Comesa, Wlsa tip Malawi on gender gap

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and Women and Law in Southern Africa (Wlsa) have urged government and other stakeholders to address gender disparities to close the gender gap by 2030.

Meanwhile, Wlsa says the country has enough laws and policies that need to be implemented for the gender gap to be closed.

In response to a questionnaire, Talumba Chilipaine, a gender expert on policy issues on economic and social development, agriculture and gender mainstreaming programmes at Comesa, said Malawi has made tremendous progress in enhancing gender issues.

She, however, said there are some areas the country needs to work on to ensure it realises its dream of reducing gender disparity.

Said Chilipaine: “We need to acknowledge that Malawi has made significant progress, as far as gender equality is concerned.

“Various policy instruments and policy frameworks have been put in place [to guide] the implementation of various international and regional commitments.

“That notwithstanding, challenges still remain to ensure that Malawi fully ratifies most of these international instruments to which it is a signatory in closing the existing gender gaps.”

She observed that the country is currently operating within the mandates outlined in developmental frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2063 which is a continental framework under the African Union.

On his part, Wlsa Malawi national coordinator, Mzati Mbeko, said the enactment of the Gender Equality Act is one step in achieving equality.

He said Malawi should strictly observe and implement policies and laws related to women empowerment to address gender disparities by 2030.