Impact of Education Programs on Gender Disparity in Malawi: A Women's Health Perspective

This paper explores the impact of education programs on gender disparity in Malawi from a women's health perspective. It discusses the low literacy rate of women in Malawi, education programs such as free primary education, conditional cash transfer, social cash transfer, GEWE program, YESA program and their impact on declining gender disparity. The paper concludes that education is essential for empowering women and reducing gender disparity in Malawi.

An Exploration of the Impact of Education Programs on
Gender Disparity in Malawi: A women’s Health Perspective
0 | P a g e

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
The literacy rate of women and gender disparity in Malawi........................................................................2
Education program in Malawi.....................................................................................................................3
Free Primary education............................................................................................................................3
Conditional cash transfer.........................................................................................................................4
Social cash transfer..................................................................................................................................4
GEWE program.......................................................................................................................................5
YESA program........................................................................................................................................5
Impact of education program in declining gender disparity.........................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8
1 | P a g e

Introduction
Gender disparity is the common problem that is being faced by the entire world (Ellsberg et al.,
2015). Due to the discrimination in gender in many countries like Malawi, women have to face
various health issues along with the education problem and other problems. In Malawi, the
impact of gender disparity is huge which is creating issue especially for women in the country
(Haberland, 2015). It also creates discrimination for providing education system to female in
Malawi. The purpose of this paper is to provide a view on the primary problem of Malawi that is
gender disparity and also the various ways government have taken to deal with the issue in the
country.
The literacy rate of women and gender disparity in Malawi
Gender disparity is the idea where the men are provided with high importance in the society
whereas, women are considered to be the neglected part of the society. It is one of the crucial
facts of the entire world and in Malawi still, it is one of the biggest facts of study. Due to this
gender disparity, it can be seen that women of Malawi did not have a proper education system
and for that, the literacy rate of women is quite low in the country (Dellar, Dlamini, and Karim,
2015). Low level of an education system can be visualized in the status of women in Malawi
through the free universal primary education is being introduced in the year 1994 show the
inclination of student's enrolment for the education system. It can be seen that still in the present
day boys are provided more priority than the girl and for that, in the secondary education system
and in the higher education system the percentage of women is quite low. Girls in Malawi is
provided with education in the primary level only and after that maximum number of girl did not
get the chance to gain education and literacy (Haas et al., 2016).
Education is the only way that provides suitable and effective healthcare system for the people
and due to the lack of education for women, they are suffering most with the health problem. In
the recent years, the government has provided a various program for increasing the literacy rate
and to provide effective education system to the people. Education is the basic program that
helps to develop a society and for that, both the male and female need proper education without
any kind of gender disparity (Kowalczyk, Randolph, Stokes, and Winston, 2015). In Malawi the
gender disparity is huge and this can be understood from the facts that for farming and other
various activity huge amount of credit is provided to the men rather than women. The health
2 | P a g e

condition of Malawi people is not suitable as it can be seen that about 50% of the young people
in Malawi is confiscated by HIV infections (Tweya et al., 2014). This is due to the reason of low
level of education system among the people of Malawi. It can be also seen that the higher
literacy rate within the Malawian women is directly affecting the health condition of the country.
The time is changing and to uplift the society it is essential to educate women for the
development of health.
Education program in Malawi
Education is the vital fact for the people of Malawi and for development of the country as well as
the health condition of the people, the government has initially taken the step to provide suitable
and effective education to the people of Malawi. In this education program, the primary concept
is to educate the women of the country to lead the country in the most effective and suitable way.
Malawian students have the lowest rank in the education system in Africa and for that, it became
essential to provide effective literacy program to the children. The condition of Malawi became
worst and to deal with the issue, USAID with the collaboration of ministry of education,
technology as well as science for the support of education system in the country. Various kind of
education programs are provided and this help to maintain the health sector of the country.
Women, in this case, need much support for their literacy development and this could eventually
help the country to uplift their economic condition as well as a health condition. These programs
in the coming years have the ability to improve the literacy rate of the country and provide them
suitable education system while reducing the gender disparity.
Free Primary education
The free primary education program is the governmental program where all the students have the
ability to get a free education at the primary level. This program is being introduced in the
country in the year 1994 to increase the education level in Malawi. The enrolment of students in
the primary school has been increased but the problem begins with the suitable classroom and
teachers for providing education (Behrman, 2015). Prior to this program, the primary education
ratio for male and female was 68:52, but with this program, the ratio increased to 142:128 which
is quite effective for the country. The program is quite effective for attracting the students to gain
their primary education but the problem is with the teachers and resources within the school.
This is due to the problem that previously most of the people in Malawi did not involve in any
3 | P a g e

kind of education system and for that, there is lack of teachers. The free primary education
program is the fundamental steps in the development of the country and this is the phase where
the students are provided with suitable and effective education system (Makate, and Makate,
2016). In this program, the entire cost of education is provided by the government of Africa. It
can be seen that dropout rate after the completion of primary school is huge and one reason for
this is the low-income rate of people in Malawi.
Conditional cash transfer
Conditional cash transfer or the CCT is another educational program in Malawi for the
development of women and the country (Khan, Hazra, Kant, and Ali, 2016). This is the program
which helps to provide vulnerable populations cash resources for certain behavior. For this
program, the primary target population is the never-married women of Malawi who have the age
within the range of 13 to 22 and have the high risk of HIV acquisition. This program provides
cash to the never married female of Malawi to reduce their HIV as well as herpes-2 acquisition.
In this the students have to attend a school where they will receive 1 to 5 dollar and their parents
would receive 4 to 10 dollars on the per day bases for the 80% present of school days (García,
and Saavedra, 2017). This also helps the girl to get a suitable education regarding the disease like
HIV and AIDS. All this study and program help the women to get suitable and effective
knowledge on the development and health system in the country. This program is quite effective
for the girl as they are young and they need proper education to deal with the facts and the issues
that they are facing in the country.
Social cash transfer
The social cash transfer program is another effective program for the development of lifestyle
and health condition of the people of Malawi by providing effective education. From the
integrated household survey that was performed in Malawi it can be seen that almost 45%
families are living below the poverty line whereas, 17% families are living below the ultra-
poverty line (Palermo, Hjelm, and Unicef, 2016). People below the ultra-poverty line tends to
suffer from chronic hunger and for that they did not have the urge to provide suitable education
to their children. With the help of this program, the people in the below poverty line gets suitable
cash for their development and also chance to improve the education system within the country.
This program provides the social protection to the ultra-poverty people and the needy people. In
4 | P a g e

this program, the government provides expenditure on food, hygiene, clothing as well as
education for the needy people (Brugh, Angeles, Mvula, Tsoka, and Handa, 2017). This helps the
women to get suitable education facility along with the expenditure of the family as it can be
seen that family lead by women are mostly falling in the poverty line and this is due to the fact of
gender disparity among the Malawians.
GEWE program
The Malawi government with the help of ministry of gender, social welfare as well as the
children with the conjunction of UNFPA is implementing the program of Gender Equality and
Women Empowerment (Chasukwa, 2016). It can be seen that 52% population of Malawians are
women but they are lacking behind due to the illiteracy as well as gender disparity practice. With
the help of this project, people with HIV and AIDS and also the girls who have dropout from the
school is provided extra care. The primary aspect of the project is to provide suitable and
effective gender equality program within the firm for maintaining their activity in the field
(Taukobong et al., 2016). This program effectively helps the people of Malawi to gain suitable
system on education as this is considered to be the only way to improve the gender equality
along with the women empowerment in the country. This program is quite effective as this help
the people to provide a suitable and valuable position within the country. Gender equality allows
the right to education for both the male and female in the country which primarily helps to
improve the economic level and the working condition of the state.
YESA program
YESA program is in the procurement stage and this will help the country to build their education
system as well as its capacity for measuring the acquisition of student reading capacity. This
program is going to help in the creation of citizen demand for the improved reading instruction
within the country. In this, the multi-level monitoring process will be provided and also the
education system will have effective and suitable reading program (Onarheim, Iversen, and
Bloom, 2016). This program is to provide valuable scope for the students of secondary and
higher education and also the women of low literacy to get suitable reading knowledge with the
help of this program. This has the ability to be one of the most effective programs in the
education system as well as the development of gender disparity within the country. The fact is
vital for the people especially for the women of the country to have effective and suitable
5 | P a g e

working process in the firm to maintain various activity within the country. Education is the
development program for the people of Malawi especially for women and with the help of this
program, they will have various scope to improve the health condition and the present situation
of Malawi.
Impact of education program in declining gender disparity
Education plays the vital role in improving the gender equality in the country. In the case of
Malawi, people have huge gender disparity and that women have to suffer a lot. To reduce all the
issues that are provided due to gender disparity the government of Malawi has taken some of the
steps to reduce this process (Pettifor et al., 2016). In this, the vital step is to provide suitable and
effective education system to the women of the country as they are the one who helps to develop
the country. It can be seen that in Malawi among the 15 million people 52% are women and their
education is highly required to maintain their activity in the various filed (Birchler, and
Michaelowa, 2016). With the education program like free primary education all the students
either they are boy or girl have the power to enroll their name for the gaining education facility.
This is the basic need of the people where the boy or the male of the country is provided with the
effective view that female also need education. The literacy rate within the country is quite
effective for empowering the women within the country.
Various education program creates a various impact on the gender disparity that is being created
in Malawi. In all the facts that primary concept is to upgrade the lifestyle of women within the
country. 50% of the youth in Malawi is having HIV infection and to reduce this it is essential to
provide suitable education program (Baird, Chirwa, McIntosh, and Özler, 2015). This education
is not limited to the male also it is provided to the female so that they also became very much
aware of their health condition. Providing education to women is essential as it helps them to
provide basic education to their children regarding gender equality and other factors. Promotion
of gender equality in the country is one of the effective ways to analyze the working function of
the firm and to deal with the various facts in the country (Daidone et al., 2017). All the program
that is being introduced by the government of Malawi to improve the condition of the country
shows that gender disparity is the biggest reason for poverty as well as low literacy rate within
the country. With the help of these programs, education is provided to each and every one in the
country and especially to the women to make them strong and empower. The Malawi health
6 | P a g e

strategic plan of 2017-22 is going to provide suitable and effective coverage for the improvement
of healthcare and financial protection of the people of Malawi.
Malawi health sector strategic plan of 2011-16 is effective for the gender sensitivity as well as a
human right that is based on the various approach for the women healthcare system in the
country. It is essential for the country to have a strong education system which allows both the
male and female to get their knowledge on the various field. This eventually helps to maintain
the healthcare sector as well as the health condition of the country. The education program also
creates awareness among the women of the country regarding various health condition that is
only suffered by the female (Cooper et al., 2017). Education makes the people equal and for that,
they have the ability to maintain various activity in the field like women have also the ability to
lead their house and make vital decisions. With the help of the programs, it can be seen that
almost 68% of women with proper education have improved the health condition. 55% of
women with the literacy power have the ability to make the vital decision for their household.
The literacy rate of women is increasing which provide equal rights for both the male and female
in the country.
Conclusion
The paper eventually evaluates the facts that education is vital for the development of the
country as this help to increase the literacy rate of the country. The paper also concluded that
proper education to female helps to improve the health condition of the family members. This
also supports the reduction of gender disparity in the country where the male is given much
priority than the females. Malawi government has provided various educational programs that
help to improve the social life of the people especially for the women of Malawi. With the
increased literacy rate in Malawi people are moving towards the better economy where both
male and female are considered to be equal and play the role of equal power for performing
various activities in social life.
7 | P a g e

References
Baird, S., Chirwa, E., McIntosh, C. and Özler, B., 2015. What happens once the intervention
ends? The medium-term impacts of a cash transfer programme in Malawi. Impact Evaluation
Report, 27.
Behrman, J.A., 2015. The effect of increased primary schooling on adult women's HIV status in
Malawi and Uganda: Universal Primary Education as a natural experiment. Social science &
medicine, 127, pp.108-115.
Birchler, K. and Michaelowa, K., 2016. Making aid work for education in developing countries:
An analysis of aid effectiveness for primary education coverage and quality. International
Journal of Educational Development, 48, pp.37-52.
Brugh, K., Angeles, G., Mvula, P., Tsoka, M. and Handa, S., 2017. Impacts of the Malawi social
cash transfer program on household food and nutrition security. Food Policy.
Chasukwa, M., 2016. The Gender Machinery Women in Malawi’s Central Government
Administration. CMI Brief.
Cooper, J.E., Dow, W.H., de Walque, D., Keller, A.C., McCoy, S.I., Fernald, L.C., Balampama,
M.P., Kalolella, A., Packel, L.J., Wechsberg, W.M. and Ozer, E.J., 2017. Female sex workers
use power over their day-to-day lives to meet the condition of a conditional cash transfer
intervention to incentivize safe sex. Social Science & Medicine, 181, pp.148-157.
Daidone, S., Davis, B., Knowles, M., Pickmans, R., Pace, N. and Handa, S., 2017. The Social
Cash Transfer Programme and the Farm Input Subsidy Programme in Malawi. Complementary
instruments for supporting agricultural transformation and increasing consumption and
productive activities?. The Social Cash Transfer Programme and the Farm Input Subsidy
Programme in Malawi. Complementary instruments for supporting agricultural transformation
and increasing consumption and productive activities?.
Dellar, R.C., Dlamini, S. and Karim, Q.A., 2015. Adolescent girls and young women: key
populations for HIV epidemic control. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 18(2S1).
8 | P a g e

Ellsberg, M., Arango, D.J., Morton, M., Gennari, F., Kiplesund, S., Contreras, M. and Watts, C.,
2015. Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?. The
Lancet, 385(9977), pp.1555-1566.
García, S. and Saavedra, J.E., 2017. Educational Impacts and Cost-Effectiveness of Conditional
Cash Transfer Programs in Developing Countries: A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational
Research, 87(5), pp.921-965.
Haas, A.D., Msukwa, M.T., Egger, M., Tenthani, L., Tweya, H., Jahn, A., Gadabu, O.J., Tal, K.,
Salazar-Vizcaya, L., Estill, J. and Spoerri, A., 2016. Adherence to antiretroviral therapy during
and after pregnancy: a cohort study on women receiving care in Malawi's option B+ program.
Clinical infectious diseases, 63(9), pp.1227-1235.
Haberland, N.A., 2015. The case for addressing gender and power in sexuality and HIV
education: A comprehensive review of evaluation studies. International Perspectives on Sexual
and Reproductive Health, 41(1), pp.31-42.
Khan, M.E., Hazra, A., Kant, A. and Ali, M., 2016. Conditional and unconditional cash transfers
to improve the use of contraception in low and middle-income countries: A systematic review.
Studies in family planning, 47(4), pp.371-383.
Kowalczyk, S., Randolph, S., Stokes, S. and Winston, S., 2015. Evidence from the field:
Findings on issues related to planning, implementing and evaluating gender-based
programs. Evaluation and program planning, 51, pp.35-44.
Makate, M. and Makate, C., 2016. The causal effect of increased primary schooling on child
mortality in Malawi: Universal primary education as a natural experiment. Social Science &
Medicine, 168, pp.72-83.
Onarheim, K.H., Iversen, J.H. and Bloom, D.E., 2016. Economic benefits of investing in
women’s health: a systematic review. PloS one, 11(3), p.e0150120.
Palermo, T., Hjelm, L., and Unicef, 2016. Unconditional Government Social Cash Transfers in
Africa Do Not Increase Fertility: Issue Brief. PLoS One, 10(9), p.e0137352.
Pettifor, A., MacPhail, C., Hughes, J.P., Selin, A., Wang, J., Gómez-Olivé, F.X., Eshleman, S.H.,
Wagner, R.G., Mabuza, W., Khoza, N. and Suchindran, C., 2016. The effect of a conditional
9 | P a g e

cash transfer on HIV incidence in young women in rural South Africa (HPTN 068): a phase 3,
randomized controlled trial. The Lancet Global Health, 4(12), pp.e978-e988.
Taukobong, H.F., Kincaid, M.M., Levy, J.K., Bloom, S.S., Platt, J.L., Henry, S.K. and
Darmstadt, G.L., 2016. Does addressing gender inequalities and empowering women and girls
improve health and development programme outcomes?. Health policy and planning, 31(10),
pp.1492-1514.
Tweya, H., Gugsa, S., Hosseinipour, M., Speight, C., Ng'ambi, W., Bokosi, M., Chikonda, J.,
Chauma, A., Khomani, P., Phoso, M. and Mtande, T., 2014. Understanding factors, outcomes,
and reasons for loss to follow‐up among women in Option B+ PMTCT programme in Lilongwe,
Malawi. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 19(11), pp.1360-1366.
10 | P a g e