T HE GENDER EQUALITY CHARADE A Critical Perspective on the Adoption and Implementation of 40/60 Gender Quota in Malawi

Abstract

While gender quotas have been widely adopted by countries around the world as an affirmative action to enhance women’s participation and representation in politics and other public spheres, the impact of the phenomenon continue to vary across national borders. Notably, substantive research suggests that gender quotas promote representational equality and improve women's participation in politics and other spheres of public life. This has influenced the global popularisation of gender quotas as an “easy fix” to eliminate patriarchy and achieve equality of presence both in the political and public sectors. However, critics of gender quotas question “whether being in a place of power is sufficient on its own to empower and achieve meaningful equality” (Hopp, 2015, p. 1). It is from this background that this research sets out to critically examine the adoption and diffusion of the 40/60 gender quota in Malawi. Rooted in postcolonial theory, the paper focuses on the role of development partners in influencing gender equality policies and strategies and how it impacts the policy implementation processes in donor-dependent nations like Malawi. Two qualitative research methods were used in this paper. Firstly, I used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyse Malawi's national gender equality policy. Secondly, I used the results from the CDA to inform further research through interviews with key informants to reveal sites of conflict submerged in the development, adoption and implementation of the 40/60 gender quota and gender equality policy in Malawi. I argue that whilst development partners have been fundamental in the promotion and institutionalisation of gender equality policies and programs in Malawi, aid provided to foster these programs has contributed to the creation of overambitious policy documents that consistently fail to be effectively implemented as they do not adequately address the need for structural reform and do not take into account the country’s level of gender equality.