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 AFROL
Gender Profiles:
Mauritania
Mauritania is located in Northwestern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Senegal,
Mali, Algeria and Western Sahara. The Constitution established Mauritania as an Islamic republic and decrees that Islam is the religion of its citizens and the State, and the Government accordingly limits freedom of religion.
Shari' a law, proclaimed under a previous government in 1983, includes the Koranic prohibition against apostasy, but it has never been enforced.
The country experiences ethnic tensions between its black minority population and the dominant Maur (Arab-Berber) populace.
Women have the right to vote, and formed the majority of voters in the 1997 presidential election, but are underrepresented in government. Women occupy some senior government positions, including three cabinet posts, one secretary-general, two senior presidential advisors (including a Halpulaar), and four senior advisors to ministers.
The Constitution provides for equality before the law for all citizens, regardless of race, national origin, sex, or social status, and prohibits racial or ethnic propaganda. In practice the Government often favors individuals on the basis of ethnic and tribal affiliation, social status, and political ties. Societal discrimination against women, strongly rooted in traditional society, is endemic, although the situation is improving. There are no legal restrictions on the education of girls and
women. The law provides that men and women receive equal pay for equal work.
In practice polygyny is very rare among Moors but common among other ethnic groups. Arranged marriages are also increasingly rare, particularly among the Moor
population.
25 percent of the women in Mauritania undergo Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM). Among Halpulaar women, over 95 percent undergo FGM.
Social data
Life expectancy: Total population: 50.76 years
male: 48.7 years
female: 52.87 years (2000 est.)
Infant mortality: 78.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Alphabetization rate: Total population: 37.7%
male: 49.6%
female: 26.3% (1995 est.)
Medical services: 9.091 persons per doctor. 70% of total population has no access to health services.
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religious data: Mauritania is homogenously Muslim. Of a population of
2,5 million, more than 99% are Muslims. Some 0,8% follow traditional African
religions, while some 0,2% are Christians.
Family and tradition
Human rights monitors and female lawyers report that physical mistreatment of women by their husbands is rare. The police and judiciary occasionally intervene in domestic abuse cases but women in traditional society rarely seek legal redress, relying instead upon family and ethnic group members to resolve domestic disputes. The incidence of reported rape is low. It occurs, but newspaper accounts of attacks are rare.
Women have legal rights to property and child custody, and, among the more modern and urbanized population, these rights are recognized. By local tradition, a woman's first marriage, but not subsequent marriages, requires parental consent. In accordance with
Shari' a, marriage and divorce do not require the woman's consent, polygyny is allowed, and a woman does not have the right to refuse her husband's wish to marry additional wives. In practice polygyny is very rare among Moors but common among other ethnic groups. Arranged marriages are also increasingly rare, particularly among the Moor population. Women frequently initiate the termination of a marriage, which most often is done by husband or wife by repudiation rather than divorce. It is also common in Moor society for a woman to obtain, at the time of marriage, a contractual agreement that stipulates that her husband must agree to end their marriage if he chooses an additional wife. The rate of divorce among Moors is estimated to be 37 percent and the remarriage rate after divorce is 72.5 percent.
The Government entered reservations over requirements of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) that contradict the Shari' a, such as in inheritance cases in which women receive half the portion of a man.
There are no legal restrictions on the education of girls and women. Girls constituted
48,8 percent of all children enrolled in school in 1998. Some 84 percent of school-age girls attended elementary school in 1998-99, up from
44,8 percent in 1990 (compared with 88 percent for boys, up from 58,3 percent). At the secondary level, female students constituted 37.4 percent of those enrolled. Despite the increases, enrollment in eastern Mauritania, the Brakna, and along the Senegal River remained at a lower level. The Government introduced a special countrywide program in 1995-96 to boost female enrollment at the elementary level. Women made up 17 percent of the university's 1998-99 enrollment, compared with 9 percent in 1990. Women also constituted
30,5 percent of students enrolled in technical schools, compared with 2 percent in 1990. The literacy rate for women is 36 percent compared with 50 percent for men.
The Government seeks to open new employment opportunities for women in areas that traditionally were filled by men, such as health care, communications, police, and customs services. Women became more involved in the fishing industry and established several women's fishing cooperatives. For the first time, women were hired by the army to serve as police inspectors and customs officials.
The law provides that men and women receive equal pay for equal work. While not universally applied in practice, the two largest employers, the civil service and the state mining company, respect this law. In the modern wage sector, women also receive generous family benefits, including 3 months of maternity leave.
Gender sensitivity in society
The Constitution provides for equality before the law for all citizens, regardless of race, national origin, sex, or social status, and prohibits racial or ethnic propaganda. In practice the Government often favors individuals on the basis of ethnic and tribal affiliation, social status, and political ties. Societal discrimination against women, strongly rooted in traditional society, is endemic, although the situation is improving.
There are no legal restrictions on the education of girls and women. Girls constituted 48.8 percent of all children enrolled in school in 1998. Some 84 percent of school-age girls attended elementary school in 1998-99, up from 44.8 percent in 1990 (compared with 88 percent for boys, up from 58.3 percent). At the secondary level, female students constituted 37.4 percent of those enrolled. Despite the increases, enrollment in eastern Mauritania, the
Brakna, and along the Senegal River remained at a lower level. The Government introduced a special countrywide program in 1995-96 to boost female enrollment at the elementary level. Women made up 17 percent of the university's 1998-99 enrollment, compared with 9 percent in 1990. Women also constituted 30.5 percent of students enrolled in technical schools, compared with 2 percent in 1990. The literacy rate for women is 36 percent compared with 50 percent for men.
The Government seeks to open new employment opportunities for women in areas that traditionally were filled by men, such as health care, communications, police, and customs services. Women became more involved in the fishing industry and established several women's fishing cooperatives. For the first time, women were hired by the army to serve as police inspectors and customs officials.
The law provides that men and women receive equal pay for equal work. While not universally applied in practice, the two largest employers, the civil service and the state mining company, respect this law. In the modern wage sector, women also receive generous family benefits, including 3 months of maternity leave.
Women still face some legal discrimination. For example the testimony of two women is necessary to equal that of one man and the value placed on women's lives in court-awarded indemnities is only half the amount awarded for a man's death. However, women do not face legal discrimination in areas not specifically addressed by
Shari' a. The Secretariat for Women's Affairs works with many NGO's and cooperatives to improve the status of women. A booklet published late in 1996 advises women of their rights. On October 6, the Council of Ministers ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Government entered reservations over requirements of CEDAW that contradict the
Shari' a, such as in inheritance cases in which women receive half the portion of a man.
Health data
Access to potable water: 74%
Medical services: 9.091 persons per doctor. 70% of total population has no access to health services.
Maternal mortality rate: 930/100.000.
Infant mortality: 78.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Mauritania as a country in which 25 percent of the women undergo
FGM. Among Halpulaar women, over 95 percent undergo FGM.
Traditional forms of mistreatment of females continue, mostly in isolated rural communities, but these practices appear to be on the decline. Such mistreatment consists of forced feeding of adolescent girls (gavage) and female genital mutilation (FGM), which is widely condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health. Experts previously estimated that between 60 and 70 percent of women experienced gavage, but now conclude that less than 25 percent of Moor women have experienced gavage, which is practiced only among the Moors. The change in figures appears to reflect both prior overestimation and a decline in the practice in recent years. The Government continued intensive media and educational campaigns against FGM and gavage during the year.
FGM is performed most often on young girls, often on the seventh day after birth and almost always before the age of 6 months, and it is practiced among all ethnic groups except the Wolof. A March 1996 report by the United Nations Population Fund and a study published in 1997 by Jeune Afrique Economie cited Mauritania as a country in which 25 percent of the women undergo FGM. Among Halpulaar women, over 95 percent undergo FGM. A broad, foreign-funded study still is underway to obtain more precise data. The Government projects the study's completion by the end of 2000. Preliminary results of the foreign-funded study indicate that 66 percent of those who perform FGM recognize that the practice is detrimental to women's health, and 54 percent of imams agree that the practice is dangerous. Local experts agree that the least severe form of excision is practiced, and not infibulation, the most severe form of FGM. The practice of FGM has decreased in the modern urban sector.
It is the clear public policy of the Government, through the Secretariat of Women's Affairs, that FGM should be stopped, and the Government bars hospitals from performing it. Public health workers and NGO's educate women to the dangers of FGM and to the fact that FGM is not a requirement of Islam. For example a 1996 officially produced Guide to the Rights of Women in Mauritania (with religious endorsement) stresses that Islam does not require FGM and that if medical experts warn against it for medical reasons, it should not be done. The campaign against FGM appears to be changing attitudes towards the practice, according to several women's rights experts.
Violence against women
Human rights monitors and female lawyers report that physical mistreatment of women by their husbands is rare. The police and judiciary occasionally intervene in domestic abuse cases but women in traditional society rarely seek legal redress, relying instead upon family and ethnic group members to resolve domestic disputes. The incidence of reported rape is low. It occurs, but newspaper accounts of attacks are rare.
Main sources: U.S. Department of State, CIA,
Mundo negro
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