Only ten female candidates were successful in the first multiparty parliamentary elections in 1994.
Out of the (then) ten districts in the Southern Region of Malawi, only four districts (Mangochi, Machinga, Blantyre City and Mulanje) had female MPs. Mangochi district had two women.
The other six (Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mwanza, Zomba, Thyolo and Chiradzulu) had no female Member of Parliament. Out of the nine districts of the Central Region, Dedza and Kasungu had two female MPs each. The other nine districts (Ntcheu, Lilongwe, Dowa, Mchinji, Salima, Ntchisi, and Nkhotakota) had none. In the Northern Region, there was only one district, Nkhata Bay, with a female MP.
The other four (Mzimba, Rumphi, Karonga and Chitipa) had none.
100 90 80 70
1994 1999 2004
Male Female
2009 2014
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Thus, only seven out of twenty-six districts had female MPs during the 1994-1999 parliamentary period. There was one female MP in the Northern Region, four in the Central Region and five in the Southern Region. The implication of this is that the interests of women were not represented adequately during that period.
In the second multiparty general elections of 1999, the number of female MPs increased by seven, resulting in seventeen female MPs for the 1999-2004 parliament. In the Southern Region, five districts (Zomba, Mulanje, Machinga, Mangochi and Thyolo) had female MPs and none in the rest (Nsanje, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Mwanza, Balaka, Blantyre and Phalombe). It is notable that Mulanje alone had five female MPs, followed by Zomba with two. In the Central Region, five districts had female MPs (Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntcheu, Dowa and Mchinji), with Lilongwe leading with two. The rest of the region (Ntchisi, Salima, Nkhotakota, and Kasungu) did not have any female MP. Like in the 1994-1999 period, the Northern Region had one female MP in Mzimba, the other four districts were without.
The potential to miss out on female voice in many parliamentary subcommittees as well as plenary sessions was very high given these figures.
In the third multiparty elections in 2004, the number of female MPs increased by an additional five from the previous term, to twenty-four. During the 2004-2009 period, ten districts in the Southern Region had female MPs (just like in the previous term) with Mulanje leading with five MPs; Zomba, Thyolo, Blantyre and Mangochi with two each. Three districts (Nsanje, Phalombe and Chikwawa) had one each, and the rest (Machinga, Balaka, Neno, Mwanza and Chiradzulu) had none. On the other hand, only four districts in the Central Region had female MPs (Dedza, Ntcheu, Lilongwe and Nkhotakota), with Lilongwe and Ntcheu leading by two each. Mchinji, Dowa, Kasungu, Ntchisi and Salima did not have any female MPs. For the Northern Region, Mzimba, with two female MPs, was exceptional. The rest (Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi and Nkhata Bay) did not have any female MPs.
Thus, at the regional level, there were two female MPs in the Northern Region, four in the Central Region and eighteen in the Southern Region during 2004-2009 parliamentary period. Being the third general election, one would have expected more female representation in the northern and central regions. This trend reflects such a slow increase that is still denies opportunities for women in Parliament.
With the fourth multiparty elections in 2009, the parliamentary period of 2009-2014 witnessed a far greater number of female MPs, with an increase of nineteen female MPs, from twenty-four to forty-three. Of these, the Southern Region had twenty-two (a rather high increase of almost 50 per cent), with Zomba scooping four, Chiradzulu and Blantyre with three each; Balaka, Neno, Nsanje and Thyolo taking two each, and Chikwawa, Balaka, Phalombe and Mulanje scooping one each.
This left only Mwanza and Mangochi in the south without any female representation. It is interesting to note that Mulanje, which dominated with five female MPs in the previous parliament, had only one female MP during this period.
On the other hand, the Central Region had fourteen female MPs (more than a 100 per cent increase), with Lilongwe leading with five; Mchinji, Dowa, and Kasungu had two each, and Nkhotakota, Ntcheu and Salima had one each. The Northern Region had seven female MPs (almost a three-fold increase),
with Nkhata Bay and Karonga with two, and Likoma, Chitipa and Mzimba with one each. Apart from Rumphi in the north, Ntchisi and Dedza in the Central Region and Mwanza and Mangochi in the south, all districts in Malawi now had female MPs in at least one of their constituencies.
In summary, the Northern Region experienced the greatest increase in female MPs to seven, followed by the Central Region with fourteen and the Southern Region with twenty-four. Although this movement was encouraging, it was still far away from the regional SADC target.
With the fifth multiparty election in 2014, there was a significant set-back in terms of women representation in parliament. There was a drop from forty-three to thirty-three (a drop by ten in absolute numbers). The Southern Region got sixteen women, with Mulanje topping high with three and Blantyre, Phalombe and Mangochi getting two each. Apart from Zomba, Thyolo, Nsanje, Neno, Machinga and Balaka which got one female MP each, Chiradzulu, Mwanza and Chikwawa did not vote in any female MPs. This was a big drop, from twenty-one down to sixteen.
On the other hand, the Central Region experienced a drop from fourteen to eleven female MPs (a drop of three). Kasungu, Lilongwe and Nkhotakota got two female MPs each, while Mchinji, Ntchisi, Dowa, Salima and Dedza each got one. Ntcheu was the only Central Region district that did not get any female MP in this election. The Northern Region also experienced a drop, from seven in the former period to six; a drop of one MP. Mzimba led by three MPs, followed by Nkhata Bay with two and Rumphi with one MP. Chitipa, Karonga and Likoma did not get any female MPs. Overall, seven districts, three in the Southern, one in the Central, and three in the Northern Region did not get any female MP in the fifth multiparty election.
Figure 2: Female Parliamentarians per Region, 1994-2014
1994 1999 2004
North Centre South
2009 2014
15 25
10 20
5
0
Figure 2, which shows the absolute distribution of women, demonstrates that the number of female MPs has progressively increased from ten in 1994, to seventeen in 1999, twenty-four in 2004, forty-three in 2009, and then dropped to thirty-tree in 2014. The figures also demonstrate that the Southern Region has had the relatively highest women representation throughout the entire period, and the Northern Region the lowest, with the Central Region in the middle. In other words, women are most under-represented in the Northern Region, followed by the Central and Southern Regions (with 6, 11 and 16 per cent women representation, respectively, in the current parliament).
Over the first four elections, the Northern and Central Region nevertheless had the biggest relative increase, from one to seven and from two to fourteen women MPs, respectively (a seven-fold increase in both regions, but from a very low initial level). The Southern Region increased women representation from five to twenty-two (a little more than a four-fold increase).
The 2014 elections, however, reduced the number of female MPs to thirty-three. Overall, this was a total national decline of 23 per cent, with a regional decline of 27 per cent, 21 per cent, and 14 per cent for the Southern, Central and Northern Region, respectively, after making some gains over the previous elections. In other words, in terms of the 2014 backlash, the Southern Region had the biggest relative drop, followed by the Central Region and the Northern Region.