SDG 5 in Cameroon
The movement for the empowerment and autonomy of women in Cameroon, and the
improvement of their political, social, economic, and health status, has walked a long
distance, but is still far from reaching its intended destination. Discrimination
between girls and boys, women and men remains a major obstacle to human
development in Cameroon.
Cameroon’s population is currently estimated at 24.6 million, with over 55% residing
in urban and semi urban areas. According to the 2020 UNDP Human Development
Index (HDI), Cameroon’s HDI value in 2019 was 0.563, which puts the country in the
low human development category, positioning it at 153 out of 188 countries and
territories. Between 1990 and 2019, Cameroon’s HDI value increased from 0.448 to
0.563, an average annual increase of about 0.79 %. In 2020, the Gender Inequality
Index of Cameroon was 0.560 and the country was ranked 141 out of a total of 188.
The Gender Development Index (GDI) ratio of women against men was 0.864.
Source: http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/latest-human-development-index-ranking
The SDG5 aims to encourage equal opportunities for men and women in economic
development, to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including
early and forced marriage, and to promote equitable opportunities for participation at
all levels. At its national voluntary review of the SDGs in June 2019, Cameroon
summarized the implementation of SDG5 at the national level in five mains points:
● Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against women and girls
● Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including
trafficking and sexual and other forms of exploitation, from public and private
life
● Target 5.3: Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child marriage, early or
forced marriage and female genital mutilation
● Target 5.4: Take into account and value unpaid care and domestic work,
through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection
policies and the promotion of shared responsibilities in the household and
family, according to the national context.
● Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal access
to leadership positions at all levels of decision-making in political, economic
and public life.
Considering the national strategy, the country is far from reaching these main
challenges by 2030.
Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against women and girls
● The report “Data on gender equality in Cameroon”, published by the Gender
Standby Capacity Project (GenCap) in 2019, states that 51,5% of women in
Cameroon lived below the poverty line in that year. 79,2% of them were
underemployed.
● The maternal mortality rate was 782 per 100,000 live births and the rate of
adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years giving birth to a child was 105.8 per 1000
in 2019.
● In 2018, 67,35% of people living with HIV were women. New HIV infections
among young women aged 15-24 were more than double of those among
men.
Sources:
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/data_on_gender_equality_in_ca
meroon-hno_2020-17_oct_19.pdf ;
http://unaids.mio.guru/en/regionscountries/countries/cameroon
Non-surprisingly, then, the country ranks 141st among the 189 countries ranked in relation to their level of gender inequality. The inequality index reveals significant disparities in the three key dimensions of human development: reproductive health, education and access to employment.
Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including
trafficking and sexual and other forms of exploitation, from public and private
life
According to Delphine Brun, the Inter-agency GenCap advisor for Cameroon, 43.2%
of women in union faced domestic violence in 2019. 39.8% and 14.5% respectively
faced emotional and sexual violence. In total, 56.4% of women in Cameroon were
confronted with at least one of these forms of violence.
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/data_on_gender_equality_in_ca
meroon-hno_2020-17_oct_19.pdf
Target 5.3: Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child marriage, early or
forced marriage and female genital mutilation
Progress has been made to prevent different forms of violence against women and
girls: criminalization of Female Genital Mutilation practices by the penal code (Act.
277-1), legal age of marriage at 18 for men and women. Yet, there are still concerns
about the contents and effectiveness of the legislation intended to prevent sexual
violence and provide protection and justice for the victims.
Updated in 2016, the Penal Code now gives equal rights to men and women to sue
for divorce. In practice, however, the courts are dominated by men, who may
undermine gender considerations, such as lengthening proceedings and making the
process unaffordable for women. The penal code also criminalizes early and forced
child marriage and demands consent as a condition of marriage and advises that
consent cannot be obtained by force. However, the Cameroon Civil Status
Registration Ordinance allows the marriage of girls under the age of 15 if for “serious
reasons a waiver has been granted by the president of the Republic.”
Cameroon law—Article 52 of Order No. 81-02 of June 29, 1981, on the civil
service—stipulates: “No marriage may take place if the girl is younger than 15 or
the boy is younger than 18, unless the President of the Republic grants an
exemption for a serious reason.”
Source: https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/ending-inequality-women-cameroon/
Target 5.4: Take into account and value unpaid care and domestic work,
through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection
policies and the promotion of shared responsibilities in the household and
family, according to the national context.
Women spend an average of 8.2 hours more per week than men on unpaid
household tasks.
Source: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/data_on_gender_equality_in_ca
meroon-hno_2020-17_oct_19.pdf
Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal access to
leadership positions at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and
public life.
Though women’s political representation in Cameroon’s national Assembly has
increased (31% in 2021 compared with 8.9% in 2007), women’s political participation
remains low overall.
● 31% of parliament members are women in 2021.
● 71.6% of workers in the informal agricultural sector were women in 2019.
● 32.5% of women over 25 had some level of secondary education (39.2% for
men) in 2019
● 16.8% of women benefited of a credit for any use in 2019.
According to the GenCap report, 3% of women owned a house without a property
title and 1.6% owned a property title in their name in 2019. Although Decree No.
76/165 of 20 April 1976, as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 2005/481 of
16 December 2005, establishes a legal framework that guarantees women the same
rights as men in terms of access to ownership or control of land, it does not provide a
basis for women’s access to land.
Sources: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/data_on_gender_equality_in_ca
meroon-hno_2020-17_oct_19.pdf
https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/womens-political-participation-afric
a-barometer-2021.pdf
https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/ending-inequality-women-cameroon/
Despite the not very encouraging report on the achievements of the SDGs in
Cameroon, it must be recognized that many actions are being carried out by both
government and civil society to meet the expectations of the SDG5 and to ensure a
plain emancipation of women.
Major international commitments through equality and women’s
empowerment: Cameroon has made key strides toward gender equality and
women’s empowerment through major international commitments to advance
women’s rights and fight discrimination against women such as :
● the BPFA in 1995
● the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
● The CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (1979)
● the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (1985) ● the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993), and the Cairo
Declaration on Population and Development (1994)
● the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Declaration of Heads of
State and Government of the African Union on Equality Between Women and
Men, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
However, though these international and regional commitments take precedence
over Cameroon’s national laws, customs, and traditions, discrimination against
women continues in Cameroon, especially in rural areas. Many questions about
ending inequalities faced by women continue to linger, such as the recognition of
rape between husband and wife, protection for unemployed women, pension for
widows, the continuation of child marriage, breast ironing, and other issues.
Formal education of Women: As an important instrument of empowerment and
development, education is one of the most important means of giving women the
knowledge, skills and self-confidence to participate fully in the development process.
Access to vocational training is today a key to entry into the workplace and also a
basis for financial independence. Although the Cameroonian Penal Code provides
means of redress for children not attending school, there is no mechanism for
monitoring girls, who are generally more affected by not attending school and
dropping out. Further, girls who cannot afford secondary education are not supported
in any way by the state.
Legal Support: With regards to legal support for women, Cameroonian law
recognizes the right to legal assistance for all unemployed persons who lack
resources, or those abandoned by their spouses. The Ministry of Women’s
Empowerment and the Family focuses mostly on women in urban and semi-urban
towns, where they have offices, and disregards rural women, who form the bulk of
women with limited financial means.
The rule of law and implementation of policies is moving Cameroon in the right
direction and toward ending inequality against women. But we must improve
awareness and accountability. Laws must be understood at the local level and
accompanied by meaningful rural programs to ensure that we do not leave rural
women behind.
Source: https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/ending-inequality-women-cameroon/
Civil society, Women in action.
UN Women Cameroon builds capacity of partners: Government (Ministry of
Women’s Empowerment and Family, Ministry of Economy, Planning and Spatial
Planning, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Commerce, Commission National Human
Rights and Freedoms, Elections Cameroon); and NGOs (CSO, media, political
parties) for the institutionalization of gender. UN Women Cameroon works in four
themes: Leadership and Political Participation, Economic Empowerment, Violence
Against Women, and National Planning and Budgeting.
Current programs in Cameroon:
● The Program of Women Involved in Cross-Border Informal Trade (PAFICIT)
● Prevention and care of victims of gender-based violence through the
establishment of a One Stop Center
● H6 / AIDS Collaboration on Accelerating Progress in Childhood, Newborn and
Child Health Fund for Gender Equality
● UNGTG Gender Project (UN gender thematic group)
Source: https://africa.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are/west-and-central-africa/cameroon
Women for a Change Cameroon, a feminist organization, is also involved in
advocacy work and advancing the rights of girls by addressing gender based
violence, furthering knowledge in sexual education and providing leadership
programs for girls in Cameroon.
Source: https://wfaccameroon.org/
Summary
The data presented in this report show that despite some progress, wide-ranging changes are necessary in Cameroon to meet the targets of SDG 5 until 2030. As time is getting short, the Cameroonian government has to increase efforts on many levels: More effective ways to end discrimination, domestic violence and harmful practices against women and girls need to be found. Political means to put more
value on unpaid care and domestic work have to be established while women participation and equal access to leadership positions need to be ensured.