About the Project :

One of the greatest challenges facing Africa is that of gender inequality. The exclusion, discrimination and marginalization of women from participating effectively in economic, social and political life on the continent is one of most pronounced socio-economic characteristics of the continent.

Empirical evidence from some studies (world bank, 1998; UNDP 1995) reveals that Africa not only has the largest number of the poor in the world, the poverty is also increasingly taking in a female face, a phenomena that has been termed as the “feminization of poverty”. Compared to men, women have higher incidence of poverty, its degree of severity exacerbated by, among other things lack access to land, credit, education and support services.

In most instances, culture has been invoked to legitimise such practices and the family has been the agent of socialization and has played a major role in assigning the different status, values and roles to girls and boys. (ECA 1994).

Women’s lack of knowledge about existing laws, which are designed to protect them, constitutes another barrier to their empowerment. Most countries have ratified the CEDAW. However, many countries still maintain a dual system of legislation, which incorporates discriminatory provisions against women and prevents them from getting access to and control of situations.

In education, gender differentials still exist at all levels and the gap widens at the higher levels. In 1997, for example, 88% of African were enrolled in primary school level, compared to 73% of girls. At secondary level, 37% boys and 31% girls, while at the tertiary level, the enrolment rates for boys and girls stood at 9% and 5% respectively…(UNESCO 1999)

Experience has shown that gender roles and relation influence the degree of exposure to diseases. Despite their longer life expectancy, women in most African communities report more illness and distress than men. In most African societies, girls in the age group of 5 - 15 years suffer from water-borne diseases due to their involvement in water related domestic work. African women also suffer more from health problems related to their reproductive systems and account for 40% of world’s maternal deaths (WHO, 1999).

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is particularly staggering on the African continent. According to UNAIDS, the number of new infections in the region was 40 million in 1999. Studies reveal that the infection rates among people in their early 20s were three times higher in young women and that the average rates for teenage girls were over five times than those of young men and teenage boys respectively (UNAIDS).

Women experience violence in their relationships and many cases of violence remain unreported (Beijing Platform for Action, 1995). At the Beijing conference, states declared that violence against women impairs the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is widely acknowledged that violence against women is a public issue and that it has beyond the domestic realm. It is not only detrimental to women’s health but entail social, political and economic costs at it curtails women’s capacity to participate fully and equally in development activities.

WOMAN ASSISTING WOMEN (Wasw), is a female led project of AHURTOD to ensure that women stand in the frontline for their well-being so that they themselves who fend for diagnosis and proactive solutions towards ending the malice they face or live with. The main goal of the project is the total empowerment of the women in claiming her rights.