Economic Challenges Preventing Women from Participating In Local Politics-Gender Activists

Malawi: Women's rights activists believe that financial constraints prevent women from participating in local politics because the country's political landscape requires participants to be financially prepared and sustained.

The activists also believe that the climate in political parties does not typically favour female candidates because most of them do not take affirmative action to encourage women's participation.

The Malawi Electoral Commission-MEC has released a list of participants in local government by-elections.

On August 23, 2022, the MEC plans to hold by-elections in three wards: Wenya in Chitipa Wenya Constituency, Lupembe in Karonga Central, and Shire in Balaka Central East Constituency.

According to the MEC's list of candidates, all of the candidates who will run in the by-elections are men.

According to Barbara Banda of the NGO-GCN, this is very unfortunate and demonstrates that women still have a long way to go both locally and nationally.

According to Banda, most women lack the economic means to participate in politics.

“Political campaigns require money and many women in the village are not financially ready to go down that road,” Banda lamented.

“The avenues through which women get money are limited especially in the rural areas. There are a lot of constraints and in the parties the competition is stiff. Women need to study the climate in order to prepare in good time,” she added.

She believes that political parties must implement deliberate policies that allow women to compete on a level playing field.

“Political parties need to put in place affirmative policies to increase participation of women, otherwise, they leave it open for whoever is capable to participate. This puts at an advantage those who are capable of running for political office,” she said.

While agreeing with Banda, another women's rights activist, Beatrice Mateyo, adds that socio-cultural norms that are prevalent and deeply rooted in the country put women at a disadvantage.

“Much as some would want to take part in electoral processes, communities look down on such women, labelling them with all sorts of negative words, which forces them to withdraw their intentions,” said Mateyo.

As the country prepares for the next election in 2025, gender activists believe that the time has come to begin implementing programs aimed at empowering women and changing people's perceptions of women's roles in politics.

‘Organisations need to go back to the drawing board, interrogate the effectiveness of existing policies and assess how they can support women in future elections,’ Banda said.

Mateyo, for one, believes that women's empowerment programs should not end after elections.

“We need to have these programmes from the grassroots continuously. We should not stop after elections, we need to reach out to as many women as possible in that way we will know how best we can support them in their quest to take part in the political landscape,’ she said.

In the 2019 tripartite elections, 44 women won parliamentary seats out of 193 total seats, while 2064 women ran in local government elections, with more than 55 elected.

Following the deaths of their respective councillors, by-elections are being held in Chitipa, Karonga, and Balaka.