Vice President Jane Mayemu Ansah has called for reforms to electoral systems, political party structures and campaign financing to give women a fair chance to participate in political leadership across Africa. Speaking virtually at the inaugural High-Level Annual Conference on Gender and Elections in Africa in Johannesburg on Oct. 29, 2026, Ansah said democracy should […]
Former Malawian president Joyce Banda has delivered a blistering call to action to African leaders and the international community, demanding they finally move beyond empty political promises and take real, concrete steps to get women a seat at the table in peace efforts across eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the wider Great Lakes Region. […]
Malawi’s Parliament was given a stark reminder this week of just how tough — and often unforgiving — the political arena can be for women. Grace Kwelepeta, MP for Zomba Malosa, delivered an emotional but pointed appeal, warning that female politicians are still fighting uphill battles that their male counterparts rarely face. Speaking during debate […]
Malawi’s social media community has issued a stark warning to women against travelling abroad for buttock enlargement surgery after the death of a Malawian woman from an unregulated overseas procedure sparked widespread alarm online. The Brazilian butt lift (BBL) — a cosmetic procedure in which fat is transferred from other parts of the body to […]
Former president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has called on President Lazarus Chakwera to create an enabling environment that prioritizes women initiatives to grow in wealth, power and authority to ensure enjoyment of equal opportunities. She was speaking virtually on Wednesday in Lilongwe during the launch of the gender responsive procurement financial inclusion initiative and […]
Political party leaders in Dowa District have hailed Danchurch Aid and Norwegian Church Aid for facilitating a project dubbed Young Women in Active Politics (YWAP) saying the project has capacitated young women to actively take part in political affairs in their respective communities. Funded by European Union (EU) the project targets 6 districts including Rumphi, […]
Former Malawi president Joyce Banda joined the rest of women in a network of women forming the Supporting Advancement of Gender Equality (SAGE) Initiative in congratulating President Mahammadu Buhari and the people of Nigeria for the support rendered to the effective processes of electing Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the first female director general of the World Trade […]
The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) have challenged President Lazarus Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance-led administration walk the talk on women economic empowerment by allocating more public contracts to women entrepreneurs. The two institutions say it is disheartening to note that less than one percent of […]
Malawi’s First Lady Monica Chakwera has said it is time to end gender inequality is now by put women at the centre of development in the country. Speaking at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Wednesday when she closed a three-day 2021 virtual African Gender Equality Conference (AGEC) 2021, Chakwera said violence against women across Africa […]
Zimbabwe-based women rights activist, Dr. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, have demanded the deconstruction of patriarchal practices and norms that tend to restrict girls and women to the kitchen and micro businesses, respectively. Gumbonzvanda made the demand on Tuesday during a panel discussion at the on-going first virtual Annual Africa Gender Equality Conference (#AGEC2021). The conference, which is taking place […]
Mary Chilima, wife to Republican Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima on Monday interacted with female members of staff and students of Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Thyolo as part of them commemoration of the International Women’s Day. Every year, around the world, March 8 is marked as International Women’s Day. It’s a […]
Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati, on Monday led Malawians in joining the rest of the world in cerebrating International Women’s Day with a call to ensure women are part and parcel of leadership and decision-making positions and also expressed concern over what she described as “high illiteracy levels” among women in […]
The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE)-listed FDH Bank has created a revolving K0.5 billion fund dubbed ‘FDH Amayi Atakate Fund’ to support women owned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country to realize their full growth potential. FDH Bank plc Head of Marketing and Communications Levie Nkunika said the Bank has created the special fund […]
The Malawi Stock Exchange-listed Standard Bank Plc has announced launch of a month-long series of interactive online seminars for Women Entrepreneurs and Thought Leaders in commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD). The series—to run from March 8, March 17, March 24 and March 31, 2021—will see the best pitch winning a package of K10 […]
Being African, and being a woman has often meant being underrepresented due to discrimination in the corporate and governance pipeline, I thought to myself when I read that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had just been elected as Director General of the World Trade Organisation. This results from the fact that odds are heavily stacked against them. And […]
Former president Joyce Banda has expressed concern over the continued exclusion of rural women and girls in development programmes and policies although they make up the larger population in Malawi. Banda has also deplored the tendency by various stakeholders to speak on behalf of rural women instead of giving them a platform to voice out their […]
Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Dr. Patricia Kaliati, on Monday literally knelt in paying homage to the old-time frontline women’s rights activists. Kaliati was saluting Faustace Chirwa, Margaret Ali, Emmie Chanika, Emma Kaliya, Barbara Banda and Maggie Kathewera Banda, Mercy Timba, Jean Nkwanda, Reen Kachere and Cecilia who, from the early 1990s, […]
Former president Joyce Banda has decorated minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati as champion for women’ rights. The accolade has come at a time when the government is fighting gender-based violence as the country is witnessing increased cases of rape and defilement. Banda, herself a global member of the Women Leaders […]