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Women empowerment key

In just two months, Malawians will choose a president, members of Parliament and local councillors. About 52 percent of Malawians are women and full participation of women in the vote will be critical to promoting women’s issues and perspectives at all levels.

Just as importantly, women should be adequately represented in Parliament and in local councils by women. The mantra “nothing about us without us” is certainly also applicable to gender equality. The American people believe that democracy cannot flourish without the full participation of all citizens. Women must be engaged in governance and policymaking, not only because the decisions directly affect their lives but also because their perspectives and experiences will improve the outcomes of these deliberations for the good of all citizens.

Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on progress, to call for change, and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by women who have made a difference in their communities and countries. To quote President Barack Obama: “The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it is educating girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused and illiterate, then they are going to fall behind.”

In Malawi, Women’s History Month has been an opportunity to motivate women to continue their struggle for gender equality, identical opportunities in education and employment, and improved respect and justice for girls and rural women. Despite efforts by the government to promote these principles, inequalities and discrimination against women and girls persist. Why is gender equality and women’s development so critical to all citizens of the Warm Heart of Africa? Because development of women pays off.  For example, one extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent; an extra year of secondary school boosts her wages by 15 to 25 percent. Each additional year of girls’ education can reduce child mortality by nine percent.  And universal secondary education could save 1.8 million children’s lives in sub-Saharan Africa alone because educated girls marry later, have fewer children and the children they do have lead healthier and more prosperous lives. Focus on girls and women is good for all citizens and for the future of this country.

Malawian women have demonstrated that when they are empowered, even with the smallest of resources, they can make a difference and uplift their families, communities and country. The US Embassy includes girls, women and gender equality as a cross cutting part of its programming. Through Obama’s Feed the Future initiative, small holder women farmers have become leaders in dairy and groundnut farming. Through former secretary of State Clinton’s African Women Entrepreneurship Programme, women are building their own small and medium enterprises, thus creating jobs and bolstering communities.

There are synergies among Malawian women and men that show promise of a better future for women and girls. Malawi will only achieve its full potential if all citizens are empowered to contribute to a better future – for indeed, gender equality benefits the entire society. Education is key. I hosted a Women’s History Month event  where we heard testimonies by a nurse mid-wife, an engineer, a lead farmer and a secondary school student on how they are serving their communities and country. I also presented a certificate to Jessie Kabwila, the US Embassy’s nominee for the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. Kabwila put it very well by saying: “To the young girl, self-belief comes through education; you can only afford to believe in yourself if you have the tools with which to believe in yourself, so education is very central. Things I have done in this country are not unique, but because of education, there are spaces that I am able to occupy that an uneducated person cannot occupy. Nothing is as of paramount importance as making sure that access to education is extremely high.”

I have come to love a Malawian proverb that describes the shared responsibility for the future of Malawian women—Mutuumodzisusenzadenga (there is strength in unity). Working together, all Malawian should carry the roof of reducing gender disparities, improving access to education and jobs, and making women’s participation in government and civil society a priority.

The author is US Ambassador to Malawi.

 

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