Female Oppression in Africa
The Cause
Women in Africa today are infamous for their sufferings. High incidence of rapes, unequal opportunities, domestic violence and HIV prevalence are some of the problems they face. Till today, men in Africa still hold the traditional views that women are like property and subject to their abuse. Poverty and violence hold a positive correlation, so it is inferred that the poverty Africa is in today could be one of the main causes why women in Africa are still undergoing such a great deal of oppression unlike women in other areas. Much of why poverty is such a serious issue today can be accounted to the apartheid system, in which the people are segregated according to their racial groups – Black, White, Coloured and Indian – in another words, it was a form of discrimination favourable for the Whites. Men were kept away from their homes under the system. It is hence suspected that their lack of power and authority under the apartheid system have driven them to acts of violence as revenge or to show that they are in fact, the leaders.
It is interesting to note the key role that African women played in the removal of the Apartheid system. The African National Congress Women’s League (formed in 1943) organised marches and protests against laws requiring Blacks to carry passes and other restrictions. While the pass law extended to women thereafter and new laws stating that women could only stay for 3 days in any urban area if they were unemployed – the determination and spirit of African women then were commendable and leads us to wonder why they can put up with gender oppression now if apartheid oppression then was unbearable. It is believed that their shame and the social stigma attached to crimes within a family have prevented them from showing the same spirit.
Under the apartheid system, women had to commute long distances, were paid less for a greater amount of work and less benefits. They were dismissed without advance notice or termination pay. However, women gained prominence in politics after the apartheid laws were removed – eighty seats out of four hundred were won by women in 1994 in the new government. It was heartening, but while time has proved that even with a handful leading better lives, most are still subject to discrimination and abuse today.
Rape
South Africa has the world’s highest level of reported rape – nearly half a million each year. Estimates tell us that the actual number of rapes could be up to ten times more. Rape ravages nearly every corner in Africa – many are gang raped, and in the process, the rapists often push large objects in the female’s vagina. The rapists do not care if the women might be pregnant – in fact, many women suffer miscarriages this way, either by the blows they suffer or worse, when the men push sticks or other objects up their vagina. Many also suffer from vaginal fistula – a condition in which the walls between the vagina, bladder and anus are torn. The pain is overwhelming, and the victims suffer from incontinence as a result. It can take up to four operations to reconstruct these walls.
While rape is not uncommon, the victims still suffer greatly from rejection of the community. This is not surprising, considering the deep-rooted traditional values present there. The number of men who have raped females is so large that it is nearly impossible to trace every one of them down. Having a notoriously corrupt government does not alleviate this problem. The police sometimes also turns away reported rape cases so that the number of reported rapes will be lower. This deliberate manipulation of statistics is done to help the police lie: they have been effective in reducing the number of rape crimes. For example, a study done in 1997 showed that 69% of 394 rape cases were reported, but only 17 court cases resulted. Without acceptance – how can anyone expect the problem of rapes to be solved?
More horrifically, many of these rapes are committed against infants, so of which may be as young as five months old. One such rape in Johannesburg in 2001 brought the severity of the situation to the media’s attention. A reason for such atrocious crimes could be accounted to the fact that there is a myth among many - that sex with a virgin will prevent or cure AIDs. Considering the large number of rapes among slightly older women, it is not surprising that the victims are getting younger and younger due to a lack of virgins. Distressingly, if the rape was carried out due to men wanting to be cured of Aids, the infant will very likely contract the virus due to a weaker immune system. Incidentally, HIV/AIDs poses another problem to the women of Africa.
HIV/AIDs
An estimated 5800 Africans die daily from HIV/AIDS. Women are especially vulnerable to the virus. A report in 1999 showed that around 12.5 women are infected with the virus for every 10 men. This and the inferior status of women in the society probably accounts for the fact that they are seen as the main propagators of the virus. Prostitutes are especially at blame for spreading it around, and mothers suffer the same stigma for passing it to their children.
However, taking a moment to consider how the prostitutes are treated, we have to wonder whether men need to blame themselves too. There is a common practice in Africa known as dry sex – desiccants such as salt or herbs are used to dry the natural lubricants in the vagina, and this supposedly increases the pleasure during intercourse for men. However, this hurts the women and friction may cause the walls of the vagina to be torn. The tearing increases the chances of HIV infection for the prostitute, for which they then pass on to other patrons. The refusal of males to use condoms is also to blame for the spread. In this case – how could the women be blamed for passing the disease on? The money earned from a transaction involving dry sex is also higher, which explains why the prostitutes are willing to endure the pain. Many of them are forced into prostitution unwillingly too – by an unlucky combination of poverty, illiteracy and a family to support. The widespread practice of female genital mutilation also causes some to bleed during intercourse. This indivertibly raises their risk of contracting the virus.
Mothers can take antiretroviral drugs to greatly reduce the risk of transmission to their child. However, it is within expectations that many are unable to afford the drugs due to their poverty. From hindsight, many of these women contracted HIV/AIDs due to past rapes or from their husbands. Men are accepted to be promiscuous, and while the wife suspects her husband to have multiple partners outside – she is not allowed to refuse him. The alternative would be domestic violence. Similarly, when they raise the topic of condoms – she would have to prepare to accept groundless accusations that she was committing adultery or being disobedient. Hence, wives are not infected due to their own promiscuity, but because they have been faithful.
As a way to curb the spread of the virus, virginity testing has been used to single out and honour girls who have abstained and kept themselves chaste. It may sound like a logical way to stop the spread –but think about it. It is clearly a violation of rights and privacy, and the testing acts as a double-edged sword in that while it tries to prevent the spread of the virus – it identifies which are the virgins and hence leaves them at greater risk for rape. This is because of the earlier mentioned myth that sex with a virgin will cure or prevent one from AIDs.
Genital Mutilation
Genital mutilation (FGM) is more widely practiced in Africa then in other areas of the world. An estimated 60% of African women have been ‘circumcised’. While it is not expressively stated in the Quran, female genital mutilation is often associated with Islam. There are 4 types of genital mutilation according to WHO classifications – Type I, II and III are all practiced in Africa. Genital mutilation is often carried out by people without proper medical training, and may lead to medical conditions. It could either cause sudden death through shock from the pain or haemorrhage, future urinary and reproductive tract infections, and worse – increased chances of birth complications.
The practice predates Christianity and Islam, and the origins are unknown. Issues relating sex are taboo, and hence many girls are in fact unaware that they have been circumcised until they are much older. Countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Togo have outlawed the practice – but the practice still carries on illegally. In fact, we are left in doubt whether a ban is beneficial, for people then commit the act without supervision of medical personnel – even though this is the case before the ban anyway. The heartening issue about FGM however, is that as many as 80% of African men and women surveyed oppose the procedure, and up to 75% prefer that their wives are uncircumcised. While this survey was conducted in a university and hence may have skewed results (by virtue of their knowledge on human rights and the complications of the procedure), it is a hint to us that with better awareness will help eradicate FGM completely. After all, there are no benefits at all to FGM, except for the happiness from the delusion that a wife who has undergone FGM will be more chaste.
Domestic Violence
As with most patriarchal societies, women are subjected to the pains of domestic violence. It must be noted that children (usually below the age of 10) are also subjected to domestic violence, but women have the worst deal. Male promiscuity is accepted to be natural, but a woman can suffer great repercussions if she is found to be unfaithful. Refusing sex or asking money from her husband (hence challenging her husband’s authority as the controller of finances) can have disastrous effects. Cultural factors place males at the head of their households, and when their position is challenged, just as when any male animal feels that his territory has been invaded, they will strike out to deter the invader.
Violence does not just come in the form of physical abuse. It comes in varied forms – when the husband asks to be fed by the wife even if the family is starving because it’s the wife’s role to do so, when he leaves her to carry loads and he walks free of the burdens, and when she is expected to take care of the family and even work to pay for her children’s school fees.
Often, the women marry early. They drop out of school after they have been circumcised as the procedure declares them to be women ready for sex and marriage. They are thus illiterate, unable to reach out for help and are unaware of how they even do so or what rights they have. The traditional mindset that women are property of men does not help. Women in societies who suffer less from domestic violence usually have friends and a support network that they can fall back onto when their safety is threatened in any way. Women in Africa however, are removed from the society. The patriarchal system and the focus they place on their families prevent them from reaching out as well. The social stigma and shame that they have been abused does not help.
In the instance when the husband dies – the woman is not yet entirely freed from torture. She must have sex with one of her relatives because of the belief that this would exorcise her husband’s spirit. For women who have been brought up to be faithful and contradictorily to believe in this “cleansing act” – it is a torture. They are also put in greater risk of AIDs – and they are left in fear that if they die of the disease, their children will not survive as well.