Empowerment of women in Africa and the Arab world: Merits, prospects and challenges (III)

The unavailability of medicine and medical care facilities has made matters worse. Women have borne the brunt of these crises. Although the health of all people is affected by the consequence of war, women’s health is more affected. For example, if children or elderly members of the family fall sick, the burden is usually placed […]

The unavailability of medicine and medical care facilities has made matters worse. Women have borne the brunt of these crises. Although the health of all people is affected by the consequence of war, women’s health is more affected. For example, if children or elderly members of the family fall sick, the burden is usually placed on the women who have to take care of them. Since access to proper medical care is difficult due to the isolation of the South and it is difficult to reach health centres due to lack of proper means of transport, the health situation of people deteriorate. As such women continue to suffer both mentally and physically.

The situation is blatantly contrary to the provision of Article 16(1) and (2) of the African Charter on Human Rights and Article 12(1) and (2, d) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Every culture has its own norms and taboos. It is a common feature of African cultures to impose taboos on women, particularly during pregnancy. These tend to disadvantage the women. For example, in some cultures women are not allowed to eat eggs while they are carrying children in their wombs for the reason that they are protectors of life.

In some cultures it is a custom for women to marry very young, so that they start having sexual intercourse at a very early age, even before their reproductive organs are fully developed. This jeopardises their health and even their lives during pregnancy and after delivery. The cultural requirement that one must have a son in order to secure the family’s future encourages women to have many children, giving birth frequently before they have regained their health properly. This has serious repercussions for women’s health. But birth-related illnesses are not adequately recognised in traditional Afro-Arab societies.

Many cultures do consider a woman as a junior partner in a marriage. Whatever a woman possesses is regarded as belonging to her husband and his family. In the past this used to be protective for women, in the context of a functioning extended family structure. Today, when property ownership have been individualised, and hence poverty has been individualised too, women find themselves marginalized although they are key producers of agricultural commodities.

For a long period women have been depending on men and regarded them as their sole source of security. This is now changing as more women find themselves heading households and have to provide all the income and services required for their families. In such families, the health of all family members becomes at risk if the woman has no access to health care for whatever reason.    

Article 26(1) and (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13(1) of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, highlights the right of everyone to education. They further call on the government to make education available to all. However, considering the situation of Afro-Arab women in the light of the provision of the agreements, one can argue that their rights to education have been violated.

Without gainsaying, illiteracy remains at the centre of women empowerment problems in Africa and Arab nations. Majority of the womenfolk and a large number of girls in these areas are still grappling with the problems of basic reading and writing skills (Unicef 2003). The gross enrolment rate (GER 2001) indicated that 71percent of out-of-school children are girls. According to ARFOL (2000) the literacy rate for males is 58 percent but only 41 percent for females in Nigeria.

The Human Development Report 2002 published by the United Nations Development Programme puts the statistics of illiterate women in at 57 percent as against male’s 43 percent.  As seemingly insignificant as this difference may appear, it is completely unacceptable, if the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) must be achieved. In Nigeria, girls and women comprise about 49.69 percent (SAPA 1993) of the total population. Incidentally, about 61percent of the total female population are reported to be illiterates as against 37.7 percent illiterate male population. Women are discriminated against in access to education for social and economic reasons.

The most egregious segregation is probably the prevention of girls to go to school in some communities. This has probably led to the greatest social harm of the twentieth century, when a whole group of females were denied access to education, on the basis of gender differences. There is palpably a deluge of problems besetting Afro-Arab women, but all of them arise from illiteracy. This suggests therefore that a large part of the empowerment process is associated with education of the women themselves.

The root of the problem is the degree of importance women themselves have attached to education. Many of them believe that the life of a successful woman revolves around her children, her husband and domestic chores. This lack of personal ambition prevents her from thinking about pursuing other educational goals, which may have great influence on her life. In the case of the workingwomen in the cities, there had been a gradual predilection to abandon further training because of the demands of work and family as well as the huge costs associated with pursuing higher studies.

The general idea of education and political participation of women on equal footing with men makes men believe that women are their rivals and women are not willing to maintain the traditional role of child bearing and household responsibilities. This misconception has even made men reluctant to marry educated women and they prefer to marry wives with little or no education with a strong orientation towards the home. For example there was a fear that when a girl is allowed to join school for education, she may not respect the societal moral standards and that will bring shame to the family. In addition, girl children often have heavy responsibilities in the household, for helping their mother with child care, food preparation, cleaning and washing, etc.