Every African state has signed at least one international treaty providing for the human rights of women. But women often experience discrimination because of their sex. Practices such as genital mutilation, forced marriage and polygamy, along with the inability to access property and education prevent them from enjoying their rights.
Education and awareness-raising programmes are needed to transform these prejudicial customs. African States must also make gender equality central to national development strategies and poverty alleviation programmes.
Research from Brunel University School of Law surveys the extent to which two key human rights instruments in Africa succeed in protecting women’s rights. The first – the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) – prohibits discrimination against women but only in the context of the family. It lacks provisions guaranteeing equality of spouses in marriage. And it promotes traditional values without addressing harmful practices such as genital mutilation and forced marriage. The second – Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Protocol) – was adopted in July 2003, to address some of these failings. By February 2006, however, only 17 out of 53 African states had ratified the Protocol.
Surveying the common abuses of women’s human rights across Africa, the research notes that:
- Discrimination is sometimes enforced through legislation (for example, in Nigeria, the Penal Code permits men to physically chastise their wives so long as it doesn’t result in ‘grievous harm’; in Uganda, it classifies adultery differently for men and women and effectively gives men rights of legal ownership over wives).
- The right to cultural participation depends on rights to property, freedom of expression and freedom of movement, which women are frequently denied (in Eritrea, women’s exemption from National Service makes them ineligible for access to land and resources).
- Women’s rights are compromised by harmful traditional practices (such as genital mutilation, corporal punishment, acceptance of domestic violence, forced marriage, polygamy and denial of inheritance rights).
- Polygamy is accepted in the African Women’s Rights Protocol, despite violating the dignity of women according to the Human Rights Committee.
- Traditional divorce law in many African states discriminates against women (in Egypt, women seeking divorce face financial discrimination).
The author argues that it is now time for African states to modify these social and cultural patterns of conduct and eliminate practices based on the idea that women are inferior. However high the barriers, change is possible. Education can encourage women’s participation and help transform certain cultural practices. The responsibility lies with many – individuals, groups and corporations – as well as the state.
The report concludes with recommendations for African states and others to:
- design and implement comprehensive education and awareness-raising programmes targeting men and women at all levels of society – to transform discriminatory laws, customs and stereotypes
- make gender equality central to all national development strategies, policies and programmes (especially those aimed at poverty alleviation and sustainable development)
- pay special attention to the needs of rural women (who often lack access to health services, education, clean water, justice, credit) and female heads of household.