Malawi Gets First Female President
Posted on: 23/04/2012
Women's rights campaigner Joyce Banda has become Malawi's first female president. She was sworn in on Saturday 7th April 2012, following the death of the former president Bingu wa Mutharika two days earlier. Not only is Banda the first woman to become president of Malawi, she is also Southern Africa’s first female head of state, and only the third woman to become head of state of an African country.
Banda, who served as vice-president under Mutharika, automatically became president in line with the Malawian constitution, which states that if the president dies the vice-president takes over.
Supporting female entrepreneurs
Joyce Banda has an impressive record in women’s rights advocacy, and has been involved in numerous grassroots projects with women since the age of 25. She has also made significant contributions in the fields of education and sustainable development. In 1997 she founded the Joyce Banda Foundation for Better Education, in response to the needs of children and orphans in the rural community. The foundation assists 600 children through education in 6 centres. It also provides microloans to 40 women and 10 youth groups in the surrounding villages.
Joyce Banda also founded of the National Association of Business Women in Malawi, which aims to lift women out of poverty by empowering them economically. The association has grown into a network of 30,000 women, dedicated to supporting women in business. It provides business training, and seeks to create dialogue with policymakers with the aim of making policies favourable to female business owners.
Hope for a brighter future
It is hoped that Banda will win back the aid for Malawi that was withdrawn after the former president pushed Western donors away. Mutharika fell out with Britain last year, following accusations that the Malawian government was mishandling the economy and failing to uphold human rights. Britain withdrew direct aid from Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, as a result.
At the swearing-in ceremony, Banda expressed a wish for "all of us to move into the future with hope and a spirit of unity". She is expected to run the country until scheduled elections take place in 2014.