Women in Seychelles

Last updated
A woman in the Seychelles and her fishtrap, during the early part of the 1970s. Seychelloise fish trap.jpg
A woman in the Seychelles and her fishtrap, during the early part of the 1970s.

Women in Seychelles enjoy the same legal, political, economic, and social rights as men. [1]

Contents

Family life

Seychellois society is essentially matriarchal. [1] [2] Mothers tend to be dominant in the household, controlling most current expenditures and looking after the interests of the children. [1] Unwed mothers are the societal norm, and the law requires fathers to support their children. [2] Men are important for their earning ability, but their domestic role is relatively peripheral. [1] Older women can usually count on financial support from family members living at home or contributions from the earnings of grown children. [1]

Violence against women

Domestic violence against women was a continuing problem. [2] Police rarely intervened in domestic disputes unless it involved a weapon or major assault. [2] The authorities often dismissed the few cases that reached a prosecutor, or the court gave the perpetrator a light sentence. [2] There was growing societal concern about domestic violence and increased recognition of the need to address it. [2]

Rape, spousal rape, and domestic abuse are criminal offences punishable by a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment. [2] During 2007, the Family Tribunal registered 74 domestic violence complaints. [2] The police registered 56 rape cases and four cases of attempted sexual assault. [2] The Social Affairs Division of the Ministry of Health and Social Development and Women in Action and Solidarity Organization, a local NGO, provided counseling services to rape victims. [2]

Wider society

Miss Seychelles 2008, Elene Angine Miss Seychelles 08 Elena Angione.jpg
Miss Seychelles 2008, Elene Angine

There is no officially sanctioned gender discrimination in employment and women are well represented in business. [2] As of 1994, women formed nearly half of the enrollment at the prestigious Seychelles Polytechnic, the highest level of education on the islands. [1] As of 2007, there were 10 women in the 34-seat National Assembly, seven elected by direct election and three by proportional representation. [2] Following the July 2007 cabinet reshuffle, there were two women in the cabinet. [2]

Prostitution is illegal but remains prevalent. [2] Police generally do not apprehend prostitutes unless their actions involved other crimes. [2]

The law prohibits sexual harassment but is rarely enforced. [2] Inheritance laws do not discriminate against women. [2]

Related Research Articles

Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, regardless of the relationship to the victim. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.

Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without the spouse's consent. The lack of consent is the essential element and need not involve physical violence. Marital rape is considered a form of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Although, historically, sexual intercourse within marriage was regarded as a right of spouses, engaging in the act without the spouse's consent is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world, and increasingly criminalized. However it is repudiated by some more conservative cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Brazil</span>

Human rights in Brazil include the right to life and freedom of speech; and condemnation of slavery and torture. The nation ratified the American Convention on Human Rights. The 2017 Freedom in the World report by Freedom House gives Brazil a score of "2" for both political rights and civil liberties; "1" represents the most free, and "7", the least.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Japan</span> Overview of the observance of human rights in Japan

Japan is a constitutional monarchy. The Human Rights Scores Dataverse ranked Japan somewhere the middle among G7 countries on its human rights performance, below Germany and Canada and above the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the United States. The Fragile States Index ranked Japan second last in the G7 after the United States on its "Human Rights and Rule of Law" sub-indicator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against women</span> Violent acts committed primarily against women and girls

Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.

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

According to the U.S. Department of State's annual report on human rights in Mali for 2003, Mali's government generally respects the human rights of its citizens and observes relevant constitutional provisions and prohibitions.

Rape can be categorized in different ways: for example, by reference to the situation in which it occurs, by the identity or characteristics of the victim, and by the identity or characteristics of the perpetrator. These categories are referred to as types of rape. The types described below are not mutually exclusive: a given rape can fit into multiple categories, by for example being both a prison rape and a gang rape, or both a custodial rape and the rape of a child.

Statistics on rape and other sexual assaults are commonly available in industrialized countries, and have become better documented throughout the world. Inconsistent definitions of rape, different rates of reporting, recording, prosecution and conviction for rape can create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Kyrgyzstan</span> Overview of the status of women in Kyrgyzstan

Women in Kyrgyzstan traditionally had assigned roles, although only the religious elite sequestered women as was done in other Muslim societies. Rural inhabitants continue the traditional Siberian tribal practice of bride kidnapping. Bride kidnapping, known as ala kachuu, girls as young as 12 years old are kidnapped for forced marriage, by being captured and carried away by groups of men or even relatives who, through violence or deception, take the girl to the abductor's family who forces and coerces the young woman to accept the illegal marriage. In most cases, the young woman is raped immediately in the name of marriag

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Nepal</span> Overview of the status of women in Nepal

The status of women in Nepal has varied throughout history. In the early 1990s, like in some other Asian countries, women in Nepal were generally subordinate to men in virtually every aspect of life. Historically, Nepal has been a predominantly patriarchal society where women are generally subordinate to men. Men were considered to be the leader of the family and superior to women. Also, social norms and values were biased in favor of men. This strong bias in favor of sons in society meant that daughters were discriminated against from birth and did not have equal opportunities to achieve all aspects of development. Daughters were deprived of many privileges, including rights, education, healthcare, parental property rights, social status, last rites of dead parents, and were thought to be other's property and liabilities. In the past century, there has been a dramatic positive change in the role and status of women in Nepal, reducing gender inequality. While the 1990 Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, caste, religion, or sex, the modernization of society, along with increased education of the general population, have also played an important role in promoting gender equality. The roles of women have changed in various ways in the modern Nepalese society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Andorra</span>

Human Rights in Andorra are guaranteed under the Andorran constitution. The State Department considers Andorra to have few human rights concerns.

Domestic violence in Bolivia is a pervasive and underreported problem. According to the Center for the Information and Development of Women (CIDEM), 70 percent of women suffer some form of abuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Initiatives to prevent sexual violence</span> Responses aimed at combating sexual violence

As sexual violence affects all parts of society, the responses that arise to combat it are comprehensive, taking place on the individual, administrative, legal, and social levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Mali</span> Overview of the status of women in Mali

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.

The anti-rape movement is a sociopolitical movement which is part of the movement seeking to combat violence against and the abuse of women. The movement seeks to change community attitudes to violence against women, such as attitudes of entitlement to sex and victim blaming, as well as attitudes of women themselves such as self-blame for violence against them. It also seeks to promote changes to rape laws or laws of evidence which enable rapists from avoid penalties because, for example, victims are discouraged from reporting assaults against them, or because the rapist is entitled to some immunity or because a rapist is capable in law of denigrating the victim. The movement has been successful in many jurisdictions, though many of these attitudes still persist in some jurisdictions, and despite changes to laws and significant increases in reporting of such assaults, in practice violence against women still persists at unacceptable high levels. The movement came about in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when new concepts of rape arose out of second wave feminism and the reevaluation of women's daily lives socially and with regard to the social institutions with which they interact. Prior to this reexamination, rape had been viewed as a "sex crime carried out by pathological men", who were unable to control their own sexual desires. Feminists began to emphasize the role of power dynamics specifically with regard to the perpetration of rape as a crime committed primarily by men against women. This revised definition of rape was meant to come from the perspective of the victim. The act of rape was asserted to be a way in which societal gender roles, the way someone acts out either masculinity or femininity, were enforced and the hierarchy of power placing males above females was maintained. Rape was thus defined as a form of violence used to ensure male power, a form of social control over women and children. Known as the "anti-rape" or "rape prevention" movement, it was founded with the conceptions that sexual violence and violence against women more generally is a tool of social control used to keep women in a subordinate position to men and that women need to do something that aids victims of sexual violence to become "survivors" of violence instead of victims. The anti-rape movement continues today, with growing awareness in the United States public sphere about the concept of rape culture coinciding with the increasing popularity of feminism.

Punishment for rape in Pakistan under the Pakistani laws is either death penalty or imprisonment of between ten and twenty-five years. For cases related to gang rape, the punishment is either death penalty or life imprisonment. DNA test and other scientific evidence are used in prosecuting rape cases in Pakistan.

Prosecution of gender-targeted crimes is the legal proceedings to prosecute crimes such as rape and domestic violence. The earliest documented prosecution of gender-based/targeted crimes is from 1474 when Sir Peter von Hagenbach was convicted for rapes committed by his troops. However, the trial was only successful in indicting Sir von Hagenbach with the charge of rape because the war in which the rapes occurred was "undeclared" and thus the rapes were considered illegal only because of this. Gender-targeted crimes continued to be prosecuted, but it was not until after World War II when an international criminal tribunal – the International Military Tribunal for the Far East – were officers charged for being responsible of the gender-targeted crimes and other crimes against humanity. Despite the various rape charges, the Charter of the Tokyo Tribunal did not make references to rape, and rape was considered as subordinate to other war crimes. This is also the situation for other tribunals that followed, but with the establishments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), there was more attention to the prosecution of gender-targeted crimes with each of the statutes explicitly referring to rape and other forms of gender-targeted violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Brunei</span> Overview of the status of women in Brunei

Women in Brunei are women living in Brunei Darussalam. In Brunei, women are regarded as persons of "very high status". The U.S. Department of State has stated that discrimination against women is a problem in Brunei.

Domestic violence is prominent in Nigeria as in other parts of Africa. There is a deep cultural belief in Nigeria that it is socially acceptable to hit a woman as a disciplinary measure. Cases of Domestic violence are on the high and show no signs of reduction in Nigeria, regardless of age, tribe, religion, or even social status. The CLEEN Foundation reports 1 in every 3 respondents admitting to being a victim of domestic violence. The survey also found a nationwide increase in domestic violence in the past 3 years from 21% in 2011 to 30% in 2013. A CLEEN Foundation's 2012 National Crime and Safety Survey demonstrated that 31% of the national sample confessed to being victims of domestic violence.

Examples of Gender inequality Papua New Guinea includes poverty, violence, limited access to education and health care, and witch hunts. Cases of violence against women in PNG are under reported. There is also a lack of services for women who experience violence. There are reports of sexual abuse by police officers, on arrest and whilst in police custody. These incidents lack documentation or investigation, consequently, perpetrators are rarely prosecuted or punished. The government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has introduced legislation to combat these issues, though with limited success.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tartter, Jean R. "Status of Women". Indian Ocean country studies: Seychelles (Helen Chapin Metz, editor). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (August 1994). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Seychelles (2007) Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (March 11, 2008). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.