Women and development in Malawi : constraints and actions

Repwft No. 86121MA Women and Development in Malawi: Constraints'and Actions August 27, 1"1 Population arcl Human Resoutces D}ivision Southern Africa Departmnent 8t} FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY  FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................... ....................... i-iv I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT .............................. 1 II. CONSTRAINTS WOMEN FACE .................................. 3 Part A: Constraints on Income EarninB Capacity .... ..... 3 Women in the Small-Farm Sector ..... ................ 3 Women in Agricultural Employment ..... .............. 11 Women in Other Formal Employment ..... .............. 13 Women in the Informal Sector ....................... 16 Part B: Issues in Human Resource Development .... ....... 17 Nutrition, Health and Fertility ..... ............... 17 Education and Training ............................. 20 III. EXISTING PROGRAMS AND NEXT STEPS ....................... 24 Macroeconomic Policies ............................. 25 Agriculture ........................................ 25 Credit and Savings ................................. 27 0ff-Farm Income Generating Activities .... .......... 29 Labor-Relieving Programs ........................... 31 Wage Employment .................................... 34 The Informal Sector ................................ 34 Nutrition and Food Availability ..... ............... 35 Maternal Health and Child Spacing ..... ............. 36 Education and Training ............................. 37 Institutional Arrangements for WID ..... ............ 39 WID Information Base ............................... 41 TABLES 2.1: Percentage of Female Headed Households (FHH) by Marital Status and Area, 1980/81 ..... .............. 5 2.2: Household Size and Composition, Cultivated Land, Harvests, and Per Capita Income, by Household Head Categories 5 2.3: Distribution by Cultivated Area, by Sex of Household Head, 1980-81 ............................ 6 2.4: Percentage of Households by Distance to Amenities by Agriculture Development Division .... ............ 7 This report was written by Joy de Beyer (Economist, AF6PH) with timely help from Neeta Sirur (AF6 WID Coordinator). Ayse Kudat (WID specialist) agreed mid-mission to broaden her terms of reference for the Malawi CEM, and wrote a comprehensive background paper. Boyd Gilman (Consultant) prepared the Annotated Bibliography and a background paper. Roger Grawe (AF6 Lead Economist), Kathie Krumm (Malawi Country Economist) and Katrine Saito (PHRWD) provided helpful comments and suggestions. Merced Swan provided efficient and willing wordprocessing support. This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.  Page No. 2.5: Farmer Participation in Agricultural Seasonal Credit by Gender, 1982/83 - 1988189 .000-40* ... ..... * ......... 9 2.6: Average Daily Pay (Tambala) for Women and Men in Ten Flue-Cured Tobacco Estates in Kasunga District, 1984 ...................................... 12 2.7: Ganyu Labor Days and Other Off-farm Working Days in 1989 Kawinga Sample of Rural Households .................. 13 2.8: Numbers and Percentage of Women Formal Sector Wage Employees by Subsector, 1971, 1976, 1983 and 1984 ... 13 2.9: Employment by Gender and Changes in Average Earnings in Manufacturing, 1982-1984 ............ ................. 14 2.10: Percent of Households Depleting Food Stocks by Region, Area Under Cultivation and Time of Year 'or 1980/81 ....................... ........................ 17 2.11: Females as a Percentage of Total Enrollment, Selected Years 1980-1987 ..... ............................... ..... 20 2.12: Mean Primary School Leaving Examination Results, by Subject and Gender, 1987 .......................... 21 ANNEXES I Statistical Annex .............. ..... 43-46 Table ls Selected Population Densities in Sub-Saharan Africa Table 2: Women Working on Their Own Holdings, 1966 and 1977 Table 3: ADD Agricultural Seasonal Credit by Gender, 1986/87-1988/89 Table 4: Unemployment Rates by Gender, Education, and Urban/Rural, 1977 Table 5: Occupational Patterns of Men and Women (1977) Table 6: Comparative Percentage of Males and Females in Each Occupational Category (1977) Malawi Daily Times Report on Workshop II Existing Women's Programs/Project Activities in Malawi .... 47-53 III Organizational Charts of the National Commission on Women in Development (Malawi) ........................ 54-55 IV Annotated Bibliography ................................... 56-70  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Socio-economic Context Most Malawian women live in rural areas. where they are preoccupied with growing enough food for their families in a situation of increasing land pressure and widespread poverty (per capita income is US$ 160). On average, women bear 7.6 children, one quarter of whom die before age 5. Over 50? of children under 5 years are malnourished. Social indicators have shown enormous improvement since independence but remain poor even compared with other low-income African countries. Life expectancy at birth is 47 years, and only 43X of the primary school age group are in school. Fewer than 20 percent of women are literate, and although most girls enter school, very high dropout rates and a very small secondary school system mean that only about 3 percent of girls reach secondary school. Many women must cope alone: nearly 30X of rural households are headed by women, and the husbands of many others migrate within the country looking for employment. 2. Employment opportunities are limited, and most people (852 of the labor force) are subsistence smallholder farmers. Soils are moderately fertile, water resources are fairly good, and the climate is favorable to crop production. However, there have been drought and flooding in recent years, and the high population growth of 3.5? is increasing population/land density, which already is among the highest in Africa at 85 persons per sq km. The non-agricultural formal sector employs about 7? of the labor force, 5.5? are wage employees on agricultural estates (tobacco, tea and sugar), and an estimated 3? are engaged full-time in informal sector activities. Only about 142 of formal sector workers are women, and they are concentrated in a narrow range of generally lower-paying jobs. 3. Since 1980, Malawi has had to contend with adverse terms of trade movements, and the disruption of external transport routes due to the instability in Mozambique. Government has responded with a broad-based structural adjustment program aimed at macroeconomic stability and growth. Since the country is landlocked, has a small industrial sector and no known substantial mineral resources, sustainable growth will depend crucially on productivity increases in smallholder agriculture and on developing human resources. Women constitute more than half of Malawi's human resources, and they have a critical impact on children's development and the health of the whole family. They predominate among smallholder farmers. According to the 1977 census, nearly 702 of all full-time farmers (i.e., working 10- 12 months each year on their holdings) were women. Women also accounted for nearly 25? of part-time smallholder farmers. Achievement of sustainable growth will, therefore, depend to a large extent on designing and implementing agriculture and human resource development programs which are adequately targeted to women. 4. Constraints Women Face Against this background, emphasis throughout this paper has been placed on analyzing the situation of the roughly 90 percent of Malawian women living in rural areas, most of whom are in the smallholder sector, struggling to increase incomes and care for their families in a situation of declining agricultural productivity. Population pressure is bringing more marginal land under cultivation and forcing continuous cropping. This in turn has led to depleting soil fertility in a situation of rising fertilizer prices. These factors, together with continued low levels of agricultural technology are primarily responsible for declines in yields of smallholders (men and women). Women face additional obstacles to maintaining or enhancing farm productivity (and thus incomes):  ii (i) A major issue faced by the 302 of rural families headed by single women or women whose husbands visited less than once a month is seasonal labor shortage. A recent study found that female-headed households (FHHs) had lower yields and incomes per capita than male-headed households, except for the minority of women whose husbands were working in the South African mines. Another factor limiting the labor women can devote to farming and other income-producing tasks is their heavy burden of household and child-care tasks and frequent childbearing. Women walk an average of 2-8 km to fetch water and firewood, headloading it home takes considerable time and energy that could otherwise have been spent on farm-work. A small time-use study in rural Malawi found that women worked an average of 12 hours per day (including farm and non-farm activities) compared to men's 6-hour workday. (ii) In addition, the productivity of women farmers' labor is generally lower due to their limited access to agricultural services, inputs and credit, making it less likely that they will adopt high-yielding packages and other agricultural innovations. Bypassing women farmers has high efficiency costs. It has been unintentional, in part due to the emphases and structure of the extension service. The main factors are: (a) the gender composition of extension officers, 90 percent of whom are men, who for cultural reasons interact less readily with women; (b) the extension service has concentrated on larger smallholders which excludes most PHHs; (c) membership of women in farmers clubs has been low (though growing), and these are the main channel for seasonal agricultural credit, inputs and technical advice; (d) women's lack of education. (iii) Poor access to credit, and time and energy limitations also affect rural women's ability to exploit opportunities for earning cash income through part-time off-farm self-employment or casual wage work. This limits cash available for buying yield-enhancing farm inputs (or other cash expenditures on education, health and other basic needs). other factors which lower opportunities and capacity for self-employment include women's lower mobility and relative educational disadvantage (see para 7 below), though these do not much affect possibilities for casual wage labor (ganyu), which usually involves low-paid work on the farms of wealthier households in the community. However, most women smallholders prefer part-time self-employment to ganyu, as conflicting less with their own farming activities and having a higher cash return. 5. Another set of factors affecting women's general welfare and their productivity as workers is their unsatisfactory nutrition and health, high fertility, low levels of literacy and numeracy and poor access to education and training. Many rural Malawian women have poor nutritional status even in the post-harvest period of relative food availability. Spot surveys have found severe seasonal undernutrition, with women suffering weight losses of 1.9 - 4.2 kg between the post- and pre-harvest periods, compared to 1.3 - 3.3 kg for men. It may not be that intra-family food distribution is unequal, but womens' heavier work-loads necessitate higher caloric intake. Labor-scarce FHHs are especially vulnerable, because of they have smaller food stocks (due to lower farm yields) and insufficient labor to earn cash incomes with which to buy food. 6. Undernutrition, a heavy disease burden and unsafe childbearing are together largely responsible for low life expectancy and high maternal mortality among Malawian women, estimated at about 170 per 100,000 births for medically supervised deliveries and presumably still higher for those  iii that are not. The toll of communicable diseases (related to some extent to poor sanitation) is especially high for women, as they not only suffer illness themselves but also bear primary responsibility for caring for other household members during disease episodes. Women's health is further jeopardized by numerous (7.6 on average), insufficiently-spaced pregnancies and prolonged childbearing. Although about half of all women wish to stop childbearing or delay their next pregnancy, access to child spacing services and information is still very limited, with services offered at only about 25Z of health facilities. Still-low coverage of mothers with post- and ante-natal care and supervised deliveries, lack of referral for high-risk cases and an inadequate system of alarm and transport for obstetrical emergencies are also serious issues. 7. There is a long history of lower female school enrollment and higher illiteracy. Only 92 of women over 15 years have had more than 4 years of school and illiteracy among women is estimated at 832 versus 562 for men. Enrollment of girls has increased significantly this decade, but their drop-out rates are much higher than for boys and their achievement is lower. Low educational levels for girls have high costs for development: women with primary education tend to have healthier and better-nourished children, smaller families and higher labor productivity. 8. Existing WID Initiatives and Next Steps During the past decade, the Government and NGOs, with assistance from external aid agencies (including the Bank), have begun to ease some of the constraints that render life difficult for Malawian women. Overall, initiatives already underway are fragmented and project-oriented. There is no comprehensive statement of development objectives targeting women -- the ten-year national development plan says little about women -- and there is a consequent lack of programming and budgeting at the national and sectoral levels. With the establishment of the National Commission on Women in Development (NCWID), the foundations for developing coherent policies and programs targeted to women's needs have been laid, but NCWID needs strengthening and much remains to be achieved. 9. Several developments in the past 3-4 years have improved the policy climate for the development of broad-based WID programs. First, there has been more recognition within Malawi that achievement of country growth objectives will require much more emphasis on productivity increases in smallholder agriculture and accelerated human resource development -- both areas in which attention to women is centra'l. This has led to policy and program shifts in several sectors, most notably in agriculture where research is now increasingly focussed on the needs of smaller smallholders (largely women) and steps are being taken to reach women farmers with advice and credit through encouraging their participation in farmers, clubs. There is also still much to be done to relieve women farmers' labor and time constraints, especially in the area of developing and disseminating household technologies (e.g., in food processing or cooking equipment), which could significantly reduce time spent on non-income- producing tasks. Malawi has one of the most successful rital water programs in Africa, but many areas remain uncovered. Eff-orts need to continue to improve access to safe water, and to increase rural supplies of wood energy, which will reduce the time and energy that women have to spend fetching water and firewood. Transport remains highly constrained in rural Malawi, constituting a special burden to rural women who are responsible for conveying over 70X of goods produced or used by the household. A number of small-scale projects have been initiated to increase women smallholders' opportunities for part-time self-employment to generate  iv necessary cash income but they are being implemented in an ad hcc manner and lack a satisfactory institutional base. 10. In the human resource development area Government has a longer history of sensitivity to women's concerns: maternal health (and since 1983, child-spacing) is seen as an important element of primary health care; nutrition education and supplements are provided to mothers through health care facilities; efforts have been made to increase female enrollment in education; and an ambitious national adult literacy program has been launched, 80? of whose participants are women. However, the impact of these efforts, as evidenced in continuing unsatisfactory mortality, morbidity, fertility and literacy rates, has been small, at least partially because of generally low levels of expenditure on social services which have constrained program effort in these sectors. Recent increases in budgetary allocations to the social sectors should benefit women, given the strong emphasis on "women's issues" in these sectors. 11. Priorities for additional efforts include: (a) continued attempts to increase women's access to agricultural extension advice and other services through farmers' clubs and women's groups and to improve the relevance of the advice to rural women's constrained situations; (b) increased access to agricultural (in-kind) and cash credit through measures such as smaller credit packages, strong support to the new Mudzi Fund (based on the Grameen Bank) and to trying out new approaches such as promotion of savings and credit clubs; (c) increased access to child- spacing services and maternity care through both the health system, community-based programs and the new Family Welfare Council; (d) substantially greater attention to reducing women's time and energy spent on household tasks, especially introduction of low-cost food processing technologies and attention to transport needs; (e) increased emphasis on improving continuation and achievement levels of schoolgirls and strengthening the relevance and quality of literacy programs; (f) strengthening institutional capacity for promoting women's part-time self- employment activities covering credit, training, marketing and transport issues; and (g) development of affordable programs for seasonal nutritional support to vulnerable women and their families. 13. Government, NGOs and donors need to work together to refine and expand ongoing small-scale WID initiatives into full-fledged programs, consolidating disparate initiatives in the same area where necessary. It is better to integrate WID issues into ongoing and proposed programs and activities, rather than to develop separate WID operations. An integrated approach with explicit attention to women's needs has two key advantages: it can help promote understanding of the relationship between "women's issues" and growth imperatives; and it is more efficient and cost-effective to work within existing structures and programs to make them responsive to the needs of both men and women than to set up new ones. However, where it is very difficult to change mainstream programs, special women's programs may be the most effective strategy, and can play an important demonstration and pilot role. 14. Explicit attention needs to be given to gender in policy formulation and institutional development. The NCWID needs to be supported to enable it to fulfill its mandate of coordinating WID initiatives and to work with the Office of the President to include a coherent statement of WID objectives and actions in national and sectoral development plans.  WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT IN MALAWIs CONSTRAINTS AND ACTIONS I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT 1.01 Malawi's population of 8.2 million is growing annually at about 3.5 percent, and land density is already among the highest in Africa (Annex I, Table 1). Per capita income is among the lowest in the world at US$160. The 1987 census reports only 11 percent of the population as living in urban areas, although many cities and towns have been growing at annual rates of between 6 and 11 percent since the 1977 census. The country is landlocked and has no known substantial mineral reserves, but has good water resources, moderately fertile soils and a climate favorable to crop production. 1.02 Consistent with the resource endowment, after Independence in 1964, the development strategy emphasized agriculture, and transport and communication infrastructure. Economic management has been pragmatic and policies generally sound. Until 1979, economic growth was steady, and averaged 6 percent per year in real terms. Since 1980, Malawi has had to contend with adverse terms of trade movements, drought, and the disruption of external transport routes by the instability in Mozambique (from which about 700,000 people have sought refuge in Malawi). Inflation has averaged nearly 20 percent since 1984. The Government of Malawi (GOM) has responded with measu~%s to restore macroeconomic stability, improve efficiency of resource use, and restore growth. A stringent program of fiscal policies has been introduced, and the exchange rate has been adjusted repeatedly in an attempt to control inflation and restore economic incentives. Prices have been decontrolled and export promotion and diversification programs have been implemented. These measures have helped restore a favorable environment for economic growth, which has increased steadily from 3.3 percent in 1988189, to 4.4 percent in 1989190, and 4.8 percent in 1990/91. 1.03 The economic base is narrow - tobacco accounts for over half of all exports, non-agricultural exports contribute less than 10 percent of export earnings. About 85 percent of the labor force is in agriculture, predominantly as smallholder farmers. Maize accounts for around 65-75 percent of all land area under cultivation in most areas of the country. v Tobacco, tea and sugar estates employ about 5 percent of the labor force, providing about 40 percent of all wage employment. The non- agricultural formal sector is small, employing only about 7 percent of the labor force. The informal sector is estimated at about 3 percent of the labor force. There are no statistics of part-time participation in the informal sector, however, most farming families generate some income in the sector. 1.04 Public expenditure on social services has been relatively low. Although social indicators have shown enormous improvement since Independence, they remain poor even by African standards. Widespread U The country is divided into 8 agricultural development districts (ADDs). The least maize-dominated ADDs are Karonga and Ngabu, where the area under maize is 48 and 33 percent respectively.  undernutrition, especially among small children, has retarded progress in reducing infant and child mortality; infant mortality is still 151 deaths per thousand live births, and life expectancy at birth is only 47 years. The health system is good, and 85 percent of the population live within 8 km of a modern health facility, but the disease burden is heavy. Malaria is a leading cause of death and hospital admissions fpr all age groups. Only 43 percent of children aged 6-13 are in primary school. There are formal secondary school places for only 11 percent of those who qualify, and including the distance education system, gross enrollment in the secondary system is about 9 percent. More than 70 percent of the population over 10 years of age is illiterate, illiteracy is even higher among women. Data collected in 1980/81 suggested that about 70 percent of rural households did not have access to safe drinking water and over 40 percent had no sanitation facilities. In recognition of these shortfalls from national goals, and of the importance of a strong human resource base for development, Government is now committed to increasing the share of public expenditures allocated to the social sectors. 1.05 The Government remains strongly committed to a broad-based structural adjustment program that aims at encouraging diversification of production and exports, improving performance of productive sectors, strengthening private commerce and trading; strengthening key development institutions, and improving resource mobilization and allocation in the public sector. Attention to the particular constraints facing women, and to possible gender-specific responses to policy changes and incentives, would contribute to successful adjustment and growth. 1.06 Sustainable growth will depend crucially on productivity increases in smallholder agriculture and on developing human resources. Women constitute more than half of Malawi's human resources, and have a critical impact on development of children and the health of the whole family. They predominate among smallholder farmers. According to the 1977 census, nearly 70 percent of all full-time farmers (i.e., working 10-12 months each year on their own holdings) were women (Annex I, Table 2) -- an 11 percent increase since the 1966 census. Women also accounted for nearly one quarter of part-time smallholder farmers, a massive increase over the decade. The success of agricultural development programs, especially those that target small landholders, will be jeopardized if they do not take account of the specific constraints faced by women farmers. 1.07 This introduction has delineated the economic and social environment within which Malawian women live. Most are preoccupied with growing enough food for their family in a situation of increasing land pressure which forces continuous cropping, depleting soil fertility. Fertilizer prices have been pushed up steeply by increased transportation costs for imports, at the same time as government budget pressures have required a reduction in subsidies. Few families grow enough to last the whole year. There are very limited opportunities for wage employment, and food deficit households (including the landless) struggle to earn enough to cover even their basic food needs - to buy the 90kg bag of maize needed to feed a family of average size for a month required 30 days of work at the rural minimum wage in 1980, nearly 40 days in 1989 before the May 1 wage revision, and 19 days at the present minimum wage. Many families rely on transfers or remittances from family members and relatives, and on a wide  range of intermittent wage- and self-employment activities. This adds to the linkages betu-een rural households and the rest of the economy. There are many women who must cope alone with their farms and families: nearly thirty percent of households are headed by women, and the husbands of many other migrate within the country looking for employment. Women are at a considerable disadvantage in the wage-labor market. The burdens of childbearing, childcare and household tasks are heavys women give birth to an average of nearly 8 children in all. Frequent illness and poor nutrition sap strength, while the typically highly labor-intensive methods of food production, processing and cooking place heavy demands on their energy, and firewood must be gathered from increasingly far places. The following section analyses the special constraints that affect women's participation in economic and social development. Section III reviews efforts by Government, NGOs and donors to relieve these constraints. II. CONSTRAINTS WOMEN FACE 2.01 As the preceding section outlined, the special constraints faced by Malawian women are numerous and interlinked to a considerable extent. For example; women's arduous and time-consuming household chores and frequent child-bearing reduce time and energy for farming and income earning activities; heavy labor and pregnancy also raise dietary requirements, which exacerbates undernutrition and physical debilitation in periods of food scarcity. Low levels of education and literacy reduce women's capacity to gain formal employment, adopt innovations in farming or benefit fully from extension and credit services; this keeps incomes low. Low agricultural yields and attendant poverty increase the likelihood of undernutrition and susceptibility to disease, which in turn reduce labor productivity and potential for raising incomes. While recognizing these linkages, this section, for purposes of convenience, reviews women's constraints under two broad headings, namely: factors which directly affect women's capacity to earn income, and human resource issues which affect both welfare and productivity. In line with the country emphasis on increasing smallholder productivity, and given that tbe bulk of Malawian women are in the small-farm sector, the first part focuses on the situation of women farmers but includes discussion of women in wage employment in agriculture and other sectors. The second part analyses the situation of women with respect to nutrition, fertility, health status and access to education and training. Together, these factors largely determine thE degree to which women can be adaptable and productive as workers as well as the extent to which they can appreciate and enjoy the world around them. In addition, given the close correlation between women's health, nutrition and education and the well-being of their children, attention to women's welfare is central to the achievement of Malawi's goal of accelerated human resource development.  - 4 - Part As Constraints on Income Earning Capacity Women in the Small Farm Sector 2.02 About 80 percent of Malawi's economically active population are smallholder farmers. As noted above (para 1.06), women constitute about 70 percent of these, so the constraints and problems of this sector affect women disproportionately. Productivity in the smallholder sector has been declining overall. Population pressure is bringing more marginal land under cultivation and forcing continuous mono-cropping, which depletes soil fertility. Maize yields have been falling, and will continue to do so unless use of plant nutrients and high-yielding crop varieties increases. Low levels of technology contribute to poor agricultural productivity and incomes -- cultivation is mostly by hand-held hoe, only about 10 percent of the area planted to maize is under high-yielding hybrids, and as many as 80 percent of smallholders apply virtually no plant nutrients. Women face several additional obstaclest (a) frequent absence of men from farms and consequent seasonal labor shortages; (b) less time for farm-work due to heavy burdens of housework and childcare; (c) relatively poorer access to yield-en'ancing inputs, credit, and extension advice; and (d) fewer opportunities and limited time for off-farm self-employment to earn the cash income needed for farm inputs and other essential purchases. These factors are discussed in some detail in paras 2.03 - 2.16 below. 2.03 Labor Shortage. Smallholder female-headed households (FHHs) have fewer adult males, which means less labor for farm work and generating off- farm cash income. These households are unlikely to have resources for hiring extra labor. This labor limitation keeps many FHHs in a cycle of poverty: during periods of peak agricultural activity, many women are not able to complete planting and weeding within the optimal time, and are likely to have to hire themselves out as casual labor (see para 2.20) to supplement depleted household food stocks when it is most critical to work on their own gardens. This lowers yields considerably -- it has been estimated that a delay of two weeks in planting can reduce maize yields by 25 percent. The consequence of low yields is a recurrence of seasonal food shortages, which once again reduces time available for work on own farms and leads to lower productivity due to underautrition (see para. 2.31). 2.04 The numbers and proportion of women farmers who have no husband, or whose husband has migrated to find work, leaving them to cope alone, is large and increasing. In 1980/81, almost 30 percent of rural smallholder households were headed by single women or women whose husbands returned less often than once a month and who therefore had principal responsibility for day-to-day decisions, especially regarding agriculture. The proportion of FHHs ranged from 14 percent in Kasungu to 36 percent in Liwonde ADD (Table 2.1). Seventy percent of these women were unmarried, 10 percent were in polygamous marriages, and twenty percent had absent husbands in wage employment on estates, in towns, or outside Malawi.  - 5 - Table 2.1 Percentase of Female Headed Households (FHH) by Marital Status and Area, 1980181 dnobgaous Polygamous A.D.D. Percent of FHH MarlMrse Harriage Unmarried Karong 1? 14 so Mausu 21 17 Oa oasunga 14 18 s8 Sal1m. 28 16 is LiIongwo 27 21 St Liwond. 87 20 so BIantyre 84 22 79 Ntgabu 24 28 C0 Malawi 28 20 t0 Source: COU and UNICEF, Th Situation of Women and Children in Malawi, September 1987, Lilonie, Malawi, p.83. 2.05 Research in southern Zomba which explored dirferences within the broad group of FHHs distinguished among three sub-groups: de jure FHHs, where the woman was widowed or divorced; male absentee households, where the husband was away for at least half of the 10 months research period and was engaged in employment activities within Malawi; and those whose husbands were migrant workers in South Africa, which were called TEBA households. V TEBA households had significantly higher incomes, more land, were much more likely to apply fertilizer, had larger harvests than the other FHHs, and relied very much less on crop ssles for income. Their larger household size reduced these differences in per capita terms, but even so, TEDA per capita incomes were more than double the other FHHs, and larger than the male-headed households (Table 2.2). The poorest group were F.-H with absentee husbands within Malawi, although the de jure FHH were not much better off. Table 2.2 Household Size and Composition, Cultivated Land, Harvests, and Per Capita Income, by Household Head Categories Male TEBA Male *bsent FHH do jure FHH Sample number (%) 137 (65) 14 (19) 30 (41) 29 (40) Do facto hh size 6.8 6.2 6.9 6.1 Male equlv. laborers 2.6 1.8 1.9 1.7 Women per man 1.8 1.7 1.2 1.9 Children per adult 1.4 2.9 2.0 1.8 Per cap hb. cultivated 0.26 0.24 0.19 0.22 Per cap kg maize harvest 160.2 214.0 108.4 167.5 Per cap Income In MK 84.15 117.02 60.89 67.11 Source: Peters and Herrera, 1989, Table 2.1 V P.E. Peters and M.G. Herrera, 1989, Cash Cropping, Food Security and Nutrition: the Effects of Agricultural Commercialization Among Smallholders in Malawi, HIID, Cambridge MA.  - 6 - 2.06 Land There appears to be a clear correlation between the size of landholding and the presence of men as illustrated in Table 2.3 below, which shows that women household heads have smaller than average land holdings compared to male household heads. The direction of causality could run either way: FHHs could have been allocated small parcels of land because the family had less adult labor, or in other cases men may have left to look for wage employment elsewhere because the family landholding was too small, so that inadequate land resulted in the household being headed by a woman. Peters' study of 217 households in southern Zomba found evidence that "land holds men". The larger the family's landholding, the move hours of agricultural work by men were recorded. "A shortage of land, in contrast, is associated with the allocation of men's time off the farm, which is then left almost entirely to women to manage." ' Table 2.3 Distribution by Cultivated Area, by Sex of Household Head, 1980-81 Cultivated Area Female Headed Male Headed All (Hectares) Households Households Households < 0.5 35 19 24 0.50-O.;9 37 29 31 1.00-1.49 16 20 19 1.50-1.99 7 12 11 2.00-2.99 4 13 10 > 3.00 1 6 5 Source: GOM and UNICEF, The Situation of Women and Children in Malawi, September 1987, Lilongwe, Malawi, p.74, from GOM, NSSA 1980/81, NSO, 1984. 2.07 A recent research report ' suggests that with the decrease in unallocated customary land, land reallocation is tending to reduce women's customary and statutory rights to land, contrary to established tradition. Among the matrilineal-matrilocal groups (in which land is allocated to women when they marry, and men take residence with their wives) which predominate in the southern and central regions where land pressures are most acute, it is reportedly becoming more common for men to take their wives to their own villages, for parents to give land to sons in their lifetime, and for sons to be allowed to inherit land upon their mothers' deaths. There has been no systematic study of this, however. If in fact women's access to land is being threatened, or they are being allotted smaller parcels of land as competition from men increases, this may imply further increase in the numbers and proportion of labor-scarce FHHG in the future. Growing uncertainty over rights to land could also have serious consequences for women's willingness to invest in cash crops (e.g., coffee and tobacco) which bear fruit over a period of time. E ibid., p52 g J.S. Nankumba and M.R. Machika, Dynamics of Land Tenur-e and Agrarian Systems in Africa, The Case of Malawi, Research report for FAO and the malawi Government, June 1988, p28f.  2.08 Toll of Non-Farming Tasks Rural women, and especially women household heads, have a very heavy burden of household tasks. This limits time and energy available for farming and other income-producing activities. A careful time-use study of 28 households in 2 villages found that women's work day lasted 12 hours, with household tasks taking 4-6 hours (compared with a 4-6 hour work-day for men, depending on the time of year). LI Most household tasks such as fetching water, collecting firewood and pounding maize involve arduous physical work and must be performed daily, in addition to farm labor. Moreover, because of the distances involved in fetching wood and water, the time required is extraordinarily high. Nearly half of Malawian women spend more than an hour a day fetching water, and about one third of women must make a trip longer th.an one hour to collect firewood; C on average, women spend the equivalent of one-half day a week collecting wood. Z There are substantial inter- and intra-regional differences with respect to the availability of amenities commonly-used by rural women (Table 2.4). For instance, ADDs in the Southern Region appear to be relatively better served with water sources, but lack easily accessible firewood. Thus, while the task of fetching water may be relatively light, collection of fuelwood may require several hours. Table 2.4 Percentage of Households by Distance* to Amenities by Agriculture Development Division Malawi ro M!uau So Kunou Ii Lilonowe Li;onde Blantyre Improved Water under 2k- 52 55 33 36 64 55 47 60 61 2-8km 32 36 45 40 25 32 31 26 30 over 8km 17 10 22 24 11 13 22 14 10 Firewood Supply under 2km 56 69 89 84 62 68 56 63 52 2-ekm 27 31 10 13 36 26 33 30 38 over 8ke 6 C1 <1 3 2 6 11 8 10 Grocery Store under 2km 65 50 37 S6 73 65 72 77 51 2-8k 33 46 51 44 24 34 27 23 48 over Bkm 2 4 12 <1 3 1 1 1 2 Note: Column total. my not equal 100 because of ro:unding. "Estimated tim to umk: Under 2k1 = up to 1 hour round trip; 2-Bkm - up to 3 hours round trip. over 8km n miniaum 3 hour round trip. Source: CMM, NS 1934 2.09 As the table above suggests, women spend substantial time and energy walking to and from sources of supply of routine household needs and in "headloading' these to carry them home. In addition, women often help to transport farm inputs and are primarily responsible for carrying household produce to mills or markets for processing or sale. These trips, L L. Engberg, J. Sabry and S. Beckerson, 1985, "A Comparison of Rural Women's Time Use in Two Villages in MalawiO, mimeo, Department of Family Studies, University of Guelph, Ontario. Day long observation and recall was used for 3 days in February, 1981 (pre-harvest) and 3 days in July (post-harvest), for 28 families. V NSO, 1984. 7J Spring et.al., p6.  - 8 - while equally or more arduous and time-consuming, are probably less frequent, though still regular. In general, it is reported that men tend to share responsibility for transportation of household goods when the household possesses or can afford to rent an ox-cart, truck or bicycle. These are usually too expensive for most smallholders to purchase. Other, cheaper housework aids -- such as handcarts or fuel-efficient stoves (to reduce firewood needs) -- are also not widely available or used. Moreover, there is little affordable public transportation available in rural areas. Of the larger bus service operators, only one provides scheduled (but unreliable) services in the rural areas, and many routes are discontinued during the rainy season. Restrictions on the operation of mini-buses in rural areas have been eased, but high operating costs and lack of credit deter service expansion. Passenger transport on freight vehicles, called "matola" is illegal, but often the only means of motorized transport available in rural areas. Where buses are available, fares are usually too high to allow frequent use. For instance, female traders interviewed in Blantyre and Lilongwe reported that bus fares would consume about half their daily earnings, so most walked hours to reach their destinations. 2.10 Besides having to undertake burdensome household and other off- farm tasks, women's timellabor for farm work is also affected by their substantial childcare responsibilities and, especially, by frequent pregnancies which sap strength. These factors are discussed in detail in the section on human resource development (see paras 2.33-2.35). 2.11 Limited Access to Agricultural Services The third set of limitations to women smallholders' income-earning capability derives from their relatively lower access to agricultural services. Several factors make it less likely that women farmers will adopt high-yielding packages and other agricultural innovations. Some factors derive from the nature of the National Rural Development Program (NRDP), others have to do with the characteristics of women farmers (tending to have less land, labor and education). Bypassing women farmers has been unintentional, but has had a high cost in terms of the food security of many FHH, and very high efficiency costs, particularly given the country's heavy reliance on smallholder agricultural production. 2.12 Before 1981, no explicit attention was paid to women farmers, and it was taken for granted that extension messages would be passed on from men to their wives. Women's role as farmers was overlooked, and extension messages were targeted to them as homemakers, through the MOA and MOCS home economics programs. The aims, emphases and structure of the extension service also resulted in the unintentional systematic exclusion of women. MOA focused on high potential farmers, few of whom were women. The emphasis was on raising farm incomes and producing a marketable surplus by introducing high-yielding maize varieties. These are generally regarded as a cash crop because they do not pound easily using traditional methods, have high storage losses, and less desirable taste, and since most smallholders understandably give priority to satisfying their consumption needs, uptake has been very low. Since 1981, greater attention has been paid to the needs of smallholders, but some factors continue to inhibit women's access to services.  2.13 An issue of key concern is the strong male bias of the extension service. Most of the extension officers are men, who, for cultural reasons, interact less readily with women. For their part, women have been reluctant to participate in group meetings of mostly men. In 1985 there were 1,807 male and 200 female extension workers. Of the 1.3 million smallholder families, 390,000 were female-headed. If contact were gender- specific, this would imply 1,950 FHH per female extension workers, and just more than 400 male-headed households per male extension worker. When female farmers living in male-headed households are included, the disparity is far worse. The "mainstream" extension staff, Farm Assistants (FAs) receive two to four times as much training as the Farm Home Assistants (FHAs) employed under MOA's women's program. FA's training emphasizes agriculture and farm management, whereas FHA's training has devoted considerable attention to homemaking skills. 2.14 Women are much less likely than men to take agricultural credit. Only a small (though growing) proportion of women are members of farmers clubs, the main channel for seasonal agricultural credit, and very few take medium-term loans which are usually larger -- only 1 percent of borrowers of medium-term credit in Lilongwe ADD in 1982/83 were women. o' Farm club membership is a pre-condition for receiving credit, and there is collective repayment responsibility. Resource poor farmers who are seen as poor credit risks are unwelcome as members, and occasional forceful collection of payments (or of the assets of defaulters) has deterred risk- averse low-resource farmers. No gender-specific credit data are available from MOA for years prior to 1983/84. Table 2.5 shows the low participation of women in the credit system in 1983/84, and the significant improvement in recent years in response to the efforts of the MOA (and see Annex I, Table 3 for data disaggregated by ADD). These efforts are described in Section III. Table 2.5 Farmer Participation in Agricultural Seasonal Credit by Gender, 1982/83 - 1988/89 Season Total clubs Membership, of which Men Women Z Women 1982/83 6,654 155,703 - - n/a 1983/84 7,191 180,256 153,221 27,035 15.0 1984/85 8,148 211,770 177,497 34,273 16.2 1985/86 8,259 207,996 167,617 40,379 19.4 1986/87 8,045 206,409 153,908 52,501 25.4 1987/88 9,129 243.468 170,935 72,543 29.8 1988/89 11,569 312,564 222,950 89,614 28.7 Source: MOA v A. Spring, Smith and Kayuni, 1983, "Women Farmers in Malawi: Their Contribution to Agriculture and Development Projects", United States Agency for International Development.  - 10 - 2.15 Limited Opportunities for Off-Farm Income Generation Income from off-farm self employment is an important source of cash for many rural families. Cash income is critical for buying yield-enhancing farm inputs, in addition to financing food purchases for non-self sufficient households and providing cash for school fees, medical expenses, soap, salt and other basic needs. Cash income is generally underestimated in routine surveys. A 1989 study in southern Malawi found that smallholders spent two-and-a- half times as much time on off-farm work as reflected in MOA data. On average, 75 percent of cash income was from off-farm sources. v All of the 210 households in the Zomba area study earned some off-farm income, which accounted for almost 40 percent of total income on average, and 30 percent even for the relatively high income tobacco-growing households. Income sources are highly diversified for most households, whose "income and food strategies depend on juggling own-crop production with self- employed income generating activities, ... wage work, and transfers..". zu Small-scale production, retailing, services, and sales of processed foods and beer provided 10-14 percent of total income, the proportion generally increasing with income level. Women tend to express a strong preference for income generating activities over ganyu work (see para 2.20), as having a higher cash return and conflicting less with their own farming activities. (The latter is particularly important for labor- scarce FHHs --para 2.03). A 1985 study of women in 600 households in 3 areas, 48 women's groups, and all the extension workers who had worked with them found that non-farm activities contributed 14 percent of total cash income. lJ The most common activity was beer brewing, which took 3-4 days and an outlay of about MK20, generated gross proceeds of about MK44, and did not disrupt the women's other commitments. Food processing, another popular activity, required a very low outlay, but had a highly constrained market. In most cases, the activity was a 'one-woman' affair. 2.16 The growth of off-farm income generating opportunities in the rural areas faces a number of major constraints: very low purchasing power; a lack of transport, communication, and marketing infrastructure in the rural areas; limited access to technologies appropriate to small-scale enterprises; a lack of relevant training opportunities in small business management; and poor credit availability, especially for very small, unsecured loans for working capital purposes. In addition to the constraints that affect all entrepreneurs, the enormous demands on women's time and energy, lower mobility and their relative educational disadvantage (see paras 2.36-2.41) make it doubly difficult for them to exploit available opportunities. MOCS and MOA are trying to assist groups of poor rural women to undertake income-generating activities, but the factors listed above and the shortage of extension workers hamper their efforts. 2 Kawinga Credit Study, 1989, unpublished. Zu Peters and Herrera, op. cit., p25. IV Chipande, Mkwezalamba, Mwaisango and Mhango, December 1986, Income Generating Activities for Rural Women in Malawi, Center for Social Research, University of Malawi, for the Ministry of Community Services.  Women in Agricultural Employment 2.17 Agricultural Estate Workers The 1977 census counted 14,600 women in full-time employment on estates (9.4 percent of agricultural employees) and 25,900 women living with husbands who were full-time workers on estates, many of wnom are likely to have been employed in some capacity at some periods of the year. About 10 percent of a 1989 sample of 350 households employed on estates were headed by women; 35 percent of all adult workers were women. w Tenants on estates are treated as self- employed and excluded from employment statistics. However, since the land is controlled by the estates and tenants are obliged to sell their crop to the estate at a fixed price, their status is much more like piece-work employees than own-account workers. Generally, estates will not accept women as tenants in their own right, but tenant households typically include women who contribute fully to the work. The numbers involved are substantial: a sample of 260 tenant households drawn from 23 estates included 350 adult women, as well as 390 other adult men. 2.18 A 1984 study found that women tend to be discriminated against in the estate labor market, sometimes being paid lower wages than men for the same tasks, and generally being relegated to lower-paying and more seasonal jobs. w41 It was found that the sexual division of labor effectively eliminated women from full-time employment. Seventy percent of the women who had worked on the tea estates had worked less than three months during the previous year, compared with only 5 percent of the 82 husbands of women interviewed. The activities -- weeding, picking, and plucking -- in which estate managers believed women had a comparative advantage over men are the most highly seasonal. "It was also found that women tended to be engaged on the more laborious, tedious and painstaking tasks. In most cases these were the least paying jobs". w On the tobacco estates that hired labor directly (rather than operating a tenancy system) many of the tasks were reserved for men; women were considered to be less productive than men, except in tying bundles of tobacco leaves into bunches or 'hands," which was the only task reserved solely for women. However, the study found that women were hired for the tasks usually done by men when men were unavailable, and women in tenant households on tobacco estates performed all tasks, except for the construction of barns. w Survey carried out during preparation of the World Bank Report No. 8140- MAI: Malawi - Growth Through Poverty Reduction by the Center for Social Research, University of Malawi in April 1989. Tea, tobacco and sugar estates were included. 4 ibid. w Vaughan and Chipande, 1986. Seven flue-cured tobacco estates in the Kasungu region were visited, and a total of 84 women interviewed. The labor records of a further 18 estates belonging to large companies were inspected. Thirty tea estates were surveyed, and 192 women on 6 tea estates interviewed. Iv Vaughan and Chipande, p.46.  - 12 - 2.19 The Agricultural Employers' Association Agreed Practices on Wages, Terms and Conditions of Employment provides for shorter hours for women with family responsibilities, which is intended to protect women rather than to disadvantage them. The official minimum wage applies equally to men and to women, however, whereas only one of the tobacco estates surveyed in 1984 paid men less than the official minimum wage, 9 of the 11 estates for which reliable wage information was available paid women less than the minimum wage, which at the time was 58 tambala (about 35 US cents) per day. In some cases, women were paid only for completed tasks, and earnings ranged from 18 to 30 tambala per day. In 1985, an estate worker employed full-time at the minimum wage earned barely enough to buy the 90-kilogram bag of unmilled maize needed to feed a family of 6 for a month. w About one third of the women surveyed on the tea estates had no access to land for growing food, and most of the rest had less than 1 hectare. Tabl- 2.6 Average DeI Y Pay (Tambel*) for Womn and Men In Ten rTue-Cured Tobacco Estates in Kasunna District. 1984 Estate 1 2 a 4 5 6 7 e 9 10 Women 43 58 48 64 S8 60 44 18-S8 18-55 s8 Men 58 58 S8 58 S8 58 58 58 44-65 s8 Source: 0OM and UNICEF, The Situation of Women and Children In Malawi, September 1987, Lilongwe, Malawi, p84. 2.20 Casual Agricultural Wage Labor (Ganyu) The official statistics on women in wage employment in agriculture exclude many women who undertake seasonal work on estates and the undetermined number of women who do casual labor (ganyu) for other households in their own or nearby villages, sometimes at very low wages. A study of 48 women in Phalombe in 1981 found that one third of married women and 70 percent of unmarried women did ganyu work regularly in the wet season w. Women in all income groups in a 1989 sample of 126 households in Kawinga reported doing more days of ganyu each year than men. There was a sharp difference between women in the better-off and median income land holding groups, who reported an average of 6 ganyu days, and women in the poorest group with least land, predominantly FHHs, who reported 20 ganyu days (Table 2.7). Peters and Herrera also found an inverse relationship between reliance on ganyu labor and income/landholding levels: women in households with less than one hectare of land allocated more time to ganyu than those with more land, and women whose husbands were absent (but in Malawi) or who were alone (the worst-off group) did significantly more ganyu than the rest. Most women in Kawinga earned an average of MKO.86 per day for ganyu (marginally above the I Msukwa, L. and W. Ettema, Food Production and Malnutrition in Malawi, University of Malawi, Center for Social Research, 1985. w J. Evans, 1981, "Rural Women's Agricultural Extension Program in Phaolmbe Rural Development Project: Working Document on the Base-line 1", mimeo. Unmarried women's land holdings were on average 40 percent smaller than those of the married women and were generally poorer quality land.  - 13 - rural minimum wage of MKO.74 at the time) and were unanimous in preferring other, more lucrative sources of earnings (e.g. beer-brewing and trading). The poorest groups earned the highest ganyu wages, perhaps because they worked longer ganyu days than other farmers, who tend to try and fit in some work on their own fields as well. Table 2.7 Ganyu Labor Days and Other Off-farm Working Days in 1989 Kawinga Sample of Rural Households No. of Land Incom Days (wage) ganyu Days other off-farm Households (ha.) MK/year en Womn Men Women (wag) Better-off Grp 27 1.42 430 2 (n.e. 4 (.86) 146 11 (1.84) Median group 62 0.68 828 6 (n 8 (.86) 90 6 (8.60) Median Women l8 0.88 188 1 (n.a.) 6 (. 86) 62 88 (0.99) Poorest 21 0.40 107 8 (1.86) 20 (.08) 48 18 (0.89) Note: Income include crop and livestock sales, agricultural wages, off-farm work and remittances, excludes valuo of crops grown and consumed. Average daily wage rates for ganyu labor In parentheses are In UK. Source: Kawings Annual Survey of Agriculture, Credit Survey, 19n. Women in Other Formal Employment 2.21 Participation and Wage Levels Increasing numbers of women are entering wage employment, many of whom are the main providers for their families and need to find full-time jobs. The number of women in non- agricultural formal sector jobs increased from 7,300 to 22,200 between 1971 and 1984, and across all sectors the number increased four-fold between 1971 and 1984, a rise from 7.7 percent to 14.5 percent of total employment (Table 2.8). Women working in the formal sector are concentrated in a few occupations: nursing, teaching, stenography and sales. They make up nearly 20 percent of clerical workers, 27 percent of sales workers, 23 percent of service workers, but less than 5 percent of administrative and managerial workers. Women are disproportionately represented among workers who are paid entirely in kind, the value of whose earnings are likely to be considerably less than those paid in cash. The 1983 Labor Force Survey estimated that 1,500 regular workers and 1,000 casual workers were being paid in kind only, of which 57 and 31 percent respectively were women. Table 2.8 Numbers and Prcentae of Women Formal Sector wag! Emoloyees by Subsector, 1971. 1976. 19883an1984 Percentage Numbera 1971 19t6 198 19d4 197 97 9S 1984 ANricuIt.ir. 11.0 14.7 17.7 15.S 6.0 15.3 35.2 27.5 Mininng 0 7 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0 Manufacturin. 2.4 4.5 18.5 24.0 0.5 1.6 685 11.0 Electricit 2 2 6.7 7S 8.2 0 5 0.2 0.4 0.4 Construction 0.2 0,6 1 3 1.1 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.3 Trade A Catering 4 .7 12.0 9.a 10.3 0 .6 2 . 2 S S.3 Tr nsport 2 1 3 0 4 1 4.6 0 2 0 4 0 9 1 0 Finn * Sun. Services 18.2 13.3 10 6 10 9 0.8 0.5 1.2 1.8 CoAmnity Services 10 0 10 4 8 44 17 14 10 4 - 99 Total 7.7 10.3 14.6 14.5 14.1 27.0 57.4 5. 6 Note: Date for 1971 and 1976 are fros the mold series" which exclude firms with feaer than 20 employees. All regiatered firms are included in the 1983 and 1984 data. Saurce: National Statiotical Office (NSO).  - 14 - 2.22 Women's relatively poor access to formal sector wage employment is reflected in much higher unemployment rates for girls with secondary 9education than for boys, and in the distribution by education of the labor force (Annex I, Tables 4-6). The 1977 census data show that primary education was the cut-off point for entry into fairly unskilled clerical jobs (such as mail distribution clerk) for men, whereas women needed a secondary-school education for the same jobs. 2.23 Average wage and employment changes in manufacturing in 1983 and 1984 indicate that women suffer wage discrimination, i.e. are paid less than men in the same jobs. A dramatic rise in the number of women employed in manufacturing in 1983 and 1984 was accompanied by a fall in average earnings in this subsector of about 10 percent in each year (Table 2.9). The concentratiton of women in manufacturing jobs increased from less than 5 percent in previous years to 13.5 percent in 1983 and 24 percent in 1984. The fall in the number of men employed in manufacturing in 1984 suggests that women were substituted for men. (Only a very small proportioal of manufacturing workers are Government employees, this discussion therefore refers to the private sector.) Table 2.9 Employment by Gender and Changes in Average Earnings in Manufacturing, 1982-1984 Employment as Z of total Average Earnings Male Female Male Female Z Change on Previous Yr Government and Private 1982 33,730 1,569 95.6 4.4 n/a 1983 41,388 6,479 86.5 13.5 -10.9 1984 37,679 11,873 76.0 24.0 - 9.0 1985 41,115 19,084 68.3 31.7 - 2.8 Private sector only 1982 32,240 1,527 95.5 4.5 n/a 1983 39,598 6,423 86.0 14.0 n/a 1984 36,328 11,814 75.5 24.5 n/a 1985 38,696 19,001 67.1 32.9 n/a Source: NSO 2.24 Limitations on Access to Formal Sector Jobs Several factors help explain women's relative disadvantage in the formal labor market. One is the heavy childbearing and childcare burden that women bear and the traditional view that a woman's place is in the home. Even women working in demanding jobs with high levels of responsibility bear exclusive (or nearly-so) responsibility for the home. In many societies, girls are socialized to the idea that they will do less well at school than boys, that there are specific jobs that are appropriate for them, and that marriage and children take priority. The concomitant of these attitudes is that women's work needs and aspirations are seen as expendable, especially when men are unemployed or underemployed. The recent return of the 20,000  - 15 - Malawian men who had been working in the South African mines will increase competition for jobs in industry. "/ 2.25 A second and very important reason is women's very limited education and low participation in technical training. Although the situation has improved since Independence, and equal numbers of boys and girls now start school, many fewer girls achieve a JC or better. wQ Further details concerning female education and training issues are given in paras 2.36-2.41. 2.26 A third causal factor is the attitude of many employers who have negative perceptions of women as employees. These may be based on experience, and tend to have hardened into a stereotype. Women may be seen as having poorer educational standards, less commitment to their jobs, and less ambition and drive. It is expected that women will follow their husbands if they are relocated, and resist geographical job moves themselves. Frequent pregnancies (every three or four years) are seen as disruptive. It may be that interviews would have revealed Malawian employers to be like male employers in Zambia: "well disposed toward employing women ... yet consistently voiced baffled, negative attitudes toward their women employees and toward the inappropriate characteristics which they believe women bring to the work force." aU 2.27 Thus women are at a disadvantage in the labor market relative to men in having worse access to jobs, higher unemployment rates, and lower earnings. To the extent that gender discrimination is not based on productivity differences, it has inefficiency costs. This fact, plus equity considerations, and the negative implications for the welfare of these women and their families, justify measures to overcome this problem. Many developed countries have enacted legislation to prohibit discrimination. Although enforcement is costly and difficult, such legislation can be an important signal to employers that the Government is committed to equitable treatment of women workers. w The ending of recruitment or renewal of contracts for the South African mines coincided with the refusal by the Malawian Government to agree to the South African Mining Association's demand that all prospective mine workers be tested for HIV infection prior to being signed on in Malawi. However, GOM representatives explain that this was not the real reason, and this must be seen in the context of the mines' decision to decrease reliance on non-South African labor in the face of high unemployment in South Africa. Mu "JC" is the Junior Certificate examination that is taken at the end of the first two years of secondary school. The secondary cycle is completed after another two years when the Malawi Certificate of Education is taken. 22 Comments based on interviews with 6 Zambian employers/trainers/ personnel officers who collectively employed about 10,000 women: Eileen Kane, 1988, Women and Formal Vocational Training in Zambia, report for the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Development Cooperation Division of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, p xv.  - 16 - Women in the Informal Sector 2.28 Small, often unregistered businesses are a primary source of income for many, and the importance of this sector is expected to grow as population growth intensifies land pressures and job seekers increasingly outnumber job openings in the formal sector. u As in the formal sector, it seems that poor education inhibits wc en's participation. Informal sector entrepreneurs tend to be relatively educated, middle-aged, and are predominantly men. Women are concentrated in the smaller enterprises -- they comprised 7 percent of a sample which had an average of 1.5 employees, and 12 percent of a sample which had an average of 0.4 employees per enterprise. 2' Relatedly, women are found in a small range of activities -- food and beverage processing, pottery and beer brewing. About 25 percent of tailors (using sewing machines) are women. Several factors combime with women's low education to pose formidable barriers to entry into the sector: lack of business skills and employment experience, and poor access to information and credit. Part B: Issues in Human Resource Development Nutrition, Health and Fertility Ou 2.29 Food Availability, Caloric Requirements and Undernutrition In the absence of systematic survey data or health system statistics on malnutrition among adult Malawians, it is difficult to determine precisely its national prevalence. Such evidence as does exist indicates that women suffer from malnutrition, especially seasonal malnutrition, to a greater extent than do men. A study conducted in Lilongwe ADD (Beckerson 1983) revealed that women from a sample of tobacco-growing smallholder households lost an average of 4.2 kg between the post-harvest and pre-harvest periods compared with only 3.3 kg for men. Among subsistence smallholder households, women's weight loss between the two periods averaged 1.9 kg versus 1.3 kg for men. The occurrence of such severe weight loss is particularly serious in view of the fact that many Halawian women (particularly in rural areas) suffer from nutritional wasting tg -- studies carried out between 1970 and 1982 revealed that the average weight 2J Estimates of the size of the size of this sector vary widely, because of differences in definition and difficulties in data collection. 2v Ettema surveyed 1,816 enterprises in 1983 (Journal of Modern African Studies 1984). The USAID READI project surveyed 1,383 enterprises employing fewer than 20 people (and including many that were not registered) in 1986. u A more detailed discussion of nutrition and health problems generally and as they relate to women is available in Report No. 7854-MAI Malawi: Human Resource Development Study, April 1990. The Malawi Food Security Report (No. 8151-MAI) provides further details on household food availability. w A low weight for height value (below 90 percent of the reference standard) is referred to as nutritional wasting.  - 17 - for height of rural Halawian women was well below 90 percent of the average for young US women, although wealthy urban women exceeded that norm (GOMIUNICEF 1987). Beckerson's 1983 study also found that the surveyed women's nutritional status was at best marginal even in the post-harvest period when food is more readily available. 2.30 The above findings, particularly those on differential weight loss among women and men, suggest that women receive fewer dietary calories in relation to requirements when household food supplies are scarce. This may be partially due to the common pattern observed in many countries in Africa and elsewhere, of unequal intra-household food distribution, with men favored over women and children. It is also attributable to the greater demands on women for physical labor both on the farm and in child- care and household tasks (para 2.08-2.09). Women working up to twice the number of hours worked by men -- 12 hours versus 6 according to the previously cited time-use study -- would clearly require substantially greater amounts of food to maintain their body weights. Thus, even where food is distributed equally among adult household members (men and women), women might be expected to suffer more severely from undernutrition than men when the total available food is insufficient. 2.31 In rural Malawi, periods of insufficient food availability at the household level (and consequent undernutrition) are relatively long. As illustrated in Table 2.10 below and confirmed by several more recent studies, own food stocks for smaller landholdings tend to be depleted well before harvest. This suggests that FHHs who tend to have smaller-than- average holdings compared with male-headed households are especially vulnerable to seasonal food insecurity. The relationship between farm size and food availability may not be a direct one, however. Rather, taking into account that landholdings per capita of FHHs are not significantly different than those of male-headed households, it seems likely that the labor constraint of many FHHs (para 2.03), may be the underlying cause of low yields, low income through off-farm labor and attendant nutritional stress. If this is true, the common pre-harvest coping strategy of selling labor to get food may also not be available to FHHs to the same degree, making their situation particularly acute. Table 2.10 Percent of Households Depleting Food Stocks b' Region, Area Under Cultivation and Time of Year for 1980181 Time of Depletion Cultivated Before Between After Region Area (ha.) September Sept. and Feb. February Malawi <.7 30 53 16 .7-1.49 13 60 28 >1.5 5 46 49 All Classes 17 53 30 Source: NSSA/CSR, Page No. 31  - 18 - 2.32 In several African countries, control of household income by men (usually associated with increasing commercialization of agriculture) has been found to have a negative impact on household nutrition and family welfare. This does not seem to be the case in Malawi, however. First, specialization by gender between food crops and cash crops does not seem to be as marked in Malawi as in some other African countries. Although it is true to a considerable extent that women grow food crops and men grow cash crops, husbands and wives often help in each other's fields, and a significant proportion of cash crops are registered to women. Women constitute over one-third of coffee growers. Second, Malawian husbands and wives seem to share income to a greater extent than some studies suggest occurs elsewhere. A recent careful study of 200 samilies in 6 villages in the Zomba south area found that "the conventional behavior expected of married men is to hand over all or some of their income to their wives ... cases where the enumerators described a husband as keeping all or most of his eatnings to himself were considered unusual and unfitting". 2v This is corroborated for families ir. another southern area, most of whom were found to operate a common family purse, and where husbands and wives apparently had similar expenditure patterns. t6 In these matrilineal societies, "in addition to women being perceived in a very real way as "owners of the land' and as bearers of authority in their own village, along with their brothers, there appears to be a strongly held convention that income in a conjugal home should be as much the wife's affair as the husband's, irrespective of how that income was earned". W However, the share of household income controlled and spent by women fell as income rose for the sample; the share was smaller for women in male-headed households than in FHH, and less for households that grew tobacco. To a large extent this reflects gender differences in spending patterns and Engel-curve effects; women tend to buy the food which falls as a percentage of expenditure as income rises, while expenditures on goods and services and medical care are equally divided, and men spend proportionately more on education, transport, agricultural inputs, business costs and drink. 2.33 Disease Burden The very high incidence of communicable diseases, particularly malaria, respiratory infections and gastrointestinal problems, exacts a substantial toll. a This affects women more than men, since they not only suffer illness themselves, but they also bear principal responsibility for looking after other household members during episodes of illness. This involves considerable time spent away from other productive activities in caring for the sick at home and seeking necessary health care from traditional healers or modern health facilities. A round OJ Peters and Herrera, p34f. v Janis Evans, unpublished fieldwork results. UJ Peters and Herrera, op cit, p35. O" In 1984, the life expectancy at birth of Malawian women was estimated to be 44.6 years, among the lowest in the world. Only five countries -- Chad, Niger, Sierra Leone, Mauritania and Guinea -- are estimated to have life expectancies at birth equal or lower than that of Malawi, according to World Development Report.  - 19 - trip to a service delivery point 2-8 km from home is estimated to take between 1 and 3 hours in rural Malawi, not including time spent waiting for the service itself. Distance to clinics (and heavy farming and domestic responsibilities) are commonly cited by Malawian women as the principal reasons for not seeking medical care or regularly taking their children to the under-five clinics at health facilities. 2.34 Maternal Health and Family Planning Apart from the risk of contracting communicable diseases, another major health risk faced by Halawian women derives from their pattern of childbearing and limited access to contraceptive services. The national total fertility rate for Malawian women is estimated to be extremely high at 7.6 (that is the average number of pregnancies and births that women have during their child-bearing years). A large number of these pregnancies/births carry a high risk of complications or death for one or more of the following reasons: (a) the mother is either too young or too old to deliver safely (i.e., under 18 or over 35 years); (b) the interval between births is too short M/(c) the mother has had four or more prior pregnancies; or (d) the mother is in generally poor physical condition due to undernutrition or ill-health. Although about half of all women either desire no more children or wish to postpone their next pregnancy Mu, only about a quarter of health facilities (168) offer family planning or child spacing services, and it is estimated that only about 3 percent of women of child- bearing age uses modern contraception. The GOM has allowed modern contraceptive services to be offered only since 1986, and service provision has grown very slowly, despite the apparent demand from women. 2.35 This contributes to the very high maternal mortality and morbidity. The maternal mortality rate for women attending health clinics is estimated to be 170 per 100,000 births and is presumably still higher among those women who have no contact with the health system. Moreover, it is estimated that for every woman who dies from maternity-related complications another ten suffer permanent disability. The ramifications of these high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality are enormous, affecting not only the woman herself but seriously affecting the health and survival of her young children as well. Besides unsafe childbearing, other likely reasons for the high mortality rate are the still-low levels of ante- and post-natal care, lack of referral (or transport) for high risk cases, and an inadequate 'alarm' and transport system for obstetrical emergencies. t' The median period between births in Malawi is 32 months which is long enough in many environments to ensure full recovery of the mother. However, in Malawi, poor nutritional status and ill-health during pregnancy and lactation results in the need for a longer-than-average recuperative period between pregnancies. u Malawi: Family Formation Survey, GOM 1984.  - 20 - Education and Training 2.36 Low Female Enrollment and High Illiteracy There is a long history of low female enrollment in school, reflected in much higher illiteracy rates among women than men -- 83 percent compared to 56 percent. LI Among females over the age of 15, 64 percent have never attended school; 26 percent have four years or less of primary school; 7 percent have more than v years of primary school; and less than 2 percent have entered secondary school. Although most of the 64,000 people enrolled in the country-wide functional literacy program, which started in 1980 with UNDP-UNESCO assistance, have been women, the program's impact has been limited, and illiteracy rates remain much higher among women than men. Enrollment of girls has improved considerably this decade, as Table 2.11 shows. The MOEC has built additional secondary school boarding facilities for girls and reserved one third of all secondary and teacher training college places for girls. Mass appeals have been made to parents through the party and radio, and teachers have been instructed to establish a dialogue with parents, to encourage them to send their daughters to school. This was a strong concern of a CCAM National Seminar in 1989, and, as a follow-up, in August 1990 NCWID organised a week-long workshop on increasing access of girls and women to education and training opportunities. Table 2.11 Females as a Percentage of Total Enrollment, Selected Years, 1980-1987 1980 1984 1987 Primary 30 42 44 Secondary 20 29 34 University 20 21 23 Primary Teacher Training 37 37 35 Source: GOM: Education Statistics, 1980, 1984, 1987. 2.37 Almost equal numbers of girls and boys now enter primary school, but drop-out rates for girls are considerably higher than for boys. The problem is most acute in rural areas, where girls account for only 20 percent of total primary enrollment. Research is underway to try and explain this, and to decide how to counter it. A reasonable hypothesis is that income-constrained families who cannot afford to send all of their children to school will take the economically rational decision to invest in boys' education, since they have a higher probability of finding wage- employment. In many countries girls are kept home to help with domestic chores. IV Pregnancy accounts for a significant number of drop-outs and J 1977 census data, refers to persons of 15 years and older. $' The exceptions are Botswana and Lesotho where boys are kept from school to look after livestock, and have lower enrolment than girls.  - 21 - expulsions at all levels of education. Another contributing factor - at least in some areas - seems to be that parents wish their daughters to undergo traditional initiation ceremonies at puberty, to prepare them to participate as adults in the community. $u It is difficult for initiated young women to continue at school as they a,e discouraged from ascociating with uninitiated children. 2.38 An important reason for relatively low female enrollment at post- primary levels is that boys out-perform girls in the primary school leaving examination that determines access to secondary school (Table 2.12). The gender differences in examination scores are quite large (except for Chichewa): two-thirds of a standard deviation for science and the general paper, and one-third of a standard deviation for English and arithmetic. Such differences far exceed those reported for primary school pupils elsewhere in developing countries. These gender differences are all the more surprising when the likely ability distributions of the male and female Standard 8 pupils are considered. Native ability is equally distributed between the sexes, and equal numbers of boys and girls start school. However, more than twice as many boys as girls remain in school through Standard 8 (66,923 boys versus 29,944 girls in 1986/87) and sit the examination. If the most able pupils complete primary school, then the girls - as a group - should have higher average ability than the boys, and better scores. The opposite outcome suggests that the primary school system in Malawi is particularly ineffective in teaching girls, or is not retaining the best female pupils, or that the examinations are not good tests of ability. In many countries, lower expectations tend to be held of girl's academic achievement than of boys, and concerted efforts are required to remove this distortion. Better incentives such as scholarships and performance prizes for girls could help. Table 2.12 Mean Primary School Leaving Examination Results, by Subject and Gender, 1987 Subject Boys Girls English 51.7 46.1 Arithmetic 51.6 46.3 General paper 53.0 43.0 Chichewa 51.0 49.7 Agriculture 52.7 43.6 Science 52.0 42.8 Housecraft --- 50.9 Needlecraft --- 50.6 Source: Malawi National Examinations Board, 1988. -u This is the finding of a small research pilot survey carried out in two villages in Mangochi by A. Kapakasa of the Ministry of Community Services, as part of her doctoral studies and supported in part through a small research grant from the World Bank Africa Region Research Funds. The findings are unpublished and have not been reviewed in Malawi, but several Malawians questioned how widespread these practices are. Inititations are not encouraged by Government, and few people are willing to discuss them, especially with outsiders.  - 22 - 2.39 Low enrollment of girls has high costs for development. Education profoundly influences behavior related to health and nutritional status and is a very strong determinant of family size. Mothers with primary education tend to have healthier and better nourished children, smaller families, and higher productivity. The impact on productivity is seen in agriculture as well as in other sectors -- more educated farmers in Malawi have been found to have higher yields and to grow a greater diversity of crops, all other things being equal, largely because they have much more contact with the extension service. u The considerable investment and expenditures on extension services might have a much greater return if more farmers were educated. This finding is particularly important given the country's reliance on agriculture, and that about 70 percent of full-time farmers are women. 2.40 Limited Participation in Technical/Vocational Programs Female participation in technical/vocational programs is low, except for traditional areas such as nursing, teaching and secretarial training. Women number only 30 of the 8,000 trainees in the craft training program whicli teaches construction skills, and 3 out of 90 students in the terhnical training program which was established in 1985 to provide higher level skills. A larger percentage of the trainees in the Hotel Training school are female. Officials explain that girls do not want to apply for most technical/vocational training, and in some cases, a lack of hostel facilities for women has been a problem. Without further studies, it is not possible to establish whether or not female applicants to non-traditional vocational courses meet any specific discrimination. 2.41 A policy of paying "special attention to the training of youth, and women and the disabled and giving them preference in certain areas" has been adopted as part of the manpower planning strategy for the period 1987-96, but neither the specific areas nor the mechanisms for the achievement of this goal are specified. The establishment of special boarding facilities would not alone ensure substantial increases in applications from women. The educational requirements of technical/ vocational training programs need to be reviewed: the current requirement of 10 years of formal schooling for crafts training and 12 years for specialized technical training is too high to allow the candidacy of more than a handful of girls. Increasing women's access to vocational and non- formal education and training (such as functional literacy/numeracy programs) could improve their chances of being successful in the informal market, and is consistent with government's emphasis on the promotion of small scale enterprises. 2.42 Changes are also needed in the attitudes of women themselves and in those of employers to give women a better chance of being hired for skilled jobs in a wider range of fields. Gender stereotyping starts early, and continues throughout the education process. Highly segregated labor markets cause distortions in educational goals; attempts to increase female W Perraton, Jamison, Jenkins, Orivel and Wclff, 1983, Basic Education and Agricultural Extension, Costs, Effects and Alternatives, IBRD Staff Working Paper No. 564, pp.187-195.  - 23 - participation in non-traditional technical/vocation training, coupled with job-placement efforts might be particularly useful in reducing labor market discrimination, and in providing an incentive for increased participation at other levels of education.  - 24 - III. EXISTING PROGRAMS AND NEXT STEPS 3.01 During the past decade, the Government, with assistance from NGOs and external aid agencies (including the World Bank), has begun to try and ease some of the constraints that make life especially difficult for Malawian women. So far, most things have been done through special womens' programs. These programs have a very important role and have the potential to be highly effective. However, the broader goal must be to design national policies and programs that give full recognition to the diversity of roles that women fill -- farmer, employee, entrepreneur, wife, mother and homemaker, student, citizen, and community member -- in order to integrate women into mainstream development. This will require examining policies and programs and taking appropriate actions at macro and micro levels, within all sectors, to ensure that women are not disadvantaged in their access to development opportunities. 3.02 With the establishment of NCWID in 1984, the foundations for developing coherent policies/programs to ensure full participation for women in development have begun to be laid, but much remains to be achieved. Clear distinctions need to be made among women who differ by socio-economic characteristics, patterns of production, regional, rural or urban background, etc. The special constraints that women face, and the interlinkages between them (para 2.01), may cause women to react differently from men. For example, women's time, land, labor and poor access to agricultural inputs may prevent them from responding to improved price incentives for farmers to increase output; their childcare and homemaking responsibilities may hinder them from taking advantage of new employment opportunities; and cultural expectations and attitudes may make families reluctant to allocate scarce resources to the education of girls. Inadequate understanding of these differences may result in unexpected responses to policy changes. 3.03 Overall, initiatives already underway are fragmented and project-oriented. The Ministries of Agriculture, Community Services, Health, and Trade and Industry and a number of NGOs have all received funding for projects for women, many of which have been initiated and defined by donors (Annex II). There is no comprehensive statement of development objectives targeting women -- Devpol u says very little about women -- and there is a consequent lack of programming and budgeting at the national and sectoral levels. More systematic gender-specific monitoring and evaluation of policy, program and project performance is needed. Progress towards this will require a consolidated effort, in which the NCWID, the Malawi Congress Party women's development organization (CCAM) and the Ministry of Local Government have important roles to play. 3.04 This section discusses existing policies and programs as they respond to the special constraints faced by women, as discussed in Section II. In addition to describing in some detail the content, coverage and institutional arrangements of these initiatives, an attempt is made to highlight areas for improvement or increased effort. av GOM, Statement of Development Policies, 1987-1996.  - 25 - Macroeconomic Policies 3.05 Shifts in Emphasis Macro-economic management has been pragmatic in Malawi, and sound policies have always given priority to growth. Until fairly recently, however, the strategy for achieving growth emphasized increasing agricultural exports (tobacco, tea and sugar) and related incentives to agricultural estates and surplus-producing farmers -- to the virtual exclusion of the smallholder sector in which women predominate. While the emphasis on growth and exports has remained steady during the present adjustment period, Government has become increasingly aware that in view of land and labor productivity constraints, there is need to place a new emphasis on smaller farmers and on human resource development. 3.06 Policy and programmatic shifts are underway in several sectors, most importantly in agriculture (paras 3.08 - 3.12). Another aspect of Government's new directions for development policy is a shift in budgetary allocations, to increase the shares going to the social sectors. Larger budgets would enable ministries such as Health, Community Services and Education, which have for technical reasons paid more attention to the needs of women, to expand or intensify current programs targetted to women and develop appropriate new ones. Finally, there is heightened concern within Government for the plight of the poor and for the identification of policies that are most promising in simultaneously addressing both growth and poverty reduction objectives. This is the central focus of the recent Country Economic Report, "Malawi: Growth through Poverty Reduction" (1990), which was endorsed by Government. In a country as poor as Malawi, there is less conflict between the two objectives than there would be if poverty were confined to a small segment of the population. In fact, about half of Malawi's population is estimated to be below the poverty line. As shown in Section II, women, and especially FHHs, are disproportionately represented among the poor. 3.07 Need for Explicit Focus on Women In the Malawian socio-economic context, a heightened concern for smallholder productivity, human resource development and poverty reduction is to some extent implicitly a concern for women. An explicit focus on the situation of women would improve the chances of successful programs and policies. Such an explicit focus on women in economic analysis and development policy formulation does not imply a view that women can be considered in isolation from the rest of the population, or that policies should be formulated specifically and separately for men and women. No one has felt the need to call for a special focus on men, and it is to be hoped that eventually women will be fully integrated in the development process, and that the differences in their situation will be lessened and no longer overlooked by decisions and policies, obviating the need for a 'special initiative' on women. Agriculture 3.08 Since the early 1980s, in response to the growing recognition of smallholder agricultural productivity issues, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has begun making important changes in research emphasis and delivery of extension services, in part aimed at better targetting of resource-poor farmers (including women). The key areas of focus are: the development of  - 26 - a high-yielding crop varieties suited to the consumption needs of small farmers (para 2.12); developing extension messages and agricultural practices that respond to the needs and constraints of resource-poor farmers; modifying the 'training and visit" extension method used so as to reach more farmers; targetting the fertilizer subsidy better; and reducing the size of seasonal credit packages to bring them within reach of the poor (see paras 3.13-3.16). In addition, options for assisting especially vulnerable households to obtain farm inputs and supplementary food to tide them over the "hungry season' are being tried. All of these initiatives should significantly benefit rural women, who, as already discussed, predominate in the resource-poor smallholder group. 3.09 Research A major shift in MOA's research program is underway that is trying to increase responsiveness to the needs and constraints of resource-poor farmers. Within this overall objective, the highest priority needs to be given to ongoing research efforts to develop a hard endosperm, high-yielding maize variety with the favorable pounding and storage qualities of local maize. Developing a groundnut variety which could be planted after maize would help relieve planting and weeding bottlenecks. More emphasis needs to be given to inter-cropping with leguminous species, which has a number of benefits: it provides the maize with extra nitrogen, greatly increasing yields; helps control soil erosion and improve soil structure; provides a source of fuel; improves the soil's ability to retain water in marginal rainfall areas; and smothers weeds, thus reducing labor costs; and supplements family food supply and/or farm income. 3.10 Extension Services Many farmers -- particularly women with very small landholdings -- still remain outside the reach of the extension service. However, since the early 1980s steps have been taken (usually on a trial basis in small areas at first) to make extension messages, services and input packages more appropriate to the needs of resource poor farmers, especially women. For example, in a successful initiative in Phalombe in 1982/83, achievement of the goal of reaching women farmers with extension messages was largely attributed to the use of a problem-solving participatory approach instead of lectures and demonstrations. This enabled anxious first-time borrowers to discuss their needs and concerns with the extension staff, to estimate their expected yield increases and plan how they could repay loans. Assisted by the Bank's Benor initiative, extension workers in Mzuzu ADD have been establishing small demonstration plots on farmers' own fields (in addition to the MOA demonstration plots), a significant proportion of which are on the farms of resource-poor women who are less likely to attend scheduled MOA extension meetings. More systematic attempts should also be made to use womens' credit clubs, where these exist (see paras 3.13-3.16), as channels for disseminating agricultural extension messages, using participatory teaching techniques to the extent feasible. 3.11 Farm Inputs Since 1986, the main input (besides seeds) used by smallholder farmers -- fertilizer -- has been made available in small packs which are more affordable. There is high demand for these smaller packs from poorer farmers (including women). For example, in Phalombe RDP in 1988/89, small packs accounted for 22 percent of the total credit disbursed. Some MOA staff remain skeptical about the credit-worthiness of farmers who are unable to pay cash for small amounts of fertilizer, or who  - 27 - are reluctant to take larger amounts of credit. However, the previously cited experiment in Phalombe in 1982183 which extended very small credit packages (fertilizer for 0.2-0.4 ha. of local maize) to 520 women found that even the poorest women farmers had excellent repayment rates. MOA has ambitious targets for doubling the number of farmers who take agricultural credit (usually available in the form of seeds and fertilizer) within the next 5 years, and is trying to develop better extension methods that will help achieve this. The MOA is also trying to devise better ways to target its existing fertilizer subsidy to poor farmers, who have reduced their use of fertilizer due to recent price increases (para 1.07). 3.12 Seasonal Assistance to Poor Farmers Options for assisting especially vulnerable households (many of which are headed by women) to obtain farm inputs and supplementary food to tide them over the "hungry season" are being tried by Government, supported by the Bank, WFP, UNDP and the EEC. During the dry season, when rural families are not busy on their farms, there is very little ganyu work available. In addition to the community self-help construction and other projects that are carried out at this time, public works programs could provide short-term employment. It has been suggested that payment be made in food and fertilizer (and perhaps a cash component), with a forced savings effect achieved by deferring food and fertilizer delivery until the beginning of the planting season, when many families have depleted their food stocks (para 2.31). This might also help to reduce leakages through participants selling the fertilizer instead of using it on their own fields. Although the administrative and organizational demands might be formidable at first, this idea deserves testing. credit and Savings 3.13 Agricultural Credit Since the early 1980s there has been growing concern within the MOA about women farmers' limited access to credit (para 2.14). In 1981, the MOA Farm Home Economics Section which taught home management skills to rural women was renamed the Women's Program Section, and given a broader mandate to increase women's participation in agricultural programs and services. The FHAs began to encourage women to form groups, which were eligible for credit. A Women's Program Officer (WPO) was appointed for each ADD, and posts were established (although generally not filled) for Assistant WPO's in each ADD sub-division, or RDP (Rural Development Program). In 1983, MOA changed the general credit guidelines with the aim of bringing more women into the "mainstream" Farmers Club credit program as independent borrowers. Women were encouraged to join farmers clubs and allowed to take credit independently if they were heads of their own households or wives of husbands who were away for most of the year. Women's clubs were allowed to apply for credit without going through the Women's Program. The new guidelines give wives of club members automatic membership, making them eligible for seasonal credit as well. As a result of these changes, the female membership in farmers clubs has risen significantly in the past 2-3 years (Table 2.5). However, membership is still very low when compared with the total number of women smallholders, implying that continued (and intensified) efforts are needed.  - 28 - 3.14 Other Credit for Rural Women u Sources of capital and credit for off-farm income-generating activities (paras 3.17-3.21) are scarce. A few groups have received grants from various foreign embassies but these are distributed on an ad hoc basis. There are some savings and credit societies (for those who can meet the savings requirements) but currently this program reaches only a fragment of the rural population and has minimal participation of women. Recent efforts to make micro loans available to women for individual enterprises seem to be a more promising avenue for reaching the poorest rural women. For example, in 1984/85 the Ministry of Community Services (MOCS), with support from Gesellschaft Technischer Zussammenarbeit (GTZ), put in place a limited program to provide cash loans to rural women for income-generating projects. About 100 credit clubs were established as a subsidiary activity in areas served by a pilot project operated by the MOCS and funded by German bilateral aid. Each club has 10-15 members and was allocated MK500 from project funds. The membership fee is HK1.5. First loans of MX10 at 5 percent interest were given unconditionally to each member. Once the first loan had been repaid, women became eligible for a MK20 loan. Women used the credit to trade in maize, brew beer, prepare food for sale, and to onlend in smaller amounts and at much higher interest rates. Repayment has been high: in 1984/85, the most recent year for which data were available, 100 of 102 clubs repaid their loans. MI There seems to be a high potential for expansion of this Grameen Bank-type of credit scheme, and the new Malawi Mudzi Fund is a highly positive step in this direction. The Mudzi Fund has been established with IFAD funds, under the World Bank Smallholder Credit Project. A pilot effort began making loans in Mangochi and Chiradzulu districts in June 1990, and despite some setbacks, has had a very good first year. 3.15 Savings One reason for lower access to credit of many women (and other poor farmers) is their perceived poor credit-worthiness. Encouraging and helping members of women's groups (or other resource-poor farmers) to build up small savings would help overcome this perceived poor credit-worthiness and their own fear of being unable to repay credit. Many farmers, especially poor women, are illiterate, may never have handled a savings account or may not have easy access to a post office, and would need assistance and explanations of how savings accounts work. The commnity development workers, churches and other NGOs could play an important role in helping them to open accounts and save, and in facilitating the formation of groups of poorer farmers, which could then register with MOA as farmers clubs to be eligible for small input packages on credit. 3.16 One church-run hospital has been working with the local church (assisted by UNICEF) to encourage groups of poor women to save as a means of improving their access to agricultural credit. The beneficiaries in this case are members of the church women's groups, but could also be women attending the maternal and child care or nutrition clinics, or farmers with W See para 3.32 for details of credit targetted to small and medium scale enterprises (as distinct from the micro-loans discussed here). K The Situation of Women and Children, GOM and UNICEF, Lilongwe, 1988.  - 29 - gardens of size within a specified range -- say 0.1 - 0.4 hectare, or who have run out of food stocks by a specified period -- November of December for example. A modest incentive is provided to each person to open a savings account. Participants form savings clubs, as a basis for registering as farmers clubs, but maintain individual savings accounts. The ADD staff were consulted as to their willingness to register the new clubs, and to decide on appropriate input packages. These cost in the range of K35-K40, including club registration fees. A trustee account provides a mechanism for ensuring that savings accounts are not used for other purposes before payment for the agricultural inputs are due. The hospital administrator is the trustee, and the saver is unable to make withdrawals from the savings account without the trustee's signature. This scheme has the advantage of being very low cost, and hence could accommodate a large number of beneficiaries. The administration/ management requirements are modest, and it could be easily replicated by other NGOs. The scheme could greatly contribute to the goals of MOA in substantially expanding the reach of the extension services to poorer farmers. Off-Farm Income Generating Activities 3.17 The MOCS and. to a lesser extent, the Women's Program of MOA, assisted by several donors (UNICEF, GTZ, the Christian Service Committee, World Vision, and Save the Children Federation), are attempting to help groups of women to undertake income-generating activities. The MOCS program is implemented by two levels of extension agents. There are about 600 Home Craft Workers (HCWs) who have the most direct contact with rural women through the homecraft classes they organize and teach. HCWs are supervised and assisted by 122 female Community Development Assistants (CDAs). It is estimated that the network reaches about 1,700 women's groups that include 34,000 group members. Until recently, the MOCS program had emphasized traditional home economics skills (e.g. home decorating, sewing, childcare, baking), and in many respects was more relevant to better-off women or those living in urban environments than to poor rural women. However, in line with Government's new thrust to relieve poverty, MOCS is encouraging HCWs to develop income generating activities with rural women. M The existing homecraft groups are the starting point for the Ministry's nascent program, and tend to consist of wealthier rural women who are able to invest the surplus cash, time and labor that participation in the group requires. The promotion of micro-enterprises among these groups may well accentuate this trend because, at least in the early stages, these enterprises will demand even more resources than the sewing and cooking classes. 3.18 The program is greatly hampered by the extension workers' lack of training, transport and other resources, business expertise, and the MI For more information, see "A Needs Assessment for the Ministry of Community Services' New Program for Promotion of Income Generation for Rural Women", December 1989, Population and Human Resources Division, Southern Africa Department, World Bank. Much progress has been made since the Needs Assessment was done.  - 30 - support that a stronger, more established program might be able to provide. Most groups have tried collective cultivation (maize, groundnuts, beans, other vegetables), tailoring or animal husbandry. These activities do generate small profits, but have tended to be pursued more in support of the homecraft class than as a new development focus on poverty alleviation. The profits are commonly used to purchase materials (most often cloth for sewing) for the homecraft class resulting in an inefficient mixing of program goals. Women do not take home cash income nor does the group accumulate capital that would allow it to expand its productive capacity. There are exceptions to this pattern. A few groups are engaging in similar activities independently of their homecraft class that have the potential to expand into small businesses. In several cases the skills for the business were learned in homecraft classes and in this respect, the home economics content of the MOCS Women's Program has played an important role in women's production potential. 3.19 Through an Italian-funded project, the World Bank's Economic Development Insitute (EDI) is assisting MOCS's Magomero College to develop methodologies and materials for teaching simple business skills to HCWs and CDAs, so that they may better help rural women start microbusinesses. Case studies have recorded the experiences of numerous women entrepreneurs. The new World Bank Health Sector Project includes a sizeable WID component which is providing support to Magomero College to develop an Appropriate Technology Center; technical assistance, additional staff, vehicles and training for MOCS's WID program; and is introducing innovative income- generating and time-saving activities into 30 pilot villages around the country. The activities include bio-gas, hand-operated maize mills, handmade paper, bamboo and palm products and bee-keeping. 3.20 Within MOCS, there is also a longer-standing program to assist rural women establish businesses, supported by GTZ. This program (para 3.14) is well endowed and impressive for its technological applications and the opportunities it provides for poorer women to develop non-traditional and much needed job skills. The project targets the development of small businesses for women which involve food processing or other applications of appropriate technology that enable the group to add value to local resources. Established businesses include a groundnut oil press, a diesel- powered maize mill, fish processing, production of cement roofing tiles and fruit juice production. There is, however, some question as to replicability because of the heavy reliance on expatriate staff (thereby reducing participants' feeling of ownership of their projects) and because the program has not been well integrated with other MOCS activities. 3.21 Overall, MOCS investment in building a micro-enterprise program for women is a risk, given its limited institutional capacity in the area. The strongest reason to pursue such a strategy is need: as smallholders' ability to sustain their families from agriculture erodes, household survival increasingly depends on off-farm labor. In order to develop a viable program the MOCS would have to consider: (a) separating the traditional home economics activities from the micro-enterprise work to allow for an adequate focus on the latter and avoid the problems described in para 3.18 above; and (b) replacing current ad hoc efforts with an overall strategy and comprehensive program design, covering, inter alia, links with other ministries/programs, staff training and development,  - 31 - credit, transport and marketing issues, and methodology and workplan for training rural women. Labor-Relieving Programs 3.22 The demands that home and family maintenance make on women's time and energy limit labor available for income producing activities (paras 2.08-2.10), but can be eased by a wide range of actions. Closer access to clean water is important, so are improved rural transport services, development and diffusion of labor-saving food processing technologies and simple agricultural technology, and longer intervals between children and smaller families. With the exception of childbearing practices which are discussed in paras 3.37-3.38, details of Government efforts in these areas are given below. 3.23 Rural Water Supported by several donors, including the Bank, Malawi has built gravity-fed piped water systems in most of the rural areas where topographical conditions allow, and sunk boreholes and wells elsewhere. About one-third of the rural population are served by these supplies. Village water committees are responsible for maintenance, and although the system worked extremely well for a long time, it has developed problems. The Department of Water has lacked the resources to train communities in correct usage and maintenance, or to replace worn-out and broken taps and pumps, and the free-rider problem seems to be undermining the commitment of water committees. Appropriate remuneration to the committees may be one realistic option for maintaining their commitment and hence, community women's easy access to clean water. In addition, consideration should be given to cointracting rural water maintenance to women's groups, who are likely to have stronger incentives to maintain water since their labor is involved in fetching it. This has been attempted with reasonable success in other African countries, e.g. Ghana. 3.24 In addition to ensuring maintenance of existing clean water sources, continued high priority should be given to extending the coverage of the program to other rural communities. Moreover, bearing in mind women's labor and income constraints, to the extent that community labor can be involved in construction, attempts should be made to: provide appropriate remuneration in cash or food for construction work; encourage women's involvement in conatruction (using gender quotas if necessary); and, to the extent feasible, schedule rural water construction work during farming slack periods. 3.25 Puelwood There are significant regional imbalances in the supply and demand of firewood in Malawi -- population is concentrated in the Southern and Central Regions while most forests are in the less populated North. In the former two regions, therefore, firewood has been in increasingly short supply (exacerbated by rapid population growth), requiring increasing time and energy from rural women to collect fuelwood. In response, and with assistance from the Bank-financed Wood Energy II and Energy I projects, since 1986 the Government has been implementing a comprehensive program designed to promote tree planting by both smallholders and commercial users, inter alia through provision of subsidized seedlings, extension services and tree-planting incentive  - 32 - payments, and pricing reform, including substantial increases in wood prices for non-household uses. These measures should help halt the decline in wood availability in the short-run (through encouraging more efficient use) and increase wood supply in the longer run, thus preventing any worsening of (and eventually improving) rural women's access to firewood. In addition, aspects of the program which provide incentives and extension advice to smallholders for developing woodlots could prove a source of incremental income to some rural women provided care is taken to monitor and encourge the participation of FHHs and other women farmers in the scheme. The degree to which women are already involved is not known, but should be studied carefully (including determining reasons for non- participation, if this is found to be the case). 3.26 Another aspect of reducing the time and labor women spend in gathering firewood is to develop and disseminate improved stoves that are more energy-efficient than the traditional ones currently in use. A small project is manufacturing and marketing energy-efficient, simple stoves. These "giko' stoves are proving popular with urban women, and are a good income source to the women who manufacture their ceramic liners. Efforts to introduce the giko and other improved stoves in rural areas have not been very successful, because they failed to take into account that the stoves lacked the other functions of fires: providing light and warmth (as well as cooking heat). More careful testing and soliciting of Malawian rural women's requirements and ideas is clearly needed. The Energy Project intends to modify the giko for rural use. It might make sense to adapt successful stove designs developed for rural use in other African countries (e.g., in Tanzania's UNICEF-supported Iringa project). 3.27 Transport and Mobility While there is little doubt that the transport needs of rural women are great (based on what is known of women's work and household responsibilities and experience in other comparable African countries), little is known of Malawian women's effective demand for various transport options. A thorough assessment of rural transport needs is required and should be grounded in careful analysis of household factors associated with transport requirements, including ability to pay. In the absence of such information, it is difficult to estimate likely demand for and developmental impact of expanded rural transport services or large-scale manufacturing of transport aids. It is planned that the Government, with assistance from the ILO, would undertake a detailed, gender-specific, study of transport/travel and "headloading" practices of rural Malawian households, which should be an important step in determining transport demand and economic costs of under-investment in rural transport infrastructure. In addition, given the poverty of the majority of rural households, options for increasing the affordability of rural transport also deserve careful consideration. 3.28 The Government, supported by the ILO and the Bank, has discussed developing a pilot integrated rural transport project to be implemented in one district in each of Malawi's three regions. The idea is to increase the availability of non-motorized wheeled vehicles, upgrade rural tracks and trails and identify non-transport interventions such as improved water supply and crop storage facilities which could reduce transport costs for rural households. The target beneficiaries would be smallholder farmers (men and women) living within the radius of influence of selected rural  - 33 - market centers and special consideration would be given to the target sub- groups of small-scale entrepreneurs, female headed households and the virtually landless (presently engaged in casual porterage). The project would also include an institution-building component designed to develop a rural transport planning process at the district level. It would also be possible and very useful to evaluate the total transport demands of rural Malawian households through a baseline survey and continuous monitoring of the impact of project interventions. 3.29 Food Processing Technology Some attempts have been made to develop affordable and simple time- and energy-saving devices that would ease the serious constraints on women's time and labor. For example, a hand-operated maize sheller has been developed by the Farm Machinery Unit at Chitedze Research Station. w Output using the sheller is 30-50 kilograms per hour, three times the rate for hand shelling. Work is also being done to develop a hand operated groundnut sheller, although the irregular shape of the commonly grown Chalimbana variety complicates the problem. The technology teams need to liaise with MOA and ADHARC's marketing experts so that effort is not wasted on a machine suited to a variety that is not readily marketable, and so that MOA can promote varieties that are more amenable to mechanical shelling. The GTZ/MOCS project is working on improved designs for ox-carts, and efforts are underway to develop a local version of a hand-powered German groundnut oil extractor, but the projected cost (at least MK 30,000) will be prohibitive for rural households. Other models need to be considered; for example, Tanzania produces a less expensive 'ghani" oil press, designed like a giant mortar with a rotary weight-loaded pestle that produces a liter of oil an hour, that might be a more suitable prototype. 3.30 MOCS commissioned a study of needs and opportunities for food processing technology, carried out in 1988 with assistance from UNIFEM. MI A survey of 300 women in three districts, one from each region, was carried out. The report made several suggestions for promising technologies. The most interesting idea was a simple solar dryer that could be used for drying vegetables, fish or cassava. The design is simple and cheap; a wooden A-frame with a plastic sheeting covering which would concentrate the sun's rays, speed up drying time hence reducing mould and fungal growth and increasing nutrient content while protecting the food from contamination and infestation by fecal dust and parasite eggs. The prototype has been tested at Bunda College, and found to improve food taste and color as well. The study also noted that there were a limited number of power-driven maize and cassava mills (mostly owned by men) that could be provided as business opportunities for groups of women, if they could be lu The sheller consists of two cylinders. The inner-toothed one is revolved by a crank handle. The sheller is welded to a small mounting pad. It is durable, easy to use, made of readily available materials and can be made in different sizes for different maize varieties. The price (about MK 150) is out of reach of most individual women, but a group might be able to buy one together, and rent it out to other women. u "Women and Food Processing in Malawi", R. Mkandawire, J.Asiedu and B.Mtimuni, (Project MLW/87/WOI).  - 34 - helped to raise the capital and trained in operation, maintenance and simple business skills. A project proposal to act on some of the report's recommendations was formulated, but implementation has not begun. 3.31 Much more attention needs to be given to the development or adaptation of labor-saving household technologies and to their (fide dissemination in rural Malawi. This would help relieve the shortage of labor that is a major constraint on the income earning potential of women farmers, especially FHHs (paras 2.03 - 2.10). Local achievements and efforts to develop simple inexpensive labor-saving technology need to be publicized better and supported, with priority given to testing, producing and marketing the best results. The experience and technologies available in other countries need to be better investigated, and adapted and adopted where appropriate for Malawi. The MOCS has begun to do this under a special grant from the World Bank. Also, there is a need for an institutional focal point within Government to coordinate development activities in this area and to assist with the dissemination of technologies once available. Wage Employment 3.32 Thus far, Government has given little attention to developing policies or programs to improve the participation of women in the formal sector. Given the relatively small proportion of women in wage employment and the fact that many in formal non-agricultural employment have relatively privileged backgrounds, it may be rational to focus first on the situation of poor rural women as the Government has tended to do. However, to the extent that gender discrimination is not based on productivity differences and has inefficiency costs, there may be justification in moving to enact legislation to prohibit discrimination as many developed and developing countries have done. While enforcement is likely to be costly and difficult, such legislation can be an important signal to employers that the Government is committed to equitable treatment of women workers. A second area in which improvement is possible is in the hiring of workers for public works projects, particularly in rural areas. As discussed in para 3.24 above, efforts should be made to allow women equal access to a range of construction work, if necessary through the establishment of quotas. Government actions to improve female enrollment throughout the education system (see para 3.40) should also help increase women's access to formal sector jobs. The Informal Sector 3.33 Several of the institutions that provide credit and/or other technical and business advisory services and training to small-scale entrepreneurs are trying to reach more women. Nearly one-third of the loans extended by the Small Enterprise Development Organisation of Malawi (SEDOM) are to women, although these account for less than 10 percent of the total funds lent. INDEFUND, which provides much larger loans ranging from MK1O,000 to MK75,000, lends to a very much smaller percentage of women, and has recently set up a women's program. The Development of Malawian Traders' Trust (DEMATT) launched a women's program in July 1989,  - 35 - with the aim of increasing the proportion of its clients who are women well beyond the 10 percent achieved by 1990. Women's World Banking of Malawi registered in early 1990, and in 1991, an enterprising Malawian woman started a National Association of Business Women to provide support and training, and help to improve access to capital. These developments are taking place in a fairly supportive environment, which derives from Government's reliance on expansion of the small-scale sector (formal and informal) as crucial to increasing employment and raising income levels. Government would like to see more financial and technical assistance going to this sector, and is reviewing regulations, rules and practices that affect and inhibit the sector. Nutrition and Food Availability 3.34 Aside from the initiatives being undertaken within agriculture and other sectors to increase household food production and incomes, Government is also providing direct nutritional support to malnourished mothers and children through the health care system. A WFP-supported supplemental feeding program is now operating at all health facilities managed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and by the Private Hospital Association of Malawi (PHAM). Under the program, children, hospital in- patients and women in ante- and post-natal programs identified as malnourished or otherwise at-risk are provided special rations consisting of maize meal, dried whole milk and vegetable oil to supplement their normal diets. However, the program's coverage is limited by the attendance at health facilities. In addition, iron and folic acid supplements are distributed to all women receiving ante-natal care and there are plans to provide Vitamin A supplements to every mother delivering at a maternity facility. With World Bank and UNICEF support, nutrition education is also provided to women when they bring children in to clinics for well-baby visits and growth monitoring. 3.35 The MOH and MOLG, supported by the Bank, UNDP, UNICEF and WFP, have also introduced an integrated program to improve food security and nutrition of targeted vulnerable households, by delivering subsidized fertilizer and seeds and food. A relatively succesful experimental initiative has been implemented by a PHAM hospital for several years. The target beneficiaries of the program pilot are poor farming families with severely malnourished children under five, who neither grow enough nor are able to buy adequate additional food, and have little option but to do ganyu labor during the peak agricultural season. Beneficiary families are selected by health workers and community leaders, from among clients of the nutrition and supplemental feeding clinics. Many are FHHs not receiving significant transfers. Fertilizer, improved maize seed and seeds for inter-cropping are provided. These families tend to have had little or no prior contact with the agricultural extensive service, and no experience of growing improved maize varieties, so MOA extension staff need to ensure that the farmers understand how and when to plant and apply the basal dressing of fertilizer. Once that is done, families receive a family food ration, so that they do not have to leave their own fields to do ganyu labor. Conditional upon properly applying the inputs, the families receive top-dressing fertilizer and a second food ration.  - 36 - 3.36 The outcome in terms of farm output and family nutrition needs to be carefully monitored. One-off subsidized input packages should raise yields significantly, and the demonstration effect is likely to be strong. Participating farmers need to be encouraged to form credit clubs. Their contact with the agricultural extension network and experience with improved seeds should give them the confidence and knowledge to use seasonal credit to obtain fertilizer in subsequent years, so that their improved food supply can be maintained. Because the ultimate goal is to increase self-sufficiency of rural women, and to avoid encouraging welfare dependence, its potential for wide-spread application is relatively high. If, after careful monitoring over two or three years, this approach appears to be effective, replicable and affordable, high priority should be given to its broad expansion. Maternal Health and Child Spacing 3.37 Access to Health Care Since 1982-83, Government has paid increasing attention to maternal health issues, making maternal and child health services, including child-spacing services the center-piece of its primary health care (PHC) effort. With donor assistance, the number of rural PHC facilities (including mobile clinics) has been increased considerably, reducing the distance many women must walk for care. The UNICEF-supported expanded program of immunization has reached more than 80 percent of children -- the resulting reduction in childhood diseases will relieve the claims that sick children make on their mothers in addition to benefiting the children themselves. Strongly supported by the United Nations Family Planning Association, UNICEF and the World Bank (through three Health Projects since 1983), the health system has made rapid progress in increasing women's utilization of ante-natal and delivery services. Ministry of Health data indicate that over four out of five women now have at least one antenatal visit and on average they have more than three visits. In addition, it is estimated that about half of all births take place either in a health facility or under the supervision of a trained person, usually a Traditional Birth Attendant. Also noteworthy is the increase in access to child-spacing services, although coverage and use-rates are still very low (para 2.35). As noted in para. 2.36, maternal mortality and morbidity are still extraordinarily high, indicating the need for continued improvements in health and child-spacing services. 3.38 Child-spacing Services Child-spacing is one of the most cost- effective ways of reducing maternal mortality and also has implications for the demands on women's time and energy. The main emphasis in program development should be to improve access to contraceptive services. This would involve: (a) phasing and accelerating training so that at least one staffperson at each and every health care facility can offer non-clinical contraceptive methods; (b) broadening the criteria for the use of various contraceptive methods (the present stringent age and parity restriction on the use of some methods are inappropriate, given that the mortality risks of pregnancy far outweigh the health risks of contraception); (c) increasing awareness of the problems associated with high fertility and the health risks of frequent pregnancies, births outside the "safe motherhood" age range (18-35 years) ard inadequately-spaced births by delivering more education and information through schools, the media, workshops and  - 37 - seminars, health workers, NGOs and political, community and church leaders; and (d) accelerating introduction of community-based distribution of contraceptives and of provision of information and education through the media, suitable NGOs (such as the recently-established Family Welfare Association) and field staff of non-health ministries including the MOCS and the MOA. MOH is moving ahead on several of these fronts. 3.39 Care of High-Risk Pregnancies Apart from strengthening child- spacing services, improvements are needed in the system for referral and care of high-risk pregnancies. This would require that high-risk women be identified as early as possible in pregnancy and that good community level ante-natal care be complemented by good access to obstetrical care at first-referral level, where assistance from trained personnel, Caesarian sections and blood transfusions are available. In addition, an effective system to communicate need for and prompt provision of transport is needed. This would cost roughly US$ 2 per capita, probably too much for Malawi to spend in the short-run, given severe budgetary constraints. Improvements nevertheless would be possible by using such approaches as the maternity village, in which women with high risk pregnancies stay at low-cost shelters near referral facilities to await onset of labor. Education and Training 3.40 General Education The Government's efforts to increase the number of places at all levels of the education system, and to improve school quality through a comprehensive reform program which began in 1985, benefit girls in proportion to their enrollment share, i.e., something less than boys. av However, several steps have been taken to improve enrollment rates of girls. Fees in the first four primary standards are to be phased out, which will benefit girls, particularly if poor families give lower priority to educating girls. One third of places in secondary schools and in primary school teacher training colleges are now reserved for girls. The MOEC has an ambitious research project underway to investigate the determinants of school quality and educational attainment, that may help to explain why girls do not perform as well, on average, as boys. As part of the project, specific research is underway into the reasons why girls have such high dropout rates. The research on dropout and school achievement of girls is of high priority, and any feasible and affordable actions to address these problems to which the research results point, should be implemented without delay. If pregnancy is the reason why many girls drop out of school, Government should consider allowing young The reform program includes policy changes to reduce primary school dropout and repetition rates and to improve the fee structure, better teacher training and supervision, provision of more and better text books and other learning aids, revision of the curriculum and detailed research into the determinants of school quality which should help to guide future decisions. Further details are given in the staff appraisal report of the 'Malawi: Second Education Sector Credit", Report No. 7734-HAI, July 1989.  - 38 - mothers to reenter the education system after the baby's birth. gv Immediate consideration should also be given to introducing special incentives for better school achievement -- bursaries and performance prizes -- for girls. 3.41 Non-formal Education Given present high illiteracy rates among adult women, non-formal adult literacy and numeracy programs are particularly important. The adult literacy program had flagged during the 19708. In 1981, however, the MOCS (supported by UNICEF) began a new impetus -- the National Adult Literacy Program, targeted primarily to women, out-of-school youth and young adults. Full coverage of all rural areas is intended in different phases, and 160 new CDAs are being trained as instructors each year. The Program is intended to reach more than 2 million people by 1995. Substantial resources have been budgeted for program implementation. To ensure high returns to these resources, and to the considerable investment of participants' scarce time, the Program should be carefully monitored, looking particularly at skill retention rates and the functional content of the literacy materials. The materials should provide women with critical information, especially with regard to family planning practices, new opportunities, such as new credit programs like the Mudzi Fund and the availability of smaller, more affordable agricultural input credit packages. This will require periodic revision of the basic reading materials, production of supplementary materials and short in-service training of field staff in their use; and better coordination among the Literacy Program and other government agencies who have information to be disseminated. 3.42 Communications media other than reading materials could also be used more to educate women on a variety of topics relevant to their lives. Better use of radio is one potential avenue. There is one radio station, with plans for a second (and some discussion about introducing television, although this would be expensive and reaching relatively few people). The 1977 census estimated that 17 percent of households owned radios. This low number and the prohibitive price and poor quality of batteries limit listenership. However, access to solar powered or mechanically rechargeable radios could be provided to groups of rural women through credit clubs, homecraft groups, churches, schools $U etc. Programming could be improved through training in communication skills for Ministry staff responsible for program development. There has been little concern with gender specificity in communication strategies to help development staff reach women (and men) more effectively, and little systematic evaluation of the success and impact of radio programs or other non-formal training efforts. ^2 This is one of the recomendations of a workshop on "Increasing Access of Girls and Women in Education and Training" held by NCWID and MOEC in July 1990. A workshop report (Ref. IN/2/15/Vol.IV) was produced by MOEC. WU Most schools' radios are out of order or out of batteries, but there are plans to remedy this as one component of the IDA Second Education Sector Credit for Malawi, which became effective in April 1990.  - 39 - Institutional Arrangements for Women in Development 3.43 National Commission on Women in Development The NCWID was established in 1984 after a 1982 UN-funded seminar to discuss national machinery for the integration of women in development. It is chaired by the MOCS. Membership includes Ministry and University representatives, CCAM, parastatals, religious organizations, NGOs and PVOs. Seven committees have been formed to focus on different areas, and there is a Government-dominated Executive Board (Annex III, Figures 1 and 2). NCWID has a coordinating and catalytic role. The specific objectives it has set for itself are to: (a) assist in the establishment of institutions to formulate, implement and monitor women's programs; (b) coordinate all women in development (WID) programs; (c) promote awareness of opportunities provided by the government to women; and (d) evaluate the contribution that women make to development. In addition, the committees have formulated their own specific objectives and agenda; for example, the committee on Small and Medium-Scale Industries aims to ensure that women become more aware of the availability of credit, training, and marketing opportunities and is working towards creating an affiliate to Women's World Banking. 3.44 The Commission has formulated and initiated research agendas, convened meetings and workshops, and contributed to discussions and plans for various activities, including the recent decision to introduce family life education in schools and the establishment of the National Family Welfare Council. iM Although there is considerable commitment by individual members and the leadership, and much progress has been made, several things undermine NCWID's effectiveness: (a) there is limited institutional capacity in many Ministries to deal with WID issues in a systematic manner (MOCS and MOA Women's Program are obvious exceptions). Many representatives are willing but lack resources; (b) the Commission itself lacks resources; (c) it is not clear how some of the objectives of the NCWID are to be met - for instance, there are no set procedures and actions for coordination, which weakens NCWID's ability to prevent duplication of donor efforts targeted to women; and (d) the Secretariat is administratively part of MOCS and cannot raise and administer funds independently. This has positive aspects, but may prevent the NCWID from being fully recognized as a national entity in its own right with its own resources and responsibilities. 3.45 Although some countries have decided to establish separate ministries for women's affairs, in Malawi, strengthening NCWID would be a better strategy -- less costly, and more likely to facilitate the integration of gender concerns in all mainstream sector activities. However, NCWID should be strengthened through strengthening its links with the Ministry of Finance (MOP) and Economic Planning and Development and 4v For example, the committee on Education and Training has sponsored research on female attrition from secondary school, and the committee on Family Health and Welfare has formulated research proposals dealing with psychiatric problems among women, and with decision-making in the context of family health. The Legal committee reviewed the Country Report drafted by the MOCS and submitted to the UN Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  - 40 - through appointment of one or more full-time staff to its Secretariat. In addition, NCWID should consider maintaining an up-to-date list of all activities (projects, programs, research etc.) targetted specifically to women, and work through its members to encourage line ministries to define objectives in a gender-specific way. If feasible, Ministry representatives to NCWID should be released from some of their other responsibilities to enable them to do more to promote women's issues within their Ministries. 3.46 CCAM CCAM was established in 1985 as a women's development organization under the umbrella of the Malawi Congress Party, distinct from the Women's League of tne Party (WL), which has long existed. CCAM is unusual in providing a strong potential women's political institution, (the close proximity of the CCAM office to those of the Life President and the Secretary to the President and Cabinet is an indication of its status). There are CCAM committees in each of the 24 districts in the country, the chaired of each also chairs the district WL committee. CCAM sees itself as a 'tool for mobilizing women, for example encouraging them to grow more crops for themselves and for funds for the organization'. 1W In addition to the money raised through nation-wide activities, CCAM has received funding from some donors, private sector businesses and employees, and other organizations. 3.47 CCAM has the clear advantages of access to a well-organized country-wide Party network, and of being in a very strong position to raise funds. Initially, CCAM focused on charitable causes. More recently its efforts have been directed at income-generation activities (iga) by rural women's groups. Trainir.g seminars have been held in which MOCS staff have participated, feasibility studies have been completed for 3 areas, and a project officer and economist hired. However, CCAM's focus on iga is the third separate initiative in this area (paras 3.17 to 3.21 describe the MOCS and MOA programs). It has some strengths that the MOCS and MOA lack, but there are disadvantages to having another duplicative program. There is also the possibility (although Ministry and CCAM officials disagree) of a blurring of political and developmental agendas. 3.48 CCAM is making a special effort to highlight its work and women's issues in the media, and succeeds in attracting public attention to the needs of vulnerable women. Given the political strength of CCAM and the strong communication skills of its management and senior staff, strengthening CCAM with a technical specialist in development support communication could significantly improve their input to both written media and to broadcasting. More could be done through CCAM's media coverage to provide development support for women by equipping them with information that would improve their access to opportunities available within the system, and helping counter stereosyped preconceptions of women. 3.49 Women in Government Women's participation in national policy- making and planning is limited by the extremely small numbers of women in high level Government jobs, especially outside the traditional "feminine" areas such as welfare, home economics, health and education. Two Principal Secretaries (PS) are women - the PS of MOCS, who chairs the National v Mission interview with CCAM PS and National Coordinator.  - 41 - Commission on Women in Development, and the PS who heads CCAM within the Office of the President and Cabinet. MOH, MOCS, and MOEC have several relatively senior women professionals, and there is one woman at next-to-PS level in MOA. Only fourteen of the 112 Members of Parliament are women. 3.50 Women are very poorly represented in local government. In 1984, 89 percent of the 548 Local Councillors were men, 7 percent of seats were vacant and only 5 percent were filled by women (most in the southern and central regions). I The balance was slightly better in Urban Councils than in (rural) District Councils, with 17 percent of women councillors, and about the same in the District Development Councils. Educational requirements are a barrier to election for most women. Women civil servants, who are likely to be more educated, may not serve. There is a much stronger presence of women in village committees (although this varies by area and committee function). Low representation of women in local government and among party executives militates against consideration of gender issues in decision-making, reduces the chance that women will learn of opportunities open to them, and reinforces the perception that women cannot attain or are unsuited for positions of policy influence. WID Information Base 3.51 A rich body of gender-;pecific data and research exists for Malawi, although it takes time ad effort to find it. i- Especially Impressive are the MOEC annual statistics, and the availability of agricultural data by gender of the household head, both routine annually collected data and the 1980?81 National Agricultural Survey. The 1987 census is a rich potential source of data, but processing and publication has been slow. MOCS has commissioned several key pieces of research, including a study to identify how improvements in food processing technology could free more time and energy for women's productive activities. However, much of the existing data and information is not readily available, its existence is not widely known, and there are some inconsistencies and gaps. Some Ministries do not distinguish by gender in their data collection. The National Research Council of Malawi (which coordinates and approves all research) plans to establish a computerized national documentation center with UNESCO assistance, but does not intend to include women in development as a separate information category; instead, the establishment of a separate WID documentation center is IV This is quite comparable for other African countries. M.S. Shaul, 1981, The Status of Women in Local Government Around the World, International Union of L.ocal Authorities, The Hague, reported percentages of women councillors in 1979s Morocco and Rwanda, less than 1 percent; Ivory Coast 1.3 percent; Tunisia, Cameroon and Togo, 5-6 percent; Cape Verde 7 percent, Burkina Faso 8 percent, and Sierra Leone 15.6 percent. Greece, France and Luxembourg were in the same range, UK was 17 percent and Finland 24 percent. lu See Annex IV and the Bibliography of Resources Held at Bunda College of Agriculture, by C.W.P.Kishindo, 1986, Bunda College, Lilongwe (copy available from the author of this report on request).  - 42 - planned under a UNDP/FAO project. All NCWID members should contribute to the establishment and continual updating of the proposed documentation center, which should be easily accessible to government, donor and other agency staff, and researchers. 3.52 There is a clear need for better socio-economic baseline data for projects targeted to women. However, this should not be interpreted as primarily a need for more research to be done by outsiders and published outside Malawi. It would be much more useful to draw on local professional expertise, and to use participatory and problem-oriented research methods that involve local women themselves. This would generate a much better understanding of the problems and needs of specific groups of women, and provide a sounder basis for designing projects and programs.  - 43 - ANNEX I Page 1 of 4 STATISTICAL ANNEX Table lt Selected Population Densities in Sub-Saharan Africa Population Density - Arable Land Per Capita------ Country (PersonslSs.km) Total Population Rural Population Cameroon (1986) 22.4 3.34 5.23 Tanzania (1988) 26.0 2.2 2.59 Senegal (1985) 26.0 1.6 2.42 Kenya (1985) 36.0 0.7 0.86 Nigeria (1985) 107.0 0.71 1.01 Malawi (1987) 85.0 0.67 0.76 Source: Lele and Stone 1989, p.63 Table 2: Women Working on their Own Holdings, 1966 and 1977 Females as Percent Average Annual of Employment Group Growth Rates (S) 1966 1977 Female Male Both Full year (10-12 months)62 69 2.1 -1.4 0.9 Part year (1-9 months) 8 24 27.8 11.0 11.9 Source: Government of Malawi and UNICEF, The Situation of Women and Children in Malawi, September 1987, Lllongwe, Malawi, p.33.  - Tobl. 8: AD Agricultural Sesonal Crodit by Gender, 1986/67 -19e/8S 1986/87 e197/b 1 ersh9 ADD Clubs Membership of wieb t Clubs 1967/8 p of which: Clubs Y_brship of which: 1e110 woo" Xemei M. e 3 vm i wen Ih Wo_mn X *o_en Karonga 614 9,422 6,656 2,707 29.43i S8 9,068 ,0333 2,726 86.1x I s 9,565 6,689 2,686 ".e MUzu 496 14,MG 16,167 3,863 27.6 I 776 21,947 14,151 7,196 32.3 I 622 21,381 14,923 0,465 8.2X h*usu 2,662 02,215 45,066 1S,260 29.8X 2,141 6S,76 40,984 17,626 .3a3x 2,195 60,865 46,695 19.765 86.6 Lilongwe 2,321 65.747 53,730 12,69 30.33 2,583 76,461 9.9911 15,406 26.5X 2,666 113,222 96,678 22,044 26.63 sallm 662 11,664 0,20 1,084 16.23 640 12.400 16,66 2,424 16. C% 1,621 26.656 15,762 4,204 21.43 Lhwondd 91 19,656 16,717 5,89 28.6 1,013 24,961 10,721 3,246 88.0X j 1,418 32,926 22.61 10,86 8.63X Blantyre 681 18,622 16,273 6,249 44.65 1,069 8U,766