DRC: Gender gaps and economic injustice


Date: February 1, 2011
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Most news from the DRC is bad. When we hear about women it’s often because they’ve been raped, assaulted or killed. We rarely hear about how women are shaping politics or bringing about change.

A recent report has found that we likely don’t hear about this because it isn’t happening – women are still not allowed a place at the table in the DRC. Traditional gender roles are firmly in place in a country of widespread poverty and pervasive conflict.

This report from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) says the analysis of the current context in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) makes obvious the existing persistent gender imbalance in all the domains of economical, social, cultural and political development.

Women’s access to decision making tables, as well as to national economical resources and production factors remains very limited. The situation has deteriorated in latter years with the negative effects of wars in repetition, to the current persistent insecurity.

In fact, 61.2% of Congolese women live below the poverty threshold. Furthermore, in the DRC, the situation of gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence on women and young girls, is very worrying. Collected national data on various forms of Violence Against Women (VAW) demonstrates how it strongly correlates with under-development (human, economic, social and infrastructure).

To access the Gender Equality and social institutions in the DRC, follow: http://bit.ly/gSxL6m
Source: http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/69731


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