December 10 marked the close of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign. The theme this year ‘Every 10 Minutes a Woman is Killed: Unite to End Violence Against Women’, highlighted the grave impact of GBV crisis. Many tales have been shared, exposing how many women choose to suffer silently at the hands of abusers despite the immediate danger that GBV poses to their health. This year’s theme further exposed how globally, partners and family members killed a woman intentionally in 2023, with the staggering figures translating to one woman dying every 10 minutes.
Based on this shocking revelation, for Malawi in particular, the challenge seems to be the concern by the abused women that they will not be able to survive without their abuser’s financial support. The problem is even worse when there are children involved. The victim finds herself having to choose between suffering for the sake of her children’s well-being.
However, the fact that women, and girl s, find themselves between such a rock and a hard place for financial survival raises the economic empowerment debate once again. In a society where the majority of women remain vulnerable to abuse due to lack of access to economic activities, the need to centre women and girls in the empowerment discourse remains critical.
Despite advances in gender equality over the last decade, the country ranks 142 out of 162 on the Gender Inequality Index (GII), reflecting high levels of inequality in reproductive health, women’s empowerment, and economic activity. This is despite the enactment of various laws and policies aimed at fighting GBV. What this reveals is that Malawi still has a long way to go in empowering women.
Among others, there is a great need to increase access to education for girls and ensure that schools have a conducive environment for girls stay in school until they complete their studies.
Although the country has increased the primary school enrolment, the transition rate of girls to secondary school remains low and the drop-out rate high. According to the United Nations, nine percent of girls in the country are married by 15 years while 46 percent marry by the age of 18, ranking Malawi as the 11th country globally with high cases of child marriage.
The available data on education in Malawi indicates that 62 percent of girls that enroll in Standard 1 proceed to Standard 5, but only 29 percent remain in school to Standard 8 due to early marriages, unplanned pregnancies, and family responsibilities.
All these figures, sobering as they are, have been well documented over the years. But the question is, what are we doing about it? Little progress seems to be made, worsened by the fact that the country’s population keeps expanding against diminishing resources. In most cases, we have school infrastructure with inadequate teachers, books, desks and other resources to support a robust education system for the majority rural populations. Some schools lack basic amenities like clean water and decent washrooms, making it hard for girls to stay in school. Keeping girls in school remains a key factor to protecting them from early marriage and reducing their vulnerability to GBV. Hence it is not enough for girls to enroll in school, sustaining their stay is critical, and that is where government should focus its interventions.
Additionally, women remain grossly underrepresented in decision making processes. Currently, out of the 193 parliamentaary seats, only about 40 are held by women, representing less than 25 percent. This, obviously, poses a challenge to issues of representation and deliberation of women and girls’ issues.
Another thing that cannot be ignored is the need to manage public resources efficiently. Corruption is affecting this country’s development and unfortunately, it is the innocent citizens that bear the brunt of the greed of public officers that are entrusted with handling public resources but end up abusing them. Due to inadequate resources in Account Number One as a result of a lack of transparency and accountability, as well as extravagance among certain cadres of public officers, the barrier to the right of learners to quality education has worsened in Malawi. Corruption has greatly impacted on the economic status of women in the country, and it would not be far-fetched to consider corruption a form of GBV.
Serious policies need to be implemented to see a real turnaround that translates to an improved status for women and girls in the country.
Eliminating violence is not just a matter of rights and access to justice, it is also key to the country’s attainment of its development agenda. Women form 52 percent of the country’s population.
