In commemoration of the International Women’s Day 2022, For Equality together with the Malawi Human Rights Commission and Her Liberty Malawi launched the Profiling Women website, presided over by the President of Malawi.
In his remarks, the State President of Malawi, His Excellency, Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera noted, “The theme #BreakTheBias is a powerful statement. First, by the acknowledgement that bias exists here in Malawi, within our communities, societies, faith movements, public institutions, private sector, in our organizations and in our media. The first step is to acknowledge it and to call it out. Each of us must begin by examining our own bias against women. Just because we are not guilty of one form of bias, does not mean we are not complicit in another form. That is why we must do some introspection and identify where we are on that spectrum, and re-educate ourselves about equality.” He further added that “”Women were never meant to be a footnote, but part of the main text.”

This innovative platform comes at an opportune time when Malawi was appointed as co-lead for the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership, which aims to spotlight women in leadership and the importance of retaining women in leadership positions including political and development spaces, particularly, in Government offices where key development decisions are made.
Building on this, the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) took up the challenge to call for women in Malawi who qualify for public appointments to submit their profiles. The response was and has been overwhelming. HeR Liberty and For Equality have joined forces with the MHRC to enhance women’s leadership and participation by ‘Profiling Women in Malawi’ from different sectors and with different expertise under a campaign “It starts with woMEn.”

The platform has been designed for easy use and access, and can be found using the link:
profilingwomenmw.org/

Watch the live streamed launch here:
web.facebook.com/stateresidencesmw/videos/372769484621231/