Women are seen in many African countries as second class citizens, even in their fatherland. They are only allowed to play the second fiddle. In the new millennium, what distinctly stands out African nations from western world are the numerous biases against women. Gender inequality is one of the greatest threats to Africa’s future. A study on gender inequality conducted in February 2022 by an online platform on market and consumer data, Statista, showed that the respondents agreed that there is gender inequality in Africa.
Twenty-two per cent of the African respondents considered employment opportunities as the main challenge faced by women on the continent. Females were, on the average, some 32 per cent less likely to have the same opportunities as males in sub-Saharan Africa. The second-leading issue was gender-based violence, as reported by 19 per cent of the respondents. In some parts of the East, women have no right to property inheritance and can only lay claims to property belonging to their husbands.
Gender inequality is not new in traditional African societies. It is conspicuous in business development. While men are in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy, women are mostly in the tertiary sector as traders. In the area of traditional religion, women are not allowed to enter the masquerade shrine and not allowed to participate in ‘oro cult.’
At present, in Africa, women are mostly abused and it is a known fact that in the world, Africa, Middle-East and Asia are where gender inequality is perceived to bloom. Injustice given to the women seems to be increasing. In Africa, the most commonly occurring crime; rape happens in each three to six seconds every day. Most domestic rapes are not reported.
However, traditions such as female genital mutilation continue to be devastating in many communities where such is practised in Africa. The biased activities of gender responsibilities, roles, and rights in a society of normal men and women steadily soar. In Africa, there is no single model of gender roles. There are different cultures on the African continent with each having its gender biases.
There are different roles of men and women; although in general, women are subordinate in public and family life to the men. Biases against women include gender roles, sexual behaviour, sexual attitudes and double standards of conduct. New generations, however, are breaking the strict gender roles rules in Africa and sexual attitudes have changed a little, especially in the cities, where western culture’s influences have been very great.
African traditional culture has been clear that men and women have different roles to play in society. Girls and boys grow up; they know what kind of society they are growing in. While boys go to farm and tender the livestock, girls will be responsible for the firewood and water, and cooking. Then coming towards the marriage, the young men find themselves wives, but ladies are not free to approach a man they desire.
Social and economic policies favour men generally. Women lag behind men in education, literacy, and in getting good jobs. The per capita income of men is greater than that of women. While men are allowed to go to offices and look for contracts, the few women who seek contracts in big offices are not respected as ideal women in society. In African countries, men have been empowered to be the political, business, community leaders and head of the family even when they are not the breadwinners.
To break these biases and discriminations against women, the government must be interested in educating the girls. Education has the power of breaking the yoke of poverty and brings exposure and can help a society make a paradigm shift in wrong traditional beliefs. Government must change laws which are discriminatory against women. Laws must also be made to protect women.
Some women go through sexual abuse in schools and at work, and some cannot report their rape experiences because they do not want to be stigmatised in society. Girl-child education should be made compulsory in Africa as out-of-school children have a higher ratio of girls than boys.
- Olufemi Oyedele is a Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer