I had the privilege of being invited to an African Young Women’s Leadership Summit 2025 (did I hear a cough at young lol) held in Lilongwe, Malawi a week ago.
I went there during the busy time of elections (I wonder if the results are out) and unfortunately did not get to see much of the country because our summit schedule was packed. However, I am not complaining because I learnt a lot from the women both young and old (18-60) as they dished out their experiences especially the younger women who are so well opinionated and it assured me that the future of African women is indeed in great hands especially in leadership roles.
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Although we struggled to come up with one concrete definition of feminism there was agreement that women must support each other at all costs. However, what stood out was that we all spoke in one voice that we must not support women just because of our anatomy, but it was stated clearly that we support the right women for each of the different roles.
For example, if we elect a woman into Parliament, we need to make sure that she knows the pertinent issues, will be vocal whenever there is an issue which may infringe on the rights of women or any other minority groups. Our representative should be one that is actively involved and participate in all roles, not just for example be only vocal when there is the Women Parliamentary Caucus.
If there is a debate about jobs, roads, sexual offences laws she must be vocal and not take a backseat. To bring it home, as much as our Constitution makes no provision in the education standards needed, it is critical that whomever we elect attends courses etc so that she can know more on the issues debated.
One of the speakers was a Gender/Women’s Rights Activist in Malawi Emma Kaliya who gave a strong message about our participation in dialogue or conversations as women.
She said all women at any meeting must be seen and heard.
“Do not be the woman who only comments on how nice the afternoon muffins were, do not be remembered for that,” she said.
She made the perfect example, which indeed resonated with me and I checked myself because I have the privilege of attending many conferences or workshops where insightful presentations are made.
Although I made notes in my notebook for questions I hardly ever ask and instead I normally converse with whoever I am seated next to. I need to correct that because I do need to be heard and not just wait for teatime and compliment another woman on how cute her shoes or nails are.
There is nothing wrong with compliments, but remember many other people pass a similar compliment. Another thing I learnt was that at these workshops as women, we must not be the ones who are quick to offer making tea for male participants. As soon as it is tea time you find some women asking their male counterparts ‘how much sugar do you take’ stop that behaviour, they are equally capable of making their own tea instead of us queuing up for them asking if they would like a chicken or tuna sandwich, we are not airhostess, but equal at those conferences.
And do not get me wrong, we were not taught to be disrespectful, in fact quite the opposite to show that as women we are thought leaders and have valid opinions instead of being tea ladies.
I was happy that feminity is still very much alive. The young girls revealed their frustrations, but determination on continuing to push the feminism agenda on social media even though they highlighted that they are called all sorts of names once they tackle issues where they are defending women especially in cases of abuse.
There was a view to get away from sites such as Facebook and X as the algorithm does not promote feminists issues. However they are determined to soldier on. All in all I can assure you that the future looks very bright in female leadership.
On a totally different note, allow me to do a short write up on Eswatini Air.
When the airline was first introduced I was one of the many sceptics who said the whole idea would not work and of course, I was also one of those who said it looked like a bus.
Well, it is nothing like an Emirates Airbus, but as I was on the last flight to Eswatini on Saturday evening (6:30pm) I had a great experience. It was on time and I cannot overstate the best service from our air steward Eric 10/10. Next time I have a quick E2 000, I am flying to Johannesburg, getting Chicken Licken wings and hopping back into Eswatini Air. The sky is definitely not the limit.
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