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 AFROL
Gender Profiles:
Burundi
Burundi remains a war zone, after the peace conference in August
2000 practically failed. While gender equality had not been taken
seriously even before the conflict, women's situation has grown even
worse due to the fighting. The war has meant displacement, victimization
to rape, murder and slavery and an enhanced poverty.
Violence against women in civil society is also know to occur, but its extent is undocumented. Wives have the right to charge their husbands with physical abuse, but they rarely do so. Police normally do not intervene in domestic
disputes. No known court cases deal with the abuse of women.
Explicitly discriminatory inheritance laws and discriminatory credit practices
continues.
Women do not receive the same pay as men for the same
work.
In rural areas, women traditionally perform hard farm work, marry and have children at an early age, and have fewer opportunities for education than men.
Women in Burundi averagely give birth to 6,25 children (2000 est.)
Social data
Life expectancy: Total population: 46,18 years
male: 45,23 years
female: 47,16 years (2000 est.)
Infant mortality: 71,5 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Alphabetization rate: Total population: 35,3%
male: 49,3%
female: 22,5% (1995 est.)
Medical services: 80% of the population have access to medical
services. There are approximately 16.667 persons per doctor.
Sex ratio: at birth: 1,03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1,02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0,96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0,71 male(s)/female
total population: 0,98 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religious data: Traditional African religions 30,49%, Muslim
1,00%, Christians 68,51%.
Note: estimates for Burundi explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2000 est.)
Family and tradition
In rural areas, women traditionally perform hard farm work, marry and have children at an early age, and have fewer opportunities for education than men.
Explicitly discriminatory inheritance laws and discriminatory credit practices
continues.
Gender sensitivity in society
The Transitional Constitutional Act provides equal status and protection for all citizens, without distinction based on sex, origin, ethnicity, religion, or opinion. However, the Government
fails to implement effectively the act's provisions.
Women face legal and societal discrimination.
By law, women must receive the same pay as men for the same work, but in practice they do not. Women are far less likely to hold mid-level or high-level positions.
Health data
Access to potable water: 48% of the population have no access to potable
water.
Medical services: 80% of the population have access to medical
services. There are approximately 16.667 persons per doctor.
Maternal mortality rate: 1.300/100.000.
Infant mortality: 71,5 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): N.A.
Violence against women
Violence against women in civil society is also know to occur, but its extent is undocumented. Wives have the right to charge their husbands with physical abuse, but they rarely do so. Police normally do not intervene in domestic disputes, and the media rarely report incidents of violence against women. No known court cases
deal with the abuse of women.
Several cases of abuse of displaced Burundian women in
Tanzanian refugee camps have been reported in 2000. The Tanzanian Government
does not seem to give sufficient protection in these camps. Refugees and
internally displaced women live in great danger of abuse, rape, murder,
abduction and falling into slavery.
Main sources: U.S. Department of State, CIA,
Mundo negro
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