CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Women’s rights and the roles which are designated to women have diverse reflections in societies throughout the world. Most nations and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world have been engaged in the fight against gender inequality separately and in different ways and of cause the results are completely different. Some women around the world still rest in vacuum though they try to raise their voices but have not yet had responses or been offered a helping hand. Different countries around the world are recognizing women’s’ rights, and laws being made both by International Governmental Organizations and Nation-states governments to reduce the existing gap between a man and woman that continue to exist in mot societies till date. Non-governmental organization have intervened in the fight against gender inequality with obligation not to contradict and oppose the government and existing international instruments but to fulfill any gap that can be found in the fight against gender inequality.

Historically, Since the early 1980s, NGOs have been at the forefront of documenting discrimination against women by viewing women‘s rights as human rights related to: 1) promoting the need for a gender approach to health care, education and economic development, 2) promoting the needs of the girl child and, 3) exposing violence against women (Handy & Kassam, 2007). Governments and donor agencies have increasingly relied on local NGOs in developing countries (which COMINSUD is one of them) due to their proximity with the grass-roots and deep insight into women‘s concerns to fight against some inequalities that still exist in many developing societies (Mehra, 1997). NGOs are also viewed as more flexible, participatory, and open to change and innovation (Riddell et al., 1995; Streeten, 1997). A range of approaches and strategies adopted by NGOs to address women issues include empowerment, linking gender issues to development programs, and promoting a rights-based approach to social inclusion.

As ideas about participation and empowerment of women were adopted, it became also necessary to pay attention to unequal gender relations that are usually ignored (Lewis & Kanji, 2009; Parpart, Rai, & Staudt, 2002). By linking gender to development programs it is possible to focus on the role of culture and the inequalities rooted in the subordination of women (Sen & Grown, 1988). Sen and Grown (1988) offered vision of empowerment based on a commitment to collective action that needs to grow out of specific problems and context facing women in developing countries (economic, political or cultural). As Sen and Grown (1988) note, Equality for women is impossible within political, cultural processes that reserve resources, power and control for small groups of people, who mostly are made of men. But neither is development possible without gender equality for, and participation by, women (Lewis & Kanji, 2009) From the late 1990s onwards, the rights-based approach has been adopted by the NGOs and donors to bring the issues of economic, social and cultural rights to the center stage alongside with existing political and civil rights. The rights-based approach has helped to link poverty alleviation with the efforts to promote accountability (Lewis & Kanji, 2009). Numerous studies have highlighted the role of NGOs in fighting gender inequality. Based on the strategies and approaches, NGOs have adopted various innovative interventions considering the socio economic and cultural issues to address the women‘s issues in the developing countries.

The fundamental human right of gender equality is identified in the pronouncement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (ACFOA, 2004). This declaration states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and all persons are entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms without dissimilarity based on sex. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) sets out precise areas to be addressed in the prevention of discrimination against women. These include (but are not limited to) equity in education, remuneration, representation before the law, public functions, opinion, marriage and family. Importantly, CEDAW outlines that the whole society, not only just the government of a country has responsibilities to reduce gender-based discrimination. This convention gives room for NGOs to take up the fight against gender inequality and support the nation-government in the promotion of gender equality. The Declaration on the Right to Development further recognizes the importance of gender equality in participation in development interventions (OHCHR, 2003). Following the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, gender mainstreaming was adopted by the UN as the key methodology for fighting gender inequality. In 2002, the international community approved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), now known as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) comprising eight internationally agreed goals, with supporting targets and indicators, which aim to halve global poverty. Gender is specifically addressed by Goal 5, to ‘promote gender equality and empower women’, with a target of eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education, and in all education by 2030;

• End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
• Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
• Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
• Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.
• Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life.
• Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.
• Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.
• Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.
• Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels. (MDGs, 2000)

Conceptually, According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment Women (UN-Women), gender refers to “the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships between women and men and girls and boys, as well as the relations between women and those between men. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They are context/time-specific and changeable. Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context.” Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences (Kilgour, 2007).

In the past decades, the policies of most countries have included strong commitments on improving gender equality. Progress in areas such as rights, education, health and access to jobs has been recorded at global level. However, gender disparities still persist in many areas and regions. No state has achieved full women’s equality, including developed countries such as Canada, Finland and Sweden (Kilgour, 2007). Gaps between men and women remain significant in many dimensions. Furthermore the improvements have not affected all regions and all social classes equally. Gender inequalities manifest themselves in all three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental). Discriminatory laws are still present in domestic legislation of several countries and in many there is no proactive legislation aimed to advance equality and to protect women from domestic violence. Still, 39 countries do recognize equal inheritance rights for daughters and sons (World Bank, 2012). Gender-based violence is one of the most pervasive human rights violations which becomes even more dramatic in war situations. World Health Organization estimates in 2017 that about 20% of women under the age of 50 experienced physical and/or sexual violence within 12 months and 15 million girls under age 18 every year were subject to harmful practices, such as child marriage or steal of their childhood (World Health Organization, 2017).

Gender inequality is empirically and conceptually a multidimensional phenomenon (Mason, 1987). These inequalities are expressed explicitly in the form of differences in the sex ratio, child infanticide, literacy rates, health and nutrition indicators, wage differentials and property ownership as well as implicitly in the form of embedded relationships of power and hierarchy (Mehta, 1996). The deep-rooted patriarchal structure existing in many parts of the developing countries continues to marginalize women and limit their economic mobility (Cain, Khanam & Nahar, 1979). For example, in Africa patriarchical family structures assign women to subordinate roles in the household and in the community (Asiyanbola, 2005). Another aspect of the subordination of women involves men‘s control over women’s sexuality as it shapes many family decisions related to the marriage of daughters or girls (Stromquist, 1990). In Asia and Africa one girl in four is married by age 16; in Nepal, 40 per cent of girls are married by the age of 15. It is also not surprising that at least 18 percent of the women in developing countries become mothers by age 18, either as a result of rape early marriages or forceful marriages (Mathur et al., 2003).

Discrimination between girls and boys, women and men remain a major obstacle to human development in Cameroon. The country ranks 141st among the 189 countries ranked in relation to their level of gender inequality (UNDP, Gender inequality index, 2017). The inequality index reveals significant disparities in the three key dimensions of human development: reproductive health, education and access to employment. Gender relations and the perception that women and men have of their role and that of the opposite sex anchor, justify and maintain unequal practices within households and society. These inequalities reveal themselves in different ways in crisis-affected areas.

As defined by the World Bank, NGOs are private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development (Abbey, 2008). Since the 1980s, NGOs have become major players in the field of development by promoting democracy, advocating for human rights, promoting sustainable socio-economic development, providing humanitarian relief, and supporting educational and cultural renewal in most developing countries which Cameroon is one (Rice & Ritchie, 1995). The emergence of NGOs in developing countries results, in part, from the failure of governments to reach the poorest of the poor and/or address the widening gaps between the rich and the poor (Streeten, 1997). As van der Heijden (1986) notes, the effectiveness of the NGOs lies in their ability to deliver emergency relief or development services at low cost, to many people, in remote areas; their rapid, innovation and flexible responses to emerging financial and technical assistance needs at the grass root level; their long standing familiarity with social sector development and poverty alleviation; their experience with small scale development projects as well as with those requiring a high degree of involvement by, and familiarity with, concerned target groups (cited in Riddell et al. 1995, pp 36)

It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 NGOs operating in developing countries along with hundreds of thousands of small grassroots organizations and reach 250 million poor people (Streeten, 1997). The transfer of funding from high-income countries to NGOs to promote international development assistance has risen from a negligible amount before 1980 to nearly $2 billion in 2004 (OECD, 2006a). This amount does not include additional billions of dollars that are channeled through NGOs to implement specific projects on behalf of the donor countries (Werker & Ahmed, 2008). The wide-ranging work of NGOs can be categorized in terms of the roles of implementer, catalyst, and partner (Lewis, 2007). The implementer role involves the mobilizing of resources and needs while the catalyst role reflects the ability to inspire, facilitate or contribute to improved thinking and action related to social transformation and the partner role includes the need to work on joint activities with government, donors and the private sector (Lewis & Kanji, 2009). The implementer role of providing services and the catalyst role of advocacy the primary focus on NGOs in this analysis.

Contextually, since the signing of Beijing platform for action (BPfA) in 1995 at the end of the Fourth UN Conference, which had as objectives to advance the rights of women and Gender Equality Worldwide, many governments are committed to achieving gender equality and empowerment of women. The international community came to a consensus and agreed to a comprehensive blueprint of commitments supporting the full development of women and their equality with men in 12 areas of concern: (1) women and poverty; (2) education and training of women; (3) women and health; (4) violence against women; (5) women and armed conflict; (6) women and the economy; (7) women in power and decision-making; (8) institutional mechanisms; (9) human rights of women; (10) women and media; (11) women and the environment; (12) the girl child. The BPfA affirmed the principles that would govern future actions and strategies for women, and firmly set in place an agenda for empowering women by integrating their concerns in national plans and policies. Governments and the UN agreed to promote gender mainstreaming as a strategy to ensure that a gender perspective is reflected in all policies and programs at the national, regional and international levels and over the past decade, major international institutions supporting development programs have created and endorsed a gender policy that includes the active role of women in decision-making processes and empowerment, gender training and sensitization, and targeted action to promote gender equity (Moser & Moser, cite in Srivastava 2012). Multilateral and bilateral aid agencies (e.g., Department for International Development Swedish International Development Agency, and UNICEF) encourage the participation of girls and women. The governments also in many developing countries have adopted policies and interventions to address women‘s issues as well as collaborated with local NGOs to implement the projects and programs that support the empowerment of women. For example, the collaboration of COMINSUD and the North West Regional Delegation for Women Empowerment to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child  illustrates how NGO-state collaboration addresses education and women’s empowerment in Mezam and Cameroon at large. Similarly, the governments in Sub-Saharan Africa are seeking to increase the access of girls to secondary education. In Pakistan, the government policies regarding women are more concern with economic realities than with gender issues (Weiss, 1994). Many governments in developing countries have endorsed grassroots microcredit and microfinance institutions and, in some cases, have integrated micro-credit programs into their development planning (Snow and Berry, cite in Srivastava 2012)

However, most of the initiatives launched by NGOs and governments since the 1980s have been largely confined to services that seek to reduce oppression instead of addressing the underlying causes of gender discrimination. For example, education initiatives have been largely confined to strategies to increase the access of girls to education and have not sought to address the causes of the gender gap itself, especially the economic betterment of the communities in which women live. There has been less attention to improving the social status of women as gender gaps are becoming wider with little monitoring and evaluation of gender mainstreaming policies adopted by various bilateral and non-governmental organizations ( Srivastava 2012). Despite the efforts of NGOs over the past three decades to improve the lives of millions of women across the developing countries, the inequalities and discrimination against women still persists. The empowerment of women through the economic betterment of their communities does not necessarily lead to their autonomy (Hunt & Kasynathan, cite in Srivastava 2012). It still is not clear how the social impact of the microcredit program for economic empowerment translates into improving the social status of the women and reducing the gender gaps. In a similar way, it is not clear how the rights-based approach translates into gender mainstreaming. In essence, there is a need for greater attention to evaluating NGO advocacy and identifying advocacy achievements (Edwards & Hulme, 1995)

Human rights spell out essential standards which enable individuals to live peacefully, with dignity, in freedom, and to enjoy justice and equality. (Lawson 1996). Within the human rights discourse, women’s rights have increasingly been conceptualized as human rights in order to address the historic disadvantage which women to this present day still experience. Already the Preamble to the United Nations (UN) Charter 1945 affirms “the equal rights of men and women (Smith 1991)”. The preamble and Articles 1 & 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the preamble and Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as the preamble and Article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), not forgetting the preamble of the Cameroon Constitution all affirm the principles of equality and nondiscrimination. (Leiden, Brill Nijhoff 2015). Articles 1 and 2 of the UDHR affirm that everybody is equal and free and that all human beings, irrespective of sex, are entitled to the freedoms and rights which the Declaration spells out. Moreover, the State Parties to these Covenants are required to ensure that men and women are treated equally, so that they can enjoy all the political, civil, social, economic and cultural rights. Furthermore, specialized instruments have been adopted, most notably the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1979 (CEDAW). The CEDAW explains what discrimination against women denotes and spells out a roadmap for domestic action, so that discrimination against women is eradicated. Over the past decades, gender equality norms have thereby been globally created and gender issues have been highlighted within the international human rights regime in order to fight against gender inequality (Zwingel 2005). Article 7(c) of the CEDAW provides that “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right, to participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.” ( J. Resnik 2012)

The Cameroon Government has made key strides toward gender equality and the fight against gender inequality through major international commitments, some including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Declaration of Heads of State and Government of the African Union on Equality Between Women and Men, and the Sustainable Development Goals. However, though these international and regional commitments take precedence over Cameroon’s national laws, customs, and traditions, the preference for customary laws remains, and means that discrimination against women continues in Cameroon, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, the Preamble of the Constitution of Cameroon includes several provisions that enshrine gender equality. But many questions about ending inequalities faced by women and men continue to linger, such as the recognition of rape between husband and wife, protection for unemployed women, pension for widows, the continuation of child and forceful marriage, breast ironing, and other issues like polyandry in which women will also be allowed to get married to more than one husband like men do in the case of polygamy all still reveal a very big gap between men and women in Cameroon.

In addition to the efforts the Cameroon government is making to reduce gender inequalities, NGOs and other gender advocates campaign throughout the country to sensitize and educate males and females on the significance of equalizing gender. Amongst these NGOs is COMINSUD (Community Initiative Fr Sustainable Development. In 1990, the government of Cameroon passed a law on freedom of associations. This openness was a timely decision at a period when the economic situation in Cameroon was witnessing a major recession and the government could not single-handedly respond to all development exigencies. The law let to an outburst of creative imagination and the opportunity for young people to manifest their freedom, liberties and to showcase their talents without Discrimination in terms of sex. It is within this period that The Community Initiative for Sustainable Development (COMINSUD) was created. It started as a Common Initiative Group (CIG) in 1996 and became an association in 1999. COMINSUD is an organization committed to stimulating changes within communities that lead to improvement of quality of life for all people. (https://cominsud.org/mission/ accessed on the 2^nd of July 2022)

Since 2003, COMINSUD with the support of Bread for the World Germany has been working on “Project Democracy and Empowerment of Women (DEW)”. The different phases of the project have addressed issues of increased representation and participation of women, youth, and persons from minority groups in power structures and decision-making positions in community-based structures, tradition, and religious organs as well as Municipal and legislative elected organs.   This project has brought positive changes in institutional and cultural practices that disfavor the vulnerable segments. It promotes positive changes that bridge gender gaps, build social inclusion and cohesion in communities, and carry out human rights monitoring and interventions.  Over the past 17 years, over 25,000 women and girls have had different forms of transformation in their lives, and over 150,000 members of the communities have been directly involved in activities carried out by the project. (https://cominsud.org/about-2/  accessed on the 02^th of July 2022)

Since 2003, COMINSUD with the support of Bread for the World Germany has been working on “Project Democracy and Empowerment of Women (DEW)”. The different phases of the project have addressed issues of increased representation and participation of women, youth, and persons from minority groups in power structures and decision-making positions in community-based structures, tradition, and religious organs as well as Municipal and legislative elected organs.   This project has brought positive changes in institutional and cultural practices that disfavor the vulnerable segments. It promotes positive changes that bridge gender gaps, build social inclusion and cohesion in communities, and carry out human rights monitoring and interventions.  Over the past 17 years, over 25,000 women and girls have had different forms of transformation in their lives, and over 150,000 members of the communities have been directly involved in activities carried out by the project. (https://cominsud.org/about-2/  accessed on the 02^th of July 2022)

Still, with the support of Bread for the World, COMINSUD is involved in the Civil Peace Service project, in which it builds engagements amongst socially excluded groups especially young and middle-aged persons in particular to promote the values of positivity, tolerance, inclusion, and non-violence for a just, peaceful society. It is hoped that through this, people will enjoy their rights and freedom and make a valuable contribution to the development of their communities.  We have served as agents of change since 2015 reaching over 5,000 persons. (https://cominsud.org/about-2/  accessed on the 02^th of July 2022)

Theoretically, the feminists do not only analyse and position women’s oppression to be the result of male domination, and consequent inequality (Hall 1992; Bhopal 1997) but they also debate ways to alleviate this oppression. Indeed, Rawat (2014) referred to feminism as ‘awareness of patriarchal control, exploitation and oppression’. Three primary schools of feminist thought, the Liberal, the Marxist and the Radical, have identified different causes of women’s subordination. Liberal feminists argue that women are denied equal rights on the basis of perceived differences derived from their sex (Beasley 1999), and emphasize reforming the social system through government legislation in order to end discrimination and provide equal opportunities to women in education and in jobs. Marxist feminists point out that capitalism gives earning power to men, while excluding women from productive earning activities, thus confining them to home activities, and it is this economic exclusion which becomes the fundamental source of women’s oppression (Beasley 1999).

Radical feminists attach primary importance to men’s generalized power over women, arguing that society is divided on the basis of gender and patriarchy, the latter which they perceive as a social system that benefits men, allowing them to exert power over women in both public and private life, economically, politically and socially (Wearing 1996). Radical feminists seek a transformation of the existing power structure between men and women.

1.2 Problem statement

Different strategies have been employed over time to promote gender equality and fight against gender disparities worldwide, among them women in development, gender and development and now gender mainstreaming. Despite all the initiatives over time to address issues of gender inequality starting with the, UN Declaration of Human Rights, the celebration of the women’s year in 1975, the different world conferences on women (Mexico city conference, Beijing conference, Nairobi conference) and even the current Sustainable Development Goals, great disparities still persist among women and men in the society revealing that a lot still remain to be done to bridge the gender gaps. Being aware that the States cannot completely eradicate gender inequality alone, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) gave room for NGOs to engage in the fight against gender inequality, and since the 1990s NGOs have proliferated in Africa in an attempt to fill the gap between what states can provide and what the local people need. This boom in NGOs is associated with a perception by most citizens that NGOs are without fault and are inherently good. This belief grew largely out of the failure of governments to successfully eradicate gender inequality.

COMINSUD is one of the NGOs that have been operating in Cameroon since 1996 with the goal to work with men and women to eradicate gender inequality, promotes positive changes that bridge gender gaps, build social inclusion and cohesion in communities, and carry out human rights monitoring and interventions, but nonetheless, it has not succeeded to effectively bridge the gender gap. It therefore becomes very important to examine the strategies COMINSUD has adopted to eradicate gender inequality in Cameroon, the impacts of these strategies on men and women and the challenges it faces in the fight against gender inequality.

1.3 Research Questions

The research questions of this study will be divided into main and specific research questions

• The main research question is: What is the role of COMINSUD in the fight against Gender Inequality in Mezam Division?

The Specific Research Questions of this study are:

1. What are the Strategies adopted by COMINSUD to fight against gender inequality?
2. What are the impacts of COMINSUD on the fight against gender inequality?
3. What are the challenges faced by COMINSUD in the fight against gender inequality?

1.4 Objectives of the study

– Objectives of the study are divided into general and specific ones.

1.4.1 General Objective

• To examine the role played by COMINSUD in the fight against gender inequality.

1.42 Specific Objectives

• To examine the strategies adopted by COMINSUD to fight gender inequality.
• To assess the impact of COMINSUD in the fight against gender inequality.
• To assess the challenges faced by COMINSUD in the Promotion of Gender equality.