Gender Equality and Women Empowerment: Are we Making Progress?

For so many decades, much has been said that the world needs and should promote gender equality. However, it seems not much progress has made on this in many societies. Men and women should have equal opportunities and we should all remember that no sex is inferior to another.

Gender inequality has led to vulnerability as well as high illiteracy levels among girls and women and it has also stagnated economic development. Women are as capable as men and there is no point in frustrating their efforts to participate fully in the development of their communities.

For instance, in the just ended tripartite elections in Malawi, the 50-50 Gender Campaign has not yielded the expected outcomes. According to unofficial results that were being announced, women who contested have not done well in the election. This is mainly attributed to the patriarchal nature of most communities whereby people do not believe that women are capable of handling the mantle.It is heartrending to note that Malawi will, on 6^th July 2014, mark 50 years of independence but women are not independent and they are raging behind their male counterparts.

As earlier stated, gender equality and women empowerment agenda has been talked about for so many decades. The question is; are we really making progress towards achieving it? Let us move the talk to real empowerment of women and girls. It is also the duty of governments, Civil Society Organisations and all individuals to work tirelessly in promoting gender equality.