Wolrec to train 2 000 female aspiring councillors

Women Legal Resource Centre (Worlec) says they want to train 2 000 aspiring female councillors for next year’s tripartite elections to prepare them to take up decision making positions in the country.

Speaking on Thursday at the training workshop in Mzuzu, Wolrec director Maggie Kathewere Banda said if women take up such positions they would be able to address issues affecting them and the society at large.

“Half of the population in Malawi is made up of women. We believe that women should be involved in leadership and decision making positions. If women are not in decision making positions it is hard for their issues to be heard.

“If issues to do with women are not looked at, the nation will not develop since more than half of its population is not well taken care of,” claimed Banda.

Director of gender in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare Peter Msefuka said women lag behind in most social and political structures. He said this is because cultural beliefs and people’s negative attitude towards female taking up leadership.

“Men have problems to open up power to women; that’s why many decision making structures are dominated by men. There are unknown fears among them that women cannot lead, and there are some societies that still believe that a woman’s place is the kitchen.

“We are having problems with political parties to promote women because of this mindset. Many parties also believe that men have higher chances of winning an election than women,” said Msefuka.

With funding from the Scottish government, the project targets all districts in the country. The sensitisation process has already been done in eight districts; Balaka, Dedza, Mwanza, Neno, Lilongwe, Nsanje, Zomba and Salima.