Why the regional variation?
In her article, “10 Causes of Gender Inequality,” human rights writer Emmaline Soken-Huberty presents a direct framework for understanding factors that go into either limiting or expanding women’s rights on an international scale. She discusses the impacts of uneven education access, employment inequality, poor access to medical care, and a lack of legal protections, bodily autonomy, political representation, and religious freedoms, on gender inequality. This is a good jumping point for comprehending how regional characteristics in Sub-Saharan Africa may have been contributing to variation in gender equality overall. Here, we try to explain the diversity in outcomes for gender equality in Sub-Saharan Africa by situating each sub-region within its own political, economic, and social characteristics.
The Sahel
Across all indicators explored in this project, this region trends the most toward greater levels of gender inequality. Our data findings align with research and reporting on this region. According to Alliance Sahel, women contend with discriminatory traditions and stereotypes when vying for empowerment. They face educational and economic inequality while also being “the heart of food security and community resilience” in the region (Alliance Sahel, 2023). As previously mentioned, the Sahel has struggled significantly with climate-related issues. The region is largely economically reliant on its agriculture industry, but soil erosion and desertification since the mid-20th century has caused volatility (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2023), showing how the climate problem overlaps acutely with economic well-being in the region. Environmental crises in the Sahel have significantly hindered progress on food security as well as poverty reduction (Essoungo, 2013). Additionally, the region’s political instability over time and in recent history exacerbates the difficulties of gender equality in the region. Mali faced a military coup in 2012, the region has been harshly impacted by armed rebellions and the Darfur crisis in Sudan, and since Niger’s independence, the country has seen “two armed rebellions, four coups, [and] seven governments” (Essoungo, 2013). Within this instability, Alliance Sahel states, “women and girls experience the double impact of an unstable security context and social discrimination. In this way, the region’s particular political, economic, and social contexts position us toward understanding why the Sahel has struggled more on certain indicators of women’s rights. Whether or not gender equality can be upheld as the region works through the environmental, economic, and political crises it faces, will be the key to future progress.
The Guinea Region
Taking all available indicators into account, the Guinea Region appears to show some progress towards gender equality in recent years. Multiple indicators and visualizations suggest that the region has developed in terms of legal rights recently. It’s important to note that while legislation is impactful, government bureaucracy is not enough and must be enforced in order to truly create progress. Research and reports done in this area state that women “face high levels of poverty, domestic violence and sexual and gender-based violence” as of 2008 (NGWOG). According to the non-profit organization Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security (NGOWG, 2008), the region has made legislative progress towards ending sexual and gender-based violence. Although there are now existing laws forbidding the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) and strict consequences for rape, enforcing them is quite difficult due to lack of prosecution and high levels of corruption and impunity in the area. This is why, despite the region’s 1985 adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and a 2008 political platform developed to encourage women in parliament, the area has had a difficult time achieving effective gender equality among its people. The Guinea Region is also known for its child marriage practices, which can include the trafficking of child brides as well as FGM and other sexual rituals as the legal framework and enforcement in the area is weak (Girls Not Brides). Our data findings do not appear to reflect the severity of the status of women in this region, however this can be attributed to the gaps in our dataset. While we can analyze and assess the information available to us, we cannot accept our data findings as is without considering the impact of the missing data and what its unavailability implies for the greater narrative.
Congo Basin
Across the board, the Congo Basin aligns most closely with the Sahel in our assessment of women’s household decision-making rights, based on the indicators presented here. Ecologically, the Congo Basin is the world’s largest carbon sink through its rainforest which also supports food security in the region (World Bank, 2022). At the same time, this security is threatened by increased deforestation and climate change (World Bank, 2022). In terms of women’s rights, climate difficulties in the Congo Basin seem to be one of the largest concerns. According to H.C. Peach Brown, “vulnerability to climate change is shaped by gender roles and relations,” meaning that already-existing gender inequalities are exacerbated by climate vulnerability (2011, 164). Additionally, while there has been progress in the legal sphere to protect women’s rights, such as in the case of the Mouébara Law in the Congo to combat violence against women, the implementation and positive effects of such legislation has not been fully realized yet (Amnesty International, 2022). It is also important to note that gender equality progress has been hindered to a certain extent in the region due to the impacts of conflict in recent years, namely in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where around six million have died since 1996, due to various regional conflicts (Center for Preventive Action, 2023). According to the United Nations OHCHR, conflict can lead to increased gendered violence against women and girls. This applies both during conflict and in post-conflict societies. Overall, conflict limits access to essential health care services that disproportionately impact women (OHCHR). Still, the region has seen progress over time. The alleviation of conflict, work to combat climate change’s effects in the region, and greater implementation of already-established legislation for gender equity is necessary for this sub-region to continue making progress on women’s decision-making indicators.
Eastern Africa
According to D. Anthony Low and Harold G. Marcus in their Britannica entry on Eastern Africa, the region is incredibly diverse on ethnic, religious and cultural dimensions. This applies geographically as well. Despite this diversity, the region is still an apt group for analysis, because of the general alignment between countries on women’s decision-making indicators. The East African community, an intergovernmental organization for Eastern Africa, women still face marginalization in decision-making and, relatedly, limited access to education, finance, and information technologies. To combat this, EAC adopted certain policies in its Treaty to mainstream gender issues into all EAC endeavors and emphasize their role in socio-economic development. Important work has been done to this end, and this is reflected in the indicators assessed here. In terms of legal rights, Eastern Africa generally has a strong showing. However, in the beliefs-based category, outcomes are relatively similar with the Congo Basin and Southern Africa while showing that significant progress has been made but that there is still much room to grow.
Southern Africa
Of all five sub-regions, Southern Africa generally fares the best in terms of women’s household decision-making rights and capabilities, with its progress being very similar to that of Eastern Africa’s. One particularly important step to this end was made in 2008, when the Southern African Development Committee’s (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development was adopted by heads of state within this sub-region. According to the SADC, the Protocol’s objective “is to provide for the empowerment of women, as well as to eliminate discrimination and achieve gender equality and equity through development and implementation of gender responsive legislation, policies,… and projects” within the region. It is important to acknowledge the success of this Protocol and related legislation, as seen through progress on gender equity through the indicators examined in this project. At the same time, it is also important to acknowledge the work that still needs to be done. According to the United Nations Population Fund for Eastern and Southern Africa, the region still sees disparities in “maternal health, education at higher levels, employment, poverty, political participation and fulfillment of human rights,” factors which need to see further progress in order to achieve higher levels of gender equity. Though we hope to bring awareness to issues of gender equity in Sub-Saharan Africa overall through this project, this shows how much work there is left to do, including taking a more comprehensive look at women’s rights that includes life outside of the household, and across multiple indicators, as well.
