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Site Bai
Professor J. Ruyle
COLWRIT 109C
Introduction
Gender inequality and women empowerment have been drawing a great deal of attention both
from local and international organizations, especially in Africa. On January 2016, the Assembly
of the Heads of States and Governments of the African Union declared 2016 as the Africa Year
of Human Rights with a specific focus on the rights of women (ACERWC,2016). More and
more people have realized that women and girls are not only half of the human population, but
most importantly represent half of the human populations potential. This is a fact that has been
overlooked by many, including women and girls themselves. In order to address this issue,
countless organizations, including governmental institutions, NGOs, and United Nations have
been making progress to achieve gender equality and grant women empowerment which belongs
to them innately. In this case, Sub-Saharan Africa has made a marked improvement towards
eliminating discriminations against women empowerment and gender equality over the last
decade.
This report assesses the improvement made by Sub-Saharan African countries in several aspects,
including literacy rate, child marriage, ownership of the land, and political involvement, for they
are the most significant factors in measuring the status of womens rights.
Accessing to obtain education is considered a human right for all humankind, for whatever age,
for both gender. Nevertheless, in Sub-Saharan Africa, Women account for more than 60% of the
regions adult illiterate population; in addition, there is a disparity between literate women and
March 17, 2017
Site Bai
Professor J. Ruyle
COLWRIT 109C
men, which 7 in 10 men can read, only 5 in 10 women can do so (African Library Project,
2017). However, updated data suggests a good sign, at least an encouraging trend. The illiteracy
rate of Sub-Saharan Africa was continuously decreasing; the data showed that in 2015 the adult
literacy rate in all of Africa was 63% compared to the 53% in 1990. Among all adults, womens
literacy rate has improved more than mens, and the number of women illiteracy has decreased
more than that of men. In addition, children enrollment for the primary school has increased over
last decade, especially among girls. Yet, this progress is not good enough and too slow.
Child marriage.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, child marriage is a concerned problem because around 40 percent of girls
marry before age 18. Child marriage could bring serious lifelong disadvantageous impacts on
girls who marry young, for it could block girls to continue their education and then reduce
possible opportunities to enter the labor market later; it also brings serious health risks especially
when they are pregnant. A glad news is that there are polices have been implemented to eliminate
child marriage made by public commitments by heads of states of Sub-Saharan Africa countries,
as well as the support of international donors, UN agencies, and civil society groups. For
instance, in September 2015, Africas head of states joined other governments from around the
world in embracing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations
Tanzania, 2015), including a goal to end child marriage in the next 15 years. In May 2014, the
African union launched the first-ever campaign, a campaign which devoted to accelerating
change across the continent by encouraging AU member states, Liberia, Rwanda, South Africa,
Ugandan and many other Sub-Saharan African countries included, to develop scheme to raise
March 17, 2017
Site Bai
Professor J. Ruyle
COLWRIT 109C
awareness of and address the harmful impact of child marriage (Human Rights Watch, 2015).
Eighteen countries have launched the campaign, with more launches planned for 2017.
Ownership of land.
Women who live in the Sub-Saharan Africa is hard to achieve financial-independence due to the
lack of law protection of property rights, especially of land, which is an essential component of
determining whether women could run their own business or obtain continuous earnings after
divorce or becoming a widow. Felitus Kures is a woman who lived in the Uganda raising her
children by her own since she lost husband and their matrimonial land at the same time for her
husbands death. Without any sign, her in-laws sold her husbands land. Finally, she got the land
back with the help of the Uganda Land Alliance, an organization that fight for land rights for
disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Ms. Kuress experience is not a unique case in Sub-
Saharan Africa, but is a common and fortunate one. Many women like her who get divorced or
become widows cannot own land and other properties. This directly curb women and their
children in the plight of poverty. But there are achievements spread over Sub-Saharan Africa that
cannot be ignored. In Rwanda, a law passed in 1999 giving women equal inheritance rights
includes land with man. In Uganda, an amendment to the Land Act in 2004 suggested a minimal
shift in that it made spousal consent necessary for the transaction of family land (Lewis, 2012).
In addition, several UN agencies such as the United Nations Development Fund for Women and
United Nations Development Programme are collaborating with NGOs to promote awareness of
women in Sub-Saharan Africa of their property rights and to strengthen equality of accessing in
national law.
March 17, 2017
Site Bai
Professor J. Ruyle
COLWRIT 109C
Political involvement.
Aside from the gender inequality rooted in the economy and education, political field also is an
area where women cannot find a position there. However, many evidences show that Sub-Sahara
African governments are beginning to include more female politicians. In Liberia, Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, became the first woman president of a modern African nation. In 2012, Joyce Banda
became Malawi's first female president. In Rwanda, 63.8% of women elected in the parliaments
and higher than the 41.5% of the Finland, where is an advanced democracy. These shows women
status in Sub-Saharan are changing. It is no longer uncommon to find women speaking in the
parliaments freely. African women are increasingly able to control their own course in life,
including right to choose marriage partners, to enter school, and involve in political activities,
also they are happy to embrace a new set of challenges brought by such freedom.
Conclusion
As a global citizen, reading and writing, independence of choosing spouse, having adequate
property rights and being involved in the political activities should be encouraged. Of course,
Sub-Saharan Africa is not an exception, and it is especially urgent for women and girls since
females participation is crucial for countries development. If the world is expecting that
womens potential could be fully unleashed, then what we have achieved is toward the right path
but is not enough. Achieving gender equality and women empowerment is not merely an empty
promise made for satisfying womens iterant demand, but a goal need every person take actions.
Actions could be large or small, and I believe that all small improvements will accumulate to a
Work Cited
Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%). Proportion of seats held by
women in national parliaments (%) |Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar 2017.
Kimani, Mary. Women struggle to secure land rights | Africa Renewal Online. United Nations.
Ending Child Marriage in Africa. Human Rights Watch. N.p., 20 Dec.2015. Web. 15 Mar
2017.
2016 Africa Year of Human Rights. African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare
Phillippa, Lewis. Uganda, The Fight for Womens Land Rights. Global Policy Forum. 20 Nov