Education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. Non-discriminatory education benefits both girls and boys and this ultimately contributes to more equal relationships between women and men. Equality of access to and attainment of educational qualifications is necessary if more women are to become agents of change. 

Literacy of women is an important key to improving health, nutrition and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in decision-making in society. Investing in formal and non-formal education and training for girls and women, with its exceptionally high social and economic return, has proved to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable development and economic growth...   " The government policy on education is concerned with equal accessibility and availability of education to girls and boys, women an men, expansion of enrolment, enhancing the quality of education addressing internal efficiency regarding low retention and high drop-out rates, and enabling non-formal education programmes for out of school youth and illiterate adults. Hence, in so far as it recognises the gender issues, the policy focuses on the question of how to provide gender equality of opportunities in access to schooling. A wider and more important question, yet to be addressed by the policy is how education on gender issues can contribute to improving the status of women and men in Malawi. In this regard, the gender policy shall complement the public education policy to address the tradition of socialisation of girls into subordination. This is the socialisation process within the family, community,, schools and other public institutions. 

The ongoing efforts to be enhanced and consolidated by the National Gender Policy. Include Free Primary Education, Girls Attainment of Basic Literacy and Education (GABLE) programme, the change in policy to allow pregnant girls to go back to school, the initiatives to encourage girls and women to pursue science and technology courses, the revision of education curricula to make it more gender responsive, the inclusion of gender in refresher and training courses for teachers, and the role models initiative which highlights the careers of exemplary Malawian women. 

The above efforts notwithstanding a lot more need to be done. These include changing societal attitudes towards the value of females and promoting their empowerment, improving the quality and relevance of education, increasing financial resources for education especially, scholarships to girls and needy boys, developing educational and skills training programmes for out of school youth and linking the adult education and literacy programme with the formal school system. This is to increase opportunities for women and men to develop life-skills. In the long land, Malawi should work towards Universal Primary Education so that all school going children have access to education. 

Although access to education at different levels is improving due to the affirmative actions in place, it should however be noted that Mathematics and other Science subjects are still a domain of boys.  Girls still concentrate in stereotype fields of study such as nursing, teaching, secretarial training and home economics. 
 

Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease.  It implies therefore, that people have freedom to decide if, when and how often to produce. 
,women and men have a right to be informed and have access to safe effective, affordable and acceptable methods to regulate fertility. They. also have a right of access to appropriate health care services that guarantee women's safe motherhood However, the gender relations that exist between women and, men, are characterised prevalence among women of poverty and economic dependence violence, negative attitudes and discrimination against them in socio- economic and political spheres. These factors have adverse effects on their capacity, as health care givers and on their lives.  Cultural activities and customs which force girls into early marriages and early sexual experiences together with lack of information and services, increase the risk of an unwanted and teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortions, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. HIV/AIDS is a big challenge to Malawian society. it is now the leading cause of death in the most productive age group of 20- 48 years. It accounts for over 40% of all in-patient admissions . Women are at a great risk because of their disadvantaged and subordinate positions. 
 

They are not empowered enough to make decisions about their sexuality.  The HIV zero-prevalence rate among antenatal women in 1995 was estimated at over 30% in urban areas and between 12-14% elsewhere. The epidemic has left many children without parents and proper care. The traditional extended family support systems have also been eroded and as such they are very fragile and can no longer cope with the large numbers of orphans in society. 

Government and NGOs are addressing the HIV/AIDS problem through awareness programmes on the epidemic and community-based approaches for orphan care. Preventive efforts to combat the disease are also focused on health education, family planning and changing people's sexual behaviour.  However, such efforts need to be complimented by approaches that are community-based and gender sensitive, targeting both women and men. Government has promoted community-based health delivery services. These initiatives have generally received considerable support from both government and NGO's, but despite this, they are far from being adequate for most Malawians. As a result the majority of both women and men walk long distances of between 5 to 20 km to reach an under-five clinic and health facilities. The time spent in walking would have been used for other productive activities. 

Maternal mortality and morbidity is high due to several factors including inadequate access to information and essential maternal health services, poor nutritional status of girls and women, unsafe abortions, illiteracy, low status of women, cultural practices and poverty. 

The high fertility rate of 6.7 is among the main factors underlying women's heavy burden of labour, and impoverishment. Child bearing and child rearing increase women's multiple burdens of labour and decreases the time available for productive work. Population increase is the main reason for the lack of per-capita growth in the national income and for the increasing pressure on land. The gender policy has a challenge to redress these reproductive health issues. 
 

 The National Gender Policy shall focus on gender issues in agricultural production to redress the constraints women face. While women play a key role in smallholder agriculture by constituting over 60% of full time farmers and do nearly 70% of all the agricultural work and food production, their productivity is constrained by several factors. These include lack of access, control and ownership of productive resources such as land, credit, and improved technology and extension services.  This is further exacerbated by gender insensitive agricultural policies. 

 Furthermore, the situation of women is an important concern, which pervades all the underlying factors. They affect the well being of families and especially, children. Mother's knowledge of childcare, control of resources, time availability as well as her health status 

ultimately determines her ability to feed and care for the family.  Therefore, the low productivity, labour-burdened, and cash strapped lives of women are directly linked to the household food insecurity.  These are associated with high levels of malnutrition, morbidity and mortality especially among children. In addition socio-cultural attitudes and practices, economic empowerment of women, lack of economic opportunities and employment are integrally related to issues of food security and nutrition. The gender policy therefore, shall complement other related food security and nutrition policies to address a number of gender based inequalities to enhance household and national food and nutrition security for sustainable national development. 
 

Malawi is endowed with a diversity of natural resources that include fertile soils, forests, abundant water, diverse flora and fauna including the fish resource. If these natural resources are properly utillsed, they would provide a basis for sustainable socioeconomic development and contribute greatly to the eradication of poverty.  Proper utilisation of natural resources cannot be achieved without human centred development which not only calls for the conservation of natural resources but the actual access to use and management of such resources. 
 
Malawi's natural resources and environment are being rapidly depleted and degraded due to the combined effects of rapid population growth, poor land management practices and poverty. Women are hardest hit by effects of environmental mismanagement because of the gender roles, which they play in resource utilisation. 

In rural areas, portable water is not readily available. Currently, only  56% of all Malawians have access to safe water. This is worrying because, 50% of all diseases are waterborne. It is also estimated that wood trees provide 93% of energy, most of which is used at the house hold level. As the supply of these resources becomes scarce due to deforestation women suffer most, as they have to walk long  distances to gather firewood and water. 

Despite beings the main victims of natural resources degradation, women remain largely absent at all levels of policy making, project formulation and management of natural resources and the environment. 
 

 Malawi constitutional framework incorporates a bill of rights, and guarantees gender equality. It also advocates separation of powers, respect of human rights and the principles of: popular participation.     From the point of view of democratic governance, the gender policy will address the concern of female representation in political decision making. The issues of gender discrimination are pervasive throughout the Malawian society. Therefore, women's interests would be  represented within all public decision making institutions. 
 
Women's participation in the political sphere even with the introduction of multiparty democracy is limited to the maintenance of the support base. Men despite election campaign rhetoric such as promises to have at least 25% women participation dominate the central executives of all political parties.     Women are under represented at most levels of government, especially in ministerial and other executive bodies and boards as well as in the parliament. The current June 1999 Presidential and Parliamentary elections only     ushered in 17 women out of 193 Members of Parliament. The cabinet had only 4 women Ministers, out of 35. Similarly, the decision-making bodies on rural development at district; area and village levels were        dominated by men. Therefore, the gender policy aims to promote Affirmative Action for women's participation in politics and decision-making. Malawi as a member state of SADC and signatory to SADC 
 Declaration of 1997 is committed to fulfil the 30% Aff irmative Action of  women in political and decision making positions bytheyear 2005. 
 
Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthrights of all  human beings.  Their protection and promotion is the first responsibility of government. In Malawi issues of gender inequality and women's rights are extremely serious and central developmental concerns. 
 
The Malawi Constitution guarantees these rights to every citizen and is also specific on women's rights. The Constitution acknowledges that violence against women is a problem that needs to be eradicated from 
society. Section24, sub-section2(a) states that: 
 
"Any law that discriminates against women on the basis of gender or marital status shall be invalid and legislation shall be passed to eliminate customs and practices that discriminate against women,  particularly practices such as - 
           (a)      Sexual abuse, harassment and violence; 
           (b)      Discrimination in work, business and public affairs; and 
           (c)      Deprivation of property, including property obtained by inheritance." 

In the Bill of Rights, Chapter 4, gender equity, inheritance and guidelines on family and marriage are enshrined. However, there is still a lot of gender-based public and domestic violence particularly against women and children despite this constitutional provision.  Further more, there Is a general lack of access to legal services and education, and lack of support services to the abuser and the abused. In addition, the human rights and le" institutions like the judiciary, the Police, the Prisons, and the Military are generally not fully gender responsive to the needs of women and children. 

It is critical that all the discriminatory laws, including customary laws and legal practices will be removed or amended. Article 20 of the Malawi Constitution gives women clear and explicit protection from discriminatory practices. Article 24 makes all discriminatory laws Invalid, and especially mentions women's equal rights to acquire and maintain property. This implies that the gender policy will advocate for reform of customary laws and practices so as to bring them in line with the constitutional provisions. The challenge to the gender policy is how to ensure that the constitutional principles prevail over the present customary laws and practices. The gender policy must address the customary laws because much of the discrimination against women by public and private institutions arises neither from statutory laws nor government policies, but from the underlying customary laws which generally govern the gender relations 
 

GOVERNANCE 
 

Government shall create a conducive environment to enable women, men and the vulnerable segments of the society to participate and benefit equitably from productive work in all sectors of development. For poverty eradication and economic empowerment of communities, government shall promote participatory approaches to development.  This is to enhance participation of vulnerable groups of the population in development programmes to improve their socio-economic status. 

Poverty in Malawi is a pervasive problem affecting about 60% of the population. While everybody is affected, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities are affected more. This is due to lack of access and control of productive resources and economic structures.  Women in Malawi are active in a variety of economic activities ranging from wage labour, smallholder farming, fishing to the informal sector.  However, their effective participation is constrained by several factors.  These include access to land, capital, credit technology, deep-rooted cultural practices and high illiteracy levels. 

The few women employed in the formal sector are in low paid stereo- typed jobs which limits their ability to break through to higher echelons of management and decision making where economic decisions that affect their lives are made. 

Although the informal sector employment is increasingly becoming an important source of livelihood for many Malawians especially women and youths, it is unfortunately not fully developed. This calls on government to strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) initiatives to enhance women, men and youth participation in the informal sector for economic empowerment, and poverty eradication. 

Business in the Informal sector is vibrant and growing rapidly, as the majority of the poor men and women start micro and small businesses for family survival. The majority face constraints including access to credit, information, inefficient marketing, and storage and transportation facilities which hinder their effective participation. The situation of women is exacerbated by lack of business management skills, business information, high illiteracy, cultural altitudes and practices. The gender policy shall promote economic empowerment of the poor women and men through gender sensitive community participatory approaches to address the inequalities that constrain  effective participation in economic activities.