Catherine Chipembere
Catherine Mary Ajizinga Chipembere (born July 1, 1935 in Likoma , Nyassaland ) is a Malawian politician and women's rights activist. She was the first female member of the Malawian National Assembly and is mainly involved in HIV prevention and control as well as in women's education.
Chimpemere was the wife of Malawian nationalist Henry Masauko Chipembere and is the mother of the internationally renowned jazz musician Masauko Chipembere Jr .
Life
Catherine Chipembere was born on July 1, 1935 on the island of Likoma in the British colony of Nyassaland. She attended secondary school, though unusual for girls at the time, and received a scholarship to study home economics in England.
Exile in the United States
After her return from England she met her future husband and Malawian nationalist Henry Masauko Chipembere . Due to political pressure and persecution from the Malawian dictator Kamuzu Banda , the Chimpembere family fled into exile in the United States in 1965. Her husband died there of diabetes in 1975. Catherine Chipembere attended the University of California at Los Angeles to study early childhood education. She also ran a kindergarten in Los Angeles and raised her own children.
Return to Malawi and engagement in politics
In 1994 - after the end of Banda's rule - Chipembere returned to Malawi and made a political career in the Southeast African country. She ran for a seat in the Malawian National Assembly in the parliamentary elections in 1994 , won it and was the country's first female MP. She later served Malawi as Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology and later as Deputy Minister of Health.
In 1998 she withdrew from politics and founded the “Women's Initiative Network”, a network of non-governmental organizations that aim to empower women to start their own businesses. The network also includes twelve primary schools for orphans.
Private
Chipembere is widowed and has seven children, including the well-known jazz musicians Masauko Chipembere Jr .
Her late husband's family sued Chipembere for refusing to discard her last name. You won the lawsuit.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Natasha Gordon-Chipembere: Watch this Woman . tape 14 , no. 2 , September 1, 2009, ISSN 1812-5441 , p. 9-24 , doi : 10.1080 / 18125440903461226 .
- ^ Robert Rotberg: Masauko Chipembere. In: Harvard Magazine. 2010, accessed on November 20, 2016 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chipembere, Catherine |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Chipembere, Catherine Mary Ajizinga (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Malawian politician and women's rights activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 1, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | on Likoma , Nyassaland |