African Women Essay Research Paper Introduction70 of

African Women Essay, Research Paper

Introduction

70% of African women with disabilities get them from their husbands. In Africa, most women have little or no rights. This effects what they can do for work, how their family life is, and what future they have. Women throughout time, especially in African culture, have always been subservient to men. The status of women in Africa is second-rate. In countries like the United States, women have the same rights as men and are almost equal. But in Africa it.s totally different. Women have to know that they should be equal to men. It’s important to understand that every race is discriminated at one point in time. This should not happen if we have a realization. This understanding would be realizing that everyone put on this planet was created equal.

DEFINE THE PROBLEM

Women, unfortunately, have been very discriminated against, even in this century. Women are so cruelly thought of that now, women see nothing wrong with mental and physical cruelty towards them. Since the status of women in Africa, is so low, it has caused many men to overpower women.physically. More and more women are being beaten and thinking that it is okay because the women think men are superior to them. A frightening fact is that 16 2/3 percent of women are battered by their partners and 46% of these cases the children are beaten too. “If you go to the police and complain that your husband is abusing you or hitting you the authorities would think, .Oh well she probably deserved it!”. Said Lindy Mieza. A woman named Geli wrote about her life in which she says, “My mother.she constantly suffered terrible physical and mental abuse from him.” Fifty percent of women in Africa women will be raped in their life time.. There were 23,806 rapes in the first six months of 1996. And what worse is that police estimate that for every rape reported another thirty-five takes place. South Africa, “Already confronting the worlds worst murder rate the country has a harrowing new fact to face: there is a rape every 25 seconds..” Geli wrote, “Being raped doesn.t mean it.s by some you don.t know, I was raped by my husband and his friends.” In conclusion, when men over power women, women feel less and less important and the status of women becomes worse.

Poverty is a problem because most children who grow up in poverty, die there. They don.t necessary get shot or killed, they end up not being able to climb out poverty and get a decent job, especially women. Women in Africa are forced to be prostitutes because they need to support their family. When women do this they end up having a bigger family. Women live in poverty in a disproportionate number. “My mother lived and died in poverty and so did her mom, one day I will too because I have no food or money.” “Why have women become so much poorer. There is no one reason. In countries like Kenya and India, cut backs resulting from the International Monetary Fund.s and Structural adjustment policies (SAP.s) have affected women most because they are the main recipients of education and health.” There are more women than men in poverty. Out of the 4.3 million displaced 80% of them are women. In a study carried out over 20 years the number of rural women in poverty has increased by 50% reaching an awesome 565 million. “Poverty has influenced women.s lives more than any factor over the last decade.” If women are in poverty they will not be able to help fight to gain their rights.

For many many years, generations of girls would and will give up their education for their brother because he getting an education is more important than her getting one. Lindy Mieza once said, “If you look at our country, it is the women who are the first to dropped at school to give places to their brothers.” Girls in Africa get a second class education. Many girls have dropped out of school because they were raped and need to take care of their babies that have no fathers. “I once went to school, but then I was raped and had a baby.” A fourteen year old girl told a reporter. Women should be able to go to school just like men but, “Only the wealthiest girls are able to obtain an education.” , There are 52 million boys who do not go to primary school. But their are 77 million girls who don.t go to school where one learns the two most important things, reading and writing. Because women are that last ones in schools and the first ones out, obviously they are the ones who can.t read. If one took out nine hundred illiterate people, women would out number men two to one. In Africa, 68.3% of the women can not read. If women aren.t educated then they won.t get jobs and will have no way for a secure future.

Causes

Women are taught in their tribes and cultures that it is all right for men to mistreat them. This is not helping women realize that they don.t have to be treated the way they are. Tribal women are brought up thinking it.s okay for them to be men.s slaves. Once an African woman said “I came to the conclusion that part of our problems with men.is that we were brought up to see out lives incomplete without them. We were taught to consider man as our superiors, the absolute rulers not only of our home but of our lives too.” Geli said “Customs and tradition told us it was normal for men to lie and abuse to cheat and domineer.” Geli.s mom was abused by her husband as well as her Grandmother was abused and so was