Womens Rights in Cameroon - Essay Example

? Women’s Rights in Cameroon by Contents Contents 2 Introduction 2 Issues in Cameroon 3 Child Marriage 3 Selling off Daughters 3 Custody of Children 4 Physical abuse 4 Social Boycott 5 Child Rape and Marital Rape 5 Lack of Education and awareness 6 Summary of Issues & Reliability of the documentary 6 Women Issues in Senegal 7 Similarities 7 Differences 7 Women’s Rights in Africa 8 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction This essay has been written in order to discuss women’s right in Cameroon. The documentary ‘sisters in law’ has been used as a source to explore the condition of women’s right in Cameroon. We discuss the extent to which the documentary is a reliable source of information about the women’s right in Cameroon. Apart from this the essay also discusses the problem faced by women in Senegal and also women in general of the African continent. Issues in Cameroon In this section, the issues faced by women in Cameroon have been listed down and discussed as shown in the documentary. The reliability of the documentary is also analysed with the help of some independent sources. Child Marriage The documentary shows that women are usually married off at a very young age in the country (Ayisi & Longinotto, 2005). Due to early marriage, they are unable to complete their education. An early marriage also gives rise to early pregnancies which is risky both for the mother as well as the child. This problem is corroborated by the statistics presented by UNICEF. According to UNICEF 36% of women were married before the age of 18 in 2010. Thus, the problem of Child marriage is really a big issue in Cameroon and has been captured well by the documentary (UNICEF, 2010). Selling off Daughters In the beginning of the documentary we have seen a case in which the women were ‘sold’ of as wife by the father in return for dowry. This is a very big problem in many Islamic societies. Women are considered as merchandise by the family which can be sold for the right amount (Ayisi & Longinotto, 2005). Although the documentary has failed to take into account the issue that majority of Cameroon residents are not Muslims but the issue is still worth discussing as it affects one-third of Cameroon’s population. The documentary presents this issue in a good way but fails to tell us about the extent to which this issue plagues the society. Custody of Children The Islamic law says that if there is divorcee or if the wife runs away, the custody of the children stays with the father. This is in sharp contrast with the modern law which regards the mother as the most natural custodian of the child. Although Cameroon has modern system of law in place but the society still follows age old tradition and a woman has to fight in order to get custody of her children (Ayisi & Longinotto, 2005).Once again the documentary focused on the Islamic population of Cameroon and fails to give an insight into the practices followed by other people of Cameroon. Physical abuse Physical Abuse is another big problem which is faced by women in Cameroon. This abuse is not only inflicted on older women but even children are not spared from it. It is common for the husband to regularly beat up his wife over small things. Children are beaten up mercilessly by their guardians over small faults (Ayisi & Longinotto, 2005).Report of UNICEF in 2010 also supports the issue shown in the documentary. It shows that 56% of population of Cameroon justifies wife beating and a very high 93% has justified the beating of children (UNICEF, 2010).Thus the issue shown in the documentary also finds resonance with UNICEF and shows that the issue has been shown reliably and correctly. Social Boycott Cameroon is a traditional society where matters of the house are not taken outside. The elders of the house or of the village gather together in order to solve the issue .It is taboo for women to drag her husband to the court even if she has been suffering a lot. Once a woman decides to break free of the society and take her husband to the court, she is usually boycotted by everyone. The fear of being declared a social outcast acts as a deterrent against approaching the court of law for enforcement of their rights. This pressure is more severe in the Muslim community. (Ayisi & Longinotto, 2005).The documentary shows this pressure which women have to face. The women seeking divorcee in the documentary is pressed by the family elders to drop the case and reach an amicable solution. However once again the documentary focuses on Muslim women and fails to show the issues faced by other communities. Child Rape and Marital Rape As women in Cameroon are denied individuality and rights, marital rape is not considered a big issue by the society .As husband and wife are married, it is usually assumed that husband has the right to take liberties .It is not considered important for him to take the permission of his wife before having sex. Marital rape is also very difficult to prove for women and, hence, most cases go unpunished. Along with marital rape, rape of girl child is also very common in the country (Ayisi & Longinotto, 2005).This issue shown in the documentary can also be verified by independent sources. A report by Joshua Leo Doherty of University of Richmond says that only 15% of rape victims actually report the rape to the police and only 1% of rapists are actually convicted (Doherty, 2012). Thus, marital rape and child rapes are real issues which have been portrayed effectively in the documentary. Lack of Education and awareness Most women are married off at a very young age in Cameroon. Even if they are not married, no one pays attention to their education. They are expected to take care of children and stay at home. So education is considered a waste of resources. Due to lack of education they are usually unaware of the laws of the land. Statistics presented by UNICEF in 2010 shows that although Cameroon has achieved an enrolment ratio of 86% among women but their attendance level is only 37%.Lack of attendance limits education attained and stops the progress of women (UNICEF, 2010). UNICEF report strongly validates the issues shown in the documentary. Summary of Issues & Reliability of the documentary In the previous section we have analysed the issues of women shown in the documentary and have also corroborated these issue with the help of independent sources. These independent sources have proved that the documentary is a reliable source of documentation of women’s rights in Cameroon. The only negative point about the documentary is the excessive focus on the Muslim community of Cameroon and the failure to project the issues faced by women of other communities. However despite this drawback the documentary presents the women issues accurately and effectively. Women Issues in Senegal Similarities Cameroon and Senegal are very different economically and culturally and, hence, the issues faced by women are also different in the two countries. Senegal is predominantly a Muslim country and has 95 % Muslim as its inhabitants whereas Cameroon is predominantly a Christian country. However there are some women’s issues which are common to both the countries such as lack of education among the girl child, child marriages, early pregnancy, high rape and the fear of being declared a social outcast if the women challenges some men (Scales-Trent, 2010). Differences The women of Senegal also face some issues which are unique to Senegal. As Senegal is economically a very poor country as compared to Cameroon, it is the women who have to bear the brunt of this economic backwardness. They are not only expected to complete all the household chores but are also expected to work on the farm land which belongs to her husband or father. Although women make up 50% of the farm labourers, the Muslim character of the country does not give them any rights to inherit the land they have been working on. The Family Code of Senegal also allows men the liberty of polygamy and gives unequal inheritance to women. Women have been barred from abortion in Senegal under article 305 (Scales-Trent, 2010). This is a serious problem for women as they have no way to escape from unwanted pregnancies and seriously restricts their sexual freedom. Women’s Rights in Africa Although we have discussed the cases of only 2 countries above but we can come to the conclusion that women still have a long way to go before they achieve equality with men. They are facing problems like lack of education, child marriage, physical abuses, rapes and low social status all across Africa. Although the nature in which these issues manifest themselves may differ from country to country but the general issues remain the same. Most countries of Africa have signed international treaties which obligate them to respect the basic rights of all citizens including women (Banda, 2005). Implementation of the laws which have been made is the major issue in the developing world. Implementation is also difficult because the modern concept of individual rights is in sharp contrast with the traditions and customs of their society. According to traditional Muslim society or the society of many African countries, women were the responsibility of the husband and father. They were supposed to look after her and treat her in a way as they seemed fit. This situation is now changing with women demanding more rights. This has created a tension between the customary laws and the laws made by governments. In order to solve this discrepancy, it is important that education of women and men is given precedence. Conclusion The documentary ‘Sisters in Law’ provide us a very good account of the problems which are faced by women in Cameroon. It brings to light issues like child marriage, dowry, marital rape, child rape, lack of education among others. The documentary also shows how things are changing and women are coming forward to assert their rights. They have been given a helping hand by female lawyers and judges who are sympathetic to the issues faced by women. The documentary both inspires as well as moves us. We have also verified the reliability of the documentary with the help of some independent sources. We have also examined the women’s issues in Senegal and the issues of women in Africa in general. References Banda, F. (2005) Women, law and human rights: an African perspective. Oxford, Hart Pub. Doherty, J. (2012) Marital Rape and Third-Class Citizenship of Married Women in Cameroon. [e-book] University of Richmond. p.4 - 11. Available through: SSRN Papers http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2229027 [Accessed: 21st April 2013]. Scales-Trent, J. (2010) Women Lawyers, Women’s Rights in Senegal: The Association of Senegalese Women Lawyers. Human Rights Quarterly, 32 (1), p.115 - 143. Sisters in Law (2005) [film] Cameroon: Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto. UNICEF (2010) UNICEF - Cameroon - Statistics. [online] Available at: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/cameroon_statistics.html#93 [Accessed: 21 Apr 2013]. Read More