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Factsheets
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT - In many parts of Africa, patrilineal and patri-focal inheritance customs have led to the private control of land, a vital resource, being in the hands of men and not women.
- Even as producers and entrepreneurs, it is widely acknowledged that African women have aces to fewer resources than men. For example, relative to men, they tend to have less access to land, to credit facilities, and to education and training facilities.
- In agriculture where women end to predominate, credit and land ownership has historically been directed to the male head of the household to the detriment of women.
- In all sectors, women are under represented in management and decision-making positions. They tend to advance slower than their male counterparts in their careers both in terms of the assigned responsibilities and wage increases. This can mostly be attributed to society's gender biases against girls and women in various spheres of life, including in education and training and in patterns of promotion and allocation of jobs in employment.
- African women"s participation in the economy is hampered by socio-economic and cultural practices
- WomenÂ's efforts in economic development are impeded by inadequate access to credit and institutional barriers.
- Low levels of education and entrepreneurial skills is an impediment to women"s participation in economic development
- Women's participation in domestic services including child care, housework, collection of wood and water and food preparation for which no monetary rewards are received contributes to their low socio-economic status.
Statistics - Women comprise 50 percent of the agricultural labour force in The Gambia and 70 percent form unskilled agricultural labour force. This makes women predominantly a labour force and not managers.
- In Tanzania, women constitute 80 per cent of agricultural labour resource and produce 60 percent of food requirements
- In Kenya, the agricultural sector with accounts for the largest portion of 24.6 per cent of the national output, absorbs over 80 percent of female labour
- An ILO study in The Gambia showed 3 per cent of households are urban poor as compared with rural areas where the figures are 37 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.
PEACE BUILDING - Africa is worse off now than it was five years ago in terms of conflict.
- Wars and conflicts in Africa have made communities, especially women, more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
- A report by the ECA in 1988 stated that women and children constitute approximately 80 per cent of the population of refugees and internally displaced persons.
- Among the many pernicious effects of armed conflict on women are the psychological traumas resulting from gender-specific human rights abuses.
- In many situations, women and girls have been forcibly inducted into armies on the move, to carry supplies, cook and provide sexual services.
- Women do not have the decision-making powers, the arms and capacity to initiate and wage war and decide the outcome.
- Women die in wars just like men, but many survive as displaced, refugees, widows heading heir households, disabled and mentally ill.
- Women get traumatized physically and psychologically by human and material losses, deprivation, rape sexual abuse and mutilations
- Sierra Leone's civil war showed signs of brutal atrocities aimed at women and children of particular ethnic groups or who just get in the way.
- Women have had to cope with all walks and sectors of life that were traditionally the men"s spheres of influence
- One of the major results of conflicts in Rwanda was widowhood, requiring increased women's participation in income-generating activities and community affairs.
- In some cases, refugee women have had to submit to sexual extortion in order to obtain food to feed their families.
- In Southern Sudan, war has resulted in the collapse of production, social systems, health and educational services and life expectancy has fallen to 36 years.
- Women play a key role in preserving order and normalcy in times of chaos and destruction.
- Women are driving a force for peace show ability to cope with change and adversity in practical ways.
Statistics - According to an FAO report, African women in conflict situations perform 90 percent of food processing work, 80 per cent of food storage tasks, 90 percent of hoeing weeding, and 60 percent of harvesting and marketing, besides load carrying and transport services.
- After the conflict in Rwanda subsided, Rwandese women found out that they were 70 percent majority of the population.
- In 1996, the United Nations Population (UNFPA) stated that women and their dependents, including children and the elderly comprised, 80 percent of refugee populations
- A camp study done in Ghana reported that over 70 percent of a total refugee population of 13,5000 people and children
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION - Comprehensive development can only happen when women achieve better social, economic and political status and take part in the management of public affairs
- Women remain outside the mainstream decision-making process and are therefore still not in a position to effectively influence governance structures
- As women are not part of policy-making structures or are only very sparsely represented, the emerging gender policies are not always effective in addressing inequalities and discrimination that women continue to face
- Women"s equal participation in political life plays a pivotal role in the general process of the advancement of women.
- In the area of women's political empowerment, it is increasingly becoming recognized that women should both empower themselves and be empowered. This relates both to individual (such as increasing individual civic competencies) and collective empowerment (such as increasing individual civic competencies) and collective empowerment (such as networking).
- Empowerment also involves creating a conducive environment so that women can use these competencies to address the fundamental problems of society at par with their male counterparts.
- There is the need for the building of a variety of leadership skills at individual and collective levels, to provide the foundation for sustainable improvement
- Data on female administrators and managers in certain countries African countries shows that in about third of the countries shows that in about one third of the countries, female representation stands below 10 percent
Statistics - Political empowerment has been slow with 10 percent the members of legislative bodies being women in 1995 with the figure only rising to 11 percent in 1999
- Women account for less than 10 percent in the legislature in Africa
- In 11 countries, there are between 10 and 20 percent women in parliament
- Eight countries have between 11 percent and 20 percent while six countries only have above 20 percent Lesotho is second highest with 33 percent while Botswana stands highest with 36 percent
HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS - According to the World Bank, a full one-third of the illnesses among women 15-44 in developing countries is related to pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, reproduction tract infection, and HIV/AIDS
- Many of the women and girls who die each year during pregnancy and childbirth could have been saved by relatively low-cost improvements in reproductive health care
- Reproductive health is determined not only by the quality and availability of health care, but also socio-economic development levels, lifestyles and women"s position in society
- A 1994 World Report on women's health states that women"s health is often compromised not by lack of medical knowledge, but by infringements on women’s human rights.
- Studies have shown that since 1995, the rates of maternal and infant mortality rate of 15% per 110,000 births
Statistics - Doctors in Cote d’Ivoire estimate 25 percent of infertility cases in Ivorian women is caused by Female Genital Mutilation (FMG)
- FMG affects 40.5 percent women in Nigeria.
- In Kenya, HIV infections gallop at a daily rate of 10,000 adults mainly women and 2000 children under 15 years, mainly girls.
- Maternal mortality remains high in The Gambia with 10.5 per thousand live births and 16.6 per thousand life births in the rural areas.
- Higher infant mortality rates and deaths of children under five often arise from, poverty, poor nutrition and health conditions, having the first baby at an early age, and poor health of the pregnant woman
- Death of infants under five, and maternal mortality rates remain very high in African countries. Only 15 countries have below 70 deaths per 1000 live birth (1996) while their under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) range between 46 and 110.
WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS - Human rights of women and girls are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights.
- Many women face additional barriers to enjoyment of their human rights because of such factors as race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability or socio-economic class. Particular groups such as immigrants, displaced women refugees are also at risk.
- Some countries still use laws, which are perpetuating de jure discrimination with regard to personal status, marital status, and violence against women. These include Algeria, Mali, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Lesotho, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Morocco
- Customary laws and practices facilitate harmful traditional harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early childhood marriages, forced marriages, widowhood, inheritance, slavery and trafficking in women, child custody and maintenance, and burial laws.
- Economic deprivation, religious, traditional and cultural practices have gone hand in hand with gender violence in Africa.
- A report by the Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices in 1998 stated that 100 million African women and girls are victims of FGM.
- In many African countries, women are still regarded as second class citizens, minors and /or property of their husbands
Statistics - 38 percent of Kenyan women aged 15-49 have undergone FGM
- 90 percent prevalence of FGM in Ethiopia.
- 2.325 million women have undergone FGM in Ghana.
- Approximately 40-50 percent of Nigerian women have undergone FGM
- 50,000 South African women annually report that they have been raped. Another 17,000 are murdered in the course of sexual attacks. Crisis centres in South Africa estimate that an additional 900,000 women and 600,000 children are raped in cases that to unreport. In Zimbabwe, the majority of victims of male violence are 20-49 years, according to the Musasa project, a non-governmental organization that provides shelter to battered women.
- Worldwide 20 - 50 percent of women declare that they have been abused at least once in their lives.
- The latest figures published by UNIFEM in 1966 show that there were 856 murders in Botswana, 263 in Zambia and 249 in Zimbabwe. In most cases, the person responsible for the murder was the woman’s husband/partner
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