Joyce Banda

Joyce Banda (born 12 April 1950) is a past president of Malawi. She is the founder and leader of the People's Party created in 2011. thumb|President of Malawi Joyce Banda (8985928177) Quotes Most African women are taught to endure abusive marriages. They say endurance means a good wife but most women endure abusive relationship because they are not empowered economically, they depend on their husbands. Former Malawi President speaking on abusive marriages to BBC in 2012. I learned that leadership is about falling in love with the people and the people falling in love with you. It is about serving the people with selflessness, with sacrifice, and with the need to put the common good ahead of personal interests. https://www.google.com/search?q=Joyce+Banda+Quote&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-ng&client=safari women constitute the majority of our population in Africa. Therefore, when we talk about poverty, suffering and underdevelopment, we are talking mostly of women. https://www.womensworldbanking.org/insights/the-case-for-womens-leadership-joyce-banda/ It is important that women’s needs, aspirations and realities become central drivers of policies and programmes to increase maternal health care access and utilisation. https://www.womensworldbanking.org/insights/the-case-for-womens-leadership-joyce-banda/ I'm indeed a mandasi seller, and I'm proud of it, because the majority of women in Malawi are like us, mandasi sellers. https://www.womensworldbanking.org/insights/the-case-for-womens-leadership-joyce-banda/ You just have to go and look at what’s happening to women presidents now and I don’t know whether that is going to attract women to enter politics because in Malawi my being in politics had a negative effect Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) Women decided ‘no, I would rather not join politics. If you end up being a leader and you’re treated like that, then I cannot do it. Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) From there move on into Zimbabwe, see what’s happening to Joice Mujuru [the former vice-president expelled from the ruling Zanu-PF party]. Go to Liberia and see what Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is going through – even Ebola is her fault. And go to Argentina and Brazil, end up in the US. So I don’t want to talk about myself but it is something a journalist should take a close at look at and form your own opinion. Misogyny not only for Joyce Banda but for women Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) It is very strange in Malawi Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) I was pleasantly surprised, the reception that I got. I don’t remember a single day during the time I was minister of gender, foreign minister, vice-president and president when I saw anything on the part of the men that indicated they were undermining me Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) In fact, it was the other way round: I received a lot of support from men in my country, maybe sometimes more than my fellow women. If there were any statements on radio scandalising me or accusing me, it was my fellow women, so I think I would be telling a lie if I said that I faced that in Malawi. Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) I am being accused of murder, that I wanted to murder this president the time he was refusing to give up power to allow me take office Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) It came from his mouth: that the former president sent doctors to come and inject him the day he was kept in the police [station]. That is the one [accusation] that is more current and serious now but I don’t care even about that because it’s not possible. Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) The tragedy is the former president was alerted, just like I was, and didn’t take action Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) That is the difference. Therefore, I shall always be proud of what I’ve done, regardless of what you journalists or anybody can say. Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) The donors have been very clear: ‘We will come back but conduct a forensic audit into the K92bn, we want to know who stole this money.’ At the end of the day it is not the donors that have to be blamed. It is us as Malawians: we are not listening to what the donors want us to do. It is my opinion that that should happen, that the forensic audit should be conducted into the K92bn so we know where that money went. Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) You’re fighting strong people and they’ll fight you back, but I was fortunate in the sense that I decided that State House is not the last place I can be. There’s life beyond State House and therefore I will do it regardless because Malawians are the ones that must come first, and that’s what I did Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) So they will criticise but all I want you to know as journalists is that you must help this continent: when you find one leader that sticks their neck out to fight corruption, they must be encouraged. At the end of the day it’s not about Joyce Banda, at the end of the day it’s about that ordinary person in the village who must get drugs but she won’t get drugs because money’s been looted Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) I will forever be proud that I did a good job Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) In any case, you can only have one leader at a time. Joyce Banda, Africa’s first female ex-president: 'I shall always be proud of what I’ve done'The Guardians(May 7,2015) First, what we have found in Africa as challenges for women seeking to stand for elected office are a lack of economic empowerment. To be able to compete on equal ground with men, women [need to have] economic empowerment themselves to move into politics. About four or five of us that were in the National Association of Business Women ended up in government. There’s that stubborn link between having money and standing for office. In Malawi, there is no affirmative action. The second is lack of appropriate training designed [for]African women, because of our cultural environment that we have to compete and campaign in. The third is the abuse women get [while] campaigning and the negative media that happens when women are campaigning. That is also discouraging women – professional women – from running for office because they see how we are treated, names that we are called, the scandals, and they feel that it’s not worth it. So they don’t run. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) What I see and what I’m advocating, is for us to find ways of supporting as many women as possible in participating in leadership and decision-making. When women get into positions of leadership, in any sector and at any level, they focus more on issues that affect women and children. When I became head of state, the first program I created – before I even established a cabinet – was to establish the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood. When women get into leadership, one, they focus more on social issues, and two, they take risks: They do things differently, [and] they are not afraid. It’s not about the power; it’s about serving people. [Women] will take risks for the benefit of the people that they serve. Women leaders appoint fellow women to positions of leadership. When I became president, I appointed the first [female] chief justice, the first head of civil service, the first solicitor general, two governors of the reserve bank, and seven district commissioners. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) In dealing with maternal mortality, I’ve not only been involved with the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health. In fact, the reason why I was asked to serve is because of the work I’ve done in reproductive health. But I must say that I’ve been very, very fortunate in my life that all the things that I’ve championed have originated from personal experience. I almost died giving birth to my fourth-born child. I suffered what they call postpartum hemorrhage. From then on, I decided that I was going to spend my life fighting this unnecessary death of women giving life. What I have learned is that some of the reasons why these women die are very simple to correct. I think that everybody in leadership must give women a chance to [experience] motherhood and enjoy better health. But in any case, [maternal health] is one of the [UN] Sustainable Development Goals. So it is important for us to achieve that. The tragedy is that during the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), we didn’t achieve two goals that have to do with women. I think that is a shame that we didn’t achieve MDG 3, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, or MDG 5, improving maternal health. I feel that it’s necessary for us to achieve that. It’s not fair that women should die giving birth, not when other parts of the world are enjoying total freedom from death and so on. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) One, to turn around the collapsed economy and the reforms I implemented to achieve that, and secondly, that I [reduced] maternal mortality from 675 per 100,000 live births to 460 [per 100,000 live births] in 24 months. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) The fight against corruption. I didn’t know that when you fight corruption, they [will] fight you back that viciously. I was totally unprepared. And it really, really stressed me out. But at the end of the day, I was hoping that I set a precedent. What makes me really proud is that the trials are ongoing, successful convictions are taking place, and people are serving sentences. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) Corruption is an issue every leader must tackle, not only in Africa, but globally. [What] African countries can do to become independent is that we must insist that what we want is fair trade. It’s not going to be about aid, but trade. Western countries and Africa must work together. Support us and help us to produce, but also [help us] to add value so that we don’t export our jobs. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) No, it’s not. In an African country, that’s very rare. What happens immediately after one leader leaves [is that] everything is turned around, whether it was good or not. It was me who kept those programs of my former late president that I felt benefited Malawians. Even as I’m talking to you now, the Presidential Initiative for Maternal Health has been abolished [and Malawi has] moved up again from 460 [deaths per 100,000 live births] to 510 [deaths per 100,000 live births]. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) The legacy depends on how Malawians feel and what they say; it is not dependent on the actions of government. BPR Interviews: Dr. Joyce BandaBrown Political Review(November 13, 2016) Despite the Women, Peace and Security agenda as anchored in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 being in place for 25 years, women remain largely excluded from formal peace negotiations Joyce Banda tells world leaders: stop talking, start acting on women in Congo peace talksNyasa Times(September 22, 2026 ) We have moved past the debate on why women should be included. The question now is how, with resources, protection and accountability Joyce Banda tells world leaders: stop talking, start acting on women in Congo peace talksNyasa Times(September 22, 2026 ) Women constitute the majority of our population in Africa. Therefore, when we talk about poverty, suffering and underdevelopment, we are talking mostly of women. That’s why I believe that the promotion of gender equality, women’s empowerment, improvement of maternal health and achieving education for the girl child is a transformational strategy to achieving development. The case for women’s leadership: Joyce BandaWomen's World Banking(August 5, 2013) It is important that women’s needs, aspirations and realities become central drivers of policies and programmes to increase maternal health care access and utilisation. Women must be empowered and have to be actively involved in all decisions related to their health and well being. As I have said many times before in different forums, we cannot talk about empowering a particular group without involving the group itself. No decisions should be made about women without women’s involvement. The case for women’s leadership: Joyce BandaWomen's World Banking(August 5, 2013) It's heavy Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) But I am able to carry it. Why? Because I'm an African woman. An African woman carries heavy loads anyway. That's how we are trained; we are brought up that nothing is unbearable. I use that now, positively. I use that now to have the thick skin that I have, and not fear, and move forward, and push; and push forward Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I was getting into the car when somebody called me and said the president has collapsed. That whole day on the 5th [of April], I didn't know that he had died. I thought he was in hospital. I even phoned the first lady that evening to wish him a quick recovery. I was then informed in that conversation that he was being taken to South Africa to hospital. I didn't know that he had been dead seven hours. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) The following day it was on the BBC, and it was at that point that I heard that the cabinet was meeting at Capital Hill, choosing another president. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) In 48 hours, they tried to take over government and sideline me – and, by that, sideline the constitution. In that 48 hours, I fought for my rights. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) The turning point came when the army's commander supported her claim to the presidency. "I will forever be thankful to the Malawians and international community, and my professional army and army general, who said: 'No, we will follow the constitution.' That's why I'm here Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I had come from [a previous] abusive marriage, and I had walked out of that marriage at a time when people didn't walk out of abusive marriages. As an African woman you were supposed to stay, regardless. So, I made up my mind that I must do something about this tradition of violence. I prospered very quickly. Very quickly, I became politically empowered. I was running my own business. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I started to worry about other women. I sat down in 1989 and I made up my mind at that point that I was going to spend the rest of my life assisting women and youth to gain social and political empowerment through business and education. I convinced myself economic empowerment of women was going to be key, especially in a country like this where most women didn't go to school Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) My president wanted to remove me. He even wanted a constitutional review. My cars and my security had been withdrawn. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I want Malawians, in 20 years, to look back, when we have depleted our resources, and say we had oil but we benefited. Our country became a better place for us to live in Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) Lula da Silva was my hero when he was president. I googled him so many times. The fact that he got 20 million people out of poverty … that happened by encouraging entrepreneurship, by supporting small business Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) We get aid from the west and we get, maybe, concessions and loans and grants from China. The west is obsessed about how things need to be done … We want to maintain this relationship with Britain. We need to maintain that relationship, but it is our sincere hope that the western world will understand that we are racing, too. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) We need to develop our nations. Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) China doesn't keep us waiting for two years. China will decide today and will go ahead. The next day you sign, and work starts … so, the choice for Africa is: do I want to have a road next year, or do I want to stay for two years discussing about human rights and governance before we can even talk about the road? Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I have, in fact, spent my life fighting for that. However, I get bothered when it is tied to development, because time is of the essence to Africa Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I don't know how it's going to be in two years' time. I must do the best that I can. It's heavy on me, and I will try. If at the end of two years, we have run and run and done the best that we can ... then the people of Malawi say: "'No, we're not satisfied; we can't re-elect you', that's fine Joyce Banda: 'I want Malawians to say our country became a better place'The Guardians(December 17,2012) I’ve spent my whole life on the development platform working in rural areas to try to change the lives of women and girls. My mission in life is to assist women and youth in social and political empowerment through business and education. So from 1981, what I have done is to find ways to enable my fellow women through economic empowerment. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) I started by forming an organization to assist fellow women as a result of the fact that I myself had spent 10 years in an abusive marriage. I realized that economic empowerment for women was key to social and political empowerment. I’ve spent my life before politics forming an organization that addresses issues affecting women and girls. [I founded] the National Association of Business Women in Malawi, which provided micro-financing to 15,000 women. Next, [I founded] the Young Women Leaders Network, which mobilized young women and served as a one-stop destination for the government to appoint young women into positions of leadership. Then, in 1997, I received the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger [from] the New York Hunger Project. I spent many years as the national advisor of its program in Malawi. My final project was the Joyce Banda Foundation [beginning in 2010]. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) The Joyce Banda Foundation has five pillars. First, income into the household, believing that if the household gets income through the woman, the children in that household shall go to school. The second pillar is girls’ education, believing that when girls go to school, they are less likely to marry early, give birth prematurely, and die giving birth. The third pillar is maternal health, specifically related to maternal mortality and HIV in Malawi. The fourth pillar is leadership. I believe that when women get into leadership and are supported to become leaders, they focus more on issues that affect women and girls. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) Finally, the fifth pillar is human rights. This is the cross-cutting pillar into all the other four areas. The right of women to make their income and control it. The right of girls to go to school. The right of women to participate in leadership. I must mention that I have been fortunate in my life that all the four areas that I have championed resulted from personal experience. During my childhood, a very good friend of mine ended up dropping out of school because her family would not risk the six dollars needed to go back to school. At 14 years old, I made up my mind that I was going to spend my life assisting other girls [to complete their educations]. In 1984, I gave birth to my first-born child and almost died giving birth because I suffered postpartum hemorrhage. Maternal health became one of my pillars from that experience. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) I refuse to equate our development in Malawi to foreign aid. I believe truly that we can exit our dependence on foreign aid. We must look to ourselves, into our own country and our own resources. Without dwelling more on the U.S., I can say that even with limited resources, women [in Malawi] are not dying due to a lack of foreign aid, but because of the systems, the traditions, and the beliefs on the ground. Malawi has an 80% percent rural based population. As a result of that, they are very traditional, and some of their traditional beliefs impact maternal health. There are some foods that we cannot eat because we are told we cannot eat them; as a result pregnant women are unhealthy. Beliefs that you can’t talk to anybody else about pregnancy except your mother and mother-in-law mean that women are late going to the hospital if they are in labor. We also don’t have proper roads or ambulances to take these women to the clinic on time. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) When I was in office, we tried to do with what we had. We introduced a program where we engaged these traditional leaders. Traditional leaders, who are mostly men, were seen for the first time on TV discussing ways of avoiding these unnecessary deaths, speaking to their subjects, telling them to deliver in the hospital, banning the delivery of babies by traditional bed-attendants, engaging the private sector to build holding shelters at the hospitals. We loosened the beliefs at the grassroots levels by convincing chiefs to appoint other women in the community. We educated men that they must get involved in the pregnancy of their wives. In almost 24 months, we were able to reduce maternal death from 675 per 100,000 to 460 per 100,000. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) Other than foreign aid, there is so much that our country can do to tackle issues that negatively impact women and children. Our country officially has 2 billion barrels of oil, as well as gas, gold, rubies, etc. We have the fourth largest deposit of rare earth [metals]. All we need to do is focus on exploiting our natural resources for the good of the people. I think the path we should be taking in the developing world, particularly African countries, is not to say, “When are we going to get aid?” or “When are people going to give us money?”—because they are not going to be giving money forever—but rather to say, “What is it that we can do within what we have, with our natural resources?” An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) What I see for us moving towards 2030, [in order] to achieve the sustainable development goals, is [assuring] that the men and women who have become leaders in their countries don’t shy away from tackling the ills that bring us down. One of them being corruption. I said this because I know it’s not easy. It’s difficult because when you tackle [corruption], they fight you back. The temptation on the part of any leader is to preserve the status quo and to cover all that up. But our people can live a better life and our people on the continent of Africa deserve better, Malawi included. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) Malawi has all these natural resources: fortunately for us, they have not yet been exploited. I have dreams where one day we shall have diamonds for cash, gold for cash, and rare earth [metals] for cash. A household gets $5,000 a year: the household is clearly informed that those $5,000 are for the education of the children in this household, for better health and food security. That will bring us to the next level of development like we’ve never imagined before. Malawi has tried some of these things. President Bingu wa Mutharika introduced an “input program” where poor people were able to buy subsidized inputs and [Malawi] was able to achieve food security in one year. We know that [food security and girls’ education] can be achieved in my nation, so we are not going to reinvent the wheel. Africa now has a group of leaders that are saying, “Enough is enough—we are not going to accept corruption anymore.” But it’s not easy, it’s hard and I know it because I have lived through it. There is a price to fighting corruption. At the end of the day, still fight because you set a precedent that will be followed by the other presidents to come. When we do that, we shall reserve whatever we have for the benefit of the people that we claim to serve. An Interview with Joyce Banda, Former President of MalawiThe Politic(August 6, 2017) After 20 years of working in development and as a women’s and human rights activist, I was thinking of retiring at the age of 54. Then people in the community suggested that, rather than retiring, I should go to parliament where I could better represent them. For me, the motivation in taking up that opportunity was to be involved in influencing laws that have a big impact on women and children. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) Spending years working at the grassroots level in microfinance, orphan care and other things meant that by the time I decided to run for office, I had a big enough following to win easily. The main breakthrough was being appointed Minister of Women and Children. In essence, I knew then that I could achieve what had motivated me to go to parliament in the first place. Immediately, I started to prepare myself to take that role and one of the results was the Domestic Violence bill which we passed in 2006. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) In Malawi, our founding fathers gave politics the Chichewa name “ndale”. It means tripping someone up so that they can fall. It is a negative term that has psychologically affected us negatively. The understanding of politics for any Malawian is that when you enter politics standing in each other’s way, pushing and letting rivals trip and fall. That is a wrong starting point. When you enter politics, you realise you are on a different playing field altogether. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) I had been a human rights activist, I had run NGOs in Malawi as do many other people, and we formed networks and supported one another. I went from this supportive atmosphere to politics where insults were bandied about. And it is worse when you are a woman. You hear it so often that you actually get used to it. It is as if you accept that this is ok when in reality it is not. For me, this was the biggest obstacle particularly as it can slow you down. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) I have since learned that this is not unique to Malawi, but that it happens all over the world. It is having a real impact because the numbers of women involved in politics is declining in many countries. In countries where there was 30% women’s representation in leaderships, it is now 25% or 20%. In Malawi, it is now 15%, in other countries now 10%. The only exception is in countries where there is affirmative action. It would be interesting to find out why women cannot get elected especially given that the majority of voters (52%) are women. My theory is that it is because women are not voting for other women. Another reason is that women are being put off politics because of the abuse that comes with it. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) I don’t like affirmative action because it is like eating raw meat. Even though the numbers are good, it is a shortcut, you haven’t been cooked or grilled. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) Being a woman has made it tougher, but it has not stopped me. I still got there. You still make inroads and you make a lot of friends. Although it is tougher being a woman in politics, you need to be determined to stay the course. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) It works better when you are a servant leader, when you fall in love with your people and them with you. If you truly believe that you need to change the situation of your people, regardless of how rocky the road is, you’ll walk it for the people that you serve. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) My advice to anyone wanting to get into politics is to first analyse themselves to see if they are a leader or not. If you are a leader and you want to serve your people and you can be a servant leader, then go for it. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) You have to learn it how to navigate your environment. Men feel nervous, so you have to find a way of massaging that ego. The best way is by engaging and involving men. Many people view me as having very successful working relationships with men. It is because throughout my career I have always been sober about my feminism. I have always said to women that gender equality will not be achieved through antagonising men. Rather you do so by empowering yourself. This is a lesson that I learned the hard way. I used to teach women that it was our time to fight and men reacted badly. They broke into my factory and stole everything. Interview: Malawi’s former President Dr Joyce Banda on life in politicsLSE(November24, 2014) External links Category:Presidents of Malawi Category:Living people Category:1950 births Category:Women politicians in Malawi