Challenges of Female Aspirants at Malawi Parliamentary Elections - Term Paper Example

Challenges of Female Aspirants at Malawi Parliamentary Elections Table of Contents Introduction 3 Politics in Malawi: A Perspective 4 Women in Malawian Politics 5 Conclusion 7 References 9 Bibliography 11 Introduction Politics builds the foundation of any country and more particularly, the democracy of a nation. In a democracy, it is expected that there will be an equal composition of male - female ratio and also the equal kind of participation is expected in this regard. It takes a hard struggle to attain democracy. This struggle is inevitable in any country and Malawi is not an exception either. If one gives a close inspection to the history of any nation, one would find that women folk has always participated equally into the battle of democracy. The Republic of Malawi has also witnessed and given birth to such brave souls who not only constitute the better half of men but also proved out to be the better half of the society. The Republic Of Malawi previously known by the name of Nyasaland shares the border with Zambia to the north-west; Tanzania to the north-east and in the east, south and west, the country is surrounded by Mozambique. Malawi is one of the world’s most densely populated nations. Along with this, it is also among the least developed nations. The demography of Malawi shows that the large part of the population is rural and the economy of the country is largely dependent on agriculture. The country was ruled by the native ruler till 1891 and it was colonised by the British in the very same year. Malawi was a British colony till 1964 and after gaining independence it became a single-party state under presidency of the great Hastings Banda. Hastings Banda remained president till 1994 after which he was ousted from the power and democracy was adapted. Politics in Malawi: A Perspective Since the year of 1994, Malawi is a democratic country and has a multi-party system. The government branches consist of executive, legislative and judicial. The branches under legislation consist of a unicameral National Assembly of 193 members. These members are elected for five years. Malawian constitution provides a seat for 80 members in Senate which does not exist in practice. The judiciary is based on the English system and consists of Supreme Court, High Courts and subordinate Magistrate Courts. Presently, there are nine political parties in Malawi. The main parties of the country however, are Democratic Progressive Party, the Malawi Congress Party, and the United Democratic Front. 18 years is the age for the Universal Suffrage. There are three regions in Malawi namely the Northern, Central and Southern Regions (IFPRI, “Malawi”). These regions are divided into 28 districts, and these districts are further divided into approximately to 250 traditional authorities and 110 administrative wards (CIA, “Malawi”). In the regime of multi-party era, the elections at the local level took place for the first time in the year of 2000. In that election, UDF party candidates won the majority of the contested seats. The present constitution was enforced on May 18th, 1995. The scenario of the Malawian politics is often rocked by anti – socials and goons like many of the other developing nations. Women in Malawian Politics As it can be deciphered from the analysis of the above paragraphs, the condition of Malawian Politics is not totally conducive to the participation of female members. Though the trends have been suggesting that the interests and the participation of the women political aspirants of the Republic of Malawi is on the ever growing mode, yet the fact is that the country still do not offer equal participation of the female politicians with par to their male counterparts. An important factor that has hindered the growth of the political career of the female citizens has been the involvement of the muscular power in the arena of politics like many other nations of Africa. The research reports on the domain have suggested that the Republic of Malawi is no different from other nations of Africa when it comes to involving of muscular power in the fields of politics. And this is one ground where the female aspirants of the country lag behind. During the time of the general elections, when the male contestants can use their machinery to influence the voters and the electorates, the female politicians generally falls prey to the viscous circle and are easily defeated even if they could come all the way to contest the election involving the steps like filing of the nominations and publicity for the polls (Kamlongera, “Malawian womens participation in State politics: what are the constraints?”). The fact that should be kept in to consideration in this aspect is that the Republic of Malawi received have been following multi – party democracy only for the last 15 years and the measures initiated by the government towards the successful implementation of the democracy is worth mentioning. There have been many positive sides of the restored democracy in the land of Malawi and the United Nations has also come forward with its program name UNDP (United Nation Development Program) to initiate every possible measure so that fair and honest elections are held at the country. Such initiatives have been regarded highly by the citizens and the electorates, as they turned out in great numbers in the Parliamentary elections of last year. Such a measure also contributes toward the participation of women in the rough field of politics (United Nations, “Politics, Humanitarian Affairs, Economy and Food Security”). The constitution of the Republic of Malawi and the legal framework of the country do not call for any reservations or provisions for the women participation in the election system of the country. But contrary to the many South African nations, the constitution of Malawi calls for “full participation of women in all spheres of Malawians society on the basis of equality with men”. The government claims to try its best to attain this motto of the constitution but reservations of women seats or similar features are yet to be proposed and implemented. Analysing the participation of women in to the decision making process of the country, statistics is observed to be improving from the previous years. It had 5.65 % of women representation in 1994, 9.38% in 1999, 14.44% in 2004 and 20.83% in the recently concluded elections of 2009. The figures of women representation in the National Assembly of Malawi are really on the rise. The two largest parties of the Malawi, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) have promoted the cause of women representation in the elected bodies by raising their voices in favour of the issue (EISA, “Malawi: Womens representation quotas”). The Republic of Malawi also has been participating in many of the international seminars, debates, discussions and workshops regarding the enhancement of the women representation in the parliamentary elections along with the participations in the active running of the government. Similar seminar was hosted in South Africa in last week of October of 2009 where the Republic of Malawi had presence with dignity. The seminar was about having 50/50 quotas on the basis of gender in the top positions. The minister of Malawi, Patricia Kaliati, the representative of the country at the seminar, raised the important questions of why the political parties are not headed by women or where should the women start in order to initiate the process. The honourable minister also discussed various measures that can be initiated to promote more participation from the females in the array of politics. Ms. Kaliati rightly observed that it is the socio – economic structure as well as the cultural factors that indirectly hinder the women from participation in the arena of politics (Women in Politics, “Discussing Strategies for Empowering Women in Politics”). Conclusion The political scenario at the Republic of Malawi depicts that despite of not having any sorts of reservation for women representation either by constitution or by the legal frame work (the judiciary), the country has clear trends of having higher representation for women with every passing general elections. Yet, this scenario can only be viewed as the stepping stone. The government of the country should keep no stones unturned to provide conducive environment for fair election to take place so that more number of women participates in it. The government can also think of implementing certain quota for the purpose, as reserved for women. It is also expected that the government would try its best to develop the socio – cultural realm of the country that prohibits much of the women population to join politics at the parliamentary level. References CIA. “Malawi”. February 15, 2010. The World Fact book. No Date. EISA. “Malawi: Womens representation quotas”. February 15, 2010. Promoting Credible Elections & Democratic Governance in Africa. June 2009. IFPRI, “Malawi”. February 15, 2010. Countries. No Date Kamlongera, Alinane Priscilla. “Malawian womens participation in State politics: what are the constraints?” February 15, 2010. Gender & Development. November 2008. United Nations. “Politics, Humanitarian Affairs, Economy and Food Security”. February 15, 2010. Malawi. 2008. Women in Politics, “Discussing Strategies For Empowering Women In Politics”. February 15, 2010. Africa. October 28, 2010. Bibliography Banda, Fareda. “Women, Law and Human Rights in Southern Africa”. Journal of South African Studies, 2006. Hirschmann, D. Women and Political Participation in Africa: Broadening the Scope of Research in World Development, 1991. Vol 19 No. 12. Kakhobwe. P. SADC Women in Parliament Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi, 2000. Women’s Campaign International. “Pre-Election Activities”. February 15, 2010. Malawi. No Date. Read More