Central African Republic

Development Partner Consultation | Brussels 26 June 2007

Sector note1

Gender

1. Current situation
The Central African Republic (CAR) has ratified several international treaties and action plans on
human rights. At the national level, the political will of the government was demonstrated in the
adoption of a new constitution on the 27 December 2004, which recognizes that all Central Africans
are equal in the economic, political, and social spheres of life. The government’s commitment to
human rights was also reflected in the adoption of a national policy on the promotion of equality and
equity in 2005. Despite such progress, however, gender inequalities persist. In fact:
(a) Women are generally under-educated, with a majority of women being illiterate, while girls
are lagging behind boys in the areas of school enrolment and alphabetisation. Accordingly,
CAR has one of the lowest school enrolment rates for girls in Africa. In 2003, the net rate of
school enrolment for girls was 36.9%, against 44.3% for boys. The percentage of illiterate
women (68%) is significantly higher than that of men (46.2%). The causes of these
inequalities are manifold and well-known. They are economic, institutional and sociocultural.
(b) For reasons of social, political, judiciary and cultural discriminatory practices, women remain
largely uninvolved in the management and control of resources. Marginalised and become
increasingly vulnerable, they have difficulties accessing loans due to a lack of financial
guarantees, which also hampers their capacity to improve or develop agricultural activities
and generate income.
(c) Having been the first victims of the last military and political crises, women continue to fall
victim to appalling violence. According to the 2006 MICS study, 14.2% of women in urban
environments have been subjected to sexual violence, compared to 9.5% in rural
environments.
(d) Women are underrepresented in state institutions: only 11 out of 105 Members of Parliament
and 4 out of 22 ministers are women. In the judiciary, the situation is as following: judges: 5
women against 43 men; registrars: 6 women against 83 men; notaries: 3 women against 5
men; lawyers: 7 women against 50 men; administrators: 1 woman against 15 men.
Obstacles on the basis of gender are still numerous, widely prevalent, and render women’s
access to decision-making positions extremely difficult. At the level of local government,
there are only 6 female mayors as compared to 66 male ones.
(e) Women’s involvement in the formulation of policies, programmes, and projects of
development is severely curtailed, and they are often considered as mere “consumers” of
development, when they should in fact have the same opportunity as men to express
themselves, to decide, and to participate in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of
development programmes, in good conditions.
(f) Disadvantaged by a discriminatory legal and regulatory framework, the majority of women
are unaware of their rights, and are thus unable to defend them. The situation is even more
dramatic among illiterate women, as most relevant texts are written in French. The weakness
or absence of a judicial status of women is explained partly by the fundamental

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Translation of the “Fiche d’information - Genre”

Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007 1
Sector note | Forestry

characteristics and mechanisms of Central African society. For women, this situation
deprives them of decision-making power, management opportunities, and of control over
resources and goods, which they are only rarely entitled to possess.
(g) Virtually uninvolved in the prevention, management, and resolution of conflicts, women are
nevertheless the first victims of armed conflict. It is easy to understand the pertinence of
United Nations Resolution 1325, which recommends government to actively involve women
in conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction.

2. Long-term vision
The Government’s ambition is to “create an adequate macro-economic, legal, cultural, and political
framework to give men and women equal opportunities, and to measure the impact on both social
groups.” This will be done in accordance with the national policy on the promotion of equality and
equity, and in accordance with its action plan, which is currently being finalised, with the aim of
substantially reducing gender inequality by 2015.

3. Recommended strategies to reduce gender inequalities

Through the following strategies, the government’s objective is the cross-cutting integration of gender-
specific issues in national development plans and programmes, based on the national policy for the
promotion of equality and equity. Four strategic priorities have been selected:
(a) Increase the participation of women in decision-making: The challenge is to create a
favourable environment and an appropriate context for changing mentalities, which is often
hard to bring about.
(b) Increase the involvement of female leaders in the formulation of development policies,
programmes, and projects: Currently, most development programmes are designed without
taking the specific needs of women into account. Hence the need to involve women from the
beginning of the programming process, from the conception to the monitoring and evaluation
of projects.
(c) Improve the judicial, legal and institutional framework for gender equality: The judicial and
legal framework still largely disadvantages Central African women. This is why the
government will make efforts to reinforce the technical and institutional capacities of
structures, managers, and parliamentarians in the area of equality of rights and of the equal
implementation of national judicial texts and international conventions.
(d) Increase the involvement of women in the peace process and conflict resolution: The first
victims of civil wars, or conflicts between countries, are always those most vulnerable:
women, children, and the elderly. In CAR, women, have paid the highest price in recent
armed conflicts. It is entirely logical that women should now be involved in all processes of
reconciliation, peace, and conflict resolution in this country.

Development Partner Consultation for the Central African Republic | Brussels 26 June 2007 2