Dowa women protest sexual harassment in AIP depots

Irate women in Dowa on Monday held demonstrations demanding a stop to the behaviour by male beneficiaries of the Affordable Input Progamme (AIP) of sexually harassing women while queuing on the line to buy subsidized farm inputs.

The women claimed that men are touching their breasts and other sensitive body parts, as they wait to buy the inputs.

The disgruntled women petitioned Traditional Authority (T/A) Chakhaza, demanding that there should be sanity in the implementation of the programme.

Veresi Banda, who led the women, said they are worried that some people would want to take advantage of the project to satisfy their libidinous intentions on poor women.

“We suffered a lot of sexual assault last year, as we lined up on the queues and/or spending nights at on selling points. We don’t want similar experiences this year. We ask the government to make proper arrangements so that women do not use same lines with men,” she said.

Receiving the petition, TA Chakhaza said he would forward the concerns to relevant authorities.

In October last year, Girls Empowerment Network (GENET) trained women in T/As Chakhaza and Kayembe to voice out their concerns to relevant authorities when aggrieved.

GENET Malawi works to advance the rights, status and well-being of adolescent girls and young women in Malawi.

Its mission is to promote and advocate for the social and emotional well being of vulnerable and marginalised young women and to influence positive change in the areas of gender, human rights, HIV/AIDS and education.

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