Women in National Politics and their Representation in Parliament: Critical Barriers in Malawi

This paper focuses on the critical barriers that have been hindering the increase of representation of women in Parliament in Malawi. The paper discusses this in the context of the political history of Malawi and discusses why increasing the representation of women in parliament is important using a gender analysis and a human rights based approach. It also highlights the interventions under the 50:50 campaign, which aims at increasing women´s representation in line with the provisions of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, and the trends of progress since Malawi became a multi-party democracy in 1994. Lastly, the paper provides some recommendations that need serious consideration in order for Malawi to change the status quo as far as women´s representation in parliament is concerned.