Girls: The most harassed, exploited and discriminated
From the home to the workplace, girls and women in every part of the world are subjected to varying degrees of sexual harassment, exploitation, and gender discrimination. "Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation and it's perhaps the most pervasive," notes Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations. "It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth.''
Women everywhere live with the risk of physical harm in ways that have no direct parallels for men. "In every nation, violence or the threat of violence, shrinks the range of choices open to women and girls, narrowing their options in almost every sphere of life- public or private,'' says Noeleen Hyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), a trust fund set up by the UN General Assembly in 1995 to support actions to eliminate violence against women.
She says 60 million women all over the globe who should be alive today are "missing" because of actions and practices gender discrimination. Female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic violence, and discrimination at the workplace and in school are the major problems that plague girls and women in Africa.
Two million girls and women, mostly in Africa, undergo FGM each year. In Tanzania, this practice is still deeply rooted in cultural and social values. While FGM is forbidden by local legislation, hundreds of girls in Arusha, Dodoma, Mara, Kilimanjaro and Singida secretly undergo FGM behind the scenes, sometimes taking them across the border to Kenya for the operation.
Social values are attached to the practice. It is believed that girls who do not undergo FGM cannot make good wives because they are easily sexually stimulated and aggressive. "The aim is to bring up a society of matured and courageous women whose qualities are only demonstrated by circumcision,'' says Wankyo Matiku, an FGM village practitioner in the northern district of Serengeti in the Mara Region.
Some girls secretly seek the operation on their own to get recognition and win favours, according to Rhoda Mtoka, Mara Region Community Development Officer. But the practice has proved more devastating and fatal than useful. Twenty to 25 girls who undergo FGM annually in Tanzania's Tarime District in the region die of haemorrhage and infection, she says.
Domestic violence is another human rights violation against girls and women. Men tend to think that they have the right to discipline their wives in any way. And cases of violence against women are increasing year after year. In Tanzania, violence (battering) cases had risen from 45 in 1995 to 281 cases by 1998, according to research findings of the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA).
Young girls and women are also exploited in the labour market. A total of 110 million girls in the world aged between four and 14 years are employed as poorly paid domestic labourers, according to the WLDA.
Unemployment conditions are worse for women than for men. From July 10 to 23, 1999, TAMWA conducted an outreach programme in Tanzania's six regions that were identified as catchment areas of domestic workers. The programme found that women workers faced harassment, sexual abuse and unwanted pregnancies, denial of wages, and battery. Girl children domestic workers were exposed to exploitation, discrimination, and dehumanisation through working long hours and earning low wages. Not only the head of the household, but also relatives and children bossed around these girl children domestic workers.
TAMWA was involved in a programme to repatriate girl children labourers from Dar es Salaam City to their respective home villages. By June 2000, some 512 girl children labourers had been repatriated.
The programme involved Kiponzelo, Tanangozi, Ilula, Izazi, and Migori villages in the southern district of Iringa. The main objectives of the outreach were to prevent recruitment of girl children domestic workers, raise awareness of the adverse effects of child labour among potential girl children domestic workers, and change policies and the law to protect and promote development opportunities for girl children.
In school, girls are sidelined, which affects their academic performance. The poor performance of girls in science and technology subjects, for instance, is attributed to gender-based factors rather than their inability to tackle the subjects, argues Prof. Verdiana Masanja, National Co-ordinator of Female Education in Mathematics in Africa (FEMA). "Girls are left to be intimidated by their counterpart boy students, and teachers tease girl students instead of encouraging them to do better,'' she says.
Ali Ibrahim, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director, Area Office for East Africa, says the extent of women's participation in paid work and the type of work they perform are influenced by their access to productive resources: land; capital; skills and experience; labour market structure; and cash rewards of the market economy. Ibrahim says the in the face of these formidable social and labour problems, there is much that the government, in conjunction with social partners, could do to promote opportunities for decent work for all women and men. "Decent work means work that is carried out in conditions of freedom, equality, security, and human dignity,'' he advocates.