“Being a woman in a more conservative part of South Africa was a bit of a jarring experience at times. Local men are much more comfortable trying to openly hit on and flirt with women than I have experienced at home. This is more cultural than anything else and I never felt unsafe because of my cohort and on-site staff, but I do think female participants should mentally prepare themselves.” — CGIS Alumnx
“Being white meant that any time I walked down the street, I'd hear people yelling out ‘Toubab!’ (‘Foreigner!’). Also there was a ton of sexual harassment. I was followed by men on multiple occasions, one of whom grabbed my neck from behind before letting me go. Another guy learned my class schedule so he could always run out in the street to propose to me every day after class. It was very creepy. There were endless marriage proposals, especially at the markets and in the village. Usually, it was just their way of making a joke, but it gets old. It made it extremely different to have friendships with any men in Senegal because they would not accept a platonic relationship.” — CGIS Alumnx
“As a woman [in Madagascar], I did not want to walk alone when it was dark which was challenging because the sun sets at 5:30 as it is winter during this time of year. I also was sometimes frustrated with my inability to leave my house after 5:30 because I sometimes did want to hang out with friends outside of the scheduled class times and it wasn't always possible. I think that for the most part, I felt totally fine walking places because the neighborhood was always busy, and I had people who were looking out for me.” — CGIS Alumnx
Overall, Sub-Saharan Africa is a rapidly improving, but still mostly patriarchal region. In almost every nation, there are significant gender gaps in earning power, political power, access to education, and civil rights. Gender gaps are found in all factors of the economy (Ghandi, 2019). Women earn fewer profits as entrepreneurs, and in the agriculture-based economies, amongst others (Ghandi, 2019). Women also have less access to credit. In many nations, women are disproportionately unemployed or members of the “informal economy” (market sellers or street vendors) in relation to their education compared to men (Ghandi, 2019).
In Nigeria, policy work still has much to do in the area of gender equity. There are no laws that mandate nondiscrimination or equal pay for men and women for the same work (Bro, 2019). There are restrictions on the types of labor that women are allowed to do (Bro, 2019). In terms of education, girls are less likely to have access and in some regions, are twice as likely to be unenrolled in school as boys (Bro, 2019). 50% of Nigerian women are in the labor force as opposed to 60% of men (Bro, 2019).
In some countries, like Senegal, policy work is being put in place to promote progress and ratify existing legal protections for women. Senegal’s 2001 constitution guarantees equality for women (UN Women Africa. n.d.). Senegal adopted the Gender Parity Law in 2010, which established the National Strategy for Gender Equality and Equity (SNEEG) that aims to:
"Contribute to make Senegal an emerging country in 2035 with a society of solidarity in a state of law, without discrimination, where men and women will have the same opportunities to participate in its development and enjoy the benefits of its growth". (UN Women Africa. n.d.)
Despite the patriarchal nature of society, many women travelers report feeling safe when traveling in Africa. While in certain regions, marriage proposals are common, cat-calling and aggressive sexual advances are less common than in areas like Northern Africa or Southern Europe, or Latin America (Ghandi, 2019). The patriarchal undertones lean more to the over-protection and domestication of women than the exploitation and objectification of women on a fictional “patriarchy spectrum”. It is still advisable though for women to travel in groups and refrain from solo travel as much as possible.
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