Monday, November 30, 2015

Gender Equality (Part 1)

This is part 1 of a 4 part series (16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign)
Read Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

We've given you a lot of updates about what we're doing at site...specifically me, Tara, but it's getting to a time where we can proudly highlight what the community is doing for themselves!

I am sooo incredibly proud to say that a handful of the girls I have worked with and trained have started to find their own niche and lead each other! There is no greater success in the Peace Corps business than becoming completely unnecessary!

Over the next two weeks I want to highlight them as a 4 part series in support of the “16 Days to End Gender Based Violence Against Women”. You can learn more about the campaign here

This is the first time Peace Corps Malawi is participating in this international campaign. So be ready to see a few posts from me highlighting my SheroesOfMalawi!! 

Before we get into the amazing work that the girls are doing I want to take a moment to give some statistics to frame why the work they are doing and a campaign like this is so incredibly important in Malawi.


Child labour (%) + 2002-2012*, , total
25.7
Child marriage (%) 2002-2012*, married by 15
11.7
Child marriage (%) 2002-2012*, married by 18
49.6
Adolescents currently married/ in union (%) 2002-2012* , male
2.2
Adolescents currently married/ in union (%) 2002-2012* , female
23.4
Births by age 18 (%) 2008-2012*
34.7
Adolescent birth rate 2006-2010*
157.1
Justification of wife-beating among adolescents (%) 2002-2012*, male
20.7
Justification of wife-beating among adolescents (%) 2002-2012*, female
16.4



The following are some of the setbacks / reversals Malawi has experienced from 2008:
1. Reduced number of women in Parliament from 22 percent in 2009 elections to 16.7 percent in 2014.
2. Reduced number of women Ministers from 28.1 percent in 2013 to 15 percent in 2014.
3. Between the IHS of 2004/5 and 2010/11, poverty levels for female headed households in rural areas increased by 3 percentage points, while those for male headed households remained static.
4. The HIV prevalence gap between men and women doubled from 3 percent in 2004 to 6 percent in the 2010 Malawi Demographic Health Survey.
5. The Penal Code Amendment law of 2011introduced a new provision to criminalise lesbian behavior, in addition to an already existing provision penalising men who have sex with men.


Numbers don't tell a whole story.  But they do help start the discussion.  I don't want to spend too much time on the "What".  We've done the "What".  We've done the "So What".  Now we're at the "Now What" part of our time in Malawi.  So the next 3 parts of the series will focus on WHAT the girls are NOW doing.  

If you want more info on gender stats in Malawi checkout the JICA: Malawi Gender Profile: http://www.jica.go.jp/english/our_work/thematic_issues/gender/background/pdf/e07mal.pdf


Read Part 2Part 3, and Part 4

1 comment:

  1. I am so glad you are able to see positive results from your time and hard work!

    ReplyDelete