Women's Labor, land, language rights in Africa
Name:Zhao Xiliang Student ID：S07688
Research paper supervisor:Dr.Seku Conde
Minzu University of China
2007-2008 Academic Year
AAbstract: Studies on human rights (especially about women) in various parts of the globe are now in vogue. This paper analysis the employment discrimination, land rights, language rights about women. The paper take land rights in Uganda and take language policy and practice in Kenya as examples. The analysis focus on problems underreport of women’s employment, agriculture as employment and language rights in Kenya. And then the paper prints out many solutions. It suggests that the Protocol should not only have powerful words but also have functional meaning. In Africa, it should have clear-cut democratic language policies, positive attitude towards indigenous languages and programmed of policy implementation. It needs training on human rights and other international, regional instruments that are important in the fight for women’s rights.
Key words: labor rights, land rights, language rights, Africa.
Introduction
On December10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the past decade, women's rights as human rights have prominently risen. Recent developments illustrate an increasing awareness of the status of women’s rights in Africa [1]. This awareness is reflected in the Constitutive Act of the African Union (“Constitutive Act”) [2]. Also, the adoption of an additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“African Charter”)[3]on the Rights of Women in Africa[3] more signiacantly reflect this awareness in 2003. Thirty African states have signed the Protocol on Women’s Rights (“Protocol”) and, as recently as October 26, 2005, Togo became the fifteenth nation to ratify the Protocol—the last ratification necessary to enter the Protocol into force [3].
Protocol models the African Charter's and the United Nations Convention's structure on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ("CEDAW") [3]. Women are contingent on rights to equality, health, education, and political participation in economic, electoral, and customary institutions [3].
Labor rights and property rights are considered more. Labor rights mean equal pay, freedom from harassment in the workplace, and to equal opportunity for securing benefits and promotions. Property rights, as in CEDAW, are primarily address rights to ownership and to inheritance. However, economic, social and cultural rights are much less well known, and only rarely do they form the subject of concerted political action, media campaigns or critical reportage. This is the case in the countries of both the "North" and "South [4]."
Human rights are not yet recognized as universally valid, and the dominant focus in the human rights movement is still on political and civil rights, or first generation rights, as compared to the weaker emphasis on important economic, social, and cultural rights. These second generation rights, in addition to third and fourth generation rights (group rights and women's rights, respectively), are not nearly as well integrated into the existing international instruments dealing with reporting, evaluation, and monitoring procedures of human rights violations[5].
The paper's initial goal was to think about women's human rights in diverse African situations. Unless the Protocol is interpreted in a manner that addresses women rights concerns, it may only have a marginal impact on the current human rights obligations in the areas of labor and land. About women’s linguistic rights in Africa, it should have clear-cut democratic language policies, positive attitude towards indigenous languages and programmed of policy implementation, promotion and development of African languages.
1. women's rights in Africa
"Women’s rights, and the discrimination against them that limits the scope of their rights in most countries, is not an accident. The causes of women’s subordination and unequal gender relations are deeply rooted in history, religions, culture, legal systems, political institutions and social attitudes. The solutions, therefore, require a comprehensive approach to address long-term systematic discrimination and oppression ."H.E.Dr. K.Y.Amoako - Executive Secretary for the Economic Commission for Africa-1997.
The Oppression mentioned above is worst for Indigenous Women who are a minority in any society in Africa. Even though Women have always been partners in the struggle especially in the last few years, they have taken responsibilities for the survival of their people, in bringing the family together even in times of conflict; they have been in the forefront giving hopes to their families [6].
These are some of the root causes of both the invisibility and denial of their basic human rights of the Indigenous Women of Africa. They are sudden climatic changes, conflicts in some parts of the African region, illiteracy, funding, lack of access to better health care and HIV/AIDS [6].
In Kenya the Maasai Indigenous Woman is discriminated against by society. When a girl is born, a sheep is slaughtered as compared to the cow/ bull for a boy. Their representation and participation in various issues is minimal [6].
Over the past twenty years, women's role in the society has been strengthened. Though the progress made, women's human rights are still being given second priority considerration almost everywhere. Although women are the main makeup in Africa, they still face discrimination and marginalization in many areas.
A high rate of illiteracy among women still prevails in much of Africa. In the business world, women rarely account for more than one or two per cent of the top executive positions [6]. In developing countries, maternal mortality is a leading cause of death for women of reproductive age. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than half a million women die each year in childbirth. An African woman’s lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy related causes are 1 in 23, while a North American woman’s is 1 in 4,000[6].
In the past eight years, Women Organization has made a big progress. They have organized training for their own members and most of them have had a voice. This is more visible in Eastern Africa where there are many Indigenous Women’s organizations and community based women groups who have been empowered [6]. Nowadays, women can come to vote. It has been very important since in many African countries, women are the majority. However, because of lacking knowledge, they lack of development conscious.
In Southern Sudan, for example Indigenous Women have played a big role in peace-building after the good and successful model of the Somali women who tried all ways to bring peace in their war torn country [6]. This is a good example of the role played by Indigenous Women as Peacemakers. Though there are great successes in maintaining women's rights, there is still a lot of work to be done in Africa.
As follows, I will explain women's human rights about employment, land rights, linguistic rights. And then give some examples to show the unfair of human rights. At last, I will educe many solutions.
2. Employment discrimination, Land rights and women's land rights in Uganda as an example
If one is employed to do one work, he or she should receive payment [7]. Employment for women in Africa is characterized by subsistence and small-scale farming, and their participation in informal trade is connected to agriculture, as opposed to what might be normally understood as paid labor. The rights related to employment focus on equal pay and on freedom from harassment—rights important of a salaried position but of little consequence for women deriving income from land or trade [3].
2.1 Problems with underreporting of women’s employment
One woman in Ethiopia expressed that no East African woman is unemployed. Only a few are paid. Despite specific employment patterns diverge across Africa, regional patterns seem to exist: 80% [8] of African women do agricultural work, which is the mainstay of most East African economies, and few women perform salaried professional and clerical work. Take Kenya as an example， in this country it reflects similar employment patterns: Women constitute almost half of the agricultural workforce and 70% to 80% of all subsistence farmers [9]. These problems are induced by lacking of education, restrictions on reproductive choice, workplace discrimination toward women and so on.
The contribution of women to the work force is undervalued. National labor censuses and studies by the International Labor Organization (“ILO”) routinely underestimate the contribution. "Official and unofficial estimates of the female labor force in Africa are highly suspect and in many instances hardly believable"[10].
2.2 Agriculture as employment
From above, we can see that women are the main agricultural workforce. And also we can know that their labor shifts with the needs of the season and is often temporary and underpaid. As reported in 1991, in twenty-six African countries, between 80% and 97.8% of all economically active women worked in agriculture [9].
The type of farming between men and women is inequitable. Farming from larger plots of land primarily for market, is performed largely by men, whereas small-scale or family-based subsistence farming, comprising most of East African farming, is undervalued and done by women [11]. At the same time, Women’s work is often seen as an obligation owed to the family, not as value created for the family. Research shows that most of a woman’s income goes toward family expenditures, while up to 90% of a man’s income is spent [...]
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