Gender equality and women empowerment:

Case studies in Congo Brazzaville and Democratic Republic of Congo

Toivino Kais Junior Massamba

Global Sociology and its impact!

Professor Naiara Rodriguez-Pena

April 17, 2021

 Introduction
Gender refers to the attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female, and the

relationship between males and females. These attributes, opportunities, and relationships,

expectations of roles and responsibilities are socially constructed and learned through

socialization processes not derived directly from biology (Revees & Baden, 2000). Since it is

constructed by society, it can change and be changed (Singhal, 2003).

The term women’s empowerment was debated and elaborated in the international Conference on

Population and Development (ICPD) held at Cairo from 5th to 13th September 1994. As per the

document brought out as a result of the conference deliberations, the empowerment of women,

(Chapter IV of the document has three components: Empowerment and status of women; the girl

child; and Male representative, The empowerment of women and improvement in their status

refer to the achievement of equality and equity between men and women and enable women to

realize their full potential; to involve women in decision making processes in all aspects of

economic, political social and cultural life as active decision makers, participants and

beneficiaries, and to ensure that all men and women receive education required to meet their

basic human needs and to exercise their basic human rights.

Empowerment further implies equal participation of women in all public activity and their equal

representation in all spheres of life. This is possible only through: promoting women’s education;

promoting skills development and employment; eliminating all practices that discriminate

women against men including those in the workplace and those affecting access to credit, control

all property and social security, and eliminating all forms of exploitation, abuse, harassment and

violence against women, adolescents and girls of all ages.

The main idea behind development cooperation between developed and developing countries are

to enhance the living conditions of people by using such tools as poverty reduction, good

governance and nature protection. According to the World Bank, promoting gender equality is an

important part of the strategy to improve living conditions and to reduce poverty. World Bank

emphasizes gender equality as an essential development goal, not just as a by- product produced

while other goals are pursued. (World Bank, 2012).

Women in developing countries are paying the costs of unemployment, poverty, social exclusion

and the problem of HIV/AIDS in a more serious way than the men are doing. Although women

are the part of same system based on the relations of class, race and caste with the men, women

have disadvantaged position in any given society compared to men. The main reason of this fact

lies in gender based discrimination within these relations. Therefore, the problem of women’s

subordination and oppression can not only be explained in reference with the class, race and

caste system.

Women should enjoy equal social, economic and political status as that of men in any society if

it is to be labelled as progressive or developed. Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic

of Congo are two neighboring countries in Central Africa that have a significant gender gap in

terms of equity and equality. The issue of women's empowerment is repeatedly raised in an

effort to close the gender gap and improve demographic, social, economic and political

institutions.

Problem Statement

The protection or intervention offered to empower women in Congo Brazzaville and Congo

DRC had typically been minimal before the wars. During the wars the situation virtually
escalated with incidence of wide scale atrocities on women; rampant raping, abduction,

trafficking and killing.

Women are frequently treated as chattels of their husbands or fathers, traded into early marriage,

or subjected to violence punishment. They are also often deprived of access to education, justice

or political decision- making, even while providing the bulk of labor for agriculture as well as

child- rearing and domestic duties. Traditional social structures have tolerated domestic violence

and traditional practices harmful to girls in particular. Relative to men, women have had limited

opportunities for empowerment through education, economic advancement and inheritance.

After the wars, the need for sustainable growth and poverty reduction has been the main thrust of

each country. In that case, issues of peace, security, gender equality and women empowerment,

poverty reduction, good governance, food security and employment have been the main theme of

development.

Each country developed strategies signaling the move from a conflict dominated agenda towards

a much needed development oriented with priorities given to sector areas of youth

unemployment, security, gender equality and women empowerment, education, health,

agriculture and reconstruction.

This study will answer the question: What are the present gender status in Congo Brazzaville and

Congo DRC after the conflicts and what governments’ and non-state actors doing to meet targets

and goals and overcoming gender inequality and women empowerment challenges.

Research Objective

To highlight findings on the gender status, identify the gender gaps and come with relevant

policy recommendations to policy makers and stakeholders.

Specifically, the study will:

1. Identify reflective components of women’s empowerment, which indicate lapses in

gender and equity and equality like demographic (sex ratio), economic (employment and

wages), politics (right and freedom) and social (cultural practices, Literacy and

Education, Health) in the individual countries.

2. Examine governments’ policies, programs and strategies and their impact on the gender

status.

3. Examine the roles and activities of key Non- state actors in improving the gender gap.

Importance of the study

Looking at the geographical boundaries, the social and the economic background of these

countries and the pervasiveness of poverty, insecurity and gender inequality, the need for peace

and sustainable development is crucial.

Lasting peace requires a broader vision encompassing areas such as education and health,

democracy and human right, protecting against environmental degradation, and the proliferation

of deadly weapon. We cannot be secure amidst starvation, we cannot build peace without

alleviating poverty, and we cannot build freedom on foundation of injustice and inequality.

These pillars are people cantered and are interrelated and mutually reinforcing.

Gender concept has entered the daily vocabulary of government officials, military,

Nongovernmental Organizations, intellectuals, humanitarian aid workers, individuals and policy

maker and has opened massive debates and studies.

Therefore, designing effective policies to address gender challenges require adequate

information and understanding of the relevancy of gender indicators. These indicators can be

used for advocacy and can help make the case for action by highlighting key issues, backed up

with statistics and other evidence.

The indicators can be used to evaluate the outcomes of gender- focused and mainstream

interventions and policies and help reveal barriers to achieve success. They can provide vital

information for adjusting programs and activities so that they better achieve gender equality

goals and do not create adverse impacts on women and men. They can also be used to measure

gender mainstreaming within organizations.

They can make visible the gaps between the commitments many governments and other

institutions have made at all levels for example, the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) No.

3, Promote gender equality and empower women by 2015 and their actual implementation and

impact.

They can also stimulate discussions and inspire recognition among participants of common

experiences related to sensitive topics such as Gender Based Violence.

The study will stand the test of time and will provide information to stakeholders on the subject

matter and will also provide literature for future researchers on the same or similar issues.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis of the study will stand on the arguments:

H1: Gender disparity is reflective on the sex- ratio, literacy and education, employment and

wage- rates, right and freedom and several other socio-cultural and behavioral indicators of

empowerment in both countries.

H2: Governments policies, programs and strategies have limited capacities/provisions to reduce

the gender gap.

H3: Programs designed and implemented by non- state actors do not integrate gender

perspective to reduce gender gap but only focus on economic empowerment of women in Congo

Brazzaville and Congo DRC.

Scope of the study

The study will cover the period 2002 – 2021. The span of time reflects the post war era. This

period saw the move from a conflict dominated agendas to post conflict oriented ones within

which new policies, programs, strategies and institutions were designed/formulated, enacted and

implemented to address the atrocities committed during the wars; reduce poverty, and foster

peace, security and economic development.

This period also saw the inflows of humanitarian organizations, foreign direct investment and

expansion in the economies.

Methodology

To test the validity of the hypothesis and meet the main objective of the study, a situation

analysis to ascertain the state of affairs in Congo Brazzaville and Congo DRC will be done and

the study will use “Triangulation approach”. Triangulation refers to the use of more than one

approach to the investigation of a research question in order to enhance confidence in the

ensuing findings.

Qualitative interpretation of quantified data can provide for a more nuanced analysis which

reduces the possibility of distorted findings and conclusions. Importantly, qualitative analyses

enable us to question why certain patterns have emerged.

The study will use both primary and secondary data.

The study will examine governments’ policies, laws, statutory instruments, Institutions, roles and

functions of key Ministries, Departments Agencies relating to education, health, wealth creation,

justice, security and governance/politics to explore government obligation, commitments and

effort in meeting key goals, objectives and challenges on the subject under investigation.

The study will evaluate the activities of key Non- state actors operating and dealing with gender

issues in the two countries: The International Alert, Action Aid, World Vision, the International

Rescue Committee.

To analyses policy outcomes, goals and achievements and to evaluate the effect, a survey will be

conducted on key communities, towns and cities. In that case, Questionnaires will be

administered, focus group discussions will be held and interviews will be conducted with local

authorities, parliamentarians, government ministers, civil society organizations, civil law firms,
Women’s organizations, beneficiaries and other government officials on a random sampling

basis.

The study will obtain the Gender Status on:

- Educational accessibility, facilities/opportunities, school and tertiary enrolments,

incentives and opportunities and challenges.

- Access to health facilities, longevity, number of facilities, benefits, limitations and/or

challenges.

- Laws relating to justice, inheritance, improved living conditions, sexual and domestic

violence, politics/political empowerment, promote security and right of women and

children.

- Institutions created and their legalities and effectiveness in dealing with gender related

issues.

- Wealth creation/economic participation; access to finance and employment.

- Resource allocations to key government functionaries; Ministries, Departments and

Agencies that perform issues related to the subject matter.

Indicators on gender equality at the national level could reflect structural in/equalities (such as

policy commitment, legal framework and national legislation). They could measure

manifestations of gender inequalities such as lower retention rates of girls in education compared

to boys or the prevalence of violence against women), or they could refer to the impact of a lack

of government provision of basic services on women and men.

Data will be presented and analyzed using simple statistical methods in the form of graphs,

tables, frequencies, percentages, charts etc.

 Literature Review

The concept of gender has generated wide range of studies at individual, groups, national and

international levels. Grown and Pande 2005 agreed from their framework on Gender and

Education that, Gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to the achievement of

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the achievement of Goal 3 in turn depends

upon the extent to which the other goals address gender- based constraints. The framework can

help make the case for developing gender indicators from each MDG and provide a good starting

point.

Gender inequality is a threatening problem which causes unfair treatment in society between

different genders. These dissimilarities are distinguished from biological and anatomic factors,

especially from differing reproductive roles in life. This misperception comes originally from the

wrong understanding about the position of each gender in life. And from every angle of life we

all see the paradox that makes women suffer adversities and put women into unpleasant

situation. However, the method of gender discrimination in one place differs from that in others.

For example, in workplace gender equality accelerate when you enter the job racing, not only the

dissimilar salary, inequality at work is demonstrated through the differences between genders

and the amount of money paid (Esteban and Max, 2012). In the past, men are prone to have more

chances to do things like schooling. Young women seemed to have fewer opportunities for

higher education than young men.

Regarding to the reasons and the origin of gender inequality, it can be seen that Asia would be

the place where gender discrimination has seemed to be a “tradition”. According to the General

office for population family planning, the idea of distinguishing men from women came from the

impacts of Confucianism and the awareness of people about life. Men were thought to have a
duty of continuing the ancestral line. In that society, not having a son meant to be disrespectful

towards the ancestor. Going on with this wrong conception, women are more likely to lose the

role in community (Pascall and Sung, 2014)

According to the World Bank women and men are not equal in any region of the world. Men and

women don’t have equal rights, equal resources at their disposal or equal possibilities to be

heard. In many countries women still don’t have the possibility to own land and property or even

to travel without their fathers’ or husband permission. Women still earn less than men even if

they have the same education and the same job. Women also have less power to influence the

decisions in their local environment and homes than men and there is also a smaller proportion of

women than men on the top management of companies, as members of parliaments and as

ministers. The inequality is often greatest among the poorest ones. (World Bank, 2005).

The crisis of employment, lack of finance, food, basic social amenities and climate has led

poverty to be layered and has deepened inequalities within societies. Poverty does not only make

the living conditions more difficult but also threaten the right to live through the expansion of

HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 epidemic in the poor communities. This multiple effect does not only

reduce the opportunity to access to decent work and life but also limit to receive high quality

public service. Women have been subjected to disproportionately negative effects of these

problems compared to men; at the same time the policies targeting gender equality are

undermined both at national and international level (ILO 2009).

Conclusion

Arguably any drive toward gender parity in Africa starts with efforts to change entrenched and

widespread attitudes about women’s role in society, an extremely difficult and complex

challenge that will require all stakeholders to play a part that is sustained over the long

term. Congo Brazzaville and Congo DRC needs to ensure that women’s rights are enshrined in

law and enforced by authorities. Many African countries sign up to international or regional

treaties, but do not implement them. Governments need to institute and enforce legal rights, and

put in place enabling policies and regulations that drive progress toward gender equality.
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