Gender assessment for Malawi

This report is prepared jointly by the National Statistical office in Malawi and Statistics Norway. It highlights gender disparities in Malawi. It also makes some suggestions on how to improve the situation for women. The main findings of the report are:

Education: Education is a key factor both for development and for empowering women. The level of education has a positive impact on welfare in the households. Education increases knowledge and understanding of development issues. However, there are great disparities in education between men and women: Literacy levels of women are considerably lower than for men. Only about half of the adult female population can read and write in their mother tongue or English, compared to three out of four men. There is a significant gender gap in the education attendance rate in secondary school. Traditional sex roles seem to prevail, since more than one third of all girls who dropped out of school did so because they are needed for work at home. But there is hope for the future. There is at present no gender gap in primary school attendance.

Work and employment: Women work more hours than men. This gender disparity pertains to girls and boys, possibly influencing both school attendance and school performance. Women spend considerably less time than men on income-generating activities. Men earn more than women in wage employment. Women are primarily engaged as self-employed in small, informal sector activities. Small-scale enterprises are an important source of income for many households. Women need to be encouraged to engage in such activities and credit should be made available for these purposes.

Agriculture: In agriculture, the husband decides what to produce, at least when money is involved. Women mainly grow crops for the family's own consumption, while men grow cash crops. Women seem to have limited access to, and control over, production factors such as land, agricultural inputs, and technology.

Female-headed households: Women have the responsibility for housework, childcare and are also contributors to income and food. This burden is particularly heavy for women managing a household alone. Separated and divorced female household heads are the most vulnerable. These households tend to be poorer than others.

Violence: Protection from violence is a fundamental human right. Domestic violence lowers women's self-esteem and might erode their mental health. Married women are often exposed to domestic violence. In most cases the husband is the perpetrator.

HIV/AIDS: More women than men are infected by HIV. The HIV prevalence is more than four times as high for females as males aged 15-24. Women giving birth are in danger of passing the infection on to their children. A high infection rate in these age groups represents a particularly large problem.

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