ABSTRACT

 Crises in Cameroon affect girls, boys, women and men differently. Being a young boy, an adolescent girl, an adult man or an elderly woman greatly determines the role that everyone plays in the family and the community, but also their experience, their abilities and their priorities in terms of what should deliver humanitarian assistance and protection services.

 Gender equality is a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. However, gender inequality remains one of the most pervasive forms of discrimination in all development settings. While gender inequalities can affect anyone, impeding global progress towards achieving sustainable development, it is women who face the most discrimination.

 Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality is reflected in 45 targets and 54 gender-specific indicators of the SDGs. Achieving these targets and closing the gender gaps will therefore create a multiplier effect across all of the SDGs and accelerate their achievement.

With the largest operational platform within the United Nations system, working on the ground in some 170 countries and territories, UNDP’s work and expertise are central to achieving the SDGs. This unique position has prompted UNDP to adopt the Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021, which commits the organization to intensify its efforts to mainstream gender equality across all of its areas of work.

In the recent years period, the Republic of cameroon has strengthened basic institutional mechanisms and has introduced key new legislative amendments with a view to preventing gender discrimination and improving the policy of equal opportunities. The effects of the implementation of existing anti-discrimination laws have been regularly monitored so that necessary amendments may be more easily implemented when they are proposed and adopted. Two important new organic laws have been adopted in the area of human rights, as have strategic plans for combating gender discrimination and other forms of discrimination. But despite this measures put in place to combat gender inequalities there is still a high rate of gender inequalities occurances in the municipality of Buea which is why the UN came inn to retify these  issues of gender inequality but its rather unfortunate that due to the numerous challenges encountered by the UN it turns to shallow their activities in promoting gender equality in the Buea municipality.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Equitable development relies on the exercise of fundamental rights and cannot be achieved without formal and substantive equality, because as long as parts of the population (and in the case of women half of it) are discriminated against and therefore excluded, development for all will not become a reality for all. Equitable development relies on equality. In addition, equality for equitable development can only be achieved taking into account the intersectionality of different dimensions: gender with ethnicity, economic class, geographic location, immigration status, sexual identity and orientation, age, abilities, and other such factors. Women are not a homogeneous group, as children aren’t. Moreover, gender equality and non-discrimination is not a women’s issue, but a society issue, and more and more menare actively engaged as a solution to this form of discrimination (Fouthe, 2018: 3).

Gender inequality is still one of the most pervasive among social inequalities. It affects the public and private lives of all humans: it exists in all societies, and cuts across social cleavages, such as race, class, and ethnicity” (Kilgour, 2007: 752). Although international institutions, such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank, have declared that women’s equality is crucial to solving the challenges of development and poverty, to date, there is no part of the world where women and men are treated equally (World Bank, 2003). Despite the fact that women make up the half of the world’s population and over 40 percent of the global labor force, gender inequality is still present in the 21st century. Deducing from Roddick, (2000: 127.),he states that “equality in the home and the workplace is just a myth”. The inequality of women in all dimensions of life, therefore, merits examination in as many areas as possible.

Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue but should concern and fully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men is seen both as a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people centered development (Djapou, 2018: 3).

In September 1995, thousands of people gathered in Beijing China for the Fourth World Conference on Women. From the conference, 189 countries adopted landmark roadmap “The Beijing Platform for Action”, which was considered as a major achievement to advancing women’s rights and to put women’s rights and gender equality on governments agenda. At the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Beijing conference, United Nations Women(UN WOMEN) launched a major campaign in 2014 around the world to raise awareness on the challenges that remain for achieving gender equality. In the same lights, African women’s rights organisations and activists gathered in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia from 14-16th November2014 to raise awareness on the challenges that remain for achieving gender equality and tolobby and push African governments to uphold National and International Law and policies tomake gender equality a reality (Djapou, 2018: 1).

Deducing from Roddick, (2000: 127.),there are many reasons to be concerned about existing gender inequalities inimportant well-being related dimensions such as education, health, employment, or pay.From a well-being as well as an equity perspective, such gender inequalities areproblematic as they lower well-being and are a form of injustice in most conceptions ofequity of justice. While such a view would argue for reducing gender inequalities inthese dimensions of well-being on intrinsic grounds, recently a literature has developed that has investigated the instrumental effects of gender inequality on other important development outcomes with a particular focus on economic growth.

Gender plays an overriding role in determining the intrahousehold allocation of resourcesin Sub-Saharan Africa. Regardless of women’s socioeconomic status, their rights to household resources are generally inferior to men’s. While women in developing countries contribute approximately 43 percent of agricultural labor, they typically receive lower output per unit of land and are less likely to engage in commercial farming. These productivity differences are primarily due to gender differences in access to inputs and resources. Gender inequalities in access to household resources are founded in both formal and informal institutions and have been shown to directly act agricultural production possibilities, and investments in agricultural innovations and land fertility. Resulting outcomes of these elects at both the individual and household levels determine relative and total welfare through intrahousehold risk pooling, nutritional smoothing ,and budget shares of specific expenditure types (Colorado, 2014).

The relationship between gender and violenceis complex. The different roles and behaviours offemales and males, children as well as adults, areshaped and reinforced by gender norms withinsociety. These are social expectations that define appropriate behavior for women and men (insome societies, being male is associated with taking risks, being tough and aggressive and having multiple sexual partners). Differences in gender roles and behaviors often create inequalities, whereby one gender becomes empowered to the disadvantage of the other. Thus, in many societies, women are viewed as subordinate to men and have lower social status, allowing men control over, and greater decision-making power than, women. Gender inequalities have a large and wide-ranging impact on society. For example, they can contribute to gender inequities in health and access to healthcare, opportunities for employment and promotion, levels of income, political participation and representation and education. Often inequalities in gender increase the risk of acts of violence by men against women. For instance, traditional beliefs that men have a right to control women make women and girls vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual violence by men (World Health Organization, 2009).

The challenge of increasing the economic growth of a country is, as suggested here, to a considerable extent linked to the role played by women in the society. The costs of discrimination toward women in education and employment not only harm the women concerned, but impose a cost for the entire society. In South Asia women are still in the twenty first century very much discriminated against in both education level and economic participation. In Middle East and North Africa the gender gap in education has been reduced from high levels, but gender gaps in employment remain pervasive. In contrast to some Asian countries, where export oriented industries have led to a reduction of the gender gap in the labour market in the last decades, increased female education in MENA has not translated into higher labour market participation. Women in this region are encountering structural barriers35 in employment but those barriers may also be social, cultural, and ideological (World Bank, 2004).

The United Nations Agenda 2030 for the 17 Sustainable Development, envisage a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic sphere. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality is reflected in 45 targets and 54 gender-specific indicators of the SDGs. Achieving these targets and closing the gender gaps will therefore create a multiplier effect across all of the SDGs and accelerate their achievement. With the largest operational platform within the United Nations system, working on the ground in some 170 countries and territories, UN’s work and expertise are central to achieving the SDGs. This unique position has prompted UN to adopt the Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021, which commits the organization to intensify its efforts to mainstream gender equality across all of its areas of work.

The United Nations have been working tirelessly in the Buea municipality to effectively eradicate the issue of gender inequality within the municipality. They have carried out series of activities which are aimed to totally erase or limits the practice of gender inequality in the Buea Municipality. Thus, the research seeks to assess the challenges faced by the United Nation in promoting gender equality in Cameroon, with the case study of the Buea Municipality.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Although women make up half of the world’s population and over 40 percent of the global labour force, gender inequality is still prevailing. The formal commitment of the United Nations and the World Bank to achieve women’s equality is crucial to addressing the challenges of development and poverty; however, there is no part of the world where women and men are equal. Moreover, gender equality is worsened by globalization, in which private actors such as multinational companies play a controversial role.. Gender inequality is still one of the most pervasive among social inequalities (Grosser, 2011, Kilgour, 2007). It affects the public and private lives of all humans: “it exists in all societies, and cuts across social cleavages, such as race, class, and ethnicity” (Kilgour, 2007: 752). Although international institutions, such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank, have declared that women’s equality is crucial to solving the challenges of development and poverty, to date, there is no part of the world where women and men are treated equally (Kilgour, 2012; World Bank, 2003).1 Despite the fact that women make up the half of the world’s population and over 40 percent of the global labor force, gender inequality is still present in the 21st century (Edwardsson, 2012). In line with Roddick, (2000: 17), he opines that, equality in the home and the workplace is just a myth, that inequality of women in all dimensions of life, therefore, merits examination in as many areas as possible.

In the recent five-year period, basic institutional mechanisms and has introduced key new legislative amendments with a view to preventing gender discrimination and improving the policy of equal opportunities. The effects of the implementation of existing anti-discrimination laws have been regularly monitored so that necessary amendments may be more easily implemented when they are proposed and adopted. Two important new organic laws have been adopted in the area of human rights, as have strategic plans for combating gender discrimination and other forms of discrimination. On 15 July 2008, the Croatian Parliament adopted the new Gender Equality Act, which has been aligned with the provisions of valid international standards, and with EU directives dealing with gender equality. The Act prescribes the general prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital or family status and sexual orientation. The less favourable treatment of women on the grounds of pregnancy, parenthood, and any type of guardianship is also considered as discrimination. The Act extends the area of prohibition of discrimination in the field of employment, labour, and education, and lays out the obligation to promote the raising of public awareness concerning the equality of men and women, and to keep statistics that are disaggregated by gender.

1.3. Research Questions

1. What are the practices of gender inequality in the Buea municipality ?
2. What are the challenges faced by the UN in promoting gender equality in the municipality of Buea?
3. What are the keys channels which the UN has used or put in place to promote gender equality not just to the Buea municipality but to the Cameroon at large?

1.4. Objectives of the study

MAIN AIM

Generally the study seeks to evaluate the challenges of the UN in promoting gender equality in Buea specifically to investigate the key channels in which the UN is overcoming this challenges in promoting gender equality in the municipality of Buea.

1. TO identify the practice of gender inequality in the municipality of Buea.

2.To evaluate the measures taken by the UN to promote gender equality in Buea municipality.

3. TO examine the challenges faced by the UN in promoting gender equality in the Buea municipality .

1.5 Research Hypothesis

The research is guided by the following hypothesis;

H₁. There are many practice of gender inequality in the Buea municipality.

H₂. The UN has significantly carry out measures to promote gender equality in the  Buea municipality

H₃. There are factors that are closing the wheels of UN in promoting gender equality in the Buea municipality.