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 AFROL
Gender Profiles:
Cameroon
Cameroon is a multi-ethnical and multi-cultural country in
Central Africa. With hundreds of ethnicities and languages and most
religions represented, it is difficult to point at "the
Cameroonian" in a gender profile. Although the numbers of
cultures are high, one aspect is quite common in Cameroon, and that
is the importance given to local traditions. This again widely
affects Cameroonian women's situation, as traditions never give as
much protection as modern equality laws.
Polygyny is permitted by law and tradition, but polyandry is not.
Because of the importance attached to customs and traditions, laws
protecting women are often not respected.
Despite the law, many girls are married off by their families by the
age of 12. Forced marriage is usual.
Violence against women remains at high levels.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced. No law prohibiting FGM
is known to exist.
Each
woman in Cameroon averagely gives birth to 4,88 children (2000 est.).
Social data
Life expectancy: Total population: 54,82 years
male: 54,01 years
female: 55,64 years (2000 est.)
Alphabetization rate: Total population: 63,4%
male: 75%
female: 52,1% (1995 est.)
Medical services: 15% of the people have access to medical
services. (12.500 persons per doctor).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1,03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1,02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1,01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0,86 male(s)/female
total population: 1,01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religious data: Traditional African religions 39,69%, Christian
41,31%, Muslim 20%.
NOTE: estimates for this country 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
Despite constitutional provisions recognizing women's rights, women do not, in fact, enjoy the same rights and privileges as men. The civil law theoretically provides equal status and rights for men and women. However, no legal definition of discrimination exists, and some points of civil law are prejudicial to women. The 1981 Civil Code allows a husband to oppose his wife's right to work in a separate profession if the protest is made in the interest of the household and the family. While the law gives a woman the freedom to organize her own business, the Commercial Code allows a husband to end his wife's commercial activity by notifying the clerk of the commerce tribunal of his opposition based upon the family's interest. Partly for this reason, some employers require a husband's permission before they hire a woman. Polygyny is permitted by law and tradition, but polyandry is not. In cases of divorce, the husband's wishes determine the custody of children over the age of 6. While a man may be convicted of adultery only if the sexual act takes place in his home, a female may be convicted without respect to venue.
Civil law offers a more equal standard than customary law, which is far more discriminatory against women, since in many regions a woman customarily is regarded as the property of her husband. Because of the importance attached to customs and traditions, laws protecting women often are not respected. Despite the law that fixes a minimum age of 15 years for a bride, many girls are married off by their families by the age of 12. In the customary law of some ethnic groups, husbands not only maintain complete control over family property, but also can divorce their wives in a traditional court without being required to provide either verifiable justification or alimony. The extent to which a woman may inherit from her husband normally is governed by traditional law in the absence of a will, and customs vary from group to group. In many traditional societies, custom grants greater authority and benefits to male than to female heirs.
Another problem facing women is forced marriage; in some regions, girls' parent can and do give them away in marriage without their consent. Often, a bride's parents are paid a "bride price" by the husband, who is sometimes many years older than the girl. Since a price has been paid, the girl is considered the property of the husband. When a married man dies, his widow is often unable to collect any inheritance, since she herself is considered part of the man's property. The widow often is forced to marry one of the deceased's brothers. Refusal means that she must repay the bride price in full (she usually has no source of funds) and leave the family property. In the northern provinces, some
Lamibe (traditional rulers) reportedly prevent their wives and concubines from ever leaving their palaces. The lack of a national legal code covering the family leaves women defenseless against male-oriented customs.
The degree of familial child abuse is not known but is one of several targeted problems of children's rights organizations.
Preadolescent girls in areas of far North and
Southwest provinces are subjected to Female Genital
Mutilation. The form practiced is infibulation.
Gender sensitivity in society
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on sex and mandates that "everyone has equal rights and obligations," but the Government does not enforce these constitutional provisions effectively.
In practice, although not in law, women also suffer from discrimination in access to education. The gap in school attendance rates between boys and girls is 9 percent nationally and 14 percent in the three northern provinces. This problem, which is especially
acute in rural areas, results in higher levels of illiteracy among women than among men. According to a 1995 study by a U.N. agency, the adult literacy rate was 75 percent for men but only 52 percent for women. In addition, fewer girls are found at higher levels of education; according to a 1992 study by the Ministry of Women's Affairs, women made up only 23 percent of postsecondary students.
Health data
Access to potable water: 50%
Medical services: 15% of the people have access to medical
services. ( 12.500 persons per doctor).
Maternal mortality rate: 550/100.000
Infant mortality: 54,58 deaths/1.000 live births (2000 est.)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Females in areas of far North and
Southwest provinces undergo this practice. The form practiced is infibulation.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), which has been condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health, is not practiced widely, but it is traditional and continues to be practiced in some areas of Far North and Southwest Provinces. It includes the most severe form of the abuse, infibulation, and usually is practiced on preadolescent girls. The Government has criticized the practice; however, no law prohibiting FGM is known to exist.
Violence against women
Violence against women remains at high levels. Women's rights advocates report that the law does not impose effective penalties against men who commit acts of domestic violence. There are no gender-specific assault laws, despite the fact that women are the predominant victims of domestic violence. Spousal abuse is not a legal ground for divorce. In cases of sexual assault, a victim's family or village often imposes direct, summary punishment on the suspected perpetrator through extralegal means ranging from destruction of property to beating. While there are no reliable statistics on violence against women, the large number of newspaper reports--a fraction of actual incidents--indicates that it is widespread.
The Penal Code provides that any person who engages in any traffic in persons shall be punished with imprisonment of from 10 to 20 years and that the court may also impose a forfeiture penalty.
According to the NCHRF, there have been reports of farm-to-city trafficking of girls who were promise jobs in cities, but were forced into prostitution or other labor. Early in the year, there was a media report that young girls in Douala were being seized as they left school and subsequently sold. In late March, according to that report, local youths in Douala's Bapenda neighborhood reportedly caught a woman in the act of trying to kidnap a young girl from the Bepanda nursery school. The same report indicated that police rescued the woman from a lynching by fire at the hand of
neighborhood residents and detained her in Douala's New Bell Prison, where she assisted investigators who sought to break this trafficking network. Initial efforts to investigate these reports could not corroborate them, but inquiries were continuing at year's end. No NGO's were known to be working to reduce trafficking in persons.
Main sources: U.S. Department of State, CIA,
UN, HRW, Mundo negro
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