Politics & Malawi Women

From IOL:

"Don't give me things because I am a woman... that's degrading. I want to achieve and accomplish things by own effort."

A record 220 women are running in Malawi's presidential and parliamentary polls on Tuesday, representing about 20 percent of all candidates for the 193 seats.

Women are also at the top of the ticket for the first time: Loveness Gondwe is Malawi's first female presidential candidate, incumbent President Bingu wa Mutharika has tapped foreign minister Joyce Banda as his running mate.

The outgoing parliament included 27 female lawmakers, but the ministry of women and child development has launched a donor-backed scheme to encourage more female candidates with the goal of women winning half the seats, a plan they call the 50:50 campaign.