Uyen+Nguyen+UNDP+Mali+Topic+2

Name: Uyen Nguyen Country: Mali Committee: UNDP High School: Arundel High School Date: 2012 January 24

Topic 2: Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

The struggle for women's equality and empowerment has always proven itself to be worthwhile - as demonstrated in Western countries, the inclusion of women in realms outside of the household has not only inspired more peace, but has also proven the capabilities of a gender that has always been considered inferior. More importantly however, the empowerment of women has also led to substantial economic well-being in the countries that promote it; relations in women's freedoms in overall success within a country can easily be associated. In less industrialized countries, specifically in the Middle East and Africa, where traditional and religious customs are dominant over any sort of government ruling, women continue to face extreme limitations in their freedoms, comparable to animals and slaves. Unsurprisingly, it is also these countries that control their women with strict expectations that experience the most poverty. Mali is one of the worst offenders in terms of abusing women's rights; although government laws and religious laws may conflict to create a complicated problem, a gradual and cooperative effort towards providing these women with the appropriate education and opportunities for useful work will undoubtedly revolutionize present viewpoints without damaging or offending their customs. From the emergence of working women during the Industrial Revolution to the promotion of women’s rights during decolonization movements, communist revolutions, and Civil Rights movements, gender equality, or lack thereof, still remains a majorly pressing issue, mainly due to the fact that nearly all of these movements have been concentrated in Western nations. Universally however, women are still in fact much more likely than men to be poor, illiterate, discriminated and abused, and have less accessibility to property ownership and political rights. These lack of rights are most dramatically demonstrated in Middle Eastern and African countries, where women are continually viewed as property and thus are often granted into arranged marriages at very young ages for economic reasons, and even trafficked for slavery and prostitution. Unfortunately though, cohesive efforts toward fulfilling resolutions made by the U.N that recognize the need to promote equality for women have not been enough; many of these efforts, like efforts directed towards eradicating poverty, have been uneven – Africa seems to have been overlooked for the sake of the Middle East. With the strongly indigenous and traditional lifestyle of the Malian people, it is no surprise that some of the most atrocious cases of women’s abuse occur in this country. Nearly all women in Mali are subject to genital mutilation, underage and arranged (polygamous) marriage, and domestic and/or sexual abuse within these marriages; needless to say, the Malian woman makes no decisions and has rights restricted to her husband’s decisions only. Human trafficking is rampant, and there is little to no government action against such crime. Clearly, insufficient education, inaccessibility to basic resources, and political instability have all jeopardized the physical, property, and civil rights of Malian women. Nonetheless, there has been a dramatic increase in primary school attendance – numbers rose from 366,000 students in 1988 to more than 1.1 million in 2000, and most of these students were girls. Female education past basic levels, though, has shown little increase and women’s rights to own property or commit to activities outside the household remain limited, as family codes are based on the strict teachings of Islamic Sharia law and government laws are widely ignored. Ignorance to these government laws – including those that require female schooling – is the biggest reason as to why the empowerment of women in Mali has been hindered significantly. It can be safely assumed that spreading education is the first, and likely the most important step in the process to empower women. Educated women, like those who had historically lead revolutions in the West, will understand how their circumstances are supposed to be, not excessively depend on the male who “owns” them. Together with international governments, the Malian government has already created the legal basis for the protection of women’s basic rights; the main reason that many never receive schooling is simply because they do not have access to a school. Therefore, schools, in every level, need to be built so that they are openly available to all students of all ages. Variety in education should follow so that is not completely secularized, but also teaches skills that will enable the woman to contribute to the modern society. Along with endeavors involving refugee camps for the domestically and sexually abused women, specified programs (like the Women’s Mango Cooperative) can be created so that these women will have the opportunity to contribute to the economy. There is no appropriate reason as to why women should be deprived of their rights to make their own decisions with what they learn or do not learn, what they say or do not say, or what their family can or cannot have. The success of women in nearly every part of the world today signifies that it is time to make this success universal by promoting as much equality as possible, as there is no difference between one woman or another; every woman desires respect for her body, and every woman has a family that she must protect the best interests of. Though clashes between varying cultures has made movements toward women's empowerment more complex, a greater unified effort, including specific policies for every nation, will, over time, alleviate the abuses of women without endangering core traditional values.