First Lady touts Malawi’s girls rights progress

First Lady Monica Chakwera has said Malawi is championing women and girls rights by creating an equal society for all to close the gender gap.

She said this during the equal campaign summit organised by the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development held in New York on the sidelines of 78th United Nation General Assembly underway in the United States of America.

Chakwera said the President has committed himself to empower women and girls through quality education.

She said: “Under the leadership of President Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi is putting qualified women in higher positions. It is safe to say that some of the powerful positions are held by women.”

In his first Cabinet appointment in July 2020, the President appointed a record 12 women out of 31 Cabinet positions. This meant women held 39 percent of the ministerial and deputy ministerial roles in the Cabinet.

The First Lady emphasised the significance of closing the gender gap that hinders the potential of women and girls in a society.

“Malawi stands to drive a change to empower women and girls through bursary programme based on vulnerability criteria targeting girls and boys selected to grant aided secondary school by not leaving anyone behind,” said Chakwera.

In her address to the summit, United States First Lady Jill Biden urged African first ladies to rise up and lead the empowerment of women and girls globally.

She said: “We have never been silent but women are silenced, we must join hands and keep going to change people’s lives and make informed decisions. Let us strengthen our sisterhood and make a difference to build the world our sons and daughters deserve.”

On her part, the organisation’s president and First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingob called on the first ladies to work together to remove barriers that hinder women rights in the world.