken from current international sources, often estimates, and may differ from national data contained in the text and tables . Most figures given are for 1994, the most recent avai lable in the UNDP HOR, 1997.
10 Women in Malawi
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11 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
12 Women in Malawi INTRODUCTION
Women in Malawi, as elsewhere in the region, are one of the groups most prone to poverty and marginalization, due to factors that influence the extent to which women par ticipate in development. Social and cultural practices con tinue to permeate and reinforce the perceptions of women and girls as being inferior to men arid boys, and structures of patriarchy per petuate a subordinate position.
This is coupled with the fact that women have to do arduous household tasks, child-bearing and raising, collecting firewood and water, and engag ing in a great deal of productive work, both on and off the farm.
Conventional methods of defining women's labour force and work do not take into account the intensive and unpaid labour that women perform on the farms, as wives of estate tenants, or in their households. Most of this work is non-marketed, subsistence farming.
Women account for more than a quarter of part-time smallholder farmers but despite all this involvement, they are not fully accounted for in the labour force of the estate export agriculture sector though they perform tedious tasks necessary for the estate to flourish. Even when remunerated, their contribution is often under-valued and they earn significantly less than men. 3
Although women have equal constitutional rights with men, in practise non legal obstacles to equality exist because of the dual legal existence of statu Although women have tory and customary laws and practices, lack of information and awareness among the majority of women of their legal rights and provisions, and the equal constitutional strong influence of culture, custom, religion and attitudes of society. rights with men, In addition, the socio-cultural system, as well as pressures from traditions, customs and belief, determine the way of life in Malawi and influence the in practise non-legal extent to which women participate in development. obstacles to These factors influence social relationships, decision-making patterns, inheritance rights, acceptability of new ideas in the areas of education, health, family planning and sanitation. equality exist.
This profile Beyond Inequalities - Women in Malawi will shed some light on how these problems can be mitigated.
Methodology To accomplish the task of documenting and analysing the situation of women in Malawi, this study employed a number of techniques: + there were consultations with potential users of the information provid ed in a gender profile of Malawi in order to start with a clear concept of who they are and what they expect; + this was followed by a review of the literature and data available; + our next activity was to review statistical data and general information on the situation of women in Malawi.
13 BEYOND INEQ UALITIES
The focus was on the most current material and other relevant documents from 1980 to the present (See Bibliography). Efforts were made to have as much dialogue as possible with women involved in gender-related issues in the country.
PROFILE OF THE COUNTRY Malawi is a small, landlocked country just south of the Equator. It is bor dered by Tanzania to the north, Mozambique to the east, south and south west, and by Zambia to the west. Malawi is 901 kms long and varies in width from 80 to 161 kms. The total area is 118,484 sq kms, of which 79.6 percent is land mass. Lake Malawi occupies almost 20 percent of the coun try's total area, and other lakes are less than one percent.
The population is now estimated to be more than 11 million of whom just over 50 percent are women. The population is expected to increase to 12 mil lion by the turn of the century.
Historical overview Present-day Malawi is inhabited by descendants of different ethnic groups who settled in the area at different periods of history.
The first inhabitants are thought to have begun settling around Lake Malawi about 10,000 BC. During the 16th century AD, Bantu-speakers known as Maravi (from which the country derives its name) settled in the area that is now Central Malawi.4 These later became known as Chewa. The Mang'anja, who are now known as Nyanja settled in the Southern region. The Tumbuka, Tonga, Ngonde and Lambya later arrived in what is now Northern Malawi. In the 19th century, the Ngoni, Yao, Lomwe and Sena set tled in Malawi. In the late 19th century, the Europeans also arrived in the country. 5
On 14 May 1891, Great Britain declared the territory to be the Nyasaland British Protectorate. The name was changed in 1893 to the British Central African Protectorate. The people of Malawi opposed the colonial adminis tration from the beginning, and this resulted in an uprising led by Rev. John Chilembwe in 1915.
The Chilembwe uprising was provoked by the deaths of African soldiers in fighting between British and German armies in northern yasaland during the early years of World War I. Chilembwe, a pastor with the Provincial Industrial Mission at Chiradzulo, felt the European conflict did not concern Africans. He also opposed the system of forced labour which required African males to perform two months or more of work a year on European plantations as "rent" for eight acres of land per family. Thi y tern obvi ously had an adverse effect on the women who e spouse migrated to work on the plantations. In some cases the men abandoned their families in the village and started "new" lives on the plantations.
After the suppression of the Chilembwe uprising. African political activity was limited to Native Associations which raised local grie,·ance but did not challenge the legitimacy of colonial rule.
In 1953 the colonial administration e cabli bed the Central African Federation, comprising Southern Rhode ia no. · Zimbabwe). orthern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and yasaland 'now _ Iala\\i). Africans in Malawi protested this move and oppo ed it through a nationalist mo,·ement found ed in 1944, the Nyasaland African Congres _· .·\C . On 3 ~1arch 1959 a
14 Women in Malawi state of emergency was declared by the colonial administration, the Congress was banned and all its leaders were arrested, including Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who later became Malawi's first president.6
Political context In September 1959, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was formed to replace the banned NAC. On 1 April 1960, Banda and several other detainees were released from prison in Rhodesia. By this point Britain had accepted Nyasaland's independence and secession from the federation as inevitable. In August 1961 the first multi-party general elections were held in Malawi. 7 Four political parties contested and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) won all the seats in the lower house as well as two which it contest ed in the upper house. On 6 July 1964, Malawi became an independent state with a Parliament of 50 elected members, three special members and a cab inet headed by Banda, the country's first prime minister.
This Parliament operated under a monarchical constitution which was replaced by a republican constitution on 6 July 1966 when Malawi became a republic and an official one-party state.
Constitutional changes made Banda the Life President in 1971. Although Malawi retained the institution of Parliament during this period, from inde pendence up to 1979 no parliamentary elections were held and the ruling MCP party nominated all MPs. In the elections of 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992 a number of individuals (all MCP members) were allowed to stand for each constituency, although they were not allowed to campaign.
Until the 1990s, open criticism of the government came from exiled opposi tion groups such as the Malawi Freedom Movement, the Socialist League of Malawi and the Malawi Democratic Union. By 1991, there was a small but growing force within the country that began agitating for a return to plural istic politics. This was matched by pressure on government by donors. Women's participation In response to this increasing opposition and criticism, it was announced in in power-sharing and October 1992 that the President had decided to hold a national referendum on whether to retain the one-party system of government or adopt a multi party system. On 14 June 1993 the referendum was held and two-thirds of decision-making at all the electorate voted in favour of a multi-party system. Two weeks later, Parliament was recalled and it amended Article 4 of the Constitution, legal levels is limited. ising other political parties in addition to the MCP. Within weeks there were seven registered political parties in Malawi.
After 30 years of single-party rule, Malawians went to the polls in May 1994 and elected a new President, Bakili Muluzi. His party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), won 85 of the 177 National Assembly seats, while the MCP took 56 and AFORD, 36.8
In 1995, a new Constitution was approved by Parliament and promulgated.
Role of women Prior to the referendum the situation of women had deteriorated and their subordinate position was reinforced, despite the Banda regime's official policy of promoting women. The role women played in society was used for political purposes.
The public image of women in politics was stained by the compulsory involvement of Malawian women in praising, campaigning and dancing
15 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
publicly for the president, by the political activities of the MCP Worn c League, by the questionable practices of the league's charitable orgarn tion, Chitukuko Cha Amai M'Malawi (CCAM), and by the involvement women in the paramilitary group, the Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP). ~ traditional self-help structures at the grassroots level were obstructed b) authoritative and intrusive structures of the MCP. 9
The suppression of women and violations of human rights in Malawi can traced back to the period when the country was a British colony. As in soi other countries, repressive practices by the colonial power provided administrative model for the newly independent government.
During the transitional period leading to multi-party democracy, won played a significant role by turning out in massive numbers to cast the votes. Yet only a handful contested the general elections.
With the advent of democracy, women in Malawi have begun to hope ti their involvement in national affairs will bring some enjoyment of the fr u of their struggle for democracy. That goal, however, is far from be11 achieved due to numerous obstacles.
Governance Malawi is divided into three administrative regions: Northern, Central a Southern. The three regions are sub-divided into 24 districts, five in t Northern region, nine in the Central and 10 in the Southern. The cou nt r ~ administrative system consists of a central government, local governrn e· and traditional authorities. There are 43 traditional authorities in ti Northern Region, 79 in the Central Region and 83 in the Southern Regi o The smallest administrative unit is the village. Each branch of governrn e1 plays a key role in the implementation of development programmes. Women in Malawi have Unfortunately, women's participation in power-sharing and decision-maf ing at all levels is limited. Almost all traditional authorities are male, ar begun to hope that most chiefs and headmen are conservative and traditional; even though some parts of the country, under the matrilineal system of succession, it their involvement in women who choose the chiefs and village headmen. Malawian society is in transition, for its complex traditional structures a. national affairs will changing rapidly. Nowhere do people behave in ways that match textbol theory, and extensive research in villages is needed to document the real H bring some enjoyment of social behaviour. of the fruits of their Generally, though, the matrilineal system predominates in the Cen tr. region and parts of the South, while the patrilineal system is found in th struggle for democracy. North and in two districts (Chikwawa and Nsanje) in the far South. Eal system has its own set of social rules, though these are flexible.
Generally, in the matrilineal social system the husband will move to tr wife's village when married. He will have little control or authority over h children. Instead, the children's maternal uncle will have influence O\ c family matters. The uncle is also responsible for the welfare of his sister children. He and his sons will have control over the use of his sister's lan ' and will play a major role at the time of inheritance, when land nominal I passes from mother to daughters.
Under the patrilineal system, the males of a family make decisions regarL ing family and property. Specifically, they are responsible for the welfare L
16 Women in Malawi the children and for allocating land within the family. Inheritance is through the father and sons. When a woman marries into a family, she moves to her husband's home. When her husband dies she may remain there, where she and her children will continue to get support from her husband's family.
While these distinctions are basic to understanding Malawian society, they are neither absolute nor immutable. Because men have more power in Malawi generally, even in matrilineal areas where women control their land in theory, their authority is overridden by their male relatives. Nonetheless, a woman's husband and children in a matrilineal society will live among her relatives, which generally offers her more security and support. 10
Macro-economic structure Malawi is one of the least developed and poorest countries in the world. With a population now estimated at over 11 million, and with a fertility rate of 6.7 it is expected to increase to 12 million by the end of the century. The population is relatively uneducated, largely illiterate and unskilled, and more than 80 percent depend on smallholdings to live. Agricultural tech nology is not developed, many people cannot afford improved seeds or fer tilisers, and irrigation is underdeveloped.
With the possible exception of bauxite, there are no sizable and exploitable mineral deposits, commercial fishing is not viable, and there is little indus try. Communications and infrastructure are poor and deteriorating. Figures recently published indicate that population density ranges from 136 per sq km in the North to 314 in the Southern region, making Malawi one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. 11
These resource constraints have been exacerbated by policy decisions, and the Malawian economy has performed unevenly since independence. Banda's economic policy emphasised the development of estate agriculture to the detriment of industry, social services (including education and health), and subsistence agriculture.
Though the latter was initially to receive substantial attention, it was planned that estates would grow faster and would produce more export earnings and domestic income than smallhold farming. As it turned out, between 1964 and 1986 gross production on the estates rose at a rate of 10.4 percent per annum, which was almost five times that in the smallholder sec tor. The improvement in tobacco and tea production especially, resulted in an average annual GDP growth of about six percent for the first 15 years after independence.
Such undifferentiated statistics gave observers a sense that Malawians' lives were improving, when in fact subsistence agriculture grew at a rate slower than the population. 12
Also, according to policies laid out by the Banda government, the Agricultural Development Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) monopo lised the purchase of smallholder produce at prices far below world levels, making large profits, some of which were directed to the estate sector. At the same time ADMARC was used to keep food prices relatively low, per mitting reduced wage levels and maintaining peace in the countryside.
Transport and communications took a significant share of infrastructural expenditure, which largely benefited the commercial agricultural sector, while manufacturing remained highly capital intensive to absorb Malawi's
17 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
excess labour. Wages were kept low, partly by stifling the development of independent trade unions, in order to ensure that growth in the estate and export sectors was not hindered. Little money was put into basic education and public health.
Inflation stayed relatively stable at just under 10 percent throughout the 1970s, rising sharply in the 1980s as the kwacha depreciated, and import prices, government borrowing and transport costs increased. These policies helped a small section of the population, and provided Malawi with the highest level of income inequality of any of the 13 African countries for which data of this kind is available.
On the whole, social and economic indicators demonstrate that Banda's fis cal and development policies did little to help the average Malawian. In 1990, for example, 54 percent of rural smallholders were estimated to live below the poverty line (equivalent to US$40 per capita). GNP per capita was U$190 in 1980 and 1981, and. fell to $150 in 1986 and 1987. It climbed again and was $210 in 1991, but has vaccilated ince. falling especially in years of drought because of the country's high dependence on rain-fed agri culture.
The underlying A real GDP growth rate of upwards of nine percent has been reached in the last two years and is forecast for 1997 because the rains have been relative weaknesses of the ly good. Inflation, which was over 80 percent in 1995 following the floata tion of the kwacha by the MCP in early 1994, is now back to ingle-digit economy continue to figures.13 deepen rural poverty ... Malawi has been attempting to restructure its economy since the early 1980s, when it first negotiated loans for balance of payment support from the World Bank. From the mid-1980s structrual adjustment loans from the female-headed IMF have been used to promote liberalisation of foreign exchange control, restructuring of the parastatal sector, monetary and tax reform. deregulation households are of the private sector and improved incentives for private inve tors .1' among the poorest. Nonetheless, the underlying weaknesses of the economy - including dependence on plantation agriculture, low levels of technology. a small industrial sector, poor infrastructural development. few re ources and too little land, a high population growth rate and a low literacy rate - contin ue to deepen rural poverty. As a result, in an average year more than 50 per cent of rural families run out of food before the next harve t and nearly 60 percent of Malawians are chronically malnouri bed. Purchasing power of earnings have continued to fall since at least the early 19 0 . ·'At the offi cial minimum wage, it took a Selected Economic Indicators Table 1 household 11 day of work to pur chase a 90-kg bag of maize in 1989 Year GDP growth rate Inflation rate GNP per capita and 20 day in 1990. Two years % % US$ later, the ame bag of maize required 22 day on minimum wage 1990 4.8 11.5 180 labour... 15 1991 7.8 11 . 9 210 1992 -7 .9 22 .7 190 Female-Headed Households (FHH) 1993 10.8 19 .6 200 1994 -12.4 34.7 140 are among the poorest. Half of 1995 9.0 83.3 150 the e - FHH comprise at least a 1996 10.3 9.2 160 quarter of all families - are among the poorest 40 percent of rural SOURCE: COM/UNIC EF , Situation Analysis of ibverty in Malawi; and The World Bank Alias 1996; EIU , Mozambique Malawi, second quarter, 1995 and Malawi 1995-96; and information supplied by the Ministry of smallholders. compared to one Economic Planni ng and Development, 5 May 1997. third of male-headed households.
18 Women in Malawi
FHHs tend to have a higher dependency ratio, meaning there are less able bodied labourers in their families, as well as smaller landholdings. Particularly detrimental to their food security, FHHs generally suffer from shortages of labour at crucial times of the agricultural season. 16
Agriculture Agriculture is clearly the mainstay of Malawi's economy, affecting the livelihood and welfare of more than 80 percent of the population either directly or indirectly. Agriculture accounts for just over one-third of GDP, about 90 percent of export earnings and approximately three-quarters of total employment.
A striking feature of Malawi's agricultural economy is the intense pressure on land. Most of the country's arable land is already under cultivation.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, women continue to dominate the agricultural work force. In 1993, 92.5 percent of female labour was engaged in agriculture as compared to 69.3 percent of men. But despite their major contribution in the agricultural sector, women, who account for 51 percent of the total population, have limited access to land in their indi vidual capacity because of the various social, economic, cultural and legal constraints.
19 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
•
20 Women in Ma lawi PART I SITUATION ANALYSIS I
ECONOMY visit clinics when ill, all of which Malawi's GDP is adds considerably to their work largely produced load. by agriculture (31 percent in 1994), Women dominate the smallholder government services (16 percent), agricultural subsector. Some 30 manufacturing (14 percent), and percent of smallholder families are transport and communication (12 female-headed, and half of them percent). (compared to a third of smallholder male heads of households) do not Land and agriculture reach the 40th percentile of income. The agricultural sector is divided Twelve percent of urban house between smallholders and estates. holds are headed by women. While more than two-thirds of agri cultural GDP comes from the Land tenure smallholder sub-sector, two-thirds Land in Malawi falls into three cat of agricultural export earnings egories: customary, public and pri come from the tobacco and tea vate land. Currently a special presi estates. Half of the people in paid dential land reform commission is employment work in the agricultur investigating the competing inter al sector, and at least 85 percent of ests and needs of the existing sys the total population are dependent tem of land ownership and use. on agriculture for their livelihoods. By the mid-1990s the smallholder Customary land tenure, to which sub-sector comprised approximate most people have access, differs ly 1.8 million farms, compared to according to ethnic group although Despite their major approximately 30,000 estates. '7 there are some common character Mining, fishing, forestry and istics. In nearly all communities, contribution in the tourism also contribute to Malawi's households and male and female economy. individuals have usufructuary agricultural sector, rights and may sell the products of Agriculture uses the largest labour the land without interference. '8 women have limited force with women making the Land allocated to a household or major contribution. individual within a community is considered to be under their owner access to land in their Women's responsibilities in the ship. However, the land may not be rural, agricultural sector go far sold or given to strangers, and, as individual capacity. beyond the need to produce food if there is no legal title, it cannot be account is taken of the fact that used as collateral. Rights to land one-quarter head their own house may be inherited. holds and are responsible for the general welfare of their families, Access to communal and family including hygiene, health and nutri farmland is a key feature in subsis tion. Not only are they responsible tence rural economy. Land allocation for growing, harvesting and prepar is undertaken by the traditional chief ing food, but they must fetch water and village headmen, subject to the and fuelwood, often from several overall direction of the commissioner kilometres away. In most instances, of lands. In areas where land is high they are entirely responsible for ly valued for leisure or commercial ensuring their children attend purposes, especially Lake Malawi, school, receive innoculations and some chiefs and officials have made
21 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
need of additional natural female and Male Heads of Households Table 2 resources. Under-utilization of Female Male estate and public land in the face of % % growing population and poverty remains a contentious issue and the National households 25 75 basis of the need for reform. 19 Urban households 12 88 Rural households 26 74 Although Malawi law does not dis All smallhold er households 32.1 67.9 criminate against women in mat Prevalance of poverty among rural ters of land ownership, women are smallholders: % below th e 40th percenti le 50.0 35.3 disadvantaged by a general lack of SOURCE: 1990-1991 Household Expenditure and Small-Scale Economic Activities Survey, National Stati::ic.al information about how to buy and Office of Malawi, cited in WB, Malawi: Human Resources and Fbverty Profile and Priorities for Action. f\ov 1995. Annex 3, Tables A3.3 and A3.4. register land, claim ownership or contest land rights. There is ample e\idence that women have been Female and Male Heads of Households Fig. l di criminated against in matters relating to land allocation because of custom and traditional practices, even in rural areas where many familie are headed by women.20
Size of landhold ngs ~1alav.i· agricultural sector is divid ed into the e tate and smallholder u~sectors. As noted above, when more estate \Vere created they grew mailer. from an average of 250 Nati onal Smal lholder hectares in 19'"'9 to 14 hectares some IO years later.• 'ow most new estates . Women 25% . Women 32.1% are established by mallholder farm ers who register customary land they ~Men 75% 0Men 67.9% ba\·e cultivated for years.21
SOURCE: NSO in WB, 1995. The ucce-- of mallbolder agricul ture is dependent on landholding it available to outsiders, resulting in ize. labour availability, and the Size of Landholdings Fig. 2 the forced removal of villagers. amount of income available for inputs and fertilizer. In 1991-92, Customary land tenure is evolving + ome -1 percent of"smallholders as mobility increases, population cultivated le-- than half a hectare; pressure grows, commercial agri + 31 percent farmed 0.5-1.0 ha.; cultural opportunities expand, and a + 21 percent planted 1-2 ha.; and demand for smallholdings results. + only i-.; percent cultivated more Since the 1960s, thousands of than two hectare . leasehold and freehold estates totalling more than one million Landholding will continue to hectares have been carved out of shrink as population grows, and the customary landholdings. In the average ize is expected to decline 1980s and 1990s estates have from 0.-1.6 ha. person in 1987 to • Over 2ha 6.5% grown smaller, blurring the distinc 0.31 ha. per person by the end of · 1-2 ha 21% tion between commercially viable the century.= If past trends hold, smallholdings and small estates. those most affected will be farmers ~0.5-1.0ha 31% who hold small plots of land and Nearly a quarter of Malawi's land is are already impoverished.23 Ef.'ill Less than 0.5ha 41.5% occupied by forest and wildlife reserves or national parks, often In Malawi there is close correlation SOURCE: WB, 1995; and COM/UNICEF, 1993 encroached upon by villagers in between poverty and landholding
22 Women in Malawi
size. Given the level of technology Table 3 and irrigation, it is necessary for a family to cultivate more than one Cultivated area Female.headed Male-headed hectare to meet food requirements. And, as noted above, women in the under 0.5 ha 51% 37% rural areas tend to be among the 0.5-1.0 ha 31% 31% poorest Malawians. Therefore, 1.0-2.0 ha 15% 24% FHH are more likely than MHH to over 2 ha 3% 8% cultivate smaller pieces of land and average area cultivated 0.631 ha 0.897 ha have lower incomes (Table 3). area/adult equivalent 0.206 ha 0.231 ha adult equivalents 3.77 4.42 rural dependency ratio Moreover, there is a direct correla (children per adult) 1.43 0.96 tion between landholding size and land planted to cropping patterns. Small-plot farm hybrid maize seed 16% 22% ers are more likely to plant unim maize 83% 78% proved maize seed, which produces burley tobacco 1% 3% less grain per hectare than hybrid. hiring labour 29% 40% Insufficient land also means that using fertilizer 30% 46% plots are not left fallow, which using pesticides 1% 3% affects soil fertility; crops are not SOURCE: NSSA 1992/93 cited in World Bank, Ma lawi Human Resources and Poverty Profile and Priorities for diversified, which impacts on nutri Action, Tables 3.6, 3.19 and A3.9 tion; and cash crops are not grown for sale. 24 to hire piece-work labourers. Seen in gender terms, fewer FHH have The trend of land distribution animals and their herds are smaller between 1980-91 is represented in than those of MHH. Women also Table 3. About a quarter of the pop generally own smaller plots, have ulation was, in 1980/81, cultivating fewer adult labourers in their fami less than one hectare of land. The lies - that is, FHH have a higher average smallholding then was 0.30 dependency ratio - and therefore ha. in the "less than one hectare" need more piece-work labourers category. In 1990 more than 25 per than others, but are generally less Girls often undertake cent of the population was cultivat able to pay them. In fact, it is the ing less than one hectare and the poorest women who must work on such chores while the average was down to 0.25 ha. With others' farms to earn additional this trend continuing, women are at wages. As a consequence, their own a distinct disadvantage because of farms are neglected, which perpetu boys are studying. 2 their lack of access to information ates their poverty. ' about legal issues concerning land and the process of privatizing land. Female-headed households are often found, but not exclusively, in Labour matrilineal areas, where husbands In Malawi additional labour is have divorced or abandoned their needed at peak times of the agricul wives, or where women remain sin tural season - during land prepara gle or have been widowed. Other tion, weeding and harvesting. Men, women are left behind by their hus women and children work in the bands who seek work off the farm fields, and if wages or payment-in in order to augment the family kind are available, piece-work income. labourers are hired. Draught ani mals might also be used to ease the Research has shown that those work load. If cash crops such as women whose husbands are suc tobacco are grown, even more cessful (such as those working in labour is needed. South Africa) earn significantly more than MHH and other FHHs. Farmers with larger plots of land Irorncally, those female heads who are more likely to own animals and are divorced, widowed or single are
23 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
Another manifestation of labour SACA: Credit Uptake and Participation Fig. 3 shortages is the extensive use of child labour, often depriving chil 350 dren of time and energy to go to school. It is generally accepted that xlOOO children should work at home as 300 part of their training for adulthood. However, the length of working hours and the type of work usually goe beyond which a child could 250 normally do.
The girl child is particularly prone 200 to thi as he i being prepared for a lifetime of work as an adult woman. As early as six. girls become 150 re pcm ible for younger siblings and perform heavy domestic work such as dra\\ing water and fetching firewood_ fa·en when the girls are 100 in chool. they are still expected to do dome ti work while boys are exempL 50 Thi was confirmed in a study which -bowed that girls often 0 undenake u h chores while the 1982/83 83/84 84/85 85/86 86/87 87/88 88/89 89/90 90/91 91 '92 boy are tud: mg. obviously reduc mg the gir · chan e of performing • Beneficiaries (a) D Women (b) well m boo . Similarly, it is gen erally epted that girls can be (a) total number of farm families receiving credit (b) number of women of total credit benefiCiaries emplo~ed as dome tic workers, makin_,, people ho employ them SOURCE:GOM/UNICEF, Situation Analysis of lbverty in Malawi, Lilongwe, 1993; GOM, NCWID, lowalds Equality, Development and Peace: National Report to the United Nations Fourth World COnference on W:>men guilty of perpemating the low status Beijing, 1995 , June 1994. of women be ause the e girls are not able to attend bool. This dis Access to credit, not as poor as those married women crimination is particularly directed whose husbands are ab ent for towards girls from poor families more than half a year in earcb of whose paren need the income to market information work or working within 1ala\\i. suppon themseh·e and other chil The World Bank, contrary to what dren. and technology are the one might expect, says the preva lence of poverty is higher for the Credi biggest constraint to households who receive cash remit Acee to crediL market informa tances than for those who do not. tion and technology are among the women's advancement. except for the widowed who for the mo t critical barriers to self most part are older women.:t. employment as well as being the bigge t constraint to women's As noted above, labour shortage advancemenL Re earch proves that also influence the choice of crop there have been very few appropri grown by female headed-households ate credit programmes for urban or who will plant ub i tence crop rural women. over high-value cash crop uch as hybrid maize and tobacco. since the Over the past years, credit bas been latter require a high labour input biased in favour of larger landhold coincidental with the labour peaks ings or estates. The smallest hold required by subsi tence food crops.27 ings were considered "high risk"
24 Women m fa la\ 1 and could not benefit from lending Table 4 institutions. The inability of vil ~nts of Aclwf4:e frOm AgrkUlluial Extemlon Worken,1-.S1 lages to use communal land as col lateral made it difficult to get com Topic Male Heads% Wives% Female heads% mercial credit. The only credit scheme available to them was the land husbandry 27 14 13 Smallholder Agriculture Credit Animal husbandry 18 6 7 Administration (SACA), a unit in Crop husbandry 31 18 11 the Ministry of Agriculture. Table 4 Vegetables 10 6 3 shows that women have taken up Credit 26 13 12 SACA credit much less than men Food storage 15 8 7 Farmers club 18 7 6 have in previous years. Farmers training 17 7 6 Home economics 7 10 7 Since 1994 credit has become more Any topic 54 33 32 available to farmers, including SOURCE: Data supplied in the NSSA 1980-81; and re-analyzed by the Centre for Social Research, "The women. The Malawi Social Action Characteristics of Nutritionally Vulnerable Sub-groups within the Smallholder Sector of Malawi", 15 June 1988 Fund, supported by the World Bank, (draft), Table 2. makes credit available to communi ty projects and public works. Other money is especially available to cultural extension workers indicat women through Women's World ed that both wives and female Banking and the National household heads were discriminat Association of Business Women. ed against (Table 5). There is little reason to assume the percentages Agriculture extension changed significantly in the follow Extension services provided by the ing decade. previous government tended to spe cialise in maize production, empha Gender bias in agricultural training sising hybrid maize and fertiliser courses has also reduced the pro use. Other crops were largely ductive capacity of women. For ignored. Resource-poor farmers, instance, at Chilumba in Karonga in which included many women, were the far north in the first few months less likely to receive extension of 1986, courses were offered on advice. Moreover, the advice given identification of mealybug in cassa was largely inappropriate to their va, cotton pest management, farm needs. 29 ers' club organisations and leader ship, functional literacy, and gener To compound the situation, the al agriculture. Of the 143 people extension service as a whole was who attended the seven courses, 17 heavily dominated by male agents; percent were women. Only when in 1984 only 11 percent of 2,000 the courses focused on food and extension agents were female. Ten nutrition, vegetable growing and years later that number had dropped meal-planning did the number of to nine percent. The same year women increase to nearly equal that 3 there were some 1,800 male Farm of men. ' Assistants (who taught animal and crop husbandry) and some 200 Employment female Farm Home Assistants, Malawi has an active labour force teaching home economics and of 4.4 million people, of whom domestic activities. Rarely would women account for 1.9 million. 32 extension officers work with farm Female participation in the formal ers of the opposite sex. The scarci employment sector is low. ty of trained female personnel part Available figures indicate that, by ly explains the lack of good advice 1992, women comprised around 15 received by female farmers. 30 percent of the total labour force in A survey in the late 1980s of small the formal employment sector, in holders receiving advice from agri- which most women work as teach-
25 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
ers, nurses, secretaries and typi ts and di tributed unevenly m or sales people. They make up near ~Ialawi. PO\·eny i worse in the ly 20 percent of clerical workers. 22 rural areas. e pecially in the South. percent of sales workers, 23 percent The poore t group are female of service workers and le than household-heads who are widowed, five percent of administrative and divorced or ingle, who have little managerial workers. or no education. and must support se\eral _mall children. The poorest Data that is nearly 20 years old. but FHHs are tho e that receive cash still accurate, indicates that young reminan e and are most dependent women must be more highly edu off-farm income.36 cated to obtain the same relativeh· unskilled, entry-level jobs as men. More recent research demonstrate that women are paid less than men for the same work. For example. as the number of men in manufactur ing declined in the mid-1980 and the number of women rose, average wage levels fell. 33
Women are poorly represented in technical and management po · - tions in government a well. In 1994, only nine women occupied middle management decision-mak ing positions in the Mini try of Agriculture, representing one per cent of the total women in that min istry. The same year in MOW of income in differ CACS only two percent of the tocal country, while fish Female participation community development and oc1a1 een one and five welfare assistants were female.~ In oeer-brewing (tradi in the formal addition, there were about 2.000 . women), between female literacy instructors out of a employment sector total of 5,000. In the political arena and deci ion is low. making too, women remain ignifi cantly under-represented. one percent -"""''""IP land will raise In the informal market, women ~ 0.6 percent. Women are paid process food and beverages and \Vork family planting as tailors, potters, and in other poorly ;iven another less than men for paid jobs. They are found selling in pita income the rural and city markets, but rarely percent.37 the same work. on urban streets, where young and relatively well-educated men pre dominate. Several factors, in addition to poor education, combine to close entry to women in this sector. includ ing lack of business skill and employment experience, and poor access to information and crediL" "'enerating addi- In come are le likely to Income and expenditure are low . ~CODW.r._ education, and
26 Women in Malawi their households have a higher water, gathering firewood, pound dependency ratio. 38 Generally, then, ing maize amd walking long dis Work for maize Box 2 women suffer from lack of employ tances to shops and clinics while at "At the official minimum wage, it ment opportunities, access to land, the same time, they are required to took a household head 11 days of inputs, information, technologies undertake productive activities both work to purchase a 90-kg bag of and credit, and are frequently on and off their farms. Regardless maize in 1989 and 20 days in forced to neglect their own food of the season, a Malawian woman 1990. Two years later the same production in favour of seasonal is always busy, averaging at least bag of maize required 22 days on labour on others' farms or on the 12 hours of work each day, more minimum wage labour." estates. than twice that of a man. About half these hours are spent on household SOURCE: COM/UNICEF, 1993. Not surprisingly, women working chores (Table 6). on estates and doing piece-work on others' farms earn lower wages, Average Number Hours/Day Spent on Table 5 often do more tedious and painstak Fanning by Gender Over Two Seasons ing tasks, and are relegated to sea sonal jobs.39 Season Farming Sex Market Subsistence Household Total System Production *** In recent years, incomes in Malawi have generally fallen. The income Feb* Tobacco Male 4.1 0.4 1.9 6.4 of smallholders first improved from Female 3.8 2.5 5.9 12.2 an index of 100 in 1982 to 105 two Subsistence Male 0.3 2.4 1.9 4.6 Female 1.6 4.3 6.4 12.3 years later, followed by a steady decline to 88 in 1990. Their posi July** Tobacco Male 0.2 2.4 1.5 6.1 tion improved again in 1991, but Female 0.2 5.5 7.3 13.0 the 1992 drought had a devastating Subsistence Male 0.1 5.5 0.6 4.1 impact on their living standards, Female 0.4 4.9 6.7 12 .0 when the index dropped to 59. • Pre-harvest. •• fbst-harvest. ••• Fuel/water provision, food-related activities (gathering, meal preparation, beer brewing), shopping, house The income of wage earners who hold/farm maintenance, child care, health care etc. form 12 percent of the labour force SOURCE · L. Engberg et al , A Comparison of Rural Women 's Time in Two Villages in Malawi1 cited in eroded considerably between 1982 GO,WUNICEF, The Situation of Children and Women in Malawi, 4 September 1987. and 1989, when the index fell from 100 to 58. Since then, their situa tion seems to have stabilised, sug Food production.food security gesting they lost about 40 percent Women play a predominant role in of their purchasing power over the producing, storing, processing and past decade.40 preparing food for the family. Their work in food preparation involves A third group, representing about them in choosing foods available 10 percent of the work force, are on the farm or in the market, then informal sector workers whose cooking and apportioning it for earnings approximate the minimum family members. Malawian women wage. Expressed in constant prices, are frequently unable to obtain the the minimum wage followed a ingredients for a balanced meal, downward trend between 1982 and however, and many are unable to 1988, partially recovered in 1989, recognize the early signs of malnu but has further eroded. The pur trition among their children.41 chasing power of wage earners has dropped about a quarter in a Women concentrate on growing decade. food for their families to eat, while men often grow commercial crops. WOMEN'S WORKLOAD This is mainly because women Women spend an exceedingly large have limited access to credit facili percentage of their time performing ties, land and inputs. As a result, arduous domestic chores, such as women have less cash income than childbearing and raising, collecting their husbands. Though women are
27 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
They. and those with even less land, Woman worker Box 3 are particularly food insecure. During the harvest period I work very hard. I get up at around 4.30 a.m. There is little prospect of generat fetch water and make a fire. Sometimes I go to the barn to tie leaves h1le ing a u tained surplus above their waiting for the dew to dry in the fields. If there is time, I cook breakfa and own food requirements in spite of clean the plates from the night before, and by 6 a.m., I have started pie - improving technologies. On the ing tobacco with my husband. At noon I go to the house to cook lunch ior oilier hand. additional land could the family, and after eating return to the fields . In the afternoon we tie leaves raise ·mallholder production and together, and sometimes we continue doing this late into the night usm income. According to World Bank lamps to light the work. After that I prepare supper and also cook relish for e:timate . a one percent increase in the next day, heat water for bathing, and go to bed. l ould increase incomes by 0.6 SOURCE: Woman worker on flue-cured tobacco estate, Malawi, 1986; cited in GOM.1UMCEF lJle.. percenr Unfortunately, this is not Women and Children in Malawi, 4 September 1987. le option for most families, as · · onal farm land is scarce. involved in income-earning a tivi ties such as brewing beer. and - collection informal activities to earn mone. · onal level, 37 percent of with which to buy food, the e activ -"'holds obtain their water Year fbpulation• Season Maize" ities are usually poorly paid - ::: re ource located less than rarely bring in significant am · ometre away; nearly 50 1987 7.98 87-88 1.424 of cash. . ·hen the distance is 1988 8.25 88-89 1.510 o one kilometre. Over 80 1989 8.52 89-90 1.343 Food security in Malawi is often o"'" urban dwellers have 1990 8.80 90-91 1.589 equated with food self-sufficien . 1991 9.09 91-92 0.657 and increasing maize producuon 9.39 92-93 2.034 1992 has been the main strategy ·o 1993 9.70 93-94 0.819 1994 10.02 94-95 1.328 achieving self-sufficiency. BuL this of strategy has not succeeded because • estimate (millions) ** production (metric tonnes) maize production has not kept up -e ching it. create an with the increase in populario n for women. In a SOURCE: J.S. Johnson, An analysis of the extent, ca uses and effects of food insecurity in Malawi, with Specifically, smallholder maize estimated that an an approach to improving food security Ministry of 1 production between 1980 and 1991 average of 15 to Agriculture and Livestock Development, March 1996 (draft), adapted from Tables 2 and 12. remained fairly constant while the population (excluding refugee ) increased by more than 41 perce • ~u;;;• ...::.:..i::n by the Centre As a result, the country mo ·ed ' ~"""~'"'h~ revealed that from a situation of self-sufficien : drawing water in maize production in 1980/ l to that amount - deficit of some 274,000 tonnes in r the needs of 1990/91. .::.. - = four to five ·e to make the The deficit became obvious in the -~ - (four to five) 1985/86 season when the g e daily. This between production and require spend more time ments was 81,000 tonnes. The itu er than any ation deteriorated after thar_ and now the deficit in grain production is estimated to run above 300.000 tonnes annually, and is expected to reach about 500,000 tonne b~ 2005.42
Households with less than one hectare, planting traditional cro -. and using traditional farming prac tices can only produce percem the rural of household food requireme - ·e fuelwood
28 Women in Malawi almost entirely for cooking and POLITICS AND POWER heating. Forests cover 38 percent of Distance to Table 7 Under the Constitution of Malawi, Firewood Supply Malawi, but are disappearing at a women have equal legal rights with rate of 3.5 percent per year. Since men. In 1987, Malawi became a % Households Distance to fuelwood collection is mainly a party to the Convention on the by Agricultural firewood woman's task, she is most affected Elimination of all forms of Development supply by fuelwood scarcity. On average, Discrimination Against Women Divisions women spend six to nine hours per (CEDAW), although for a number <2 km* 2-8 km >8 km week collecting firewood for of years the Banda government household energy consumption in reserved the right not to adopt a Northern rural and urban areas respectively. policy to eliminate gender discrim Karonga 69 31 <1 Time spent on fuelwood collection ination.48 Mzuzu 89 10 <1 is at the expense of other important Central tasks such as childcare or food The reservation was dropped in the Kasungu 84 13 3 preparation. 1990s and the new 1995 Salima 62 36 2 Constitution is particularly progres Lilongwe 68 26 6 Sex workers sive when it comes to guaranteeing Information about sex workers in human rights, including women's Southern Malawi is scarce. Recent studies equal rights. Liwonde 56 33 11 indicate that sex workers are most Blantyre 63 30 8 ly young, uneducated or under-edu Unfortunately, while men and Nga bu 52 38 10 cated women from the rural areas, women above 21 have the same * < 2 km = up to one return trip 2-8 km = up to three hours who are supporting dependents legal status and rights, in practice > 8 km = minimum three hours (their children, siblings or parents) there are many non-legal impedi SOURCE: L. Engberg et al, A Comparison of Rural at home. While they demonstrate ments to true equality that are Women's Time Use in Two Villages in Malawi, some initiative by leaving the vil 1985; cited in World Bank, Women and based on custom and tradition. For Development in Malawi: Constraints and Actions, lages, they have no skills or capital instance, women have trouble 27 August 1991. to start businesses. Some work as inheriting their husband's proper bar girls for K150-200 per month, ty, although legal protection while others are freelancers who exists. rent houses nearby and frequent the bars in search of customers. Both Laws and legal reform There are reports groups of sex workers move from The legal position of women has bar to bar and from town to town been a subject of continuous dis of directly bartering where they sell sex at a rate varying cussion in Malawi because of the between K50 and K200 (about dual existence of statutory and cus sex for food. US$3-13) per encounter. They tomary laws, lack of awareness of retain their earnings and send some rights and provisions under the law to the family. Sometimes the sex and the powerful discriminatory workers are brought from a distant influence of culture, custom, reli town into an area by a bar owner, gion and social attitudes. who is keen to attract patrons. Recognizing these failures and con Sex is sometimes sold in villages tradictions, the legal sub-committee by freelancers, especially where of NCWID published a booklet in local employment (including 1994, entitled Women and the Law development projects) have in Malawi, which discusses many brought significant amounts of of the laws affecting women. cash into an otherwise poor area.46 Women are often responsible for In recent years modest efforts to their children's upkeep, and men inform women about their rights are often away from their wives for have been undertaken by a number months, so this is one way a of women's NGOs, including the woman without skills, education or Society for the Advancement of capital can earn money for food. Women, CARER, the Women and There are reports of directly barter Children's Committee of the Law 47 ing sex for food. Society, and Women's Voice.
29 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
D ecision-making one is a woman and no woman Women in Parliament Fig . 4 From independence until 1993, the holds a position of chairperson of main avenue through which women an Executive Board of any could participate in power-sharing Statutory Body. and decision-making was the League of Malawi Women Women have attempted to gain (CCAM) of the then-ruling MCP. more power in the political arena, However, even that was limited mostly by campaigning for the cre because it did not include any ation of a Senate in which a third of women on its National Executive its members would be women. No Committee until 1992, when three progress has been made on this ini female members were appointed. tiative because there is still no Moreover Banda's conservative Senate in Malawi. onetheless, a view of the role and status of number of women's organisations . Women 8% women permeated the discourse - including CCAM, NCWID, the and activities of the organisation. Tational A ociation of Business 0Men 92% The central role of CCAM in the Women ( ABW), Nurses and women's movement also ensured .Midwive Council of Malawi that the empowermnent of women ( l"MCM). Women's World has remained a hotly contested Banking-Malawi Affiliate (WWB political issue.49 MA). and the Gender Initiative 1 erwork - have continued to press Ordinary business Box 4 While the integration of women for additional political representa women are neglected, into mainstream development has tion for women. says director been on the agenda tor two decades, the current government During the 199.t election there were The director of Soche Business increasingly recognises the central pecial programmes to educate Women's Association, Mrs Hanna women about the election, and with Kachotsa, yesterday accused gov ity of women's issues in develop ernment of sidelining ordinary ment. local elections promised in the near business women on foreign trips future. women· and human rights where they can learn new skills. Through NCWID, and since organisations are beginning to Malawi's full acceptance of design ne\v programmes for civic In her speech before the Minister CEDAW, gender disparities in deci education for women. Rural men of Women and Children's Affairs, sion-making positions, employ and women are till reluctant to elect Mrs Edda Chitalo, at Soche ment, education, training, politic women to office. feeling that it is not Township in Blantyre, Mrs and religion are being addre ed. appropriate for women to lead. Kachotsa said government has been organising foreign trips for Moreover, efforts are being made to SOCIAL TRUCTURES privileged women but ordinary include women in national develop women are not benefiting from ment planning at all levels to en ure ~lala"ian ociety i based upon the such trips. their needs are adequately extended family. rooted on the land addressed. in the home 'illage. A well-educat "We beg the government to con ed urban • 1alawian will speak of sider the ordinary women on Yet even in this era of multi-party these lands as borne. even though these trips so that we can learn politics, women remain poorly rep mo t of their life i spent in town. other things which can help us to resented. Only three women hold Tho e who are better off regularly uplift our businesses," she positions in a Cabinet of 33. There take in the children of siblings to remarked. are 14 women MPs out of 176 par educate them. and many orphan children are living with aunts, She also asked government to liamentarians, one woman deputy consider the association as an speaker and two women are ambas uncle and grandparents. independent body and not affiliat sadors. Five percent of the now-di - ing it to other women's associa solved Local Councils were Kin hip tions in the country. In her women. Of the 40 principal secre A noted previou ly, the Malawian remarks, the Minister assured the taries in government mini tries and traditional social structure is char association that government will departments in 1994, only four acterised by both patrilineal and consider the request. were women. Out of the 27 posi matrilineal systems. Under the SOURCE: Phinleys Pinifo lo, Daily Times, tions of general managers of statu patrilineal system, the husband and December 7, 1995. tory organisations in Malawi, only his relatives (particularly the males)
30 Women in Malawi are the pivot of family life and deci Widows cry Box 5 sion-making. The responsibility of providing for the children, and the Widows in Malawi are crying over property they and their respective hus allocation and owning of land, bands made in many years of hard work before the latter's death. As she belong to the husband and male and her husband work to make their fortune, the relatives are not present; members of the family. Inheritance but they are the first, before the creditors, to make profit from zero invest is through the man's sons. ment.
In the matrilineal system, the hus Many women with children to support cry that the husband's relatives take band goes to live in the village of everything when husbands die. The relatives grab houses, bank books and his wife and has little authority and household items. This makes them bigger profiteers than thieves, one Blantyre-based management over his children. widow, who lost her house and a joint business to her hus band's relatives, said. Traditionally, it is the woman's brothers who exercise authority and "When I say, they take everything, I mean everything including your digni influence in family affairs. They ty," the Chairperson of the Widows Association of Malawi, Mrs Seraphine have authority over land and prop Katenga, said. erty, and are responsible for the welfare of their sisters' children. She said that it is painful losing a husband; and that making women lose Inheritance is generally through the their property as well, was very cruel for vulnerable women. Grabbing her wife's nephews. All this means that property "is a human rights abuse," Mrs Katenga says. control over land and inheritance is But more painful than all these is the relatives taking your dignity, she said. usually in the hands of male family members, regardless of the type of "You are 'Dear Mlamu' when your husband lives. The minute he dies, you system. become 'that woman!'. It is painful. This robs women of their dignity since they become the 'intruder' who is using their relative's property," she said. A basic social unit which acts as a protective shield for women, is the Sadly, women too, join the grabbing exercise, the association learnt during Mwini Mbumba. It consists of the its meetings. female dependents of the Chewa matrilineage residing in the same When a husband and a wife make profit-and-loss accounts for their family, village under the protection of the no relative is present. There is "no one to see whether you are eating meat everyday, or living on nsima and beans all year," she says . men of the matrilineage. It is often referred to as a co-operative domes The association hopes to lobby government to stiffen laws that protect wid tic unit. ows from the property-grabbers. One suggestion has been to imprison the people who steal a widow's property. Sexuality Women and girls have only limited Recently the widows association organised a premiere of the celebrated control over their own sexuality. Zimbabwean film "Neria". The film highlighted the path a woman takes to Sexual matters are not easily dis protect her children and the small fortune - from a property grabbing in cussed, especially between parents law - that she and her husband made for the family before his death. and children. Some parents think SOURCE: The Independent, 3 July 1996. that if they ignore the topic, it will go away. Others use proverbs and "scare" tactics to discourage their of girls begin having sexual inter children from early sexual experi course by age 14, often before men ence. struation.
As society changes, less informa Elders complain that social norms tion is received from elders or ini that prevented early or premarital tiators (Anankungwi) and more is sexual relations are breaking down. obtained from classmates, radio, On the other hand there are a num magazines, and older siblings. In ber of traditional intiation practices spite of ignorance about HIV I AIDS that are said to have encouraged or and STDs, anatomy and physiolo condoned early sex. gy, menstruation, puberty, mastur bation, conception and contracep With government's increased tion, data suggest that the majority awareness of the relationship
31 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
between underdevelopment and ·omen wearing mini-skirts are rapid population gro'W'th. the subject to all orts of harassment administration made it easier for from the publi . e pecially men. people to obtain contracepti,·e . Where in the 1980s and before. on anirude . beliefs and married women were unable to - direct!_ influence gender receive contraceptives without their \iour and participation husbands' permission and girls in development. were unable to get them \\ithou - girls and boys are their parents' approval, now con stain from sex before doms a:nd more sophisticated birth -- norm is breaking control measures are widely and ceremonies for cheaply available for the asking. mmon and die- . the family and Abortion is illegal except in · l -ing respect in extreme cases to save the mother· life, and when a doctor approves.
Cu lture In Malawi, the day-to-day life of most people is deeply influen ed and guided by traditional value y - terns. However, traditional values were manipulated for political ends by the Banda government in an effort to maintain power and com Abortion is illegal except bat his opponents. For example. so called traditional courts were used in extreme cases to save to try opposition politician v.ithou ...: mal-distrib access to lawyers, and nyau tradi - household, the mother's life, and tional dancers were used to harrass tional sta anyone who opposed the MCP. bildren.
when a doctor approves. During the former regime. women's traditionally subordinate role was cemented and so was the· involvement in campaigning for then president. The cultural ground of matrilineal systems and the position of women was effec Box 6 Decency Dress Act tively used to legitimize the e~ president's power. Even tod:!.y. There was a six-month prison women are seen wearing che sentence awaiting any woman who: chitenges with Banda's picture " ... dressed in any clothing which which were worn when they had co by reason of its nature or of the praise and dance for him in the manner in which it is worn cause, when she is standing in an Traditional values were used co upright position with arms un keep men and women from bein-= raised and with her feet not less influenced by western ideas. F than twelve inches apart, to be instance, Malawi impo ed prison exposed to view any part of her sentences on women who wore body between the lower level of her kneecaps and her waist or skirts above the knee or trousers.. any under-garment covering such and similar restrictions were placed ....."-il,.., .... es this part .. .. " on long-haired men or those w • mferiority wore flared pants. Though the men. Until SOURCE: (Decency Dress Act, 1973, section l (a was repealed during the transi · specific pro-
32 Women in Malawi grammes that encouraged women Woman stripped naked in broad daylight Box 7 and girls to become more assertive, gain self-confidence and develop People around the Lilongwe garages off Malangalanga Road were on the spirit of fighting injustices. Tuesday, October 29 given a spectacular scene as a woman was being Increasingly, radio is being used to stripped naked by an angry mob. raise women's and girls' issues, including protecting themselves The lady is said to have been walking "half-naked" wearing a big short from HIV I AIDS, foregoing early sleeved shirt with nothing else underneath leaving her body wide open to marriage, staying in school, etc., at the amazement of the people. the same time local NGOs are talk ing to women and girls about dis This is said to have sparked off loud whistling and ululating from the mechanics near the Matola School of Driving, which did not take long to crimination, and their rights. attract other people's curiosity from afar who started flocking to the scene.
Scientific data on socialization are Seeing this, another respectable lady who was passing by is said to have scarce. The process entails a small quickly and calmly cautioned this woman to at least put on something to child being taken by any of the cover her body since the people were booing and whistling at her " inde women in a village on a temporary cent" dressing. basis. As the child gets older, he or she moves into a kind of hostel. However the woman is said to have reacted , "Let them whistle, I don't Boys move into the Mphala (boys' care .. . they are simply showing that they are really old fashioned and are hostel) and girls move into the trailing behind in fashion. These are democratic days. Everyone is free to wear what she likes. Gowelo (girls' hostel). In this hostel environment, younger girls and "No one has a right to dictate to me on what to wear! There is freedom of boys learn a great deal, including dressing, don't you know?" she is said to have retorted to the concerned respect for seniors, from the older lady, who then left her to live through what followed. youths and adults in the community. "This was what she wanted to show off: her body to everyone. So they sim Disobedient children are usually ply were helping everyone to see it," an on-looker lnusa, commented after punished in the form of either the pandemonium. scolding, cursing, caning, or denial of food for a given period. "The shameless lady with tears in her eyes, tried to wrench off the garment from the hands of her assailants to no avail and simply cried openly," he Among certqin ethnic groups, such narrated. as the Yao, adolescents are espe cially afraid of being cursed by Other women onlookers, when asked for comment said, "We can't back her their mothers for disobedience. actions. She deserved it and if ever she prays she should thank God for The curse takes the form of the being spared, she was going to be raped ."
mother lifting her breasts and SOURCE: Dalitso Kubalesa, The State>man, 1-7 November 1996 pointing the nipples downward saying, "if you have never sucked from these breasts, nothing dread tions for the community's social ful will happen". However, should structure. The Anankungwi (tutors) something dreadful happen, she are chosen by virtue of their age, as can also take back her words. The well as good behaviour in the com consequences of this is greatly munity. A woman gains additional feared; stories have been told of status when chosen as a tutor, curses uttered by mothers where a which makes such women influen child has either died shortly after tial in their communities. the curse or has gone mad. The curse is supposed to operate Marriage and access to children through ancestral spirits. Marriages in Malawi fall into four categories: Even though Christianity and west + marriage under the Marriage ern education have led to a decline Act; in such activities, the role of + marriage under Customary Law; women as agents of socialisation of + Asiatic marriage; and young female members of their + Foreign Customary Law mar community has important implica- riage.
33 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
The first requires that the male be at four-year secondary school system least 21 or there must be parental (Forms 1-4) and post-secondary consent. The marriage is celebrated options which include technical 21 days after announcing the banns schools, several types of training and is celebrated in a public place colleges and university. with two witnesses who mu t be related to those marrying, Banns Since the inception of multi-party are designated to enable tho e who democracy, primary education has know of any lawful reason why a been made free, and primary school particular marriage should not take enrolments have soared from 1.4 place to object to the marriage if million in 1990-91 to 3.2 million in they so wish, 1994-95. Government now esti mate there is a shortage of 38,000 Under customary matrilineal mar primary chool classrooms. riage, the formalities include the exchange of gifts and the man Women and girls are generally moves in with the woman. In pani under-repre ented in the education lineal marriage, the woman mo\"e y tern which in turn limits their in with the man after the formalitie parti ipation in the socio-econom which include payment of lobola in ic. and political development of the the form of cattle or cash. ount:ry. Inadequate access to edu- Customary marriage can al o ation and profe sional training for include church and council mar girls. has led to the high rate of riages. These follow the local cu - female illiteracy. Female literacy is toms but are presided over by onl~ ~ percenL whereas male liter priests, pastors, church elders or acy · -_ percent. The estimated councillors. Generally, all cu tom number of illiterate people aged 15 ary law marriages are potentially and abo'e is 3.5 million, almost a polygamous. third of the population.
Asiatic marriages apply to non Ac primary chool levels, the ratio The low value placed on Christian people of Asian origin o girls co boy is almost equal, but who wish to marry under their cu - re · :ely few girls acquire the girls' education by many toms and practices. -hool-lea\·ing certificate and therefore ,-ery few can be found at parents means they are Foreign customary marriage i secondary level of education, in between a Malawian and a foreign oLe=e- or universities. For er who marry according to the pra - ins e. in late 1995 it was discov able to leave school tices of the foreigner. ered that 9 percent of boys and 83 percen of girls remain at school more easily than boys. Custody of the children under Standard 5. Those children seven is usually with the mother. .. ·hose mothers have achieved a The father, however, is supposed co Female Enrolment Table 8 pay maintenance. Very few women as a Percentage of claim maintenance due to la · of Total Enrolment information about the cumbersome F tors contributing to the low procedures. Cultural auirudes le :el of educational attainment for Educational 1980 1984 1987 where single mothers are loo ·ed _ include long distances trav level % % % down upon, also inhibits women elled co get to school and the fact Primary 30 42 44 from claiming maintenance from thar girls often begin Standard 1 Secondary 20 29 34 the father of their children. lasse quite late (age 11 or 12). University 20 21 23 They do not stay at school until Primary EDUCATIO A D EDI hool-leaving age due to early Teacher Training 37 37 35 Formal education marriage and initiations at the age
SOURCE: Green, C. and Baden, S., Women and Formal education in Malav.i fol of 1-. when most girls will have Development in Ma lawi, Institute of Development lows a three-tier tru ture: eigbt just achie ed Standard 3. The low Studies, Zomba, 1994. year primary level {Standards 1-8): value placed on girls' education by
34 Women in Malawi many parents means they are able Gender Gaps in University Education Table 9 to leave school more easily than boys, and girls are more likely to be 1967 1982 1994 withdrawn by parents to help with Number F/M GG Number F/M GG Number F/M GG household chores. Graduates 41 27/73 46 491 21/79 58 3420 26/74 48
Women in Malawi are especially • F = Female M = Male GG • Gender Gap disadvantaged in education. Only nine percent have had more than SOURCE: GOM/UNICEF , Situation Analysis of A:werry in Malawi, 1993 four years of schooling. Girls drop out of school more frequently than National Aduh literacy Programme, 1986-92 Table 10 boys, so that in the 1994/95 acade mic year, only 25 percent of all stu Year Actual No. of Literacy Centres Actual No. of Learners dents were girls. 1986 2,563 64,075 At the university level, female stu 1987 2,750 68,750 dents have always been in the 1988 2,485 49,700 minority. Table 10 gives details of 1989 2,238 44,086 the gender gap (GG) of graduates 1990 2, 185 44, 150 of the University of Malawi from 1991 2, 176 43,635 1992 2,617 40,243 1967 to 1994. In 1967 for example, the gap was 46. In 1982 it went up SOURCE: GOMIUNICEF, Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi, 1993 to 58 and in 1994 it went back down to 48. By this time there were more girls completing secondary Education and training of women Box 8 school, and an effort was made to Education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of close the gender gap. Nevertheless, equality, development and peace. the proportion of women at univer sity never has been much more than Non-discriminatory education benefits both girls and boys and thus ulti one-quarter. mately contributes to more equal relationships between women and men . Equality of access to and attainment of educational qualifications is neces Differences between male and sary if more women are to become agents of change. female students at the tertiary level are also manifested in the subjects Literacy of women is an important key to improving health, nutrition and that they take. Generally, women education in the family and to empowering women to participate in deci in university take liberal arts sub sion-making in society. jects, while men take mathematics Investing in formal and non-formal education and training for girls and and other sciences. In 1989, only women, with its exceptionally high social and economic return, has proved 22 percent of the women enrolled to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable development and eco in tertiary education were studying nomic growth that is both sustained and sustainable. 54 science or maths. SOURCE: Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration, UN Department of Public In formation, 1996.
Adult educati o n Concerned with its high adult illit cils, and various churches, while eracy, the government in 1986 additional programmes will be launched a functional adult literacy started in 1997 by various interna prograrnrne. Unfortunately, access tional NGOs. to, and coverage of, this pro gramme has actually declined from SAPM attributes this low coverage a high of 68,750 in 1987 to a low of to inadequate teaching and learning 40,243 in 1992 (Table 11). materials, and poor instructor reten tion rates. Most students enroling in In 1995 there were some 27,000 the National Adult Literacy learners in the government's adult, Prograrnrne (NALP) are women. literacy prograrnrne. Other adult lit Men represent only 11 percent of eracy classes are run by World enrolment.55 Reasons for this Vision, Action Aid, the city coun- include men's reluctance to study
35 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
with women, and to be seen by English (the language of the press) women to be in need of training. which means that only 41 percent of men and 19 percent of women Access and control of media read a newspaper at least once a Before the multi-party elections week. and change of government in 1994, there were two main newspapers, Regarding gender bias in staffing in both owned by the MCP. Now there the media, the MBC has a work are almost two dozen newspapers force of about 490; in 1995 only 56 and magazines, though some pub of the e (11 percent) were female. lish intermittently. Often reporting Of 180 programmes broadcast on is less than accurate and sometimes, the MBC every week, 12 percent libelous. Freedom of expression is were for. or about, women. widely practiced and cherished, and censorship is rare. Of the 30 or so journalists working in • 'ovember 1995 on 17 private The government has maintained new papers and six private maga ownership of the Malawi Broad zines of varying sizes, circulations casting Company, which operates a and ideologies. only eight (27 per nation-wide radio service, in much cent) were women. Only one publi the same way as national broadcast cation has a female proprietor. ing in other countries, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation Of the 115 people employed by (BBC). There is one other small Blantyre ~ew papers, linked to the radio station operated by a );1CP. only 20 were women, repre Christian organisation, and it is not senting l~.3 percent of employees. allowed to broadcast news. One woman i at the second managerial level while three There is pressure from some quar women are on the board. ters to re-write the MBC Act, to dis tance MBC radio (and ultimately, E 'VIRO I 1E T television) from the government. Living condr ions However, in most countries, private Hous'rg broadcasting is less gender sensi Housing is generally poor. In 1992 tive than state broadcasting, which it was estimated that 84 percent of can commit national funds to spe all the dwelling units in Malawi cial programming. Television is were gras -thatched and 15 percent being developed by the Post and had iron sheet roof . while 53 per Telecommunications parastatal, cent had mud-wanle walls and 32 and is scheduled to start broadcast percent unburnt brick walls. ing in rnid-1997. Striking differences show up when Research shows that there has been comparing urban and rural a lack of gender sensitivity in many dwelling . Dwelling units in the programmes aired on MBC radio.56 rural areas. where most women But, as noted, programmes are now liYe. are generally basic. In the sometimes aired that deal with citie much of the housing in "high issues relevant to girls and women, density.. suburb is small and including health issues, human crowded. Street lighting is poor, rights, civic education and the like. making neighbourhoods insecure, especially for women where there Radio is particularly popular, and is little public rransport at night. research shows that about 75 per cent of men and 52 percent of Sar 'tat•on women listen to MBC weekly. Recent research shows that only 5.5 Newspapers rarely reach the rural percent of :Malawians have access areas, and many people cannot read to adequate sanitary facilities locat-
36 ed at a convenient distance from Urban/Rural Households' Access Table 1 their houses. About 30 percent have To Safe Drinking Water, 1992 no sanitary facility at all. Three quarters of households have access Source of drinking water Rural Urban Total to a pit latrine. The situation is bet ter in the urban areas where nearly Piped into residence 0.6 11. 1 1.8 a quarter of the people have access Piped into yard/plot 1.2 22.5 3.6 to decent sanitation.57 Public tap 16.2 48.5 19.8 Protected well 23.6 8.8 21.9 Access to water Unprotected well 40.7 6.7 36.9 1.0 Just under half of the population of River, stream, spring 15.8 Lake/Dam/Pond 1. 7 1.2 1.6 Malawi has access to safe drinking Don't Know/Missing 0 .1 0.2 0.1 water within one km of their Total 100 100 100 homes; and one-third have this within half a km. 58 SOU RCE : Malawi Demographic and Health Survey !DHSJ, 1992
In 1992 it was found that 47 percent proposes using these resources for of the rural population used wells, tourism, and local people who need 14 percent communal standpipes, the resources for food. and another 14 percent used bore holes as their regular supply of The advent of multi-party democra water. 59 cy led many local people to believe that restricted access to protected Natural resources areas and their resources was going and management to be lifted. As a result, government Natural resources in Malawi has had trouble keeping parks and include its forests, parks and animals secure. The recent drought wildlife. Currently over one-third has also killed many trees and ani of the land is covered by forest, but mals. At the same time, the lake is it is being depleted at a rate of 3.5 being exploited by leisure compa percent per year, and this is expect nies and private individuals build ed to climb to 4.1 percent by 2000. ing homes, who are sometimes in conflict with local people who rely About 70 percent of the total on the lake for fish. 60 demand for fuelwood is for house hold consumption, as only 45 ,000 HEALTH households have electricity. Most Nutrition of the rest is used for agro-indus Malnutrition is a significant prob tries, including tobacco curing. lem in Malawi and remains the About 56 percent of fuelwood is major cause of the high infant, child from sustained yields. Trees are and maternal morbidity and mortal felled as land is cleared for agricul ity rates. The 1981182 National ture. The demand for charcoal, Sample Survey of Agriculture mostly from urban areas, is rising at (NSSA) revealed that 56.4 percent a rate of 11 percent per annum. of pre-school-aged children suf fered from chronic malnutrition and Malawi has some 10,000 square had low height-for-age, 27 percent miles of national parks and game were underweight and two percent reserves, totally 11.6 percent of the were wasted.61 country, along with more than 1,200 species of vertebrates, In 1990/91 , 56 percent of children including 160 species of mammals, under five were stunted. The 1992 600 birds and 100 reptiles. Lake DHS found that 48.6 percent of all Malawi has the most diverse fish children under five were severely population of any lake in the world. stunted. At the time of the Malawi As elsewhere in the world, tension Social Indicators Survey (MSIS) in exists between government, which October 1995 the rate of moderate
3i BEYOND INEQUALITIES
under-five stunting was 48.3 per of access to sufficient food at the cent of whom 24.2 were severely household level where food insecu stunted. The rate of underweight rity is most severe. Most rural and children was 29.9 percent, while urban families average only 72 per wasting stood at seven percent. cent of their total energy require Acute malnutrition is seasonal, and ments from their own production is worse before harvest time. due to small landholding sizes.
The rate of stunting in urban areas Data on malnutrition among adults has increased considerably in the are almost unknown, but it appears 1990s, to 19.l percent in 1995, to be widespread, particularly partly because of the migration of among women. More than 80 per people to cities without adequate cent of the population with goitre means of subsistence. o doubt the are women. Befo re puberty, the recent drought made the imation iodine deficiency problem and worse. goitre prevalence in both men and women i almost the same. But due While malnutrition affects a wide to rapid hormonal production and section of society, children are most change at puberty and child-bear severely affected. Following is a ing age. more women develop summary of the effects of malnutri goitre. In addition preliminary tion on mothers and under-five re ults of the anemia prevalence children in the early 1990s: urvey ondu ted in the country by + 13 out of every 100 babies born the ministry of health in 1994 indi alive, die before their first birthday; cate that -6 percent of all pregnant + 21 of every 100 children die women in . lalawi are anemic. before their fifth birthday; Available data reveal that about 20 + four of every 100 pregnancies of every 100 pregnant women suf end in the death of the foetus; fer from anemia in ~lalawi. 62 + two of every 100 pregnancies result in the death of the mother; The percentage of low birthweight + 20 out of every 100 babies born babie from health facility reports alive have low birthweights; has averaged about 13 percent for + 30 of every 100 children below the past three years. with little five are underweight; regional variation. (Table 13). The + 48 of every 100 children under reporting sy tern combines all five are nutritionally stunted; -in babies with a birthweight less than some areas (Salima and Dedza), 22 2,500 g. of every 100 young children have vitamin A deficiency; HIV/AIDS + 1.2 to 2.5 million people are at Statistics on this pandemic are also risk of iodine deficiency, in 1983, scarce and unreliable and underesti when data were last collected. mate the inciden e of the disease primarily becau e they fail to One of the main factors causing account for the deaths of people out malnutrition in Malawi is the lack side the formal health care system.
By the end of December 1993 a Low Birthweight by Year and Region, 1988-1990 Table 12 total of 31,871 case had been offi cially reported. About five percent Year North Central South Total of these case were children under % % % % five years. According to the statis tics, women outnumber men by as 13.1 15.4 12.8 13 .7 1988 much as three to one for those 1989 13 .1 14.9 11.9 13.1 1990 12.4 14.2 11 .3 12.5 under 30 years. In 1995 there were upwards of 80,000 AIDS orphans in SOURCE: GOM, Food and Nutrition Situation, Policies and Programmes in Malawi· An Overview, 1992 . the country, less than predicted
38 Women in Malawi
because of the death of so many most Malawians, especially those children. 63 in rural areas. The MSIS survey in 1995 found that: Rates of HIV infection among girls + 57 percent of Malawians were are higher than for boys, partly more than 5 km from a health facil because girls start having sexual ity; intercourse when their bodies are + nearly 20 percent walk between immature. Recent surveys suggest 1-5 km; and that as many as a third of the sexu + only 14 percent travel less than 1 ally active urban population is HIV km. positive, and that the national rate is about 12 percent. One survey of bar As found in the 1992 DHS survey, girls in Blantyre found that 80 per access was better in the Northern cent were HIV positive.64 The district than in the Centre or South. deaths of young and well-trained Naturally clinics were closer for people is having a negative impact urban families. on Malawian development. Access to under-five clinics was There appears to be a strong correla found to be slightly better, with a tion between levels of education and third of households more than 5 km knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmis away. Nearly half the population sion. Although surveys indicate that must travel 1-5 km to reach an knowledge of HIVI AIDS is almost under-five clinic, and only 11 per universal in the 15-49 age group cent are less than 1 km from a clin even in the rural areas, incorrect per ic or have a clinic in their villages. 66 ceptions about methods of transmis sion were found to be higher in rural As a result of these long distances areas and among women. 65 women spend a lot of time walking back and forth to health facilities. Approximately 13 and eight per In 1992 the median estimated time cent of rural and urban men respec to the nearest health facility for tively and 30 and 18 percent of women was 90 minutes. One-fifth rural and urban women do not con of women were within half an hour sider HIVI AIDS to be preventable, of a facility, but nearly two-thirds indicating a wide difference in were more than an hour away, and awareness, by both gender and two in five women were at least locale. There is also a gender differ two hours away. It takes women ence in knowledge of transmission, living in rural areas, on average, an with men having more specific hour longer to reach the nearest knowledge. Because of the relative health facility than those living in ly high level of awareness of the urban areas . . HIVI AIDS, agencies' programmes now concentrate on getting people The MSIS survey was particularly to use condoms, improving the sup interested in determining how these ply of condoms in rural areas, and distances affected the delivery of encouraging people to change their babies. In fact, it was found that in sexual behaviour. Efforts are also Malawi about half of the women being made to teach girls and opt to deliver at a clinic or hosptial, women, including sex workers, while 40 percent have their babies negotiation skills, giving them the at home. As a result, a quarter of power to decline unprotected sex. babies born at home die at birth, compared to 16-18 percent of those Access to health services born in health facilities. 67 Health services have received con siderable support from both Reproductive health government and NGOs but, despite With a fertility rate of 6.7 the this, are far from being adequate for Malawian population is one of the
39 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
fastest growing in the world. The + ignorance of child spacing: reasons for this are complex but are + low rate of modem contraceptive related to: use (seven percent of women in + the low level of literacy, espe 1992); cially among women; + early marriages and births (a + the relative powerlessness of third of women have babies as women; teenagers): and + polygamy (a fifth of men over 40 Abortion is a woman's right Box 9 have more than one wife). Traditional values favour large "I want to talk about women's rights to abortion in response to an article familie and until recently birth which appeared in The Lamp: Christians and Politics of October-December control measures were difficult for 1996. women to acce s. Once a woman or girl has decided to end her unwanted pregnancy she will surely end it inspite of the fact that it is illegal, morally wrong and that it Religiou con traints on birth con may pose great risk to her own life. Consequently it is important that women trol are a factor in some cornmuni have access to legal and safe abortion services. tie . As noted above, women must tra\'el long distances to clinics, Herein comes the argument of legalising abortion. The danger is for the girl which re tricts the continuous use who is desperate - she will end up seeing a backstreet abortionist who uses of birth control measures. Efforts crude and unhygienic conditions in the absence of abortion services in our are now being made to bring simple hospitals. child- pa ing methods to villages, How many of our young girls have suffered all kinds of injury and infertili through the community-based dis ty and early death because of backstreet abortions? The point is girl s and tribution of contraceptives, and to young women will not stop carrying out abortions simply because it is in\'oh·e men in the decision to use morally wrong or illegal. birth control methods.
Statistics from Malawi's two leading referral hospitals, Queen Elizabeth \ O:..E CE A D CONFLICT Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre and Lilongwe Central Hospital (lCHl in Defi.JemenL rape and child abuse Lilongwe confirm the urgent need to give women access to legal and safe are ommon in Malawi, although abortion services if we are interested in saving the lives of our young girls. data are difficult to find. In the pre Studies conducted at the two hospitals indicate that incomplete abortion democra ~ period, nothing was cases contribute to 54 percent of all gynaecologic admissions. e\'er reponed about such incidents, According to /PS Africa Reports for December 1995, at QECH, approxi le:ning people with a feeling that mately 30 percent of maternal deaths are due to abortion (Mtimavalye, . lala\\ i:m were not prone to 1994). It further says at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) between 21 and 23 dome - iolence. Because democ percent of women admitted with incomplete abortion were between the ra ~ mug.ht free expression, inci ages of 14-19 years and between 6-9 percent were still in school. den - are now widely and luridly reponed. giYing ri e to assertions in These are worrying statistics, confirming that abortion is a major social, some quaners that such abuse is the medical and public health problem in Malawi. Considering the actual cost result of ocial liberalisation and of post-abortion care services being provided by QECH and the number of democracy. beds taken up which would have otherwise been occupied by other gynae cological cases the pressure on our healthcare services is enormous. Pe _o al violence 68 Almost all major healthcare facilities in Malawi both public and private pro A contro\'er ial study in 1995, vide a varied range of family planning services. indicated that 12.6 percent of the girl urveyed at Chancellor In the midst of abundant contraceptives - some being offered for free - College in the University of one would expect there would be no need for abortions as almost all Malawi reported they had been women and girls would be able to protect themselves from unwanted preg raped and 67 percent of students nancies. However, this is not the case. reported exual harassment. An ear lier tudy of rural girls aged 10-18 To save the lives of our young girls from illegal and dangerous backstreet abortionists who are bent on making easy money and take unnecessary indicated that 55 percent had been advantage of a desperate situation, our national assembly needs to legalise forced to have ex. In 1993 The abortion." Democrat reported there were 600 rape prosecutions per year, but SOURCE : Excerpt from Treaser Kapindula's article in The N•llon, 19 December 1996 more than 6,000 rapes.69
40 Women in Malawi
Domestic violence Between 1985 and 1993, floods affected 31,818 families represent Working women Box 10 There is also little information on harassed domestic violence although ing 384, 138 people. Out of these, research has shown that this type of 500 were killed, 39 were unac There is a growing concern over violence is common and usually counted for and 1,400 were injured. the use of authority by men to takes the form of wife-battering, Crops were destroyed on 935 obtain sexual favours from girl-child defilement and assault hectares while 43,000 houses were women employees, writes against female domestic workers. lost. 71 Agness Mizere. Wife battering includes actual beat ing, sexual abuse, intimidation and Storms affected 3,500 people, 300 Lucy (not her real name), a newly denial of the basic necessities of of whom were killed, while the appointed secretary in Lilongwe drought in 1992 affected 6.2 mil is under pressure. Her boss life. Wife-battering exists at all lev demands sexual favours as a form els of society and in all classes. · lion people who needed 860,000 of job security. metric tonnes of food aid. This is culturally condoned in some Similarly, heavy rains in the south "He tries to fondle and caress me traditional songs that urge women in the 1996-97 rainy season dis every time I enter his office," says to persevere, and say that wife beat placed tens of thousands of vil Lucy, frustrated. ing is oil for a marriage. Some folk lagers from Malawi and tales depict women negatively and Mozambique who received relief In another scenario, an older undermine their capabilities. from the Malawi government and woman seduces young men at Certain initiation ceremonies teach donors. her place of work promising them a financially stable life if they women that, first and foremost, agree to satisfy her whims. they must please and serve men Malawi's population grew by more sexually and otherwise. These than 10 percent during the war in But it is mostly women who fall views are also perpetuated by the Mozambique, with the heaviest prey to sexual harassment. mass media which frequently burden in the late 1980s. Almost all "There are more men in promi depict stereotypical views of the refugees returned home during nent positions who use their women. 70 the two years after the 1992 peace powers to take advantage of agreement when the fighting women," says Lucy. Displaced persons and refugees stopped in Mozambique. As in In a paper on "Sexual Malawi has experienced many other parts of the world, Mozambican women were the sub Harassment at the Work Place in droughts and other natural disasters Malawi" by Etness Kumwenda, which affected thousands of people ject of sexual abuse perpetrated by 21 percent of domestic workers, in most parts of the country. officials and refugee men who 39 percent of working women in 72 Although there is no gender disag delivered relief. offices and 35 percent of those gregated data, there can be little interviewed indicated this form of doubt that women and children suf harassment existed. fer most from such calamities. Out of these, 68 percent alleged that they had been seKually harassed by their bosses. "There have been incidents where a boss demands sexual entertainment from his secretary by threatening her with dismissal," says Catherine Munthali, Director of Society for the Advancement of Women (SAW).
SOURCE : The Nation, Malawi. 14 August 1996.
41 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
42 Women in Malawi PART II POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES II
Due to the diffi mentation of these new pro cult conditions in grammes. A first step was the adop which women tion by government of a policy and find themselves, plan of action for women. This was and the recogni included in its Statement of tion of the role of women in devel Development Policy. The National opment, the government accepts Plan of Action for Women in the need to improve the status of Malawi (NPAWM) reflected the women in Malawi. government's recognition that sus tained progress in the economic and In spite of the new Constitution, social development of the country coupled with presidential declara requires the full participation of tions and official government pro women. nouncements, however, this com mitment is not manifest in govern The overall objective of the poli ment policies, particularly in the cy statement was to facilitate and implementation of poverty allevia support national efforts that bring tion programmes. There is little about sustainable social and eco provision, for example, for ade nomic development; enhance quate female representation on the growth through poverty reduc proposed committees which are to tion; and raise the standard of liv provide a mechanism for the ing of the people through full and implementation and control of equal participation of Malawian community-based anti-poverty women. programmes. Structures and organisations The commitment to women out The government has put in place lined in the Constitution is as com a number of institutions to bring plete and progressive as any to reality the integration of African government has made, yet women in development and their it remains unfulfilled for a variety effective participation in all of reasons. Most importantly, the structures and decisions which values expressed in the constitution affect and protect their liveli about human and women's rights hood . One of the objectives are not widely known, due to a lack established in the government's of civic education, and in many 1987-1996 development strategy communities, not widely believed, was to undertake a women's due to cultural traditions. A concert development programme for rural ed effort by government, agencies, areas. Some progress has been the media, educators, churches and made in that direction. others is needed to teach people about their rights. Among the structures put in place by government were the Ministry The UDF also promised a 25 per of Women, Children's Affairs, cent female participation in govern Community Development and ment but this has not been fulfilled. Social Welfare (MOWCACS); the The participation of women has National Commission on Women in remained low at all levels. Development (NCWID); and Chitukuku Cha Amai M'Malawi Now women are demanding specif (CCAM), the latter being a part of ic policy changes and the imple- the MCP. 43 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
National Plan of Action Box 11 The Ministry (MOWCACS) activities. Support for equipment for Women in Malawi The government established and technical expertise is currently MOWCACS to recognise struc being obtained. Specific objectives of the policy turally the role women play in are: development. Its main function is to To avoid duplication of efforts and + to review and develop policies enhance the management and to coordinate donor assistance, the and programmes which reflect full implementation of women's, chil ministry has created the Economic recognition of the equal and com dren's and communities' pro Activities Programme. It will man plementary partnership and access grammes and projects in the coun age the various income-generating to resources by both men and activities and micro-enterprise pro women towards economic try. It is the central coordinating growth; machinery for all women's issues. grammes, and extend them to all + to promote self-confidence in districts, subject to funding. women and facilitate their role in At present MOWCACS imple economically productive activities ments a wide range of activities The ministry also manages the and their contribution to the relating to women such as income well-regarded GABLE (Girls' national economy; generation, nutrition, education and Attainment in Basic Literacy) + to facilitate women's access to child care through the WID and programme and the Social productive resources, services and Community-Based Child Care pro Mobilization Campaign. Funded by opportunities; grammes. These programmes USAID, it attempts to change com + to reduce social, cultural, polit munity attitudes towards girls' edu ical and economic constraints emphasize fulfilling women· s which deny women the opportu aspirations and relieving their bur cation, and increase girls' enrol 75 nity and right to participate in, den of work. MOWCACS works ment and retention in schools. and benefit from the attendant at the local level, and encourages Started in one district in 1995, it is development programmes; and the full participation of individuals spreading to several others. There is + to improve the capabilities and and communities in projects. a GABLE radio programme that effectiveness of institutions disseminates messages about girls' responsible for promoting and Projects currently underway in education, while the project has faci!itating women in the develop MOWCACS include the promotion produced a number of books about ment process. of micro-enterprises for rural successful Malawian women in a women, improving their cash "role model" series. 76 income by offering business man Girls Attainment in agement training, credit schemes The Ministry of Agriculture and and appropriate technologies. For Livestock Development in the past Basic Literacy (GABLE) instance, activities include oil marginalised women, both in its extraction, vegetable growing, fish credit and extension services. It attempts to change processing and roof-tile production. now. however, realises that women Community development assistants are the key productive factor in are trained in business and credit rural areas and cannot be ignored. community attitudes management. Women's Savings In order to increase agricultural and Credit Clubs have been created, production, women must be the towards girls' education. as have a number of Credit Groups. recipients of agricultural training and advice. For this reason the A second large project is the WID Women's Programme Section of component of the Population Health the ministry was created in 1981. and Nutrition Sector Credit. The pro The programme targets female ject works in 23 of the 25 districts smallholders, with special empha and aims to increase the incomes of sis on single heads of households. rural households through the intro duction of income-generating activi The programme also emphasises ties and the issuing of credit to activities that increase agricultural women. WID officers work through production for improving the nutri out the country, and a training centre tion and health of family members. at Magomero is being completed. Its policy objectives are: A further programme in eight dis + to increase women's participa tricts working at the grassroots tion in extension programmes and level supports income-generating services;
44 Women in Mala\\ 1
+ to increase household income tive board now chaired by a through income-generating activi Presidential appointee, Vera Celebrating Box 12 womanhood ties related to agriculture or agri Chirwa. The commission plays an business; advocacy and coordinating role and Malawian women from all walks + to improve home and farm man maintains specialised committees of life over the weekend celebrat agement skills. on legal issues, education and train ed the International Women's Day ing, family health and welfare, with real pomp. Unlike previous Chitukuku Cha Amai M 'Malawi planning, research and evaluation, years when the day passed with out fanfare, this year's event was (CCAM) employment, small and medium commemorated in real style with The previous government estab scale enterprises and agriculture drama, music and of course lished CCAM in 1985 as the devel and natural resources. speeches announcing to the whole opmental wing of the League of Malawi nation that the women of Malawi Women. Its main objec NGOs are represented on the exec this country have become indeed tives were to promote the integra utive board through the umbrella a force to reckon with. organization, Council for NGOs tion of women in national develop In her address on International ment with particular focus on rural (CONGOMA). Specific NGOs are Women's Day, Dr Vera Chirwa, women, and to encourage the represented on the various commit who was recently honoured inter acquisition of business and entre tees whose majority members are national woman of the year for preneurial skills among women in senior officers in their various the second time, said women order to foster and facilitate their organisations. 78 need to be consulted on issues development in productive and that affect their lives. income-earning activities. NCWID also has desk officers in Evidence shows that if women are key organisations. Their task is to represented, they are able to Since it was part of the Malawi help incorporate gender concerns in influence the way their needs are Congress Party (MCP), it was diffi all their development endeavours. addressed. Issues of women's cult to draw a line between develop perspective are not usually con ment and politics. It was, however, a Since its inception, the commission sidered when access and policies are being formulated . powerful tool for mobilizing women has had some remarkable achieve for a number of activities including ments. It was instrumental in the Although a lot has been said on development. Today it is less active, introduction of three months paid gender equality and issues that partly because it (and the MCP) has maternity leave for civil servants, affect women, the crime of grab less funds and its leader, Cecilia providing technical support to other bing widow's properties has Kadzarnira (Banda's official hostess women's organisations, initiating increased to shameful propor the compilation of a book on tions, she said. This crime and companion) has a lower profile. deserves the condemnation of all women and the law, formulating law enforcers, traditional authori National Commission on Women policy on women in Malawi and ties and everyone at large. in Development (NCWIO) developing a five-year plan of To mark the Decade for Women in action. 79 The coverage of development 1984 the government established programmes are still very poor NCWID, whose major mission In recent years it has organised since NGOs and government have limited outreach. Levels and includes promotion and assistance seminars for cabinet ministers, forms of violence against women in the establishment of institutions MPs, policy-makers and desk offi and children have increased to which formulate, implement and cers. Many of its members attend alarming propositions. monitor women's programmes. The ed the Beijing conference on comrruss10n also coordinates women. The women of Malawi have a lot women's programmes carried out of work to do, if they are to win this battle, she said. by both government and NGOs, Despite these achievements, including institutions which are NCWID is fraught with problems, Dr Chirwa has been declared responsible for agriculture, health, which include inadequacy of finan International Woman of the Year education, employment, and com cial and human resources. NCWID for 1996/97 by the International munity and social development. It still relies heavily on financial allo Biological Centre, Cambridge, is the main national machinery for cations and staff from MOWCACS England. The Director-General of integrating women into mainstream who undertake most of its opera the Centre communicated this in 77 a letter dated January 10, 1997. development. tions over and above their normal Dr. Chirwa is Director of Malawi duties. NCWID has no premises of Carer. The secretariat of NCWID is locat its own. Some of the specialised SOURCE : Daily Times, March 11 1997 ed in MOWCACS. It has an execu- committees have not met as fre-
45 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
quently as NCWID would have A number of NGOs work almost Constitutional Box 13 liked. The commission also does exclusively on the promotion and guarantees not have any representation at protection of human rights, includ An entire section (24) of Malawi's lower levels in its organisational ing women's rights. Others are con 1995 Constitution is devoted to structure. cerned with credit schemes to raise women: the incomes of the poor, many of Women have the right to full and These problems have undermined whom are women. There are a equal protection by the law, and NCWID's capacity to undertake number of credit institutions in have the right not to be discrimi and fulfil its mandate to coordinate, Malawi, which are oriented nated against on the basis of their monitor and evaluate programmes towards the informal, small-scale gender or marital status which of ministries and maintain linkages or rural sector. includes the right: with public and private sector + to be accorded the same rights as men in civil law, includ institutions. They are Smallholder Agriculture ing equal capacity, Credit Administration (SACA), (i) to enter into contracts; Declarations now Malawi Rural Finance (ii) to acquire and maintain rights Another way of promoting the role Company (MRFC), the Small in property, independently or in of women in Malawi is by acceding Enterprise Development Organi association with others, regardless to a number of UN Conventions: zation (SEDOM), the Malawi of their marital status; + In 1966 Mal awi became party to Union of Savings and Credit (iii)-to acquire and retain custody, the Convention on the Political Cooperatives Ltd. (MUSCCO), the guardianship and care of children Rights of Women; Malawi MUDZI Fund, the Devel and to have an equal right in the opment of Malawian Traders' Trust making of decisions that affect + In 1987 it acceded to CEDAW, their upbringing; and though with reservations that were (DEMATT), WWB-MA and the (iv) to acquire and retain citizen only lifted in 1990; ABW. Only DEMATT has a pro ship and nationality. + In 1996, Malawi signed the gramme, including credit, specif + on the dissolution of marriage Convention on the Nationality of ically for women. All of them, how -to a fair disposition of proper Married Women. ever, have women clients. One ty that is held jointly with a hus third of SEDOM's clients are band; and Similar rights are guaranteed in the women and as high as 71 per cent -to fair maintenance, taking Constitution, but legislation i now of the Malawi MUDZI Fund's into consideration all the circum needed to translate these rights into clients are women. one of the stances and, in particular, the law. Recently women's group have organi ations, with the exception of means of the former husband and the needs of any children . joined together to make reprsenta the MUDZI Fund, has income tions to the Law Commi ioner generating activities for rural Any law that discriminates against about the laws relating to women women within its mandate. women on the basis of gender or that are most in need of reform. As SEDOM is mainly urban and for marital status shall be invalid and a result, new laws regarding mal- ector oriented. The same can legislation shall be passed to elim women's inheritance and other mat be aid about DEMATT, which has inate customs and practices that ters have been drafted and present a pecific focus on traders. discriminate against women, par ed to government. ticularly practices such as: With the exception of MUSSCO sexual abuse, harassment and + and the MUDZI Fund, Malawian violence; Non-governmental O'<:: r z2 -,.,., + discrimination in work, busi Since the 1985 World Conference credit institutions do not give prior ness and public affairs; and on Women, a number of institu ity to small scale producers in rural + depriyation of property, tions and organi ation ha,·e come areas and have no decentralized including property obtained by into being. As of December 199- networks. The financial institutions inheritance. there were 73 GO in Malawi. generally avoid small rural credits Thirty-three of the e deal with since they involve high transaction issues related to women and chil costs and high risks. dren. These organizations operate under CO GO 1A which repre None of the existing institutions has sents the intere ts of GOs in a target group focus, structures or NCWID. CO ram.IA al o has a functions necessary to support sub-committee on gender. which women in the rural areas of meets to di cu common trate Malawi. There is a serious need to gies and policy regarding women's complement the existing mecha programmes. nisms with a credit scheme, specif-
46 Women in Malawi ically directed towards rural all over the country to discuss the women involved in non-agricultur problems of, and the prospects for, al activities. local women. Their aim is to increase participation of women in Since the advent of multi-party the National Assembly, as well as to democracy there have been a hand ful of NGOs created exclusively to foster gender equality. These Unity before equality, say women activists Box 14 include Women's Voice, a Blantyre based group formed in 1993 by Although the constitution guarantees gender equality, Malawian women Vera Chirwa, a political prisoner feel they have little chance of achieving it unless they can unify their efforts. and lawyer then recently released Chief among their concerns is that there is little networking among the from jail. Its aim was to teach Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working towards empowering women about their rights though women, which they feel is one of their most potentially effective tools. civic education and training, as well as to offer legal assistance to Women's leaders say constitutional provisions and political rhetoric alone women. While this organisation no are not enough. "The gender battle needs united democratisation which longer functions, Ms Chirwa has does not exist now," says Flossie Gomile-Chidyaonga, the Blantyre chair created another, CARER, which person of the Malawi Professional Women's Association . serves much the same function. She also produces a regular column in a Chidyaonga says lack of networking, weakened the strength of NGOs in the country. For instance, in February when, for the first time NGOs were local newspaper providing informa called upon to lobby together at constitutional talks, "the women could not tion about the community law. speak with one voice. NGO networking would ensure that during such fora we get only those people who can truly represent us and speak as one," A second organisation, the she says. Lilongwe-based Society for the Advancement of Women, aims to The assistant registrar (legal) at the University of Malawi, Ngei Kanyongolo, teach rural women about their says fighting gender inequality would be slow because customary law rein rights. It has held several meetings forces the myth of male superiority and female subservience. This she adds, of urban women to discuss political is a reflection of "our culture and people's attitudes," despite anti-sexual participation of women, and the constitutional clauses . need for reform. The director is out She points out that the constitution introduced by the new government spoken about defilement and rape overrides customary law. And it is here that gender difficulties can be especially. expected because of expected clashes with customary law.
Women lawyers and members of Another retarding factor says Kanyongolo, is the high rate of female illiter the Law Society have joined acy, which means that change " must be taken as a continuous process together to form the Women and questioning culture. " Children's Committee of the Law Society. They hold regular legal She says "very few women, even those you expect to know, are not aware clinics in Blantyre and Lilongwe, at of their rights. " Education is usually considered the basic form of empow which they provide women with erment, she adds. free legal advice. Wezi Munyenyembe a journalist with the National News Service, main tains fighting gender equality will not be easy because "it will be difficult EMPOWA was formed by profes for men to change their attitude to us ." She says women talk too much sional women in Malawi to raise among themselves instead of targeting men . "This is wrong because the awareness and encourage discus majority of policy makers whether in government or the private sector, are sion about gender issues and to pro men ." vide training for empowerment of women. In a paper presented at a seminar on "Women and the Democratisation Process", university lecturers Panje Chamdimba and Hermes Chidammodzi The latest group, · the Gender said men ought to realise that women's liberation is part and parcel of the process of national liberation. Initiative Network (GIN), was formed by women who want to In April, parliament overturned a recommendation for the establishment of "bring Beijing back to Malawi". On a senate in which 50 percent of the seats would be reserved for women. International Women's Day in 1997 GIN brought women together from SOURCE : Excerpt from Steven Nhlane's story, Africa Informati on Afrique(AIA), December 1995.
47 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
address the problems faced by rural Horn of Africa regions and receive women in their communities. assistance from government, the local Red Cross and UN agencies. There are also a number of reli Malawians are also recipients of gious-based women's organisations assistance from the international of longer standing, including community. Government receives Christian and Muslim women's millions of dollars each year in bal groups. Many of these are involved ance of payment support and devel in literacy training, raising aware opment assistance. Especially ness of women's rights, and needy are those Malawians stricken improving the conditions of women by drought or floods, though chron and children. ic food insecurity and high levels of poverty mean that Malawi may Aid and relief receive non-emergency aid for From the mid-1980s about a mil some time. lion Mozambican refugees were recipients of international relief NGOs also provide expertise and channelled through Malawi's cen aid in various sectors, including tral government ministries and HIV/AIDS, maternal child health national/international NGOs. Most care, primary school education, of the refugees settled in the vil water development, communica lages near the border, where they tions, agricultural development, received food aid and clothes, etc. The UN agencies in particular health care and some education have become aware of the need to from government and donors. In target rural women. The WFP, for many cases, the Mozambicans were instance is hoping to provide 60 welcomed by relatives and friends, percent of its aid to women, empha who provided them with small plots sising food for work projects that of land, work and assistance. benefit women. A number of volun teer agencies work especially in the The refugees contributed to the rural areas, often in schools, includ development of the border areas ing Volunteer Service Overseas, the especially by providing cheap Peace Corps, UN Volunteers and labour to Malawians who had land World University Service Canada. and capital to work it. But the refugees returned home in the There are also a number of donors 1990s, leaving behind a desertified and NGOs working in human rights land, largely devoid of trees that and good governance, which sup were used and sold as fuelwood. port local efforts to increase aware Today there are only about 1,000 ness of rights, including women's refugees in Malawi, most of whom and children's rights. come from the Great Lakes and
48 Women in Malawi PART Ill THE WAY FORWARD 111
Economic empowerment Women must be included in NGO Women face and government programmes - enormous con especially the new food-for-work straints in their projects - as equal participants. productive actlv1t1es. While both They should be provided with the men and women in Malawi are same opportunities to learn new poor, women are less likely to raise skills as men, and should not be themselves out of poverty because shunted off into token projects of a number of factors. First, their (clearing roads or planting productivity is low due to limited seedlings) that may generate a access to extension services, infor wage or food, but do not teach pro mation, training, credit and other ductive skills for future use. financial services as well as labour saving technologies. To assist Also, to ensure that women benefit women in this sector so that they from aid and development projects, might start their own businesses they need to be given an equal and become more productive on voice during project design and their farms, they need to be granted implementation. NGOs and gov equal access to credit, training and ernment should use affirmative extension services. action policies to ensure that this is done. For instance, women should Specifically, they must gain equal hold a minimum number of leader access to programmes that teach ship positions in projects, and modern farming techniques, such should be in charge of distributing as how to use fertilizer and hybrid food in relief programmes. Putting seeds, grow cash crops, and build women in charge also reduces the irrigation networks. To utilize what risk of male distributors using food they learn, they need credit to buy to blackmail women into providing inputs and fertilizers, or to start a sex for food. business. If they are to succeed, women will need, just as men need, To further advance the economic instruction in basic accounting, status of Malawian women, efforts marketing, and other business should be made by government and skills. NGOs to ensure that women gain control of, and benefit from, land Women also require childcare to they inherit. This will entail release them from their homes, so changes in the law, as well as in that they might undertake produc cultural attitudes. Women must tive activities outside. For up to 25 feel secure in their ownership of percent of Malawian women who property, including land and per are heading their own households, sonal effects, so that they may this is the only way they can feed invest in it, and use the land for col their families. Innovative childcare latoral. Similarly, women must be schemes based on traditional prac encouraged to buy land that they tices may be started by women's can build on, and use for productive groups with support from funders purposes. Only by acquiring land and government, to find a cultural equally with men can women com ly appropriate and satisfactory bat the trend that sees a reduction in means of caring for the children of the size oflandholdings each gener working mothers. ation. 49 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
Land reform is currently being con and carts would offer women NASME: women Box 15 sidered by a presidential commis mobility, which would save enor just as good as men sion. While the need to raise pro mous amounts of time and energy The National Association of Small ductivity is of paramount impor when they are gathering water and and Medium Enterprises (NASME) tance because Malawi is food inse fuelwood, and when visiting the has urged women in Nkhotakota cure, gender equity should also be a grinding mill, clinics, shops and to util ise business opportunities goal of any land reform pro schools. Alternative fuel sources prevailing in the country to gramme. For instance, returning would save the forests as well as improve their living standards. estate land to traditional authorities women's time. Ploughs and draught to distribute it with no guarantee animals, irrigation networks, har NASME national executive mem that women will benefit equally vesters and other agricultural ber, Helix Dzuwa, made the will be both unjust and unproduc devices should also be disseminat appeal when he disbursed on ed widely among women as well as behalf of his association loans tive. totalling K44 ,000 to 10 NASME men, to raise productivity in members from the district at the The World Bank has demonstrated Malawi. boma. that in Malawi attainment of a sec ondary education has the same Rural women are particularly keen He said the women should have impact on family income as a 17 to see the establishment of more the courage to engage in any percent increase in land under culti maize mills, clinics, schools, and business activity and discard the vation.80 Certainly education is the markets in their areas. Efforts to thinking that certain things can key to the improvement of the involve women in the creation, best be done by men alone. socio-economic status of women management and, where appropri ate, the ownership of such facilities, "If you harbour the notion that because educated women are better you cannot do this because it is a able to compete in the job market. should be undertaken by govern man's domain, you are retarding Yet, in order for vast numbers of ment as well as NGOs, churches the developing of the country," Malawian girls to become educat and other civil society agencies. he told the recipients, three of ed, a whole host of reforms are Innovative programmes by the pri whom were women. needed, from investing in girls' vate sector, including banks and education to changing attitudes well-established industries, could He said undertaking a business among rural families about educa help the women get loans to build venture was not a difficult thing tion, employment and delayed mar these facilities. Moreover, women provided one had skills to run it. riage and child bearing for young are well equipped, and if they know they are to benefit directly, to work Dzuwa commended the women. Nkhotakota NASME branch for together to mould bricks and learn what he said was its impressive Educating girls and women has an construction skills in order to build loan repayment rate which stood enormous impact on family wellbe these facilities. Women are also at 72 percent and was one of the ing too, especially the educational anxious to establish fuelwood lots, best nationwide. He however, attainment of the children of such and develop water supplies. NGOs called on members to wipe out women, as well as the nutritional with an interest in helping women the 28 percent default rate. and health status of their children. should faciliate such projects.
He explained that NASME existed In addition to access to land and Equal pay for equal work should be to help rural people and for this instituted at all levels of Malawian reason , his association would not education, women in Malawi are in be happy to hear that its loans need of labour-saving devices that society, from informal piece-work were being taken mostly by peo will help them raise their productiv labour to urban employment. ple living in urban centres . ity and reduce the time they spend Women doing piece-work on other doing domestic and agricultural people's farms consistently earn Dzuwa appealed to Namse con work. Meeting these needs should lower wages than men doing simi sultants to visit their clients regu become one focus of the NGO and lar work. The same system prevails larly and offer them managerial government rural development pro on tobacco and tea estates, where skills so that they could run thriv grammes. women also have less steady and ing businesses . less lucrative employment. SO U RCE : Th e Na tion, 8 January 1997 Especially useful for rural women Government, trade unions and would be cassava peelers and NGOs have a role in raising aware crushers, rice and maize mills, rice ness of this problem, and organis rollers and dehullers, maize shellers ing women and men to campaign and solar driers. 81 Animal power around this issue. Again, civic edu-
50 Women in Malawi cation is needed to inform the pub and dissemination of such pro Women activists Box 16 lic of the social benefits to be grammes. lobby for increase achieved by the economic empow in marriage age erment of women. Women are in special need of legal couselling to ensure that their rights Women parliamentarians in Finally, affirmative action in hiring are protected. A few NGOs now Malawi are lobbying to have the qualified women in senior positions hold legal clinics for women, but legal age of marriage for women is needed to offset years of discrim these are generally confined to the increased from 15 to 18 years . ination in hiring. urban areas. Programmes such as these should be expanded, and full Participants to a seminar on Political power time legal and paralegal staff Parliamentary Procedure and Promotion of Gender Issues, Enforcement of the rights guaran employed to work in the rural areas organised by the Parliamentary teed to Malawian women in the where women also need advice and Women' s Caucus in Lilongwe Constitution will require the con assistance. recently, said the marriage age certed effort of both government was one of the issues that needed and civil society. NGOs, extension Human and women's rights educa to be addressed when considering workers, and the churches have a tion is especially needed by the the future of the country. leading role to play in the design police, local authorities (including and implementation of programmes headmen and chiefs), and by judi " In order to tackle this problem aimed at gender-sensitizing rural cial staff. Specially trained rape effectively, we need to address families. For example, following counsellors should be employed in the issues of poverty which is our number one problem. Poverty has the model developed by the police stations and the police force seen some of our girls entering GABLE programme, which pro needs additional instruction in marriage long before they are motes successful Malawian women order to protect women in domestic ready," the participants observed. as role models for girls, NGOs violence cases. The situation of might help raises awareness about women prisoners requires further Women chiefs attending the sem the varied roles women can play in study, and appropriate action. inar agreed to increase the mini businesses and professions, in fam Village councils handling local and mum age for marriage, saying that ilies and communities, and in local family disputes should also be the marrying too young resulted in a and national government. target of rights education. myriad of problems. "For example International agencies can provide if a girl is married at the age of 13 she faces serious problems during Another way to raise awareness funding and training for local childbirth since the pelvic bone among villagers is for them to meet NGOs, who can undertake these has not yet matured," they said . successful women, who work in various tasks. senior positions in schools, aid The seminar also called for a organizations, local government, Local elections are past due. When review of the offence of defile clinics, unions and businesses. It is they are called, women should be ment saying there was need for a necessary, then, for ' government prepared to contest elections for corresponding revision of the law and civic organisations to make an district council seats. This means that punishes persons who sexual effort to hire women in these posi quickly preparing civic education ly abuse children . tions, and to modify employment materials that will inform women practices to enable women, includ about local politics and promote Although at present the maximum sentence for the offence is life ing married women, to work in the their involvement in local elections. imprisonment, participants noted field. National elections will be held in that in most cases light sentences 1999. Malawian women have were imposed and this did not act The media - especially radio, and already expressed their interest in as a deterrent. in the future, television and videos contesting a number of National SOURCE: Malawi News, 7 February 1997 shown at rural viewing centres - Assembly seats. Political parties have a key role in disseminating should not feel threatened by such messages about human, women's activities, but, instead appreciate and children's rights. Soap operas, the spirit and enterprise shown by drama, and other forms of popular such women, and work with them entertainment have been used suc to help them organise and manage cessfully in other African countries their campaigns. to teach such issues to rural popula tions. NGOs and donors would do At the same time women should well to support the development take a more active role in their
51 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
political parties, insisting that the girls understand the health issues "Give women Box 17 a chance" time bas come for them to lead. involved, but boys and girls also Women's groups have an important need to learn that men and women Women in the country, on Friday part to play in raising public aware have rights over their own bodies, called on the government to ness about the need to have women and their own reproduction. It is ensure that women are not parliamentarians and local council understood that knowing about ignored when considering lors. They can also act as a pre - HIV/AIDS is not enough; behav appointments for posts in both sure group, pushing the parties to ioural change is needed to stop the government and non-governmen include women in prominent po i pread of the disease. For girls, tal organisations. tions, and encouraging women to then. not only must they learn to vote for women. It i imponant at ay .. no''. but must also learn that it The Executive Director of the this stage not to allow the women· i all right for them to say "no". Society for the Advancement of Women, Catherine Munthali, said movement to be di\i.ded by party 1bis will necessitate a change of this when she opened a gender politics. Donor wi bing to fo ter attitude throughout the country, not initiative network seminar in the empowerment of women ma; just among children. Blantyre. well support non-parti an. buc politicised women' group- that Women will benefit in other ways. She said women are capable of campaign for the full in,·olvement Exerci ing their reproductive performing as well as men if given of women in politic . rights. they will be able to decide the chance. -;; hen to have sex, when to have a Health and fitness :. and what child-spacing meth Munthali said the social injustice ods o use. Women having fewer that has been going on over the Malawian women and men suffer years should be stopped to give from ill-health, poor nutrition.. fam ies will live longer, feel better room to women's advancement. ily food insecurity, poor anitati o ealthier and more productive. facilities, environmental degrada · c:tlly. women learning that "We would like to see women tion and unsafe . :uer. • . control their own bodies is just take [up) responsibilities and Improvements in these ectors will a - _ :rep in learning that they can positions like men do," she said . help both men and women. l their lives. Women learn Malawi will be the better for iL to k. and how to demand, Meanwhile, President Bakili -en· ~ . education, jobs and equal Muluzi has assured the women At the same time, women are that his government is committed known to suffer more than me - to ensuring that gender equality is achieved in the country. some situations. For insun e. a long process which young women have a higher rate o= upport of NGOs and SOU RCE: Isaac Masingati, The Nation, 10 March 1997 HIV infection than young men. illin.:c- to promote social while women tend to lo e gh health and nutri- weight before the harvest than ;heir husbands. Such things are the res of gender differences in economi~ and social status. Empowerin= women economically, in wa~ are noted above, will hel women. But women can als assisted by becoming aware causes of their condition. In words, civic education is n e in this case, to inform women the relationship between. f. pie, ill-health and control o bodies, or between O\'l!r social inequality. that women and men are _ ~ected to from childhood. In The spread of HI\· AID · • fa.L\\i traditional culture pre women is linked to the dlS;ea:i;x>w rumed women were inferior erment of girl children. 1TV"'r-'l'f1·.n niin:ue to men in a number their loss of control o o · important ·ay . Looking at cul bodies. Education will mral norms in a positive perspec-
52 Wo men in Malawi tive, in years past some traditional The laws and regulations relating to customs ensured that widows and gender must reflect the new posi Fight for gender Box 1 8 small children were cared for after tion and status of Malawian equality misunderstood the death of the male head of women. Efforts to review and re At the mention of the word "gen household. write these should be renewed. der" some men feel jittery. They Programmes to assist and defend are afraid of their position in soci But cultural traditions change as women who are struggling against ety. This came out clearly at the economic structures are trans these old laws should be instigated. gender sensitisation workshop for formed, as technology and commu Civic education concerning repres media personnel November 30 - nications improve, as standards of sive, dangerous or unhealthy tradi December 2, 1995. living are raised, as education tional customs should be extended. spreads, and as outsiders interact NGOs, donors, government and "We should do something with with society. Malawi is in the midst civil society organisations, such as women since they are fighting for equality," started Benjamin of a rapid social, economic, and the university, labour unions, and Nyirenda. But what followed was technological transformation. Old churches also have a role in helping typical of male chauvinism. customs are breaking down, much Malawians develop a culture that "They should dig graves. They to the chagrin of village elders. fosters equality and protects rights. should carry coffins as well." Had New, and often more permissive, he known he should not have social mores are taking their place. Conclusion said it. He drew the ire of other It is clear that changes in attitude participants. Educated girls and women, and and opportunity cannot be made by enlightened men, no longer feel that women alone, but must be changes Women dig graves when a bay women are inferior to men, or that involve men, and facilitate dies, other participants told him. " But are they shallow!" said should remain subordinate to them. more balanced gender relations. Pilirani Kachinziri , who works for Now girls and women also want to Many of the economic conditions the Malawi News. make their own life-choices, such as described in this volume affect men choosing a husband, and deciding and boys as well as women and "Can we have some intelligent when to marry and what career to girls. In addition, the information contributions, please?" Chinyeke follow. Widows want control over gaps clearly present a challenge as Tembo of The Nation, pleaded. their property, no longer content to there are a number of key areas in "We are not here to waste time." become dependent on their husand's which statistical and analytical data or own families. Girls want control is lacking; and more work should Jennifer Sibanda of Zimbabwe of their sexuality and reproduction. be done on data collection and dis Broadcasting Corporation, refer ring to Nyirenda's statements, Divorcees want their children. semination. lamented: " it is sad a statement like that should come from a young man like you when most back-breaking jobs like tilling the land are done by women," she said.
Brighton Uledi-Kamanga, an English lecturer at the University of Malawi, said : "The question of women's liberation is a question of power and men tend to see their liberation as a threat. We don't have to be simplistic in our approach."
SOURC E: The Na tion, 12 December 1995.
53 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
"Malawi Human Resources and Poverty: Box 19 Profile and Priorities for Action"
A World Bank study undertaken at the request of the Government of Malawi to seek a greater understanding of the magnitude and dimensions of pover ty, is intended to guide policy and investment priorities, and inform the design of programmes to improve living conditions and increase incomes of people in Malawi.
The study confirms that th e level of human resource development in Malawi is "dismal" and that poverty is widespread and severe. Health and educa tion indicators in Malawi are among the worst in the world. Access to land and inputs is so limited that most smallholders have little hope of moving out of poverty solely by working their fa rms.
The generally low incomes, combined with marked income inequality, point to severe structu ral problems w hich are made worse by the high pop ulation growth rate.
Strategies to reduce poverty in Malawi will require substantial efforts in every sector, the report says, identifying" the following priorities that require immediate attention :
+ Develop human resources: Expand access and reduce inequalities in the social sectors and increase effectiveness and quality of social services. + Improve rural livelihoods: Introduce interventions that will enable the poor to respond to the oppor tunities emerging from economic liberalization, ensure that economic reforms are broadened to reach the poorest, examine land policies with a view to achieving a more equitable distribution of land, and increase opportunities for smallholders to earn off-farm income. + Support safety nets for the most vulnerable: Introduce short-term income transiers to alleviate the most urgent problems of the poor. + Poverty monitoring and analysis: Continue activities and analyses aimed at monitoring progress in poverty reduction.
The 1995 study, entitled "Malawi Human Resources and Poverty : Profile and Priorities for Action", says a greater understanding of the magnitude and the profile of poverty is expected to make it easier to implement a mon itoring system to evaluate the effects of programmes and track the progress of key indicators of poverty.
SOURCE: Adapted from Findings: Best Pcacnce lni:>bner, Ainca Region. o. 13, February, 1997, published by the Knowl edge, Information ad Technology Centre oi the World Bank, Washington, DC.
54 Wo men in Malawi PART IV REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY IV
Endnotes 20 NCWID, 1993; Women and the Law in Malawi, The National Commission on I Mintso, T., Opening Address at Gender woman Development, Lilongwe, n.d., ca Strategy Workshop, 30-31 January, South 1995, pp. 70-73. Africa, 1997. 21 Samalani Magazine, 1996, p. 41. 2 SADC countries are Angola, Botswana, 22 GOM/UNICEF, 1993 . Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, 23 World Bank, 1995, and GOM/UNICEF, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, 1993, pp. 22 and 77. Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 24 Cammack, D., Food Security and Gender 3 Government of Mala.wi/UNICEF, Disparities in Malawi: A Profile Paper for Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi, Gender Targeting by World Food Pro Lilongwe, 1993. gramme, Lilongwe, 1996, pp. 18-21. 4 Government of Malawi, Malawi in Brief, 25 Ibid, p. 17. Ministry of Information, Blantyre, (undat 26 World Bank, Nov 1995, p. 32. ed). 27 Green, C. and Baden, S., Women and 5 Government of Malawi, National Development in Malawi, Institute of Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Development Studies, Zomba, 1994. 28 Ibid. Economic Planning and Development, Lilongwe, 1994. 29 Johnson, J.S., "An Analysis of the 6 Ibid. Extent, Causes and Effects on Food 7 Government of Malawi, Demographic & Insecurity in Malawi, with an Approach to Health Survey (DHS), Ministry of Economic Improving Food Security", Government of Planning and Development, Lilongwe, 1994. Malawi, Ministry of Agricultural and 8 Cullen, T., Malawi: A Turning Point, The Livestock Development, March 1996, (draft), p. 41. Pentland Press, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Durham, 1994. 30 Green C. and Baden S., 1994; Johnson, 9 NCWID, Women and Law in Malawi, J.S., 1996; also see, NCWID, "Toward NCWID, Lilongwe, 1994, p. 18. Equality, Development and Peace: National 10 GOM/UNICEF, 1993, p. 35. Report to the United Nations on Women, 11 The Nation, 3 March 1997. Beijing", Lilongwe, 1994; and GOM/ 12 Pryor, F. L., Malawi and Madagascar: UNICEF, The Situation of Children and The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity Women in Malawi, 4 Sept 1987, pp. 43-44. and Growth, Oxford University Press, 1990, 31 Mkandawire, R.M., et al, Women and p. 67; also see Mhone, Guy C.Z., Malawi at food Processing in Malawi, UNDP, the Crossroads: The Post Colonial Political Lilongwe, 1987, p. 97. Economy, SAPES Books, Harare, 1992; and 32 NCWID, 1994. The Economist Intelligence Unit, Malawi , 33 World Bank, Women and Development in London,1995, p. 96. Malawi: Constraints and Actions", 27 Aug 13 Government of Malawi, Economic 1991, pp. 13-14. Report 1996 and Mid-Year Economic 34 GOM/UNICEF, 1993. Review 1996-1997, Ministry of Econorruc 35 World Bank, Nov 1995. Planning and Development. 36 Ibid, pp. 26-36. 14 Economist Intelligence Unit, 1995. 37 Ibid, pp. 44-48. 15 GOM/UNICEF, 1993, pp. 57 and 125. 38 Ibid, pp. 48-49. 16 World Bank, Malawi: Human Resources 39 Cammack, 1996. and Poverty: Profile and Priorities for 40 Bergh, 1993. Action, Nov 1995, especially pp.26-32, and 41 Kalala, T.J., Gender and Nutrition, Cammack, D., Food Security and Gender Integrated Rural Nutrition Project, Disparities in Malawi: A Profile paper for Kawambwa, 1994, Ettema, Wim and Gender targeting by World Food Msukwa, Louis, Food Production and Programme, Malawi, Lilongwe, 1996. Malnutrition in Malawi, Centre for Social 17 Economist Intelligent Unit, Malawi, Research, Lilongwe, April 1985. 1995-96, p. 15-17; and Samalani Magazine, 42 Government of Malawi, Malawi Social "Managing the Land", 1 May 1996. Indicators Survey (MSIS), National (Mining, tourism, fishing and forestry also Statistical Office and Centre for Social contribute to Malawi's economic wealth.) Research, Ministry of Economics Planning 18 Kishindo, C., cited in Green, C., and and Development, Lilongwe, 1995, p. 84. Baden, S., Women and Development in 43 GOM/UNICEF, 1993. Malawi, Institute of Developement Studies, 44 Government of Malawi, Food Policy and Zomba, 1994. Production: Towards increased household 19 Samalani Magazine, 1996. food security, 1994, and Johnson, J.S., 1996, (draft).
55 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
45 GOM/UNICEF, 1993; World Bank, Nov 62 Green, 1993. 1995, p. 48. 63 GOM, 1995. 46 Government of Malawi, Food and 64 Cammack, D.R., op. cit. 52. Nutrition Situation, Policies and Pro 65 Phiri, et al., Violence against women in grammes in Malawi: An Overview, education all institutions: The case of sexual Lilongwe, 1992. harassment and rape on Chancellor College 47 Cammack, D., Sex Workers at Kapichira Campus, University of Malawi, Zomba, Falls, Chikwawa: Aug-Sept 1996, Inter 1995. national Eye Foundation, 5 Dec 1996, and 66 GOM, op cit. 44. Van den Borne, F., "Dynamics of Bartering 67 Ibid. Sex for Subsistence: A Case Study in Urban 68 Semu and Kadzamila, 1995. Malawi", findings presented in Lilongwe, 69 Cammack, op. cit. 52. Lilongwe, 18 Nov 1996 70 Semu, L. and Kadzamila, E., The Malawi 48 Tomasevski, Katarina, Development Aid Platform for Action: Peace, Violence and Human Rights, Printer Publishers, Against Women, the Girl Child and London, 1989,p. 188. Economic Empowerment, Final Report, 49 The UDF News, 21 -26 March 1997. University of Malawi, Zomba, 1995. 50 GOM, 1992; Cammack, D., "Malawi", 71 CWID, "Status of Women in Malawi, Colliver, Sandra, (ed.,) in The Right to Towards Equality, Development and Peace; Know: Human Rights and Access to ational Report to the UN Fourth World Reproductive Health Information, article 19, Conference on Women, Beijing", NCWID, London, 1996. Lilongwe, 1994. 51 GOM/UNICEF, 1993. 72 UNHCR, "Survey on Food Security and 52 Hyde, K.L., 1994. Women Conducted in Nyarnithuthu (camp) 53 GOM, 1995, ch. 10, and Government of on 19 Aug 1992", UNHCR, Blantyre, 1 Sept Malawi, Economic Report 1996, Lilongwe, 1992, and "Promotion of Refugee Women 1995. Participation in Leadership Roles and 54 GOM/UNICEF, 1993. the Management of Relief Items in 55 Mkandawire, 1985. Nyarnithuthu Refugee Settlement: A Pilot 56 Government of Malawi, Demographic Survey" UNHCR, Blantyre, 30 Nov 1992. and Health Survey 1992, National Statistical 73 African Development Bank, The Office, Lilongwe, 1992. Promotion of Income Generating Activities 57 GOM, 1995. for Women, ADB, Malawi, 1992. 58 Ibid. 74 GOM, 1996, op. cit. 60. 59 GOM, 1992; National Statistical Office 75 GOM, 1994. and International Inc., Zomba, 1994. 76 Ibid. 60 GOM, 1996, and GOM, Statement of 77 Ibid. Development Policies 1987-I996, Office of 78 World Bank, Human Resources and President and Cabinet, Lilongwe. Poverty, World Bank, Washington, DC, 61 Msukwa, L.A.H., Food Policy and 1995, p. 49. Production: Towards increased Household 79 World Bank, Women and Food Process Food Security, University of Malawi, ing in Malawi, World bank, DC, 1995, p. 91. Zomba, 1994.
56 Women in Malawi
Organisations in Malawi w ith an interest in gender issues
BALAKA CHICHIRI Tiyende Women in Development Project University Women and Working Group Balaka Catholic Parish The Polytechnic PO Box 431 Private Bag 303 Balaka Blantyre 3 Chichiri BLANTYRE Banja La Mtsogolo in Malawi DEDZA PO Box 3008 Catholic Women's Organisation Blantyre c/o Dedza Diocese PO Box 80 Blantyre Women's An and Handicraft Dedza Centre PO Box 1106 Blantyre LIKOMA ISLAND Likomanika Tie and Dye Centre Business Advisory Service for Women PO Box 2 (BASW) Likoma Island Dematt PO Box 154-0 Blantyre LILONGWE Chitukuko Cha Amai M'Malawi (CCAM) Council for GO in Malav.; (CO GOMA) Office of the President and Cabinet PO Box 480 CCAM Secretariat Blantyre P. Bag 301 Lilongwe Malawi Media Women' Association PO Box 2094 Home Economics Association of Malawi Blantyre Ministry of Women, Children's Affairs, Community Development and Social Muslim Women's Organisation in Malawi Welfare PO Box 881 Private Bag 330 Blantyre Lilongwe 3
National Association of Busine Women Macoha Tie and Dye Centre (NABW) PO Box 821 . Development House Lilongwe Private Bag 56 Blantyre Mother's Union Diocese of Lake Malawi Population Services International PO Box 30349 PO Box 529 Lilongwe 3 Blantyre National Council for the Handicapped Small Enterprise Development Organisation Private Bag 308 of Malawi Lilongwe 3 PO Box 525 Blantyre Nurses and Midwives Council PO Box 30361 The Association for the Upliftment of Lilongwe 3 Women PO Box 3059 Society for the Advancement of Women in Blantyre Malawi PO Box 1207 World Vision International Lilongwe PO Box 2050 Blantyre Women's Aglow Fellowship Bvumbwe Research Station Women's Voice PO Box 30134 PO Box 1852 Lilongwe Blantyre Women's Christian Association of Malawi Women's World Banking in Malawi Affiliate PO Box 132 (WWB-MA) Lilongwe PO Box 1868 Blantyre 57 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
Women's Network MZUZU PO Box 1607 Umanyano Lilongwe Synod Offices PO Box 112 Women's Programme Mzuzu Ministry of Agriculture PO Box 30134 Wamama Wa Chitemwano Lilongwe 3 Diocese of Mzuzu PO Box 2 Mzuzu LIMBE Chigodi Women's Centre PO Box 5584 ~OTAKOTA Limbe Pan African Christian Women's Association Resident Magistrate Christian Service Committee PO Box 27 PO Box 51294 Nkhotakota Limbe
Malawi Council for the Handicapped THYOLO (MACOHA) Project Hope PO Box 5971 PO Box 219 Limbe Th yo lo
Unikani Christian Women Crafts Produce Association PO Box 5953 Limbe
WID contacts in M alawi
AUW Mrs F.C Chiwara UNDP Mr Kulemeneka GTZ Mrs Banda UNFPA Ms Kanyuka MBC MrsB. Mweso UNFPA MrMwanza MOF Mrs E. Kalyati UNICEF Mrs C. Mtalo MOWCA CS Mrs Sinoya UNICEF Mrs.J .Kapalamula MOWCACS Mrs J. Asani UNIMA Mr L. Semu MOWCACS Mrs Shawa UNIMA Dr M.M. Ngwira NFWCM MrNkunika UNIMA Dr B.M. Mtimuni NFWCM Dr Palamuleni UNIMA Dr I. Phiri NFWCM Mr Banda UNIMA Dr N. A Ngwira NFWCM Mr Ngaiyaye UNIMA Ms L. Thawe Research USAID Ms S. Funk Consultant Dr D. Cammack WID-UNDP Ms H. Komatso SAW Mr C. Munthali World Bank Mr. N. Kulemeka
Librari es an d offices visited
GTZ Office USAID Library SHARED Project UNESCO Library UNDP Library UNFPA Library UNICEF Library WFPOffice
58 Women in Malawi
Selected Bibliography
African Development Bank, The Promotion of Income Generation Activities for Women, African Development Bank, 1992.
Ager, A., et al, A Case Study of Refugee Women in Malawi: a Report to the UNHCR, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1991.
Asani, J., The National Commission on Women in Development and Relations with Women in Development Programme in the Min istry of Women and Children Affairs and Community Services, The National Commission on Women in Development and Relations, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1993.
Bailey, L.R., Gender and Development in Malawi: The Feasibility of Water Filtration in a Rural Community, 1994.
Borne, Van den F., ''Dynamics of Bartering Sex for Subsistence: A Case Study in Urban Malawi'', findings presented in Lilongwe, 18 Nov 1996.
Cammack, D., Food Security and Gender Disparities in Malawi: A Profile Paper for Gender Targeting by WFP-Malawi, World Food Programme, Lilongwe, 1996.
Cammack, D., Gender and Emergency Food Aid: A Review of Two World Food Programme Operations in Malawi, World Food Programme, Lilongwe, 1995.
Cammack, D., "Sex Workers at Kachipira Falls", Chikwawa, Malawi, Aug-Sept 1996.
Cammack, D., "Malawi" in The Right to Know: Human Rights and Access 10 Reproductive Health Information, Colliver, Sandra, (ed.), Article 19, London, 1995.
Culler, C.J., et al, Women 's programme training modules, Ministry of Agriculture, Lilongwe, 1990.
Davison, J. and Kanyuka, M., An Ethnographic Study of Factors Affecting the Education of Girls in Southern Malawi, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1990.
Ettema, Wim, and Msukwa, Louis, "Food production and Malnutrition in Malawi", Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi, Zomba, April 1985.
Government of Malawi/UNICEF, ''The Situation of Children and Women in Malawi'', Government of Malawi. 4 Sept 1987.
Government of Malawi, Demographic and Health Survey 1992, National Statistic Office, Lilongwe, 1994.
Government of Malawi, Demographic and Health Survey, National Statistic Office, Lilongwe, 1992.
Government of Malawi, Malawi Population and Housing Census: Summary of the Final Results Vol I, National Statistics office, Lilongwe, 1991.
Government of Malawi, Economic Report 1995, Ministry of Economic, Planning and Development, Lilongwe, 1995.
Government of Malawi, Food and Nutrition Situation, Policies and Programmes in Malawi: An Overview, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1992.
Government of Malawi, Malawi Human Resources and Institutional Development Project, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe.
Government of Malawi, Malawi I995-96, Economist Intelligent Unit, Government of Malawi.
Government of Malawi, Malawi Social Indicators Survey 1995, National Statistics Office and Centre for Research, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.
Government of Malawi, Malawi Yearbook, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1980/81
Government of Malawi, Parliamentary Debates, Third Meeting- Thirteenth Session, Government of Malawi, (Hansard), Lilongwe, 1995.
Government of Malawi, A Policy and Plan of Action for Women in Malawi, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe.
Government of Malawi, The Republic of Malawi (Constitution) Bill, I994, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1995.
59 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
Government of Malawi and UNICEF, Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi, Government of · Malawi\UNICEF, Lilongwe, 1993.
Government of Malawi, Statement of Development Policies, 1987-I996, Office of the President and Cabinet, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe.
Government of Malawi, Status of Women in Malawi: Towards Equality, Development and Peace, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1994.
Government of Malawi, Training of Women in Economic Activities, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1993.
Government of Malawi, Women and the Law in Malawi, National Commission on Women in Development, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1993.
Government of Malawi, Women Entrepreneurship Development, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe.
Government of Malawi, Women in Development (WID) Strategy and Plan of Action I992 - I988, Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs and Community Services, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1993.
Green, C. and Baden, S., Women and Development in Malawi, Report prepared for the Commission of the European Communities Directorate-General for Development, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi.
Hyde, K.L., Female Education in Malawi: Problems, Priorities and Prospects, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1992.
Hyde, K.L., Gender Streaming as a Strategy for Improving Girls' Academic Performance: Evidence from Malawi, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1993.
Hyde, K.L., Girls' Academic Achievements in Southern Africa: Factors and Issues, Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1992.
Hirschmann, D., The Malawi Agricultural Sector Assistance Programme (ASAP), a Mid-term Evaluation: Gender and Equity, The American University, Washington, 1993.
Hirschmann, D and Vaughan, M., Women Farmers of Malawi: Food Production in the 'Zomba District, Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, U.S .A., 1994.
Hirschmann, D., Women, Planning and Policy in Malawi, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1984.
International Eye Foundation, 5 Dec 1996.
Johnson, J.S., "An Analysis of the Extent, Causes and Effects on Food Insecurity in Malawi, with an Approach to Improving Food Security", GOM, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, March 1996, (draft).
Kalala, Tenso J., "Gender and Nutrition", Integrated Rural Nutrition Project, Kawambwa, Malawi, 1994.
Kaluwa, B., (ed.), The Structural Adjustment Programme in Malawi: A Case of Successful Adjustment?, SAPES Books, Monograph Series No. 3, Harare, 1992.
Kalyati, E.J., The Organisational Structure and Functions of the National Commission on Women in Development, Ministry of Community Services, Lilongwe, 1988.
Kalyati, E.J., Overview of the Situation of Women in Malawi, Ministry of Community Services, Lilongwe, undated.
Kamtengeni, L.R., An Overview of the Womens Programme in the Ministry of Women and Childrens Affairs and Community Services, Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs and Community Services, Lilongwe, 1993.
Kaunda, 0.D., The legal Aspects of Violence by Males Against Females in the Family in Malawi, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1995.
Maluwa, M., Changes in the legal Status of Women in Malawi in the Last Decade, Ministry of Justice, Lilongwe, 1990.
Mhone, Guy C.Z., Malawi at the Cross Roads: the Post-Colonial Political Economy, Sapes Books, Harare, 1992.
Mkandawire, R.M. and Mateya, C.S., Youth Education and Services for Health an Family Life: 60 Women in Malawi
A Siwation Analysis i,n Malawi, University of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1985.
Msukwa, L.A.H., Food Policy and Production: Towards Increased Household Food Security, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1994.
NCWID, "Towards Equality, Development and peace: National Report to the United Nations World conference on Women, Beijing", NCWID, Lilongwe, 1994.
NCWID, Women and law in Malawi, NCWID, Lilongwe, 1994.
Phiri, I., et al, Violence Against Women in Educational Institutions: The Case of Sexual Harassment and Rape on Chancellor College Campus, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1995.
Pryor, F.L., Malawi and Madagascar: The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990.
Romashoko, T. , et al, Successful Approaches to Integrating Gender in US Development Assistance, USAID, Lilongwe, 1994.
Rukuni, M. , and Mudimu and J. , (eds.), Food Security Policies in the SADC Region, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, 1990.
Samalani Magazine, "Managing the Land", Mining, tourism, fishing and forestry also con tribute to Malawi's economic wealth, l May 1996.
Semu, L. , and Kadzarnira, E. , The Malawi Platfonn for Action: Peace, Violence Against Women, the Girl Child and Economic Empowennent, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1995.
Semu, L.L., Women in the University of Malawi: an Evaluation of the Position of Female Academic and Administrative Staff. University of Malawi, Zomba, 1992.
Sichinga, M.S. and Mtoso, J.S., Promotion of Micro-Enterprises for Rural Women , 1995.
Tomasevski, Katarina, Development Aid and Human Rights, London Printer Publishers, London, 1989.
UDF News, Lilongwe, Malawi, 21-26 March 1997.
UNDP, Human Development Report: From Poverty to Self-Reliance, UNDP, Washington, D.C.
UNDP and Government of Malawi, Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi, Government of Malawi, Lilongwe, 1993.
UNESCO, The Promotion of Income Generating Activities for Women, UNESCO, Malawi, Lilongwe, 1992.
UNFPA, Malawi: Programme Review and Strategy Development Report, UNFPA, Paris, 1992.
UNFPA, Safeguarding the Future, UNFPA, Paris, 1994.
UNHCR, "Survey on Food Security and Women Conducted in Nyarnithuthu (camp) on 19 Aug 1992'', UNHCR, Blantyre, 1Sept1992.
UNHCR, "Promotion of Refugee Women Participation in Leadership Roles and the Management of Relief Items in Nyarnithuthu Refugee Settlement: A Pilot Survey", UNHCR, Blantyre, 30 Nov 1992.
University of Malawi, Programme for the Award of Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates, University of Malawi, Zomba, 1995.
USAID, A.l.D. Policy Paper: Women in Development, USAID, Lilongwe, 1982.
USAID and Government of Malawi, Women in Development Action Plan, USAID and Government of Malawi, 1995.
World Bank, African Development Indicators 1994-95, The World Bank, Washington. D.C. 1995.
World Bank, Malawi: Human Resources and Poverty: Profile and Priorities for Action, Washington, D.C., Nov 1995.
World Bank, World Bank Atlas, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1995.
World Bank, "Women and Development in Malawi: Constraints and Actions", The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 27 Aug 1991.
61 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
62 Women in Malawi
LIST OF NATIONAL PARTNERS AND CONTACTS IN 12 SADC COUNTRIES Appendix 1
ANGOLA NAMIBIA DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA Henda Ducados, Project Coordinator SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION rua Rei Katyavala, 113 Eunice lipinge, Gender Programme C.P. 3360, Luanda, Angola Coordinator Tel (244-2) 348 371 P. Bag 13301, Windhoek, Namibia Fax (244-2) 349494/393445 Tel (264-61) 206 3951 E-Mail [email protected] Fax (264-61) 206 3050 E-Mail ADRA Gabriella Cohen, Coordinator of Research SOUTH AFRICA Action for Rural Development UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN CAPE and Environment GENDER EQUITY PROGRAMME Praceta Farinha Leitao-No.27, lDTO Tania Flood, Acting Gender Equity Officer C.P. 3788, Luanda, Angola P. Bag X17, Belville 7535, Tel (244-2) 395132/396683 South Africa Fax (244-2) 396683 Tel (27-21) 959 3487 E-Mail [email protected] Fax (27-21) 951 1766 E-Mail BOTSWANA DITSHWANELO SOSRDEF Alice Mogwe, Director Susan Nkomo, Executive Director Ditshwanelo, The Botswana Centre Social Sciences Research for Human Rights and Development Forum P. Bag 00416, Gaborone, Botswana P.O. Box 32361, Braamfontein 2017, Tel (267) 306998 South Africa Fax (267) 307778 Tel (27-11) 403 3848 E-Mail [email protected] Fax (27-11) 403 1218 E-Mail [email protected] LESOTHO WLSA SWAZILAND Keiso Matashane, National Coordinator WLSA Women and Law in Southern Africa Doo Aphane, National Coordinator P.O. Box 2078, Maseru, Lesotho 102 Women and Law in Southern Africa Tel (266) 313123/310361 P.O. Box 182, Veni, Mbabane, Swaziland Fax (266) 310361 Tel (268) 45006 E-Mail [email protected] Fax (268) 44246
MALAWI TANZANIA UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI TGNP CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH Mary Rusimbi, Programme Coordinator Dr S.W. Kaila, Director Tanzania Gender Networking Programme P.O. Box 278, Zomba, Malawi P.O. Box 8921, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Tel (265) 522914 Tel (255-51) 118030 Fax (265) 522578 Telex 45214Ml Cellular (255) 0812 783659 E-Mail 5:7231/1.53 Fax (255-51) 22971 E-Mail [email protected] MAURITIUS MAURITIUS ALLIANCE OF WOMEN ZAMBIA Bhagiawatty Sheila Gunganah, ZARD The Secretary Leya Chatta-Chipepa, Executive Secretary St-Jean Road and Murphy Ave., Zambia Association for Research and Quatre-Bornes, Mauritius Development Tel (230) 424-3489 P.O. Box 37836, Lusaka, Zambia Fax (230) 424-8500 Tel (260-1) 224507 E-Mail Fax ( 260-1) 222888 E-Mail zard@P87 .Fl.N76 l.25.fidonet.org MOZAMBIQUE EDUARDO MONDLANE UNIVERSITY ZIMBABWE CENTREFORAFRJCANSTUDIES ZWRCN Alexandrino Jose, Acting Director of CEA Thoko Ruzvidzo, Director Campus Universitario C.P. 1933, Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre Tel (258-1) 490828 and Network PABX (258-1) 49008119 288A Herbert Chitepo Ave., Fax (258-1) 491896 P.O. Box 2198, Harare, Zimbabwe Telex 6-740-CEA-MO Tel (263-4) 758185 Fax (263-4) 720331 E-Mail E-Mail [email protected] 63 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
LIST OF MEMBERS OF GE DER Appendix 2 REFERENCE GROUP (GRG )
Pamela Mhlanga Diana Cammack Coordinator, National Paralegal Project Consultant Ditshwanelo, The Botswana Centre for P.O. Box 1607, Lilongwe, Malawi Human Rights Tel (265) 743983 Bag 00416, Gaborone, Botswana E-Mail [email protected] Tel (267) 306998 Fax (267) 307778 Gabriella Cohen E-Mail [email protected] Coordinator of Research, ADRA Action for Rural Development Olive Munjanja & Emironment Royal Netherlands Embassy, Zambia Praceta Farinha Leitiio-No.27, I DTO Women in Development Unit C.P. 3 . Luanda, Angola P.O. Box 31905, Lusaka JOJO!. Zambia Tel ( ~.14-2)396683 Tel (260-1) 226388 Fax ( ]44-2)396683 Fax (260-1) 250200 E-~lail [email protected] E-Mail [email protected] • la!Jone ~lbilinyi Rose Jengo Board ~lember, TGNP Documentalist/Project Manager, Tanz.:mia Gender Networking Programme SARDC-Tanzania P.O Box 921, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania P.O. Box 32597, Dar es Salaam. Tanz:mia Te s---1) 118030 Tel (25 5-51 ) 666091/666078 fa: s--51 ) 22971 Fax (255-51) 110477 E-. WI [email protected] E-Mail
Susan Nkomo Executive Director, SOSRDEF Social Science Research and Development Forum P.O . Box 32361, Braamfontein 201-. South Africa Tel (27- 11 ) 403 3848 Fax (27- 11) 403 1218 E-Mail [email protected]
Celia Rocha Administrator/Project Manager. SARDC-Mozambique rua Dom Afonso Henriques, 141 C.P. 957, Maputo, Mozambique Tel (258-1) 490831 Fax (258-1) 491178 E-Mail [email protected]
Petronella Maramba Consultant, ZWRCN Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre Network 288A Hebert Chitepo Ave., P.O. Box 2198, Harare, Zimbab\lle Tel (263-4) 7581 85 Fax (263-4) 720331 E-Mail [email protected]
64 Women in Malawi
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT ii) Putting into place an institutional frame A Declaration by Heads of State or work for advancing gender equality consis Appendix 3 Government of the Southern African tent with that established for other areas of Development Community (SADC) co-operation, but which ensures that gender PREAMBLE is routinely taken into account in all sectors; WE, the Heads of State or Government of the iii) The establishment of a Standing Southern African Development Community, Committee of Ministers responsible for A. NOTING THAT: Gender Affairs in the region; i) Member States undertook in the SADC iv) The adoption of the existing Advisory Treaty and in the Declaration to the Treaty, Committee consisting of one representative and in the Protocol on Immunities and from Government and one member from the Privileges, SADC not to discriminate against Non-Governmental Organisations in each any person on the grounds of gender, among member state whose task is to advise the others; Standing Committee of Ministers and other ii) All SADC member states have signed Sectoral Committees of Ministers on gender and ratified or acceded to the UN Convention issues; on the Elimination of All Forms of v) The establishment of Gender Focal Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), points whose task would be to ensure that or are in the final stages of doing so. gender is taken into account in all sectoral B. CONVINCED THAT: initiatives, and is placed on the agenda of all i) Gender equality is a fundamental human ministerial meetings; right; vi) The establishment of a Gender Unit in ii) Gender is an area in which considerable the SADC Secretariat consisting of at least agreement already exists and where there are two officers at a senior level. substantial benefits to be gained from closer G. RESOLVE THAT: regional co-operation and collective action; As leaders, we should spearhead the imple iii) The integration and mainstreaming of mentation of these undertakings and ensure gender issues into the SADC Programme of the eradication of all gender inequalities in Action and Community Building Initiative is the region; key to the sustainable development of the AND SADC region. H. COMMIT ourselves and our respective C. DEEPLY CONCERNED THAT: countries to, inter alia, i) While some SADC member states have i) Placing gender firmly on the agenda of made some progress towards gender equali the SADC Programme of Action and ty and gender mainstreaming, disparities Community Building Initiative; between women and men still exist in the ii) Ensuring the equal representation of areas of legal rights, power-sharing and women and men in the decision-making of decision-making, access to and control over member states and SADC structures at all productive resources, education and health levels, and the achievement of at least 30 among others; percent target of women in political and ii) Women constitute the majority of the decision-making structures by year 2005; poor; iii) Promoting women's full access to, and iii) Efforts to integrate gender considerations control over productive resources such as in SADC sectoral programmes and projects land, livestock, markets, credit, modern have not sufficiently mainstreamed gender in technology, formal employment, and a good a co-ordinated and comprehensive manner. quality of life in order to reduce the level of D. RECOGNISING THAT: poverty among women; i) The SADC Council of Ministers in 1990 iv) Repealing and reforming all laws, mandated the SADC Secretariat to explore amending constitutions and changing social IN WITNESS WHEREOF, We, the Heads of the best ways to incorporate gender issues in practices which still subject women to dis State or Government of the Southern African the SADC Programme of Work, and crimination, and enacting empowering gen Development Community, HAVE SIGNED approved in 1996 gender issues at the region der-sensitive laws; THIS DECLARATION. al level to be co-ordinated by the Secretariat; v) Enhancing access to quality education by ii) In execution of this mandate, the SADC women and men, and removing gender DONE at Blantyre on this 8th day of Secretariat has developed and maintained stereotyping in the curriculum, career choic September 1997, in two original texts, in the working relations with key stakeholders in es and professions; English and Portuguese languages, both the area of gender, which resulted in the vi) Making quality reproductive and other texts being equality authentic. approval and adoption of the SADC Gender health services more accessible to women Programme by the SADC Council of and men; Republic of Angola Ministers in February 1997. vii) Protecting and promoting the human Republic of Botswana WE THEREFORE: rights of women and children; Kingdom of Lesotho E. REAFFIRM our commitment to the viii) Recognising, protecting and promoting Republic of Malawi Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, the the reproductive and sexual rights of women Republic of Mauritius Africa Platform of Action and the Beijing and the girl child; Republic of Mozambique Declaration and Platform for Action. ix) Taking urgent measures to prevent and Republic of Namibia F. ENDORSE the decision of Council on: deal with the increasing levels of violence Republic of South Africa I i) The establishment of a policy framework against women and children; Kingdom of Swaziland for mainstreaming gender in all SADC activ x) Encouraging the mass media to dissemi United Republic of Tanzania ities, and in strengthening the efforts by mem nate information and materials in respect of Republic of Zambia ber countries to achieve gender equality; the human rights of women l\nd children. Republic of Zimbabwe
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BEIJING DECLARA'rlON women, including the right to freedom of Appendix 4 1. We, the Governments participating in the thought, conscience, religion and belief, thus Fourth World Conference on Women, contributing to the moral, ethical, spiritual Fourth World Conference on Women 2. Gathered here in Beijing in September and intellectual needs of women and men, Beijing, China, 4-15 September 1995 1995, the year of the fiftieth anniversary of individually or in community with others the founding of the United Nations, and thereby guaranteeing them the possibili 3. Determined to advance the goals of ty of realizing their full potential in society equality, development and peace for all and shaping their lives in accordance with women everywhere in the interest of all their own aspirations. humanity, 4. Acknowledging the voices of all women We are convinced that: everywhere and taking note of the diversity 13. Women's empowerment and their full of women and their roles and circumstances, participation on the basis of equality in all honouring the women who paved the way spheres of society, including participation in and inspired by the hope present in the the decision-making process and access to world's youth, power, are fundamental for the achievement 5. Recognize that the status of women has of equality, development and peace; advanced in some important respects in the 14. Women's rights are human rights; past decade but that progress has been 15. Equal rights, opportunities and access to uneven, inequalities between women and resources, equal sharing of responsibilities men have persisted and major obstacles for the family by men and women, and a har remain, with serious consequences for the monious partnership between them are criti well-being of all people, cal to their well-being and that of their fam 6. Also recognise that this situation is exac ilies as well as to the consolidation of erbated by the increasing poverty that· is democrary; affecting the lives of the majority of the 16. Eradication of poverty based on sus world's people, in particular women and tained economic growth, social develop children, with origins in both the national ment., environmental protection and social and international domains, justice requires the involvement of women 7. Dedicate ourselves unreservedly to in economic and social development, equal addressing these constraints and obstacles opportunities and full and equal participa and thus enhancing further the advancement tion of women and men as agents and bene and empowerment of women all over the ficiaries of people-centred sustainable devel world, and agree that this requires urgent opment; action in the spirit of determination. hope. 17. The explicit recognition and reaffinna cooperation and solidarity, now and carry us tion of the right of all women to control all forward into the next century. aspects of their health, in particular their own fertility, is basic to their empowerment; We reaffirm our commitment to: 18. Local, national, regional and global 8. The equal rights and inherent human dig peace is attainable and is inextricably linked nity of women and men and other purposes with the advancement of women, who are a and principles enshrined in the Charter of the fundamental force for leadership, conflict United Nations, to the Universal Declaration resolution and the promotion of lasting of Human Rights and other international peace at all levels; human rights instruments, in particular the 19. It is essential to design, implement and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms monitor, with the full participation of of Discrimination against Women and women, effective, efficient and mutually Convention on the Rights of the Child. as reinforcing gender sensitive policies and well as the Declaration on the Elimination of programmes, including development poli Violence against Women and the cies and programmes, at all levels that will Declaration on the Right to Development; foster the empowerment and advancement 9. Ensure the full implementation of the of women; human rights of women and of the girl child 20. The participation and contribution of all as an inalienable, integral and indivisible actors of civil society, particularly women's part of all human rights and fundamental groups and networks and other non-govern freedoms; mental organisations and community-based 10. Build on consensus and progress made at organisations, with full respect for their previous United Nations conferences and autonomy, in cooperation with summits - on women in Nairobi in 1985, Governments, are important to the effective on children in New York in 1990, on envi implementation and follow-up of the ronment and development in Rio de Janeiro Platform for Action; in 1992, on human rights in Vienna in 1993, 21. The implementation of the Platform for on population and development in Cairo in Action requires commitment from 1994 and on social development in Governments and the international commu Copenhagen in 1995 with the objective of nity. By making national and international achieving equality, development and peace; commitments for action, including those 11. Achieve the full and effective implemen made at the Conference, Governments and tation of the Nairobi Forward-looking the international community recognize the Strategies for the Advancement of Women; need to take priority action for the empower 12. The empowerment and advancement of ment and advancement of women. 66 Women in Malawi
We are determined to: We are determined to: 22. Intensify efforts and actions to achieve 35. Ensure women's equal access to eco the goals of the Nairobi Forward-looking nomic resources, including land, credit, sci Strategies for the Advancement of Women ence and technology, vocational training, by the end of this century; information, communication and markets, as 23. Ensure the full enjoyment by women and a means to further the advancement and the girl child of all human rights and funda empowerment of women and girls, including mental freedoms and take effective action through the enhancement of their capacities against violations of these rights and free to enjoy the benefits of equal access to these doms; resources, inter alia, by means of interna 24. Take all necessary measures to eliminate tional cooperation; all forms of discrimination against women 36. Ensure the success of the Platform for and the girl child and remove all obstacles to Action, which will require a strong commit gender equality and the advancement and ment on the part of Governments, interna empowerment of women; tional organisations and institutions at all 25. Encourage men to participate fully in all levels. We are deeply convinced that eco actions towards equality; nomic development, social development and 26. Promote women's economic indepen environmental protection are interdependent dence, including employment, and eradicate and mutually reinforcing components of sus the persistent and increasing burden of tainable development, which is the frame poverty on women by addressing the struc work for our efforts to achieve a higher qual tural causes of poverty through changes in ity of life for all people. Equitable social economic structures, ensuring equal access development that recognises empowering for all women, including those in rural areas, the poor, particularly women living in as vital development agents, to productive poverty, to utilize environmental resources resources, opportunities and public ser sustainably is a necessary foundation for vices; sustainable development. We also recognize 27. Promote people-centred sustainable that broad-based and sustained economic development, including sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable devel growth, through the provision of basic edu opment is necessary to sustain social devel cation, lifelong education, literacy and train opment and social justice. The success of the ing, and primary health care for girls and Platform for Action will also require ade women; quate mobilization of resources at the 28. Take positive steps to ensure peace for national and international levels as well as the advancement of women and, recognizing new and additional resources to the develop the leading role that women have played in ing countries from all available funding the peace movement, work actively towards mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral general and complete disarmament under and private sources for the advancement of strict and effective international control, and women; financial resources to strengthen the support negotiations on ·the conclusion, capacity of national, subregional, regional without delay, of a universal and multilater and international institutions, a commitment ally and effectively verifiable comprehen to equal rights, equal responsibilities and sive nuclear-test-ban treaty which con equal opportunities and to the equal partici tributes to nuclear disarmament and the pre pation of women and men in all national, vention of the proliferation of nuclear regional and international bodies and policy weapons in all its aspects; making processes; and the establishment or 29. Prevent and eliminate all forms of vio strengthening of mechanisms at all levels for lence against women and girls; accountability to the world's women; 30. Ensure equal access to and equal treat 37. Ensure also the success of the Platform ment of women and men in education and for Action in countries with economies in health care and enhance women's sexual and transition, which will require continued reproductive health as well as education; international cooperation and assistance; 31. Promote and protect all human rights of 38. We hereby adopt and commit ourselves women and girls; as Governments to implement the following 32. Intensify efforts to ensure equal enjoy Platform for Action, ensuring that a gender ment of all human rights and fundamental perspective is reflected in all our policies freedoms for all women and girls who face and programmes. We urge the United multiple barriers to their empowerment and Nations system, regional and international advancement because of such factors as their financial institutions, other relevant regional race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, reli and international institutions and all women gion, or disability, or because they are and men, as well as non-governmental indigenous people; organisations, with full respect for their 33. Ensure respect for interactional law, autonomy, and all sectors of civil society, in including humanitarian law, in order to pro cooperation with Governments, to fully tect women and girls in particular; commit themselves and contribute to the 34. Develop the fullest potential of girls and implementation of this Platform for Action. I women of all ages, ensure their full and equal participation in building a better world for all and enhance their role in the develop SOURCE: United Nations, Plarform for Action and the Beijing Declara1ion. UN Depanment of Public ment process. Information, New York, 1996 67 BEYOND INEQUALITIES
BEYO Appendix 5 PLATFORM FOR ACTION : addressed only by working together and in MISSION STATEMENT partnership with men towards the common Ap Fourth World Conference on Women 1. The Platform for Action is an agenda for goal of gender equality around the w~rld . It Beijing, China, 4-15 September 1995 women's empowerment. It aims at accelerat respects and values the full d1vers1ty of Fourtf ing the implementation of the Nairobi women's situations and conditions and Beijin Forward-looking Strategies for the recognises that some women face particular Advancement of Women and at removing all barriers to their empowerment. the obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private life 4. The Platform for Action requires imme through a full and equal share in economic, diate and concerted action by all to create a social, cultural and political decision-mak peaceful, just and humane world based on ing. This means that the principle of shared human rights and fundamental freedoms, power and responsibility should be estab including the principle of equality for all lished between women and men at home, m people of all ages and from all walks of life, the workplace and in the wider national and and to this end, recognizes that broad-based international communities. Equality and sustained economic growth in the con between women and men is a matter of text of sustainable development is necessary human rights and a condition for social jus to sustain social development and social jus tice and is also a necessary and fundamental tice. prerequisite for equality, development and peace. A transformed partnership based on 5. The success of the Platform for Action equality between women and men is a con will require a strong commitment on the part dition for people-centred sustainable devel of Governments, international organisations opment. A sustained and long-term commit and institutions at all levels. It will also ment is essential, so that women and men require adequate mobilization of resources can work together for themselves, for their at the national and international levels as children and for society to meet the chal well as new and additional resources to the lenges of the twenty-first century. developing countries from all available funding mechanisms, including multilateral, 2. The Platform for Action reaffirms the bilateral and private sources for the advance fundamental principle set forth in the Vienna ment of women; financial resources to Declaration and Programme of Action, strengthen the capacity of national, subre adopted by the World Conference on Human gional, regional and internatio.nal institu Rights, that the human rights of women and tions; a commitment to equal nghts, equal of the girl child are an inalienable, integral responsibilities and equal opportunities and and indivisible part of universal human to the equal participation of women and men rights. As an agenda for action, the Platform in all national, regional and international seeks to promote and protect the full enjoy bodies and policy-making processes; and the ment of all human rights and the fundamen establishment or strengthening of mecha tal freedoms of all women throughout their nisms at all levels of accountability to the life cycle. world's women.
3. The Platform for Action emphasizes that SOURCE: United Nations, Plaifonn for Action and t~e Beijing Declaration, UN Department of Pubhc women share common concerns that can be Information, New York, 1996
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6 r Soutbern AlrlclR R1111rcb and Docu11ent1tlon Centre UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI