President Dr Joyce Banda on Thursday
unveiled what she described as a multi-tiered grand strategy for promoting
women potential in leadership positions.
The Malawi leader urged the
enthusiastic delegates to the World Economic Forum for Africa to adopt a three-tiered
strategy comprising:
·
increasing the number of female graduates in relevant
profession;
·
getting results in agriculture and various other fields
essential for economic growth and finally;
·
integrating women in decision-making and leadership positions.
“All these issues considered
together will form the basis of Africa’s grand strategy towards the promotion
of women’s potential in leadership positions,” she told the delegates in her
keynote address during a session on Working Women: ‘From Talent to Leadership
in Cape Town’.
“Tier one is where mentorship is most
critical and this is to do with our ability to support young women to develop
the necessary skills, and embrace their talents in their preparation as
emerging leaders,” she informed.
She said the second tier is for
creation of support mechanisms for women to actually enter into the leadership
spaces. This, she said, support can be in form of creation of women’s
visibility, training, resources, linkages and affirmative action to promote
women.
The President said the third tier is
where women have entered the leadership spaces and they need to be supported to
stay on in these spaces.
“This requires strategic support in
order for us to deal with the structural barriers that subtly or explicitly
want to disengage women from leadership spaces,” she explained.
Appreciating the efforts the
continent has made in pushing for the entry of women in leadership positions,
the Malawi President however said her reflections this far have taught her that
it is not enough to advocate for women’s entry alone, as there is more to be
done and help the women to stay in the leadership positions.
She said she is concerned about the
constant pressure that women get to drop out of positions of power, a
development that she said starts from young ages.
“Young girls are forced to drop out
of childhood by taking on adult responsibilities, adolescent girls are forced
out of school to get married, women parliamentarians are forced out of their
seats, and it’s shocking that these pressures are even subjected at women in my
position.
“So the question I want to pose to
all of you gathered here, is what can we do to support women’s entry into
leadership positions, and what can we do to help women at all these tiers, and
ultimately what should we do to secure women’s stay in these positions?”
She informed that there is need to
strengthen women leaders’ ability to keep together in their countries and
across the continent and create the permanency of women in leadership positions
at all the levels.
The President said she strongly
believes that the rise of African women in leadership can only be sustained by
greater involvement of capable women.
Africa, she said, needs women in all
sectors, social, business and political sectors. “We need to multiply and
amplify the women’s voices. We must ensure that Ellen Sirleaf Johnson [Liberian
President] Joyce Banda and Nkosazana Zuma [African Union Commission
Chairperson] are not the first and last women to occupy these spaces. Then we
will be back to square one,” saying the rise to power of these leaders was
far-fetched 18 years ago during the Beijing Summit, probably the first most
remarkable global forum for women empowerment.
“But as women we are thrilled that
our dream has become a reality. Therefore I want to pay tribute to the women
and men that have demonstrated the political will, and the determination to
support women’s entry into the utmost high offices.”
She said to match her words with
action, she has appointed women into high positions of Cabinet Ministers for
key sectors, Acting Chief Justice, Chief Secretary to Government, Deputy
Inspector General of Police, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, Solicitor General,
two Deputy Reserve Bank Governors, Justices of the High Court, Principal
Secretaries for key ministries, Chairpersons and CEOs of strategic statutory
corporations.