Malawian women protest ‘dress code’ attackers

Hundreds of people protested in Malawi yesterday against men who have been stripping women of their trousers and mini-skirts.

Most of the women and girls who turned out for the protest in Blantyre, the capital, wore trousers or mini-skirts.

A recording of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry met with cheers when it was played.

Vice-president Joyce Banda, who took part, says those attacking women are thugs.

Some attackers claim their victims’ dress was a sign of loose morals or that they were prostitutes. During the dictatorship of the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda from 1963-1994, women in Malawi were banned from wearing trousers and short skirts.