scholarly journals Women's Income-Generating Activities and Gender Roles in Rural Households in Mayo Danay Division, Northern Cameroon

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Jasmine SILIKAM ◽  
◽  
Angeline Raymonde NGO ESSOUNGA

In sub-Saharan Africa, women participate in the rural labor market where they are present in subsistence agro-pastoral activities, which are more domestic work and, in other income-generating rural activities such as trading. Within the studies carried out on women’s status in communities, those on women's access to income-generating activities in certain contexts such as Ghanaian urban areas, have revealed that, income-generating activities contribute to a redistribution of gender roles in households. This paper by questioning the impacts of women's economic activities on gender relations within households in rural areas of Northern Cameroon, aims to analyse the realities faced by women involved in income-generating activities in a particular rural area to assess if the changes mentioned above happened in all communities. The data used for this work are empirical data from a qualitative survey of 48 women living in 8 villages in Mayo Danay, an administrative territory in Northern Cameroon. The results of this survey reveal that rural women involved in income-generating activities are both breadwinners and domestic workers. Contrary to what was observed in Ghana, the status of female breadwinners does not participate in the emancipation of women. Indeed, even with their means of production, women are still dependent on men and are still alone to bear the burden of the domestic work. Access of women to income-generating activities and their participation in household expenditures have surely reduced poverty in households but have not contributed to gender roles changes.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Jasmine SILIKAM ◽  
Angeline Raymonde NGO ESSOUNGA

In sub-Saharan Africa, women participate in the rural labor market where they are present in subsistence agro-pastoral activities, which are more domestic work and, in other income-generating rural activities such as trading. Within the studies carried out on women’s status in communities, those on women's access to income-generating activities in certain contexts such as Ghanaian urban areas, have revealed that, income-generating activities contribute to a redistribution of gender roles in households. This paper by questioning the impacts of women's economic activities on gender relations within households in rural areas of Northern Cameroon, aims to analyse the realities faced by women involved in income-generating activities in a particular rural area to assess if the changes mentioned above happened in all communities. The data used for this work are empirical data from a qualitative survey of 48 women living in 8 villages in Mayo Danay, an administrative territory in Northern Cameroon. The results of this survey reveal that rural women involved in income-generating activities are both breadwinners and domestic workers. Contrary to what was observed in Ghana, the status of female breadwinners does not participate in the emancipation of women. Indeed, even with their means of production, women are still dependent on men and are still alone to bear the burden of the domestic work. Access of women to income-generating activities and their participation in household expenditures have surely reduced poverty in households but have not contributed to gender roles changes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1673
Author(s):  
Adolfo F. L. Baratta ◽  
Laura Calcagnini ◽  
Abdoulaye Deyoko ◽  
Fabrizio Finucci ◽  
Antonio Magarò ◽  
...  

This paper presents the results of a three-year research project aimed at addressing the issue of water shortage and retention/collection in drought-affected rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The project consisted in the design, construction, and the upgrade of existing barrages near Kita, the regional capital of Kayes in Mali. The effort was led by the Department of Architecture of Roma Tre University in partnership with the Onlus Gente d’Africa (who handled the on-the-ground logistics), the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence and the École Supérieure d’Ingénierie, d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme of Bamako, Mali. The practical realization of the project was made possible by Romagna Acque Società delle Fonti Ltd., a water utility supplying drinking water in the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) that provided the financing as well as the operational contribution of AES Architettura Emergenza Sviluppo, a nonprofit association operating in the depressed areas of the world. The completion of the research project resulted in the replenishment of reservoirs and renewed presence of water in the subsoil of the surrounding areas. Several economic activities such as fishing and rice cultivation have spawned from the availability of water. The monitoring of these results is still ongoing; however, it is already possible to assess some critical issues highlighted, especially with the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic in the research areas.


Africa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Greiner

ABSTRACTRural–urban migration and networks are fundamental for many livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Remittances in cash and kind provide additional income, enhance food security and offer access to viable resources in both rural and urban areas. Migration allows the involved households to benefit from price differences between rural and urban areas. In this contribution, I demonstrate that rural–urban networks not only contribute to poverty alleviation and security, but also further socio-economic stratification. This aspect has been ignored or neglected by most scholars and development planners. Using ethnographic data from Namibia, I have adopted a translocal perspective on migration and stratification, focusing on the resulting impact in rural areas where modern urban forms of stratification, induced by education and income from wage labour, are on the increase.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collins Adu ◽  
Aliu Mohammed ◽  
Eugene Budu ◽  
James Boadu Frimpong ◽  
Justice Kannor Tetteh ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major public health challenge worldwide. Despite the importance of sexual autonomy in the prevention and control of sexual and reproductive health disorders such as STIs, there are limited studies on the possible relationship between women’s sexual autonomy and self-reported STIs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study, therefore, examined the association between sexual autonomy and self-reported STIs among women in sexual unions in SSA.Methods Data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 31 countries in SSA conducted between 2010 and 2019 were analysed. A total of 234,310 women in sexual unions were included in the study. Data were analysed using binary logistic regression models and the results were presented as crude odds ratios (cORs) and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) at 95% confidence interval (CI). Results The prevalence of self-reported STIs among women in sexual unions in SSA was 5.8%. Approximately 83.0% of the women surveyed had sexual autonomy. Women who had no sexual autonomy were less likely to have self-reported STIs (cOR=0.52, CI: 0.46-0.54), compared to those who had sexual autonomy. Additionally, higher odds of self-reported STIs were found among women aged 25-29, compared to those aged 15-19 (aOR= 1.21, CI: 1.09-1.35); those who reside in urban areas, compared to those who reside in rural areas (aOR= 1.51, CI: 1.37-1.66) and those who were cohabiting, compared to those who were married (aOR= 1.65, CI: 1.52-1.79). On the other hand, lower odds of self-reported STIs were found among women who were exposed to newspapers (aOR= 0.89, CI: 0.82-0.95), those whose partners had primary education (aOR= 0.84, CI: 0.78-0.91), those who were not exposed to radio (aOR= 0.84, CI: 0.79-0.89), and working women (aOR= 0.86, CI: 0.80-0.93). Conclusion Findings from this study suggest that sexual autonomy is a significant predictor of self-reported STIs among women in sexual unions in SSA. Thus, instituting policies and programs that empower women and improve their levels of sexual autonomy may result in increased self-reporting of symptoms associated with STIs which subsequently help in minimising STI-related complications. Also, policies aimed at enhancing women’s sexual autonomy may reduce the burden of STIs in SSA, especially among women in sexual unions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
Souhaibou Ndongo ◽  
Abdoulaye Pouye ◽  
Emeric Azankpan ◽  
Mourtalla M. Ka ◽  
Thérèse Moreira Diop

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis, formerly rare in sub-Saharan Africa, is becoming increasingly reported. The objective study determines the epidemiological, clinical and biological features of rheumatoid arthritis at diagnosis. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at the rheumatology outpatient department of Aristide Le Dantec Teaching Hospital of Dakar in Senegal. Results: Three hundred eight patients with rheumatoid arthritis according, to American College of Rheumatology 1987 criteria, were included: 273 women and 35 men (ratio of 7:8). Median age was 41 years (Q1: 31; Q3: 53 years); predominant age group was 30-40 years. Ninety-three percent resided in urban areas and 7% in rural areas. Family history of chronic inflammatory arthritis was reported by 35.1% of patients. Thirty-nine percent of patients initially consulted a traditional healer. On admission, the median Disease Activity Score 28 was 6.5 (Q1: 5.5; Q3: 7.3). Rheumatoid arthritis was very active in 81.1% and a positive factor in 84% of patients. Cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies assessed in 116 patients; 95 reported positive (81.9%). Of 169 patients, at least one extra-articular manifestation was presented; the most common, anemia and sicca syndrome. Conclusion: Rheumatoid arthritis was characterized by an important delay in diagnosis, a polyarticular presentation, and a high positivity of immunological markers. Extra-articular manifestations included mainly anemia and sicca syndrome. Early management and a better understanding of rheumatoid arthritis in sub-Saharan Africa are required.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
William Agyemang ◽  
Emmanuel Kofi Adanu ◽  
Steven Jones

Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana has witnessed an increase in the use of motorcycles for both commercial transport and private transport of people and goods. The rapid rise in commercial motorcycle activities has been attributed to the problem of urban traffic congestion and the general lack of reliable and affordable public transport in rural areas. This study investigates and compares factors that are associated with motorcycle crash injury outcomes in rural and urban areas of Ghana. This comparison is particularly important because the commercial use of motorcycles and their rapid growth in urban areas are a new phenomenon, in contrast to rural areas where people have long relied on motorcycles for their transportation needs. Preliminary analysis of the crash data revealed that more of the rural area crashes occurred under dark and unlit roadway conditions, while urban areas recorded more intersection-related crashes. Additionally, it was found that more pedestrian collisions happened in urban areas, while head-on collisions happened more in rural areas. The model estimation results show that collisions with a pedestrian, run-off-road, and collisions that occur under dark and unlit roadway conditions were more likely to result in fatal injury. Findings from this study are expected to help in crafting and targeting appropriate countermeasures to effectively reduce the occurrence and severity of motorcycle crashes throughout the country and, indeed, sub-Saharan Africa.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0254774
Author(s):  
Abdul-Aziz Seidu ◽  
Bright Opoku Ahinkorah ◽  
Kwaku Kissah-Korsah ◽  
Ebenezer Agbaglo ◽  
Louis Kobina Dadzie ◽  
...  

Background Over the years, sanitation programs over the world have focused more on household sanitation, with limited attention towards the disposal of children’s stools. This lack of attention could be due to the misconception that children’s stools are harmless. The current study examined the individual and contextual predictors of safe disposal of children’s faeces among women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods The study used secondary data involving 128,096 mother-child pairs of under-five children from the current Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 15 sub-Saharan African countries from 2015 to 2018. Multilevel logistic analysis was used to assess the individual and contextual factors associated with the practice of safe disposal of children’s faeces. We presented the results as adjusted odds ratios (aOR) at a statistical significance of p< 0.05. Results The results show that 58.73% (57.79–59.68) of childbearing women in the 15 countries in SSA included in our study safely disposed off their children’s stools. This varied from as high as 85.90% (84.57–87.14) in Rwanda to as low as 26.38% (24.01–28.91) in Chad. At the individual level, the practice of safe disposal of children’s stools was more likely to occur among children aged 1, compared to those aged 0 [aOR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.68–1.80] and those with diarrhoea compared to those without diarrhoea [aOR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13–1.21]. Mothers with primary level of education [aOR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.30–1.5], those aged 35–39 [aOR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.12–1.28], and those exposed to radio [aOR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.20–1.27] were more likely to practice safe disposal of children’s stools. Conversely, the odds of safe disposal of children’s stool were lower among mothers who were married [aOR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.69–0.80] and those who belonged to the Traditional African Religion [aOR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.51–0.80]. With the contextual factors, women with improved water [aOR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.10–1.16] and improved toilet facility [aOR = 5.75 95% CI: 5.55–5.95] had higher odds of safe disposal of children’s stool. On the other hand, mothers who lived in households with 5 or more children [aOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.86–0.93], those in rural areas [aOR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.82–0.89], and those who lived in Central Africa [aOR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.18–0.21] were less likely to practice safe disposal of children’s stools. Conclusion The findings indicate that between- and within-country contextual variations and commonalities need to be acknowledged in designing interventions to enhance safe disposal of children’s faeces. Audio-visual education on safe faecal disposal among rural women and large households can help enhance safe disposal. In light of the strong association between safe stool disposal and improved latrine use in SSA, governments need to develop feasible and cost-effective strategies to increase the number of households with access to improved toilet facilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Yiting Wang ◽  
Xuhui Wang ◽  
Lu Ji ◽  
Rui Huang

In sub-Saharan Africa, improving equitable access to healthcare remains a major challenge for public health systems. Health policymakers encourage the adoption of health insurance schemes to promote universal healthcare. Nonetheless, progress towards this goal remains suboptimal due to inequalities health insurance ownership especially among women. In this study, we aimed to explore the sociodemographic factors contributing to health insurance ownership among women in selected francophone countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods. This study is based on cross-sectional data obtained from Demographic and Health Surveys on five countries including Benin ( n = 13,407 ), Madagascar ( n = 12,448 ), Mali ( n = 10,326 ), Niger ( n = 12,558 ), and Togo ( n = 6,979 ). The explanatory factors included participant age, marital status, type of residency, education, household wealth quantile, employment stats, and access to electronic media. Associations between health insurance ownership and the explanatory factors were analyzed using multivariate regression analysis, and effect sizes were reported in terms in average marginal effects (AMEs). Results. The highest percentage of insurance ownership was observed for Togo (3.31%), followed by Madagascar (2.23%) and Mali (2.2%). After stratifying by place of residency, the percentages were found to be significantly lower in the rural areas for all countries, with the most noticeable difference observed for Niger (7.73% in urban vs. 0.54% in rural women). Higher levels of education and wealth quantile were positively associated with insurance ownership in all five countries. In the pooled sample, women in the higher education category had higher likelihood of having an insurance: Benin ( AME = 1.18 ; 95% CI = 1.10 , 1.27), Madagascar ( AME = 1.10 ; 95% CI = 1.05 , 1.15), Mali ( AME = 1.14 ; 95% CI = 1.04 , 1.24), Niger ( AME = 1.13 ; 95% CI = 1.07 , 1.21), and Togo ( AME = 1.17 ; 95% CI = 1.09 , 1.26). Regarding wealth status, women from the households in the highest wealth quantile had 4% higher likelihood of having insurance in Benin and Mali and 6% higher likelihood in Madagascar and Togo. Conclusions. Percentage of women who reported having health insurance was noticeably low in all five countries. As indicated by the multivariate analyses, the actual situation is likely to be even worse due to significant socioeconomic inequalities in the distribution of women having an insurance plan. Increasing women’s access to healthcare is an urgent priority for population health promotion in these countries, and therefore, addressing the entrenched sociodemographic disparities should be given urgent policy attention in an effort to strengthen universal healthcare-related goals.


Author(s):  
Nigel McKelvey ◽  
Adam Crossan ◽  
Kevin Curran

Mobile technology today is increasingly being used to help improve underdeveloped and developing areas such as sub-Saharan Africa. With the statistics showing the number of adults in Africa owning mobile devices steadily increasing, mobile technology has been a popular area of interest to use to help improve areas such as healthcare and education throughout African cities and rural areas. Common that ways mobile technology is being used to help the residents of sub-Saharan Africa are in the sectors of health care and education. Mobile technologies being used in these areas whilst simple are incredibly effective and successful in helping to better the quality of health in education in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of the projects and systems developed using mobile technology focus mainly on urban areas. While reports state the huge increase in the number of those using mobile devices in Africa, along with the large estimated increase in the coming years, the difference between rural African countries and countries which contain urban cities is substantial.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Bikwibili Tantoh ◽  
Tracey T. J. M. McKay ◽  
Felix Ekwabena Donkor ◽  
Mulala Danny Simatele

Water and land are vital resources essential to ensuring sustainable and productive rural economies. They are also essential for safeguarding food security and socio-economic development. In spite of this, the concept of water-land-food (WLF) security nexus has generally been examined from a top-down manner with women mostly disenfranchised in the access and management of water and land in particular. Concurrently, risks linked with climate crisis aggravate gender inequalities. The limited access to resources, restricted formal rights through top-down management exacerbates the vulnerability of poor rural women. Furthermore, policy development procedures follow a sectoral approach with no account of interrelationship and interdependence between the sectors. This, directly and indirectly limits the stewardship of natural resources and mitigation of the effects of climate change. This study, therefore, examines gender roles and their implications for water, land, and food security in a changing climate through an integrative systematic review of literature in Sub-Saharan Africa. It further explains the importance to consider the nexus in adaptation. Food security and sustainable livelihoods could be ensured if women can freely and adequately access land and participate in decision-making processes.


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