MALAWI TO ADDRESS SEXUAL HARRASSMENT THROUGH LAW ENACTMENT

By EUNICE CHIPANGULA

A recommendation has been made in Malawi to introduce legal provisions in the Gender Equality Act which is in the pipeline to define sexual harassment as a gender problem and criminally prohibit it. There is a further proposal to allow civil claims on sexual harassment cases; to oblige employers of more than five people to develop mechanisms for dealing with sexual harassment and regulate compliance mechanisms on sexual harassment. The Gender related Law Reform Commission says research has established that the Malawi society still violates the dignity of women on the basis of their sex, marital status or gender in a number of forms. “Despite the Malawi Constitution providing that the dignity of all persons shall be inviolable; there is serious violation of dignity in the country with a lot of acts that negatively affect the worthiness of a woman,” it observed.
The Commission said that the violations are in relation to sexual harassment, domestic violence, deprivation of property, censorship and classification entertainment and women in political dances.
“Dignity being a crosscutting issue, the negative acts affect women’s participation in development, lowers their self esteem to make informed decisions about their lives and in the end their well being is compromised,” the Commission said. It however said issues to address such areas as domestic violence and right to property have already been provided for in another proposed Bill of the Wills and Inheritance (Deceased) and the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. The Commission said sexual harassment which falls within the realms of sexual discrimination as a manifestation of an imbalance in power relations and likely to occur in the workplace as well as on other fiduciary relation raises gender questions since it is mostly women who are subjected to it due to power imbalances between men and women. It therefore said it is important that a law be enacted to address this. The Commission also said its findings did not spare the media which it said is grossly violating women’s dignity through its products. “Certain programmes and songs aired on radios and television are degrading to women,” the Commission noted
It was therefore recommended that the Communications Act which currently highlights the general obligation of broadcasters not to broadcast any material that is indecent, obscene or offensive to public morals be reviewed for it to be specific in addressing negative portrayals of women. In addition, it recommended that the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) should enforce the regulations of the Communications Act to ensure that broadcast products affirm women, men and children rather than violating their dignity.
In relation to the print media, the Commission expressed the hope that the recently resurrected Media Council of Malawi will be firm in ensuring that newspapers abide by their professional ethics especially by desisting from publishing cartoons that depict women and ascribe them to activities that portray them as immoral objects for sexual pleasure.
It said despite the Censorship and Control of Entertainment Act being reviewed in 2001, it remains unenacted. “The Commission therefore strongly urges government to look into its enactment and the incorporation into the Gender Equality Act a specific legal provision that will enshrine the protection of all persons dignity in the print media, prohibition of gender stereotyping and criminal punishment of violation of dignity in the print media,” it said. On political dances the Commission observed that although in most African societies, dancing and poetic performances are important for social discourse, in the political arena in Malawi, women often largely participate as dancers and entertainers at public functions of political parties and are usually not involved in the mainstream political discourse. It therefore said they suffer several indignities such as sexual and physical abuse and are often ‘thanked’ by disproportionate wages where this has been considered. The Commission however said it needs to investigate more on this issue since it has not yet established whether women freely attend these dances. But as a measure to address this issue, the Commission recommended that political parties should consider more women in their hierarchical positions in their respective party structures.