allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Protecting Women's Rights for Sustainable Development (Page 1 of 3)

allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Protecting Women's Rights for Sustainable Development (Page 1 of 3)
Rwanda: Protecting Women's Rights for Sustainable Development





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The New Times (Kigali)

OPINION
March 12, 2007
Posted to the web March 12, 2007

Dr. Istifanus A. Joshua
Kigali

It is said that the test of civilization in any society is the measure of consideration and care which it gives to its weaker members. The relationship between men and women are central to all societies. Men and women are not identical but they are created equal.

Many women were and many are still unable to take advantage of available resources because of the obstacles placed in their way by traditional beliefs and practices, most of which are gender based.


Women are respected in many societies only to the extent that they bring up healthy male children; and they are accustomed to poor services and treatment even in performing that role.

They are at risk because they suffer routinely from discrimination; also more likely to be illiterate, work for long hours and earn less money than men. Legal systems give them nominal protection and equality and in many developed and developing countries, older gender based customs still play important role.

Women in many parts of the world suffer sexual abuse in the hands of the very authorities whose duty is to protect them. There is also the perception that women needed to be educated only to be good housewives.

The slogan 'woman's rights are Human rights', adopted at the world conference on Human Rights I Vienna in 1993, as well as the Declaration on the elimination of violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly the same year, captured the reality of the status accorded to women.

This article discusses gender, gender roles, gender socialisation and stereotyping as it relates to gender based issues, Women's rights and Sustainable development as we celebrate International Women's day today, 8th March.

Gender

Gender refers to roles, attitudes, behaviour and values ascribed by the society to males and females as defined by a school of thought. However, sex refers to the biological differences between individual that make them male and / or female. It is biologically determined while gender is socially and culturally constructed and transmitted during the process of socialisation and differentiation. Thus, sex is inborn while gender is learned. Sex and its associated biological functions are programmed genetically while gender and power relations are learned, changeable over time and have wide variations within and between cultures. Gender unlike sex, determines to a large extent women's differential access to resources and power and these are reflected in the political, economic and social structure of a society.

Gender roles

Gender role refers to society's evaluation of behaviours, as masculine or feminine. Gagnon and Simon (1973) said, "Gender role has everything to do with the society in which one lives and may or may not have much to do with biology."

Michael Foucault argued that gender unlike sex should be recognised and accepted as a fluid variable that shifts and changes in different contexts and at different times.

Gender socialisation can occur at different levels such as by peers, by family, by religion, in work place, in the military, by charity, in education, in the media, by recreation and gender stratification in politics and government.

Sex and gender socialisation is deeply integrated into the fabric of most cultures as described by UNFPA, 2001. Gender stereotyping plays an important role in gender based issues and it can be defined as the rigidly held and oversimplified beliefs that males and females possess distinct psychological traits and characteristics as those outlined below:

Males should always be in control, never show emotions, must dominate or control the partner in a relationship, must be the head of the home and make decisions, must never accept infertility as his fault as it is never the man's fault if a woman fails to conceive and must never take 'No' for an answer from a sexual partner.

On the other hand, female must be emotional and sensitive, must always yield to partner's sexual demand, must accept infertility as her fault as a man cannot be infertile, must have as many children as society demands regardless of her health needs and must never complain about sexual harassment.

Relevant Links

Central Africa
Rwanda
Sustainable Development
Women and Gender



The above characteristics, as onerous as they are far fetched, imply that gender stereotypes do not usually reflect the true situation. While some may be positive, a lot more are negative in their outlook.

Examples of gender based issues include-

Society expects women to give birth and rear children irrespective of their fertility status. Half a million women die worldwide in childbirth every year leaving millions of motherless children. This has been described by Maine (1986) as the equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every 4 hours, every day, whose passengers are all women in the prime of their lives!