Women in Mauritania

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Women in Mauritania
Mauritanian women.jpg
Women in Atar, Mauritania, 2006
General Statistics
Maternal mortality  (per 100,000)510 (2010)
Women in parliament 25% (2017) [1]
Women over 25 with secondary education 8.0% (2010)
Women in labour force32% (2017) [2]
Gender Inequality Index [3]
Value0.632 (2021)
Rank161st out of 191
Global Gender Gap Index [4]
Value0.606 (2021)
Rank145th out of 156

Issues impacting Women in Mauritanian society include female genital mutilation, [5] child marriage, [6] and polygamy. [7]

Contents

The practice of Leblouh (Arabic : البلوح, romanized: lə-blūḥ) is the practice of force-feeding girls from as young as five, through to teenagers, in Mauritania, Western Sahara, and southern Morocco, where obesity is traditionally regarded as being desirable. [8] [9] [10]

Older women called "fatteners" force the young girls to consume enormous quantities of food and liquid, [11] inflicting pain on them if they do not eat and drink. One way of inflicting pain is to pinch a limb between two sticks. A six-year-old girl might typically be forced to drink 20 litres (4.4 imp gal; 5.3 US gal) of camel's milk, and eat two kilos of pounded millet mixed with two cups of butter, every day. Although the practice is abusive, mothers claim there is no other way to secure a good future for their children. [11] [12]

The practice goes back to the 11th century, and has been reported to have made a significant comeback in Mauritania after a military junta took over Mauritania in 2008. [11]

Demographics

As of July 2016, the estimated population of Mauritania is 3,677,293 people. The median age of Mauritanian women is 21.4 years. Life expectancy at birth is 65.4 years. [13] The ethnic groups are: black Moors 40%, white Moors 30%, sub-Saharan Mauritanians 30%. [14] All the population practices Islam (see Religion in Mauritania). Urbanization is 53.7%. [14]

Education

Adult alphabetization courses in Mauritania P1-alphab-magh.jpg
Adult alphabetization courses in Mauritania

Education in Mauritania was strongly influenced by the French educational system. Girls' education is still valued less than boys', and women's literacy rate (age 15 and over) is lower than that of men: in 2015, the female literacy rate was 41.6%, compared to the male rate of 62.6%. [15]

Women's rights

Child marriage

In 2017, 37% of girls in Mauritania were married before the 18 years old. 14% of girls are married before they turn 15. [16]

Polygamy

Polygamy is legal in Mauritania. [7] A man can marry up to four women, but must obtain the consent of his existing wife/wives first. Polygamy is common within the Afro-Mauritanian and Berber Moorish population, occurring less frequently among the Arab Moorish population. [7]

A 2007 MICS3 reports that 10.7% of women aged 15–49 are in a polygamous union. [7]

Female genital mutilation

This map shows the % of women and girls aged 15-49 years who have undergone FGM/C. Source: UNICEF (2013). Grey countries were not surveyed. 2013 Female Genital Mutilation Cutting Circumcision FGM World Map UNICEF.SVG
This map shows the % of women and girls aged 15-49 years who have undergone FGM/C. Source: UNICEF (2013). Grey countries were not surveyed.

Female genital mutilation is prevalent in Mauritania. [17] 71% of all women aged between 15 and 49 had undergone FGM in 2001. A 2007 demographic cluster study found no change in FGM prevalence rate in Mauritania. [18] [5] Type II FGM is most frequent. About 57% of Mauritania women believe FGM is a religious requirement. [19]

Mauritania is 100% Muslim. The FGM prevalence rate varies by ethnic groups: 92% of Soninke women are cut, and about 70% of Fulbe and Moorish women. 28% of Wolof women have undergone FGM. [5]

Mauritania has consented to international charters such as CEDAW as well as Africa's Maputo Protocol. Ordonnance n°2005-015 on child protection restricts FGM. [20] [21]

Force feeding

Leblouh is the practice of force-feeding girls from as young as five, through to teenagers, in Mauritania, Western Sahara, and southern Morocco, where obesity is traditionally regarded as being desirable. [8] [22] [10] Especially prevalent in rural areas and having its roots in Tuareg [23] tradition, leblouh is practiced to increase chances of marriage in a society where high body volume used to be a sign of wealth. The synonym gavage comes from the French term for the force-feeding of geese to produce foie gras .

The practice goes back to the 11th century, and has been reported to have made a significant comeback in Mauritania after a military junta took over Mauritania in 2008. [11]

Slavery

Women descended from slaves experience significant hardship in Mauritania. Conditions de vie difficiles pour les anciens esclaves mauritaniens (6046084550).jpg
Women descended from slaves experience significant hardship in Mauritania.

Women who descend from slaves experience significant hardship in Mauritania. Slavery has been called "deeply rooted" in the structure of Mauritania, and "closely tied" to the ethnic composition of the country. [24]

In 1905, an end of slavery in Mauritania was declared by the colonial French administration but the vastness of Mauritania mostly gave the law very few successes. [25]

In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery, [26] when a Presidential decree abolished the practice. However, no criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. [26] [27] [28]

In 2007, "under international pressure", the government passed a law allowing slaveholders to be prosecuted. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female genital mutilation</span> Ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva. The prevalence of FGM varies worldwide, but is majorly present in some countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within their diasporas. As of 2024, UNICEF estimates that worldwide 230 million girls and women had been subjected to one or more types of FGM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foie gras</span> French culinary dish

Foie gras ; French:[fwaɡʁɑ], ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Force-feeding</span> Practice of feeding a human or animal against their will

Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term gavage refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose (nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into the stomach.

Kurdish women have traditionally played important roles in Kurdish society and politics. In general, Kurdish women's rights and equality have improved dramatically in the 21st century due to progressive movements within Kurdish society. However, despite the progress, Kurdish and international women's rights organizations still report problems related to gender inequality, forced marriages, honor killings, and in Iraqi Kurdistan, female genital mutilation (FGM).

International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is a United Nations-sponsored annual awareness day that takes place on February 6 as part of the UN's efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation. It was first introduced in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Ethiopia</span>

There have been several studies concerning women in Ethiopia. Historically, elite and powerful women in Ethiopia have been visible as administrators and warriors. This never translated into any benefit to improve the rights of women, but it had meant that women could inherit and own property and act as advisors on important communal and tribal matters. As late as the first part of the 20th century, Queen Menen, consort of Emperor Haile Selassie I, had a decisive role in running the Ethiopian Empire. Workit and Mestayit regents to their minor sons have been held responsible for their provinces. They owed their rights to landed property because of a special type of land tenure that expected tenants to serve as militia to overlords, irrespective of gender. In 1896, Empress Tayetu Betul, wife of Emperor Menelik II, actively advised the government and participated in defending the country from Italian invasion. Prominent and other landowning women fought against the second invasion in 1935–41. With the assistance of European advisors, women in the ensuing period were kept out of the army and politics, even as advisors. Instead, they were restricted to family and household work of raising children and cooking. With a steady increase in female representation in education, they have started to undertake nursing, teaching, and other similarly supportive roles. Over the 2018–2019 period, their gradual participation in state politics has been increasing at a steady pace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Mali</span>

The status and social roles of women in Mali have been formed by the complex interplay of a variety of traditions in ethnic communities, the rise and fall of the great Sahelien states, French colonial rule, independence, urbanisation, and postcolonial conflict and progress. Forming just less than half Mali's population, Malian women have sometimes been the center of matrilineal societies, but have always been crucial to the economic and social structure of this largely rural, agricultural society.

Leblouh is the practice of force-feeding girls from as young as five to nineteen, in countries where obesity was traditionally regarded as desirable. Especially prevalent in rural areas and having its roots in Tuareg tradition, leblouh is practiced to increase chances of marriage in a society where high body volume used to be a sign of wealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious views on female genital mutilation</span> Female genital mutilation

There is a widespread view among practitioners of female genital mutilation (FGM) that it is a religious requirement, although prevalence rates often vary according to geography and ethnic group. There is an ongoing debate about the extent to which the practice's continuation is influenced by custom, social pressure, lack of health-care information, and the position of women in society. The procedures confer no health benefits and can lead to serious health problems.

The status of women in Iraq has been affected by wars, Islamic law, the Constitution of Iraq, cultural traditions, and secularism. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women are war widows, and Women's rights organizations struggle against harassment and intimidation while they work to promote improvements to women's status in the law, in education, the workplace, and many other spheres of Iraqi life. Abusive practices such as honor killings and forced marriages remain problematic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prevalence of female genital mutilation</span>

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is practiced in 30 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of the Middle East and Asia, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. The WHO defines the practice as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

Women in Somalia form a key part of Somali society, with clearly defined and important roles in the family and structure. This includes Somali women in Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. From the time of Ismail Urwayni's proselytizing in 1890, until the Dervish State's defeat by British air bombardment in 1920, women in the strip of land from Jidali, Sanaag in the north, to Beledweyne in the south were referred to as Darawiishaad (plural) or Darwiishad (singular).

Female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia of women and girls living in the UK. According to Equality Now and City University London, an estimated 103,000 women and girls aged 15–49 were thought to be living with female genital mutilation (FGM) in England and Wales as of 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female genital mutilation in the United States</span> Occurrence and regulation of FGM in the US

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision or female genital cutting, includes any procedure involving the removal or injury of part or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. While the practice is most common in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, FGM is also widespread in immigrant communities and metropolitan areas in the United States, and was performed by doctors regularly until the 1980s.

Female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone is the common practice of removing all or part of the female's genitalia for cultural and religious initiation purposes, or as a custom to prepare them for marriage. Sierra Leone is one of 28 countries in Africa where female genital mutilation (FGM) is known to be practiced and one of few that has not banned it. It is widespread in part due to it being an initiation rite into the "Bondo," though initiation rite-related FGM was criminalised in 2019. The type most commonly practised in Sierra Leone is Type IIb, removal of part or all of the clitoris and the labia minora. As of 2013, it had a prevalence of 89.6%.

Nigeria has the highest rate of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the world in total numbers. It is usually experienced by girls aged 0 to 15 years old. It involves either partial or complete removal of the vulva or other injury to the female genital organs and has no medical benefit.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice that occurs in several cultures and is practised in India by some Islamic groups. The Dawoodi Bohra is one sect of Islam in India known for their practice of FGM, with other Bohra sects reported as partaking in practices of FGM as well. The procedure frequently occurs at the age of seven and involves "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs.". The process is typically performed by a traditional practitioner using a knife or a blade and can range from Type I to Type IV. The consequences of FGM take on a wide range and can span from discomfort to sepsis and have also been correlated with psychological consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is highly prevalent in Sudan. According to a 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), 86.6 percent of women aged 15–49 in Sudan reported living with FGM, and said that 31.5 percent of their daughters had been cut. The most common FGM procedure in that country is Type III (infibulation); the 2014 survey found that 77 percent of respondents had experienced Type III.

The legal status of female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC), differs widely across the world.

Female genital mutilation in the Gambia is the practice of removing all or part of the female's genitalia for cultural reasons, believed by those who practice it to affect sexual purity and obedience and required before marriage in some communities. The Gambia is one of 28 countries in Africa where female genital mutilation (FGM) is known to be practiced.

References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . Country Studies. Federal Research Division. (data as of 1988)

  1. ↑ "Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) | Data".
  2. ↑ "Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (Modeled ILO estimate) | Data".
  3. ↑ "Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORTS. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "Global Gender Gap Report 2021" (PDF). World Economic Forum. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Female Genital Mutilation in Mauritania Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (September 2011)
  6. ↑ Chata Malé; Quentin Wodon (March 2016), BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN MAURITANIA (PDF), World Bank Group
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Mauritania |".
  8. 1 2 Popenoe, Rebecca. 2004. Feeding Desire: Fatness, Beauty, and Sexuality among a Saharan People. New York: Routledge. ISBN   978-0415280969.
  9. ↑ "body | Savage Mind body | An outsider's ethnographic blog on Toronto and beyond" . Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  10. 1 2 LaFRANIERE, SHARON. In Mauritania, Seeking to End an Overfed Ideal, The New York Times, published on July 4, 2007. Accessed on June 30, 2011.
    • "Girls as young as 5 and as old as 19 had to drink up to five gallons of fat-rich camel’s or cow’s milk daily, aiming for silvery stretch marks on their upper arms. If a girl refused or vomited, the village weight-gain specialist might squeeze her foot between sticks, pull her ear, pinch her inner thigh, bend her finger backward or force her to drink her own vomit. In extreme cases, girls die, due to a burst stomach. The practice was known as gavage, a French term for force-feeding geese to obtain foie gras."
  11. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Alex Duval. Girls being force-fed for marriage as junta revives fattening farms, The Observer, March 1, 2009.
  12. ↑ Young Mauritanians reject forced fattening, Al Arabiya, February 24, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Mauritania Demographics Profile 2017". www.indexmundi.com. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  14. 1 2 The World Factbook
  15. ↑ "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". Archived from the original on 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  16. ↑ "Child marriage around the world: MAURITANIA", Girls Not Brides
  17. ↑ "FGC Prevalence Rates Diagram", African Women's Health Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, accessed 7 September 2011.
  18. ↑ Berhane Ras-Work, LEGISLATION TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM), United Nations (May 21, 2009)
  19. ↑ Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting UNICEF, (July 2013)
  20. ↑ "Ordonnance n°2005-015 portant protection pénale de l'enfant" (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  21. ↑ "LEGISLATIVE REFORM TO SUPPORT THE ABANDONMENT OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  22. ↑ De mujeres abundantemente hermosas (Abundantly beautiful women)
  23. ↑ Encyclopedie Berbere: Gavage
  24. ↑ Ghanem, Omar (21 August 2007). "Slavery in Mauritania Emancipating the Free". onislam.net. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  25. ↑ John D. Sutter (March 2012). "Slavery's Last Stronghold". CNN. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  26. 1 2 3 Okeowo, Alexis (8 September 2014). "Freedom Fighter: A slaving society and an abolitionist's crusade". The New Yorker . Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  27. ↑ "Mauritanian MPs pass slavery law". BBC News . 9 August 2007. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  28. ↑ Corrigan, Terence (6 September 2007). "Mauritania: Country Made Slavery Illegal Last Month". The East African Standard. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
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