President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has pledged Malawi’s commitment towards continued empowerment of women and girls through various government policies and programs that aim at promoting gender equality.
The President made his sentiments known when he attended the United Nations Women Generation Equality Midpoint Event on Sunday in New York on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
President Chakwera attended the event in his role as Feminist Movement and Leadership (FML) Action Coalition Leader.
Generation Equality is a global leading initiative that galvanizes efforts to hasten investment and implementation on gender equality. The 2023 Generation Equality Midpoint event was convened by UN Women and the governments of Iceland and Tanzania. It provided an opportunity for world leaders to ignite more attention towards investments in gender equality as an accelerator for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During his remarks, President Chakwera said his administration has set standards in a number of key areas by reaching benchmarks that were unattainable before he came to power. Case in point is the 40% women representation in his current cabinet which has raised the level of women participation at one of government’s top most decision-making strata.
The Malawi leader then vowed to use existing legal and administrative frameworks to advance women and girl rights at all levels of Malawian society.
Since assuming power in 2020 President Chakwera has earned recognition from across the globe for championing gender equality through deliberate interventions to position women as a key constituency in his agenda of building a new Malawi. The Malawi leader has increased appointments of women contingent into key roles within the government and state structures.
In addition to cabinet appointments, the President has also put a host of women to lead key institutions such as Anti Corruption Bureau, Office of the Ombudsman, Director of Financial Intelligence Unit and a number of foreign missions.
A coalition of women and girl rights bodies, The Women Movement Manifesto, has always commended Chakwera’s gender equality drive saying it adheres to the provisions of the Gender Equality Act (2013)