Gender Inequality In Africa

The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Rights clearly acknowledges the fact that all men are born free and equal. This was necessitated by the cruel treatments certain race/people that saw themselves as superior to other races either because of color, religion, social class, wealth, or ethnicity hence, the world was divided into several groups and certain people never saw themselves equal with others. This was clearly and vividly depicted in ancient societies and during the mediaeval ages. The believes of superiority paved way for slavery which can be traced back to the Greek society and other societies like Rome, Egypt and in Asia amongst others. This system moved down to the medieval period and not just was there slavery but these societies

In African traditional practices, for instance, does not recognize women as equal with the men. It is sacrilege and a big offence for a woman to disrespect a man and could attract severe punishment. Rights and privileges are different between a man and a woman in the African society. In Africa, women were less valued as this has been seen in several cases. A woman who gives birth to just a girl is likely going to be thrown out of the husband’s house for her inability to give birth to male children or the man could decide to marry another wife in order to be able to have a male child. In southern Nigeria, the abuse of twins was rampant as twins were seen as devilish and a taboo, hence, the killing of twins became a part of the tradition. In the Christian religion, according to the bible, the woman is not equal with the man as this can be seen even in the creation story. Christians holds the believe that since man was created before the woman and the woman was made out of the ribs of the man then it is therefore clear enough that men are more superior to the woman in all ramification. For instance, in the bible, women were not allowed to climb the alter neither were they ordained as priest. Women never fought in wars and it was rare to see a woman rule over a kingdom. Their place was at home. In Islam, it is also

As the world tries to integrate every society and religions and races, it becomes more complex because as these efforts are being made, other issues are constantly arising thereby creating uncertainties on how far the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will continue to be relevant because of the complexities of emerging issues. It is evident we are all from the same ancestors which therefore makes us equal and if not for any other reason but for the fact that we are all human beings. As human beings it entails a lot of things. So many differences but yet much more similarities. Would there be any explanations why we all have the ability to reason, could there be any possible explanations why we have the same blood, would there be any explanations why we all have similar eyes, ears, nose and why we can talk and animals can’t? the answer seems far fetch. Hence, why do we consider ourselves unequal? Time has a lot to play in understanding certain circumstances that have led to the recent state of humans and till then, we carefully learn, observe, and adapt to