March 17, 2017

Site Bai
Professor J. Ruyle
COLWRIT 109C

Women Status of Sub-Sahara Africa

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.

Literacy rate in Sub-Saharan Africa

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

big progress one eventually. Sub-Saharan Africa certainly is proving this.

March 17, 2017
Site Bai
Professor J. Ruyle
COLWRIT 109C

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.

United Nations, Apr.2008. Web. 14 Mar 2017.

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

of the Child. Jan. 2016. Web. 15 March 2017.

Phillippa, Lewis. Uganda, The Fight for Womens Land Rights. Global Policy Forum. 20 Nov

2012. Web. 17 March 2017.

Africa Literacy Facts. African Library Project. Web. 15 March 2017.