Women's Rights in Benin (Part I)

I am back in the north after a week of training in the south. One of our training sessions addressed the rights of Beninese women by law and in practice. I knew from my experience in village that Beninese women are subservient to men, but I had been unaware of how well-protected Beninese women are under Beninese law. However, the law is entirely unenforced up north.

Here are some examples of women's rights by law and in practice:

Education

By law:

School is not mandatory in Benin, but to promote girls' education, the government pays the school fees for all girls up through 8^th grade. In the case of male students, families are expected to pay the school fees themselves.

In practice:

While I have not observed a stark difference in the number of boys and girls in primary school, male students far outweigh female students in secondary school. According to the local middle school principal, the number one reason female students drop out is pregnancy. Often, girls have sex for financial reasons: they receive money (or gifts) from their sexual partners that allows them to buy food, clothing, and phone credit.

As for school fees, the government's contribution only covers a portion of the cost of attending school. Girls still have to pay money to the school for a separate fee, buy school supplies, and purchase school uniforms.

Work

By law:

Essentially all areas of employment are open to both men and women.

In practice:

I have never seen a woman's profession listed in our health records as anything other than housewife. Most women limit themselves to fieldwork, to making goods to be sold at the market, or to selling food or goods at the market. A woman with grander plans will become a hairdresser or seamstress after completing an apprenticeship.

For an educated woman in the north, options are extremely limited. Her best bet is at the health center, where women are preferred in the maternity unit. A few women have made it into teaching. However, these educated positions are often occupied by southerners, which may be a reflection on how few women are educated in the north. Our nurse at the health center is from the south, and the only female school principal in Sonsoro is also from the south. As for school teachers, I have only met one female teacher out of the 30 or so teachers I have met.

One disadvantage of having so few employment opportunities for educated women is that many women enter the health field only because they want a good job. They are not drawn to nursing out of passion, and they are apathetic about the health of their communities, especially since they are rarely assigned to their hometown. Such health professionals do the strict minimum as required by the government and refuse to make any additional effort to improve the health of their communities.

I still have a lot more to write on the subject of women's rights, so I will post more in a subsequent blog post.