The Ultimate Truth of Women's Rights in Africa

Daniel Plastrik, 10C                                                                                                                       

5/27/13

Abstract: Women in Africa are prey for sexual abuse, human-trafficking, and prostitution. This has been a problem due to the fact that they traditionally have had no social or political power to change their position in their society.  Global outcry of their plight and helping these women develop ways to improve their status in their culture can improve the quality of their lives in Africa.

Women in all cultures have historically had to fight for their social and political equality, yet in Africa this goal has not been easy. For years, the political and social system in parts of Africa has been resistant in allowing women to achieve equal status and opportunity, particularly in the Congo and Mali . Women in those areas are expected to remain subservient to men, both in the family system and in the larger society, such as workplace and government. Women cannot vote, they cannot challenge male authority, and they do not have access to the same education or job opportunities. Options for a personal career are limited to domestic laborer or prostitute. If a woman challenges her prescribed role, the consequences can be brutal.

The sad plight of these African women is highlighted in the book Half the Sky. The book’s stories, which include different tales from several different countries including Nigeria, Mali, and the Congo,  captures how women have been forced into slavery and prostitution. For instance young girls in Nigeria get beaten, starved, and suffer other abuses in widespread brothels. The girls must obey the adults in charge, and they are cut off from their own family or relatives. They are never allowed to go outside the brothels, cannot go to school, cannot socialize with friends, and basically abandoned in their bleak existences. They are poorly clothed and are forced to do chores without any financial compensation. Even when someone tries to protest and protect these girls, specifically one of the girl’s brother, no one in the community cares or wants to help. “In a town where police officers, government officials, Hindu priests, and respectable middle-class citizens all averted their eyes from forced prostitution, the only audible voice of conscience belonged to an eleven year-old boy who was battered each time he spoke up. His outspokenness gained him nothing, though” (13). The citizens choose to look the other way and live in denial of what is really happening to these young females.  It is hard to believe that honorable men and women would tolerate this kind of treatment towards children, and it is very brave of the girl’s brother to try to make things better.

A major cause for keeping women oppressed in Africa is the view that women do not need to be educated. Therefore, girls have access to inadequate and/or more limited schooling than boys. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), typically non-profit organizations that operate independently from the African government, are trying to build more schools in Africa so that all African children, including females, can have equal access to a comprehensive education. NGO’s are very concerned about women rights and are trying to improve not only access to better education, but also to improved health services. These groups have to deal with the fact that women from different social classes may have different privileges, meaning some can be granted access to better programs while others are denied this access, even when the government allows for female participation. Therefore, the NGO’s must find a way to give all females, regardless of class, their equality as a community.

The NGO’s are working from within Africa to help women gain full rights as human beings. They also seek to raise awareness about the plight of women in Africa to the rest of the world in order to gain world support and to pressure the political powers within Africa to commit to change. These activists stage protests against the inequalities and rally for governmental and judicial change. Their efforts have been effective; however, they have not yet convinced enough people to join their cause. Continued and new efforts are needed in order to bring a complete improvement to this situation.  Source 2 (online): “About UN Women.”UN Women: Web. 27 May 2013.(http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/about-un-women/)

(NGO’s are not the only groups concerned with improving the situation of women’s inequality in Africa and beyond. For instance, U.N. Women is a newly formed (2010) organization charted by the United Nations General Assembly committed to gender equality and the empowerment of women. According to Julia Greenberg, Associate Director of AIDS-Free World, “U.N. Women is the first real attempt the United Nations has made to address its grievous track record on women’s issues.” The group tries to support and propose pro-women policies and global standards; provide technical and financial assistance to countries wanting to implement such changes, and to “hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.”Interested people can work with this organization, which also has non-paid internships available to students who want to focus in this area and gain direct experience.