Malawi

== Women in Malawi ==
[[File:Making candles in Malawi.jpg|thumb|upright|Mbawemi Women's group in Malawi learning how to add value to beeswax by making candles]]
The status of women throughout the world, including Malawi, is measured using a wide range of indices that cover areas of social, economic, and political contexts. Focusing primarily on the time period between 2010 and the current day, the status of women in Malawi will be analyzed through a range of statistical indices.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

The current social status of women in Malawi is effectively estimated through indices such as female access to schooling, maternal mortality rate, and life expectancy of women from birth. These indices offer a wide lens of information on women's rights and life in Malawi. Women's access to schooling in Malawi as an index highlights how within the state, the ratio of male to female students for many age groups and for total students by gender shows women's access to schooling maintains on par with men's access.<ref name=":02">{{cite web|url=https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=monitoring_learning|title=Girls' Primary and Secondary Education in Malawi: Sector Review|last1=Robertson|first1=Sally|last2=Cassity|first2=Elizabeth|date=28 July 2017|website=The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)|last3=Kunkwenzu|first3=Esthery}}</ref> Female students in Malawi, though, see consistent declines as the age increases, signifying the failure of compulsory education among female students in Malawi.<ref name=":02" /> The life expectancy of women from birth in Malawi has seen significant growth over the past decade as the life expectancy of women in 2010 was approximately 58 years old whilst the most recent data from 2017 finds that women in Malawi's average life expectancy grew to 66 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?end=2017&locations=MW&start=2010|title=Life expectancy at birth, total (years) – Malawi|website=data.worldbank.org|access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> The maternal mortality rate in Malawi which is particularly low even when compared with states at similar points in the development process.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/MWI.pdf|title=Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century: Malawi|date=2019|website=Human Development Report 2019}}</ref>

The economic status of women in Malawi is gauged using indices such as the inheritance rights for women, unemployment, and labour force participation for females, along with the extent of the wage gap present between men and women in the Malawian economy. The inheritance rights index gauges the ability of women to effectively own and maintain the property in comparison with their male counterparts. The current inheritance rights in Malawi are found to be equal in their dispersion between male/female children and for male/female surviving spouses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/939291535658711278/pdf/WPS8573.pdf|title=Gender Gaps in Property Ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa|last1=Gaddis|first1=Isis|last2=Lahoti|first2=Rahul|date=August 2018|website=World Bank Group|last3=Li|first3=Wenjie}}</ref> Contrary to the equality found in inheritance rights in Malawi, labour force participation and unemployment highlight the challenges for female employment in the state. The current state of female labour participation details how a higher percentage of the male population is currently employed despite the female population having a higher total employed population and a very similar unemployment rate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nsomalawi.mw/images/stories/data_on_line/demography/Labour%20Force/Labour%20Force%20Survey%202013/Malawi%20Labour%20Force%20Surver%202013%20Report.pdf |title=Malawi Labour Force Survey|date=April 2014|website=National Statistical Office}}</ref> This gap continues with wages in Malawi as the state continues to score towards the bottom of the list when compared to states across the world.<ref name=":12">{{cite web|url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf|title=Global Gender Gap Report 2020|date=2020|website=World Economic Forum}}</ref> Along with their poor international ranking, the state scores poorly when compared to other sub-Saharan countries as the highest-ranked sub-Saharan state, Rwanda, scored a 0.791 on a 0–1 scale while Malawi scored 0.664.<ref name=":12" />

The indices used to gauge the political status of women include political participation amongst women, access to political institutions, and female seats in the national parliament. The political participation of women in Malawi as an index is effectively captured through a myriad of sources; these sources come to similar conclusions in regards to the political participation of women. The participation of women in the national political structure has been shown to be weaker than their male counterparts due to the normalization of negative stereotypes which women are not expected to be as politically active as men.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/media-briefing/malawi/mlw_r6_presentation4_gender.pdf|title=In Malawi, women lag behind men in political participation and activism: Findings from Afrobarometer Round 6 Surveys in Malawi|date=2014|website=Afrobarometer}}</ref> The female participation in politics is further restricted from national political structures due to the presence of gatekeepers which provide access to the resources needed to win elections and maintain seats in parliament.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kayuni|first1=Happy Mickson|last2=Chikadza|first2=Kondwani Farai|date=2016|title=The Gatekeepers: Political Participation of Women in Malawi|url=https://www.cmi.no/publications/5929-gatekeepers-political-participation-women-malawi|journal=CMI Brief|language=en|volume=12}}</ref> This limited participation is directly correlated to the limited positions which are occupied by women in the national setup. This setup, despite its commitment to equal positions for men and women, has failed to promote methods for female politicians maintaining their seats in parliament and as a result of said policies, women throughout Malawi are left without the proper structure and resources to maintain their position in the national structure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/10289.pdf|title=Women and power: Representation and influence in Malawi's parliament|last1=O'Neil|first1=Tam|last2=Kanyongolo|first2=Ngeyi|date=February 2016|website=Overseas Development Institute|last3=Wales|first3=Joseph|last4=Mkandawire|first4=Moir|access-date=20 April 2020|archive-date=26 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326200405/https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/10289.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Despite the limited resources available to these female politicians, the national parliament within Malawi finds reasonable success in appointing female members to seats within the body as over 20% of the seats in parliament are held by women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas/country-view/219/35|title={{!}} International IDEA|website=www.idea.int|access-date=26 March 2020|archive-date=28 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328054446/https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas/country-view/219/35|url-status=dead}}</ref> Despite the limited access and resources widely available for female politicians in Malawi, the state is finding reasonable success in promoting female politicians on the national scene which works in conjunction with the positive trajectory of the social and economic indices to conclude that Malawi should expect continued growth toward gender equality.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}