Ensuring Gender Equality and Equity in Mali

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Background
Like many parts of the world, Mali has also suffered from gender inequality. Mali has a low rate of gender equality since it is ranked 184 of the 189th countries (Besançon et al., 2022, p.2). Even though gender inequality is likely to affect any gender, women have been the main victims of gender inequality. One of the reasons has been since this society was mainly patriarchal, it was hard for them to incorporate other people into the society. This instance made most women struggle to have some aspects, such as education, that their male counterparts freely enjoyed. Furthermore, despite succeeding in learning, they have also suffered to attain the top position due to society's perspective. This inequality triggered some women and human rights groups to fight for gender equality. The struggle for gender equality has a long history since it started in 1962 when the country passed the Family Code, called the Code de la Famille (Whitehouse, 2022, p.82). The main reason why this law faced huge opposition was that it advocated for the traditional power of men over women. This law would therefore continue the oppression of women.
After many years of struggle, the National Assembly provided a go-ahead that could help the revision of the Family Code. This revision aimed to promote women's empowerment while boosting equality between the two genders. However, after the National Assembly passed the adoption of this law, Former President Amadou Toumani Touré rejected it and sent it to the National Assembly for further review (Kombo, 2022, p.1). This law took a long process, and in 2011, two years later, the National Assembly adopted the new Family Code (Kombo, 2021, p.10). This family Code subjugated the women even more than the Code la Famille of 1962. For instance, this law formally declared the men as the head of the families. This family Code prompted some social groups to join in the process of attaining greater gender equality through the application of quotas in government institutions. Even though these groups have made huge steps in attaining gender equality, some parts have gender inequality. Since this inequality is negatively affecting women, there should be measures to improve it to attain an equal society.
What is the current state of gender equality and equity in Mali?
Over the years, Mali has made huge steps in attaining gender equality and equity. For instance, the country gave approximately 27.3% of parliamentary seats only reserved for women (Richards, 2020, p.7). The main reason for this move was that due to the competitive nature of politics, most women failed to win a position in the parliament.
However, despite improvements in gender equality, the country is still far from attaining gender equality. For instance, there have been some instances where women have continued to be oppressed. The research shows that approximately 53.7% of women aged between 20 and 24 years were married or had been in a union before 18, which is usually the legal age for a woman to consent (Seidu, 2022, p.1). This case is critical since there have been high adolescent birth rates; for every 1000 women aged 15 and 19, approximately 164 have these births as of 2017. This scenario shows that most women are denied their right to make decisions at an early age.
Furthermore, the research conducted in 2018 shows that 18.4% of women aged between 15-49 years have been victims of physical or sexual violence by their former or current sexual partners within 12 months. Even though these cases have been rampant, these women fail to report them. One of the reasons is because of victimization in the society. There have been instances where, rather than the society supporting the victim for the abuse, they have continued to attack them. Besides, girls and women aged more than 15 years use most of their time performing unpaid care and domestic work. This rate is too high since men use only 2.5% of the time who spend their time performing unpaid work. This has been one of the reasons there has been a wide gap between women's income and their male counterparts. Furthermore, women within 15-49 years of the reproductive stage have been facing barriers regarding their sexual and reproductive health rights. The research conducted in 2018 showed that only 41.2% of women had their need for family planning satisfied through modern methods. These results, therefore, show that 58.8%, the largest percentage, did not have their family planning needs satisfied.
Furthermore, the country has social and cultural customs and inequalities affecting women. Currently, the country has food insecurity and a mortality rate of 10%, which mainly affects women and children. Moreover, varying from the male counterparts, agriculture has remained the main livelihood source for women in informal and formal sectors within the northern and central regions. This instance makes most women earn less income compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, the conflicts between the farmers and the herders, mostly in the central regions, regarding land ownership have affected the income these individuals earn.
The other problem in this country is they are still holding to some culture that oppresses women. For example, some women are still suffering from female genital mutilation. This process makes some women die as a result of excessive bleeding. Furthermore, those who survive are likely to experience dangers in the future, such as problems when having sex or during delivery. Most women usually fail to report these cases due to the fear of the actions that society is likely to take against them. Furthermore, even after reporting these cases, most women fail to get justice because of social pressures. More women have therefore continued to suffer from this process against their will.
Furthermore, the cultural perceptions of men and women have affected society's behavior. For example, there has been a belief that fathers are supposed to be the head of their families. In most instances, society believes that the fathers are supposed to have the final decision regarding the health of women and children, household expenditure, and the children's education when growing up. The research showed that in most families, the fathers control the decision-making in the family. Furthermore, society believed that some chores were destined for women. Few fathers performed some household chores such as cleaning and food preparation except when conducting children's daycare. This research shows that approximately 96% of men did not engage in household tasks, while only 22.5% highlighted that their fathers offered household care for their children. Since society has customized the family to be this way, it could be hard for women who were not free to continue with these unpaid tasks to continue performing them.
How do gender inequality and inequity contribute to Mali's peace and security situation?
Mali's situation of gender inequality has an impact on the country's security and peace situation. At the national level, the country has continued to engage in measures limiting women from engaging in social level, traditional, social, or religious norms. This process has caused a limit...