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| Cameroon | |
 Flag of Cameroon | |
| Population (in Mil.) | 19.3 |
 Sex Ratio (m/f)
| 1,01 |
 Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m)
| 1.02 |
 Fertility Rate
| 4.67 |
 Income Ratio (f/m)
| 0.53 |
 Literacy Ratio (f/m)
| 0,78 |
 Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m)
| 0,63 |
 Women in Parliament (in %)
| 8,9 |
| SIGI Rank | 81 |
| More information on variables | |
| Did you know that Cameroon ranks number 81 of 102 countries on the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index? To learn more, see the official country note "Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Cameroon" at genderindex.org: | |
Contents |
Social Institutions
Cameroon’s constitution has always upheld the principle of gender equality. However, there are several legal obstacles to gender equality: Cameroon’s dual system of Napoleonic Code and common law and the coexistence of customary and written law. Local traditions are an important part of Cameroonian life and many times, these traditions adversely affect the situation of women in the country. No legal definitions of discrimination or sexual harassment exist and, in fact, some aspects of civil law are prejudicial to women.
Family Code
The law states that the minimum age of marriage for women is 15 (18 for men), but many girls are married off by their families by the age of 12. Early marriage is prevalent, especially in remote provinces. 36% of women between 15 and 19 are currently married. Forced marriage is common in Cameroon. Often, the husband pays a bride’s parents a “bride price”. Once a price has been paid, the girl is considered the property of the husband. When a married man dies, the widow is often forced to marry one of the deceased’s brothers.
Polygamy is permitted by law and deeply rooted in traditions. Over 50 percent of men have multiple wives.
In a family, parental authority belongs to both the father and the mother unless one of them has been deprived of authority because of his or her behavior or due to a loss of physical or mental capacity. In the case of illegitimate children, parental authority is exercised by the parent with respect to whom paternity has been established. In case of divorce, the husband decides who has custody of children over the age of six.
National courts have always affirmed the principle of gender equality with respect to the right to inherit on intestacy. Customary practices such as a man’s marriage to his brother’s widow infringe a woman’s right to inherit. The extent to which a woman may inherit from her husband is normally 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. Single women cannot inherit from their parents because they are expected to marry. Once married, a woman is considered her spouse’s “inheritance property”.
Physical Integrity
The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is not practiced in the whole country, but does continue to be practiced in isolated areas in three of the ten provinces, including some areas of the Far North, Eastern, and Southwest provinces. Internal migration contributed to the spread of FGM to different parts of the country. According to the information available at WHO, such practices reportedly affect 20% of all Cameroonian women. Excision and circumcision are reportedly practiced in the southwest and far north provinces where the practice is said to affect 100% of Muslim girls and 63.6% of Christian girls.
Violence against women remains at high levels. The law does not impose effective penalties against men who commit acts of domestic violence. Spousal abuse is not a legal ground for divorce. 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. There is an exemption from punishment for rape if the rapist marries the victim. So-called breast ironing is another example of cruel violence against women.
Abortion is illegal in Cameroon and both mother and perpetrator are liable for imprisonment and/or fines, except in cases of maternal livelihood or children of rape.
There is some occurrence of missing women and an increase in the current sex ratio of 1.01 has been observed.
Civil Liberties
In terms of freedom of movement, for married women in Cameroon, it is exclusively the husband’s right to chose where the family settles.
There is no formal limitation to the freedom of dress in Cameroon.
In terms of Women's Political Empowerment, the Cameroon Constitution explicitly states that “without distinction to sex” any Cameroonian citizen may run for election to the National Assembly, having fulfilled basic age, literacy and residency requirements. However, in 1997, women represented only 6.6% of the National Assembly. Women also held less than 20% of central administration positions, and no high office (governor, prefect, sub-prefect or district head), while they held 30% of civil servant positions.[1]
Employment
The 1981 civil code allows a husband to oppose his wife’s right to work. 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.
Pregnant women are entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave under the Constitution. Women are not allowed to work more than 40 hours a week, are required to have 12 hours of rest between shifts, and cannot work over night in industry. Though women can not be terminated on the grounds of being pregnant, many times women are not chosen for jobs because of the maternity factor.
Women account for only 13.5% of the structured sector workforce in Cameroon. In the informal sector, 18% of enterprises are run by women; concentrated in food trade where they account for 81% of food sellers, and 9% of wholesalers.[2]
Education
The Constition of Cameroon guarantees compulsory primary education for both genders. However, girls account for 46% of primary education students, and only 42% at the secondary level. In higher education, females account for only 23% of students. This is mainly due to sending girls to school being seen as an “unprofitable investment”.
In the far north of Cameroon, 64% of children who could be enrolled in education are not, and the difference between enrollment rates of girls and boys is 14%. Nationwide, the girls make up 9% less of the enrollment than boys.[3]
Ownership Rights
While the law does not discriminate against women, socio-cultural practices restrict women’s access to land. Any person may individually or collectively acquire land rights so long as they obtain a land title that designates his or her property rights. In practice, these legal provisions often discriminate against women. In fact, under most customs, a woman is considered stateless and therefore unfit to own land, which by its very nature is fixed. She is stateless because she does not reside permanently in one place, neither in the place of her birth, which she leaves once she gets married, nor with her family of marriage, to which she remains an outsider.
Although legislation related to credit does not discriminate against Cameroonian women, there are several factors preventing the majority of them from obtaining access to formal bank loans. Legislative provisions restrict women's legal capacity to offer guarantees on a bank loan. In practice, some bankers demand the husband's guarantee as one of the conditions for granting a loan. Moreover, women have difficulty obtaining credit because they seldom meet the financial criteria required by credit institutions.
A woman’s right to ownership and access to property is not fully recognized in the civil code and the Commercial code. When she is married, her rights over her own property are limited. Her husband manages the community property, which he can sell, give up or mortgage. He also administers his wife’s personal property without the need to obtain her consent. Wives are sometimes at a disadvantage before the customary courts, since they must provide evidence of their contribution to conjugal assets.
References
- ↑ United Nations CEDAW. (1999, May 9). http://www.un.org. Retrieved June 16, 2010, from United Nations CEDAW: Country Reports: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw23/cameroon.pdf p24.
- ↑ United Nations CEDAW. (1999, May 9). un.org. Retrieved June 16, 2010, from United Nations CEDAW: Country Reports: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw23/cameroon.pdf
- ↑ United Nations CEDAW. (1999, May 9). un.org. Retrieved June 16, 2010, from United Nations CEDAW: Country Reports: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw23/cameroon.pdf p55-56.
Sources
- AFROL GENDER PROFILE, Cameroon, Available : http://www.afrol.com/Categories/Women/profiles/cameroon_women.htm
- CEDAW (1999), Consideration of reports submitted by states parties under article 18 of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women – Initial reports of States parties: Cameroon. CEDAW/C/CMR/1, 9 May 1999, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
- CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS (2003), Women of the World – laws and policies affecting their reproductive lives, pp 66-88.
- FAO, IFAT, ILC (2004), Rural Women’s access to Land and Property in Selected countries, pregress towards achieving the aims of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, Report Gender and Population Division (FAO) ,Technical Advisory Division (IFAD, and International Land Coalition (ILC).
- INC (2002), INC – Gender profile: Cameroon, Canadian International Development Agency, Industrial Cooperation Program (INC), March 2002.
- IPU (2007), Legislation and other national provisions on FGM, Web : http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/fgm-prov.htm accessed 26th July 2007.
- OMCT (2005), Violence against women in Cameroon, a report to the Committee against torture.
- UN (2003), Integration of the Human Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective, Violence against Women ». Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhila Coomaraswamy, submitted in accordance with commision on Human Rights resolution.
- United Nations (2007, Mar 29), un.org. Retrieved Jun 15, 2010, from CEDAW: Country Reports Cameroon: http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=CEDAW/C/CMR/3&Lang=E
- US. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (2006), Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Cameroon, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
- US. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (2006), International Religious Freedom Report,Cameroon, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
The Women, Business and the Law
Where are laws equal for men and women? 
The Women, Business and the Law report presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees. Several of these indicators draw on the Gender Law Library, a collection of over 2,000 legal provisions impacting women's economic status. This report does not seek to judge or rank countries, but to provide information to inform discussions about women’s economic rights. Covering 128 economies, Women, Business and the Law provides data covering 6 areas: accessing institutions,using property, getting a job, dealing with taxes, building credit, and going to court.Read more about the methodology.
For detailed information on Cameroon, please visit the Women, Business and
the Law Cameroon page.
Sources
The Africa for Women's Rights Campaign
Key facts
- CEDAW: ratified in 1994
- CEDAW Protocol: ratified in 2005
- Maputo Protocol: signed in 2006, not ratified
The Campaign
On 8 March 2009 the "Africa for Women's Rights" Campaign was launched at the initiative of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in collaboration with fove non-governmental regional organisations: the African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies(ACDHRS), Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA). These organisations make up the Steering Committee responsible for the coordination of the Campaign.
The Campaign aims to put an end to discrimination and violence against women in Africa, calling on states to ratify international and regional instruments protecting women's rights, to repeal all discriminatory laws, to adopt laws protecting the rights of women and to take all necessary measures to wensure their effective implementation.
Country Focus: Cameroon
Cameroon has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol, but has still not ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol).
The Coalition of the Campaign is particularly concerned by the following continued violations of women's rights in Cameroon: persistent discriminatory legislation; violence against women, including harmful traditional practices such as early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation; and limited access to education, public and political life and health services.
Cameroon’s laws remain deeply discriminatory towards women and, despite observations and recommendations made by the CEDAW Committee to the Cameroon government in 2000 and 2009, no legal reforms have been undertaken to increase protection of women’s human rights. Furthermore, customary law is applied alongside statutory law, creating numerous contradictions and inconsistencies.
Sources
- Focal Points: MDHC
- Maison des Droits de l’Homme au Cameroun (MDHC)
- Recommendations of the CEDAW Committee, February 2009
- UNICEF, State of the World’s Children 2009, www.unicef.org
- AFROL Gender Profiles, www.afrol.com
