Five years after the launch of the inaugural Women’s Manifesto, lead institutions in the initiative have said despite registering progress on the political front, some thematic areas remain unchanged.
The issues tackled in the 2019 manifesto range from women’s education, access to justice, participation in politics, access to resources critical for women’s health, particularly high rates of maternal mortality, land ownership, natural resources management and sustaining the environment.
During a review meeting of the document in Mzuzu yesterday, Women’s Legal Resource Centre (Wolrec) executive director Maggie Kathewera Banda said notable progress has been made on elective and appointed positions.
She said: “On the political front, that’s where there is some progress. At that time, we were advocating for a gender-balanced Cabinet and that is being done. Even Parliament chose a woman as a Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker. We also see this in public appointments.
“We have a female Secretary to the President and Cabinet and also a female Inspector General of Police. All these appointments are coming out of the lobbying we had.”
But Kathewera Banda, who is also chairperson of the NGO-Gender Coordination Network, said progress has stalled in other areas, including continued cases of violence against women and girls and poor access to justice for women.
A participant, Dorothy Chiumia from Mbawemi Women’s Organisation in Mzuzu, said they were still worried heading into the September 16 2025 General Election due to high registration fees charged by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).
She said: “Main issues relate to failure to find money to pay for fees to MEC. Let the MEC reduce the fees. Besides, many men don’t like allowing women to take up leadership positions.”
Meanwhile, for the 2025 polls, Kathewera Banda has said they are working with political parties so that they understand the importance of fielding women aspirants and analysing the support that they will provide to them.
The Women’s Manifesto Movement brings together women from diverse cycles to discuss and put together challenges affecting them to be collectively presented to duty-bearers for action.
Wolrec, Girls Empowerment Network, Human Rights of Women and Girls with Disability, in collaboration with NGO-Gender Coordination Network organised the review meeting with funding from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, European Union, Oxfam Malawi and UN Women.
