MALAWI: WOMEN IN POLITICS
INVESTIGATING THE QUESTION OF THE PARTICIPATION OF MALAWIAN WOMEN IN POLITICS
The low numbers of women in decision-making positions, including in Parliament is a concern not only for Malawi, but for most parts of the world. With only 30 out of the 193 seats in Parliament secured by women in the Tripartite Elections in May 2014, it is now more than ever critical to increase the participation of women in politics for women’s empowerment, the attainment of gender parity, increased enactment of gender-sensitive laws and policies, and ultimately for the attainment of sustainable development, argues the Executive Secretary of the Malawi Human Rights Commission.
MsGrace Tikambenji Malera Ms Malera is a women’s rights defender/activist, trainer, and socio-legal researcher, who is currently working with the Malawi Human Rights Commission. She has over 10 years of experience working in the governance and human rights sector, and serves on the boards of a number of national and grassroots women’s organizations.
that the question of the importance of the participation of Malawian women in politics has long been debated, and at least reached a consensus or a compromise with contenders agreeing to disagree.
Ms Grace Malera Introduction
In the recent Tripartite Elections that took place in May, women MPs represented a dismal 16 per cent of the seats in Parliament, a drop from the 43 seats that were won by women in 2009, representing 22 per cent. The statistics are even worse at ministerial level. Yet, it can be argued
178 | The Parliamentarian | 2014: Issue Three
Therefore, when the former President of the Republic of Malawi, Her Excellency Dr Joyce Banda ascended to the highest political office of presidency in 2012, social commentators and scholars alike, variously applauded the development as a breakthrough. However, gender stereotyping permeated through the time of her stint in office. Gender stereotyping is a generalized view or preconception of attitudes or characteristics distinguished by the roles that are or should be performed by women and men respectively. Such stereotypes presumes that all individuals in the social groups
of men or women possess certain attributes or characteristics, behave in a certain way and perform certain pre- determined roles.
In the case of Dr Banda’s
presidency, the gender stereotyping was epitomized by the title of Amayi, literally translated to “mother” that was bestowed on her while in office. Before then, none of the male holders of this political office had ever been referred to as Abambo meaning “father”. With her ascendancy to power, the presidency had been reduced to the traditional role of motherhood, i.e. caring, nurturing, gentle, and compassionate, as opposed to being aggressive and playing key roles in decision making. What followed was a litany of simplistic generalizations about the roles, differences and capabilities of a female leader as opposed to a male
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