By Andrew Mkonda

Lilongwe, February 21, Mana: Inspector General (IG) of Police Merlyne Yolamu has described women in higher positions as game chargers saying their performance is beyond people’s expectations.

Yolamu made the sentiments in Lilongwe Friday during a day-long workshop for women in security institutions and implementing partners aimed at improving gender equality and designing affirmative actions for women and vulnerable populations.

“Gender mainstreaming is one of the critical strategies in achieving gender equality. It means recognizing and integrating the different concerns and realities of both women and men into policy-making, strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation,” she said.

Yolamu then urged women in different institutions to have confidence when discharging their duties and at the same time upgrade themselves in education.

“Since I was appointed to be the IG three years ago, I have achieved a lot of things that some of my male predecessors failed to achieve, this is because I have confidence in myself. So no woman should look down upon herself when given higher positions,” she said.

In her remarks, UN Women's Country Representative Letty Chiwara said the time has come for women to take a leading role in driving development, form policies and actions that bring all those that are left behind at the center of development.

Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) Secretary Habiba Osman thanked the Malawi Police and other security agencies for the training saying they will continue working closely with different organizations and institutions in making sure that the security of women in working places is not compromised.

“Our main role is to monitor if institutions, organizations, entities have got policies that protect women such as sexual harassment policy and look at issues of affirmative actions, particularly for women in decision making,” she said.

The workshop which was organized by Malawi Police Services in collaboration with MHRC with financial support from the EU drew women in security institutions from Malawi Police Services, Malawi Defense Force, Immigration and Malawi Prisons Services