Gender Issues

There are certainly gender issues and disparities the world over. Unfortunately, Mauritania is one country where the disparities are quite large. This is changing, however slowly. With Peace Corps here, we actually have an entire sector devoted to the promotion of Girl's Education and Empowerment (GEE). There are many restrictions placed on women and girls, that their male counterparts do not need to adhere to so strictly. In dress, a woman must cover completely, wear a dress, and western attire is almost never acceptable. On the other hand, men very often dress in slacks and a collared shirt, or suit and tie.

In athletics, boys are encouraged to play sports: especially soccer, however girls would be ridiculed for similar behavior past a certain age. It is important to note that in the south, among the Black African cultures girls (even past puberty) will play sports such as basketball, but rarely soccer as it is seen as a more high-contact and aggressive sport. Another note: here at my site in the north, there is a small contingency of girls (mostly at the Girls' center) who are interested in starting to play basketball, however they will not play at the stadium because then everyone will know that they are playing sports.

In the home, the men are free to roam around and do as they please while women generally stay to cook and clean. As mentioned in the previous post on Family Units, that is not to say that no men do any housework at all, or that they never help their wives. It just simply is not the norm. If a group of men live alone together, they will often either eat at restaurants or have a woman come cook for them.

Marriage and schooling: Women usually will get married quite young here by our standards. Although looking at it from the other way around, they all can't believe I'm SO OLD at age 24 and unmarried. How they see it is that I have wasted away much of my good mothering years by being unmarried. It's all a matter of perspective and what one's perception of "normal" is. When I explain that I'm unmarried because I went to school, they understand that because here usually a woman will attend school until she marries. That age is just much closer to the 15-17 year old range. My host sister in Rosso (age 16) is now married, and I asked the question the last time I saw them if she still went to school (knowing the answer already). Of course they kind of chuckled and said, of course not... she's married! Now though, the male counter parts are much more encouraged to finish their BAC (a sort of post-high-school/college entrance exam). Many girls are starting to complete high-school, but not as many as boys. Once you get into the College setting, there's an even greater disparity in numbers between the sexes. As much more education is encouraged for males, they also get married at a much older age. Many times men won't marry until their late 20s or early 30s. There are of course many exceptions, but this is just a general rule of thumb.

Genders in the workplace: obviously the first step to gender equality is to ensure that women are getting educated. When you have two candidates for the same job, one is a male with his BAC, and the other is a female with only primary school under her belt, who can blame an employer for picking the more educated man? The lack of education of women spills over into the formal workplace, where you see MANY more men than women. Very often women will have small boutiques, or make artisan items to sell to earn a living for themselves and children.

Mauritania seems to be showing some excellent signs of improvement in gender issues. Even something as simple as a young woman wearing jeans under her veil shows some change. But we're seeing more women getting educated, and with Peace Corps there are special programs in place for the development of womens' education specifically. What's more, is that these programs are not only supported by the women in the community, but many men have come to support the increase in womens' education. There are certainly some very well educated women (and many times they can intimidate many men). I know a woman here who works for the mines, she got married only recently after studying English at the University of Nouakchott... and her English is very good. There's even been a report out of a woman who may be running for President in the next election. I've only heard that though from one source, so we'll have to see.