Women’s Manifesto Movement has announced plans to start meeting presidential aspirants to commit to addressing systemic gender inequities before and after the September 16 2025 General Election.
Women’s Legal Resource Centre (Wolrec) executive director Maggie Kathewera Banda, whose organisation is among lead institutions in the initiative, in an interview yesterday said the presidential aspirants will also sign a commitment to ensure they abide by the women’s demands.
a commitment. | Nation
She said the commitment will also ease tracking of what is being fulfilled or not as the movement will be constantly engaging the candidate that wins the forthcoming elections.
“Our aim is to ensure leaders are able to address issues that affect women and we are hoping that they will sign a commitment plan to ensure they implement programmes that alleviate women’s suffering,” said Kathewera Banda.
She said the meetings will revolve around 15 thematic areas of its revised manifesto.
Initially, the inaugural manifesto had 11 thematic areas. The revised 2025−2030 manifesto has added four more.
These include women’s economic empowerment and access to resources, land, water and natural resources, climate change, women and agriculture, women and health, women and education, social, religious and cultural issues and women’s leadership, politics and governance.
Th e revised 2025 – 2030 Women’s Manifesto Movement document integrates intersectional gender perspectives, addressing unique struggles faced by women across diverse social and economic contexts.
It serves multiple purposes such as promoting women’s rights, mobilising stakeholders to commit to tangibl e policy action, holding duty bearers accountable for their commitments on women’s rights and providing a unified framework for structured advocacy and systemic reform.
Besides, it further aims at ensuring inclusion and representation of marginalised groups, including persons with disabilities and older persons.
During a review of the inaugural manifesto in December 2024, a participant from Mbawemi Women’s Organisation in Mzuzu, Dorothy Chiumia, expressed worry about high registration fees charged by Malawi Electoral Commission
