The Women's Legal Rights organization teamed up with the USAID Africa Regional Bureau and selected Madagascar as a focus country for WLR activities
Judicial capacity to enforce women's legal rights is weak
Women and children in rural areas depended greatly on a potential recovery plan
Women make up almost 50% of Madagascar's population
Life expectancy of women is at 67.5 years
Unmet need for contraception of married women ages 15-49 is at 19%
The condom use for the population of ages 15-24 is merely 3%
Malagasy womens' health care and benefits, violence against women, education, and their legal rights
The country is currently in an economic and political crisis, and making investments to make changes for women in the country
Brouwer, Ruth Compton 2004. “Issues of Gender, Race, and Class in the Norwegian Missionary Society in Nineteenth-Century Norway and Madagascar”. International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Academic OneFile. Web. 23 Mar. 2012.
"An e-world apart: developing the Internet in poor countries can be a difficult business." OECD Observer 268 (2008): 18+. Academic OneFile. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
“Gender Links: For Equality and Justice” Gender Links Publications Retrieved at April 2, 2012
(http://www.genderlinks.org.za)
“World Development Indicators Database” The World Bank Retrieved at April 10, 2012
(http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org)
“World Stat Info” Madagascar: General Information Retrieved at March 23, 2012.
(http://en.worldstat.info/Africa/Madagascar)
A forgotten Island
Madagascar
Located in the Indian Ocean, 250 miles off the eastern coast of Africa
Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island
A population of approximately 20 million
Tropical climate, with the most diverse plant and animal life in the entire world
Affected by a major economic crisis in 2002
Education
Health Care
Current Status
Women in the country came together to form an association called Femmes Interessee au Development de Antalaha (FIDA)
Women in rural areas were desperately in need of more information about reproductive health and better access to contraceptives
In result of the economic crisis, there were cuts to women's health care and benefits
Madagascar has one of the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa
Unresolved political crisis created havoc in the Madagascar education system
Literacy rate among females increased 64%
The impact of the political and
economic crisis is impacting
children severely
The government is facing
a minimum 20-30% decrease
in the education budget
Funds and materials are
failing to reach schools
Madagascar faced one of its most devastating economic crises in 2002
The country was forced to join
some smaller African countries
HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries)
under the supervision of the
Increasing drop of GDP meant
little job opportunities in
markets where it was already
extremely difficult for poor
rural women to find jobs
Nearly 70 percent of Malagasy live below the poverty line
Legal Rights
Women in Politics
Antananarivo
Women throughout the country struggle to establish a viable role in society
Laws put women on the same equal status of men, but since economic struggles, there is a lack of resources to implement such laws
Gender-based inequality is the combination of philosophical, socialogical, and economic frameworks
Personal/Household level: emotional abuse, threats, and actual use of physical force
Societal and community levels: tradition, culture, and religion
Report on the SADC COnference on Gender and Development; Chapter 4: Human and Legal rights of women
The country is not ready to have a woman in any sort of power
Women are being influenced as more women are taking political power and positions
Of the 32 cabinet members, 5 are women
Out of more than 1560 municipalities, only 67 are led by women mayors
Though the numbers are small, the number of women in politics is rising each year
The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo
With a population of 1.6 million, growing at a rate of 3.5% per year
1 million of the population have inadequate water and sanitation services
Working towards more sustainable improvements within the city