ABSTRACT

This research project deals with gender equality and the protection of women’s rights to employment in Cameroon. Gender equality is a status every developed society needs in order to have a steady output in all fields and this can only be attained by the fair and equal treatment of everyone in that society be it male or female. The aim of this study is to outline the various problems faced by the women in the Cameroonian society, the various laws enacted to protect the rights of women in Cameroon and the rest of the world. To attain this goal, the doctrinal research method was adopted. The research findings however revealed that, regardless of all the laws enacted to protect women and help them in the fight against gender inequality, there is still a great degree of gender inequality all over Cameroon. The study therefore recommends that there must be a constant check by the government on the private and political sectors to see that there are little or no gender inequalities. Also, the government should reinforce its laws on gender inequality and revise some its gender-biased laws.

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTIODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Gender equality means that men and women have equal power and equal opportunities for financial independence, education and personal development.1Equality and the protection of women’s rights to employment has been a long time problem that has occasionally been raised by women all over world for want of their rights to be respected that is generally in the society and specifically at the jobsites. This problem generally dates back to the 19th century after the American Revolution (The American civil war) which instilled the idea of freedom in the minds of some women2. Before this revolution, the woman was known to do just house chores and raise the children while all the men did the work.
After the revolution, Black women joined the workforce to raise some steady income after they were freed. Later immigrants joined the work force followed by middleclass white women who also wanted to raise some money for the whole family. The labour force pertaining to women at that time exposed the racial issues in the American society as white women were given better jobs compared to the ones given to Black women. This led the start-up of some labour unions which opened up to women because more women joined the work force. In fact, in the 1880sthe labour union “The Knights of Labour” supported women to have equal pay for work. The struggle for equality was much of a problem for these women.

They were faced with long working hours with poor pay, they also had a lower minimum wage rate than the men and had to balance their family life in addition to all the work. It was due to this that people such as Lucy Hale and Mother Jones came up to motivate working women in the fight to work equality3. During the World War II in 1939 when most men were out for the war, a lot of women joined the workforce and some even took on men’s jobs, the government used various propaganda and icons to encourage women in to the workforce such as Rosie the Riveter4.At this time women started to feel the power they fought for but this was short lived as the war came to end and the men returned. Most men were dissatisfied with the fact that women had their jobs back. It was during this time where certain unions and non-profit organisations stood up for the rights of women. This lasted a couple of years but eventually women started to feel comfortable entering the work force all over again, they were starting to gain some degree of equality in the workforce. Eventually, the Equal Pay Act was enacted and with time women equally started having some male dominated jobs in America, this change only surfaced around the late 20th century5. The fight for equality became stronger as the years went by and the support for women in the workforce kept on increasing till present date.

Women in the Workforce in Africa:

Cameroon In Africa, women are generally faced with the problem of inequality due to the fact that before African colonies were being colonised, their societies were generally ruled and dominated by men. With the coming of the colonialism in Africa, things only got worse as women were being treated poorly and relegated to the farm or house work while men were given better jobs and, in the case, where women worked with men, they were being paid less.6
Such discrimination caused a lot of pain and bitterness in the heart of some African women and feminists causing them to stand up for the rights of women in Africa. This was done by the creation of several gender equality groups such as Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and also the United Nations (UN) which was in support of women’s rights.
Cameroon a member of the UN has also been noted for its discrimination against women and gender equality. It was colonised by both Britain and France making it to be oriented in two legal systems, which is the French and English legal systems. It is also important to note that it has another system of law, which cannot be ignored, and that is the Customary Law system. This is based on the rules of the several ethnic groups in Cameroon which are more than 2007 in number and are male dominated that is in almost all of these ethnic groups, the man is given more respect than the woman and this affects the society. 

Nevertheless, it’s important to note that several steps have been taken to solve such problems some of them include the article 64 of the Cameroon constitution signed 2nd June 1976 revised by law No 96/06 on 18 January which incorporates some of the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights, the Preamble states that “the nation shall protect women, the young, the elderly and the disabled”. According to article 65, the Preamble has legal grounds. The constitution also has some provisions enshrining gender equality. It’s important to note that Cameroons population was about 23 million in 20158 and traditionally; women’s life is mostly in the domestic sphere and is not present much in the public sphere. From data collected in 2011, 25% of women in Cameroon headed households in the country9. Women marry early: about 50% of them get married for the first time at the age of 17 or 18 and bearing children is seen as the most important role of a woman leading to the high fertility rate in the country.10Also, women constitute 52% of Cameroon’s population and are actively involved in the fight against poverty making a crucial contribution to societal development. Nevertheless, this status of women which was often dwarfed and subordinated to that of men by culture and state institutions is gradually being reversed by the African Union’s (AU’s) institutional and legal frame work on gender equality and the economic empowerment of women.