User:Megangr/sandbox

Gender Equality

Although women's rights and gender equality is legally guaranteed, South Sudan is a highly unequal society.

Education

A great disparity among the genders is their levels of education. The literacy rate for women is 16% while the rate for men is 40%^[1]. Moreover, the majority of women never receive an education. In a study of 490 people, it was recorded that 64% of women and 38% of men have never attended school^[2]. The leading cause for girls not to go to school is early marriage, while for boys it is the high cost of school fees^[2][1]. In 2013, about 45% of girls were married before the age of 18^[2]. This is mostly due to the fact that when marrying, men are required to pay a "bride-price" to the bride's family^[2][3]. It is very common to receive cows as a  bride-price^[3]. This is an incentive for families to sell their daughters when they are struggling economically. Additionally, many girls report that their menstrual cycle and lack of access to sanitary towels prevents them from attending schools (41% in this study claim they do not have access).^[2] Moreover, the long distances to school and lack of safe sanitation facilities can result in abductions, sexual harassment, and other forms of gender based violence ^[1][2]. The disproportionately low amount of female teachers is another barrier to girls education. Less than 10% of teachers here are women, which can decrease the perception of safety in a society where gender based violence is very high and mostly concentrated toward females and perpetuated by males^[1].

Gender Based Violence

Gender based violence includes rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, torture, war crimes against children, forced marriage, and other forms of sexual violence. Gender based violence (GBV) has effected a reported 41% of people in the past year. 70% of people report knowing someone who has been a victim. Since conflict broke out in 2013, about 20% of girls and women have been raped or sexually assaulted and more than half of the accused perpetrators are uniformed police or soldiers. However, multiple studies show that sexual violence incidents are majorly underreported. Additionally, it is proven that civil unrest increases GBV amongst all populations. From 2016 to 2017, reported incidents of sexual violence increased by 60%.

Gender Roles

Gender inequality and strict gender roles are maintained by the strict patriarchal social system. This generally marginalizes women out of roles of power and productive wage-paying jobs. Women are expected to take on the role as the caretaker of the household. They bare the role of providing food and sanitized water for the household. They are expected to care for children, the elderly, and the sick. Consequently, the second leading reason girls do not go to school is due to increased care work. Due to the increased displacement of people being affected by the conflict, women are taking on extra care-taking responsibilities since the members of their households have increased. Accordingly, the conflict has increased their reproductive responsibilities which has further limited their access to education, political participation, and other activities. In addition, women are more susceptible to food insecurity and malnutrition owing to the fact that they are culturally and socially expected to refuse food in order to provide more for the rest of the family.

Political Participation vs Customary laws

South Sudan has relatively high female political participation in comparison to other African countries. Currently, 29% of parliament seats are held by women. However, the amount of women in governor and ministry positions are disproportionately very low. Men still hold the vast majority of these more powerful government roles. Consequently, women have little to none decision-making power in the private as well as the public sector. Men and boys are identified as making the most decisions in the household and in their communities. Women will make a decision on behalf of a man's absence.

Many laws and customary legal practices maintain women’s inferiority. This can be seen when comparing adultery laws and implementation. Women are convicted without substantial evidence and may be imprisoned for eight month to a year. In comparison, men are rarely prosecuted. Additionally, while domestic violence is illegal, it is socially accepted that a man discipline his wife and they are rarely charged with it as a crime^[2]. 82% of women and 81% of men agreed that domestic violence against women "should be tolerated in order to keep the family together"^[1].

In 2017, South Sudan joined the United Nations and signed the Geneva convention which transnationally establishes human rights. However, they have not yet ratified and implemented the the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW): an optional clause that more specifically institutes gender equality. Notwithstanding, South Sudan does have additional legal structures in place to promote women’s rights. The National Gender Policy legally guarantees gender equality and protections. This policy also establishes affirmative action in order to ensure women political participation. They have several objectives and strategies to enact social, economic, and legal equality for women. The gender-specific clauses are:

• Women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men.

• Women shall have the right to equal pay for equal work and other related benefits with men.

• Women shall have the right to participate equally with men in public life.

Additionally, they are bonded to the the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as the Maputo Protocol, which establishes that women’s rights are human rights.