Abstract
Niger: Selected Issues
Gender Inequality in Niger
In addition to being a human rights imperative, gender inequality entails a major loss of national income and is therefore a major economic policy issue. Poverty and social norms are at the source of much of Niger’s gender inequality, which raises delicate questions for public policy. Nevertheless, in recent years, women empowerment is being given increased priority by Niger’s governments and women welfare indicators are improving, thereby contributing to the achievements of the strategic goals defined under the Programme de Développement Economique et Social (PDES), the Millennium Development Goals, and the macro-critical objectives under the Extended Credit Facility.
A. Gender Inequality Indicators
1. Niger is among the most poverty-stricken countries in the world with most of its population facing difficult living conditions, which are even more difficult for women. The country ranked last of 188 countries in the UNDP’s 2014 Human Development Index (HDI) and next-to-last in its component sub-Index of Gender Inequity (GII) that covers 155 countries (UNDP, 2015).1 There is an inherent correlation between the two indexes, but Niger’s bottom-of-the scale position (behind war-torn Yemen only) in the GII reflects also long-established cultural biases that aggravate with gender-specific barriers the general poverty handicaps holding back Nigerien women.
2. Niger’s GII score indicates women are more than twice worse-off their already deprived male counterparts when it comes to opportunities to improve their income and social conditions (Figure 1). This is exemplified by secondary school attendance, which only 2.4 percent of Nigerien women achieved compared with 7.8 percent of the men (UNESCO, 2016). The disparity also occurs at higher levels of education, with considerably fewer women in decision-making positions in government (minimum quotas are in place) and in business positions.
Niger: Indicators of Gender Equality and Regional Comparators, latest available data
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2016).Niger: Indicators of Gender Equality and Regional Comparators, latest available data
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2016).Niger: Indicators of Gender Equality and Regional Comparators, latest available data
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2016).3. In relative GII terms, Niger’s trails not only the Sub-Saharan Africa average by a considerable distance, but also the average for a group of its Sahel neighbors with similar economic and cultural backgrounds. The other regions of the world show significantly lower levels of gender inequality than Niger, with the exception of the Arab countries where much higher-incomes are not reflected in better GIIs such as observed in non-Arab countries with comparable incomes. This is a first indication that some of the religious and cultural conditions that Arab countries share with Niger may be major factors in terms of gender inequity, as supported by statistical evidence presented below.
4. The life-long handicaps underscoring the GII imply that gender inequality is a critical policy issue. The GII is a tridimensional composite index that takes into account women’s reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market participation. The indicators used by the UNDP to measure these criteria also show Niger trailing for every single one of them. Moreover, the fact that they are early life indicators, such as girls’ school enrollment and teenage pregnancy, implies lifelong handicaps that will extend Niger’s high gender inequality scores well into the future even if prospects improve for younger generations of girls.
5. There are encouraging signs for Nigerien women that both human development and gender equity indicators have been steadily improving in Niger since the launching of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Initiative in 2000 (Figure 2). Coming from very low-levels, such indicators have improved across the board over the last two decades, including women welfare-specific indicators such as female life expectancy, labor force participation, maternal mortality, and girls’ school enrollment. The improvements have come hand-in-hand with rising incomes in Niger, greater affordability of imported goods, and access to knowledge disseminating technology (cellphones, television, and the Internet) all of which have increased women’s material welfare levels and opportunities for self-empowerment. It is particularly encouraging that the younger generation of girls have much better chances of going to school than their mothers and grandmothers (WEF, 2012).
Niger: Improving Gender Equality Indicators, 2000-14
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: World Development Indicators 2016, World Bank.Niger: Improving Gender Equality Indicators, 2000-14
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: World Development Indicators 2016, World Bank.Niger: Improving Gender Equality Indicators, 2000-14
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: World Development Indicators 2016, World Bank.B. Social Institutions
6. As elsewhere in the world, social institutions are a prime source of gender inequality in Niger, where engrained cultural traditions keep in place social handicaps against women that have long been overcome in more modern societies. While there is not a pronounced pre-birth “son bias” in Niger, discrimination starts during the school years when boys’ education is given priority over girls’. Later in life, Niger’s socio-cultural barriers may further curtail a woman’s access to justice, self-empowerment and major personal life-choices like marriage or child-bearing. As a result, much human potential is wasted hindering social transformation and economic growth that would benefit both women and men.
7. Niger also ranks at the bottom of the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), which seeks to measure discrimination against women by social institutions (formal and informal laws, social norms, and practices) across 160 countries (OECD, 2016).2 In 2014, Niger ranked in the 153rd position, ahead only of 6 other predominantly Islamic countries (Somalia, Chad, Mali, Gambia, Sudan, and Yemen) and of Zambia (that scored worse-in-the-world in terms of women property rights).
8. In regional terms, Niger trailed considerably the Sub-Saharan Africa average both in terms of the SIGI index and each of its components (Figure 3). It is important to note that the practice of female genital excision weighs heavily on the index, which is why Niger, where the percentage of excised girls is estimated at a relatively-low 20 percent, ranked just behind Egypt and ahead of the six other wealthier countries indicated above where the practice is more widespread.
Niger: Indicators of Gender Discriminating Social Institutions and Regional Comparators, latest available data
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2016).Niger: Indicators of Gender Discriminating Social Institutions and Regional Comparators, latest available data
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2016).Niger: Indicators of Gender Discriminating Social Institutions and Regional Comparators, latest available data
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2016).9. The SIGI average for Sub-Saharan Africa was better than for the Arab States (of North Africa and the Middle East) notwithstanding the latter’s much higher level of income (OECD, 2014). Niger also scored better than the average of the Arab States in two of the SIGI subcomponents (son bias and restricted civil liberties, in regards to which Niger does not gender-differentiate as much as in Arab States).
10. Niger, however, scored worse-in-the-world in terms of the “Discriminatory family Code” component of the SIGI Index. This was due to the fact that a form of female slavery persists in Niger despite decades of calls for its abolition (Timidria, 2013). It concerns so called “fifth wives” who are very young girls sold off into sexual and household slavery (Box 1). Only a small percentage of Nigerien women are subject to this form of slavery, but its persistence and nature is sufficient to rank Niger at the bottom of the SIGI’s “family code gender discrimination” component. Despite some recent legal victories in combatting the “fifth wife” tradition, it is likely to remain a major handicap in terms of Niger’s SIGI score for the foreseeable future.
11. While female slavery is not allowed in Niger’s laws, other less extreme forms of gender-discrimination are. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA, 2016), Niger’s Family Code safeguards customary practices that are highly disadvantageous for women as regards divorce, child custody and inheritance. Polygamy remains authorized as does instant repudiation of wives. At government level, the civil service code (Statut Général de la Fonction Publique) precludes discrimination, but it is nevertheless institutionalized at the agency level (Statuts Particuliers) where regulations prevent women from working at certain institutions and positions (often to avoid mingling with men).
Niger’s “Wahaya” Fifth Wife Tradition: An Extreme Form of Gender Oppression
In Niger’s mid-country Tahoua region a socially-accepted form of slavery persists whereby girls of a disfavored ethnicity are enslaved by older men of another ethnicity as a sign of prestige. These girls are known as “wahayou” (singular: wahaya), which means “fifth wives” in reference to Islam’s prohibition on men having more than four wives but (arguably) no limit on the number of enslaved additional “wives.” The wahaya tradition is also practiced in neighboring northern Nigeria, where in 2014 the Boko Haram terrorist group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls, many of whom have since been confirmed to have been forced to become wahayou.
Association Timidria, a local Niger associate of Anti-Slavery International, estimated in 2012 the number of people living in slavery in Niger at 130,000, most of whom were wahayou and their children. It reported that 83 percent of the wahayou were purchased before turning 15, most between the ages of 9 and 11 years old, at prices ranging from FCFA 200,000-400,000 (US$350-700). Once purchased, a pubescent wahaya will be subject to sexual and domestic slavery by her master and his legitimate wives and children.
Despite slavery having been officially abolished in Niger in 1961, contemporary acceptance of the wahaya institution is underscored by the social reality that it is the most prestigious men in their communities (usually traditional chiefs and religious leaders) who seek and retain “fifth wives.” The alleged religious fundament of this tradition has served to resist calls for its abolition as heretic and alien-imposed. A more recent variant of the wahaya slavery, according to the 2015 US Department of State report on Trafficking in Persons, has entailed Nigerien girls reportedly being sent abroad to enter into “marriages” with Nigerien men or foreign nationals and being subjected to domestic servitude in some Gulf and other countries.
But there is also fierce opposition to wahaya slavery in Niger itself. Anti-slavery advocacy and litigation by Nigerien civil society groups like Timidria have succeeded in bringing social and legal condemnation to wahayou slave holders and to the state of Niger, which in 2008 was found guilty of abetting slavery by the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), that has human rights jurisdiction across member countries, and sentenced Niger to pay compensation to a former wahaya. In 2014, for the first time ever, a Nigerien court convicted a man and sentenced him to four years in jail for taking and mistreating his “fifth wife.” Such legal victories have been too few but they are an auspicious sign that social acceptance of the centuries-old wahaya institution is eroding in Niger. But, regrettably, not soon enough for the women still enslaved as wahayou.
12. Progress in addressing legally-enshrined gender-discrimination has been slow. While Niger has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) more than 10 years ago, it has done so with numerous reservations. Furthermore, as of 2016, Niger had still not ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol, of which Niger was a signatory in 2003). However, some landmark legislation has been passed: the 2006 Reproductive Health Act aimed at improving access to birth control and sexual healthcare; and the 2000 law on quotas for women in political life, increasing the percentage of women in parliament from 1.2 percent (1 woman out of 83 members of parliament) in 1999 to 16 percent (28 women out of 171 members of parliament) after the 2016 elections. This share meets the 10 percent minimum envisaged in the law but the share of women in the Cabinet —18 percent— falls short of the 25 percent (currently out of 44 ministers, only 8 are women).
13. Looking ahead, hope for more opportunities for Nigerien women can be derived from the growing social awareness that comes with higher income levels and more education, for both men and women. Already the OECD-monitored SIGI indicators show signs of improving slightly, although not as fast as human development indicators, which underscores the lingering resistance to changing long-established social institutions and cultural traditions. Such resistance poses an ever present risk that what little gains have been achieved in recent years could be reversed.
C. The Economic Cost of Gender-Inequity in Niger
14. Gender inequity in labor force participation has very real economic costs in terms of the wasted contributions of women. Discrimination and social institutions that restrict women’s contribution to the workforce by limiting their employment choices and that force them into household roles result in what has become known as “gender gaps in labour force participation.” Such gaps lead to a loss of income by standard national accounting measures since household chores and family caring are not counted towards GDP. The magnitude of the income losses has to be estimated relative to a higher level of potential output that can potentially be even higher if the opportunity costs of women’s educational handicaps are taken into account (Hall and Jones, 1999).
15. For Niger the income loss associated with its gender gap was estimated in 2015 to be a very significant 32 percent of GDP (OECD, 2016; Cuberes and Teignier, 2015). According to the sources of this estimate, it was the highest level of income losses among Sub-Saharan African countries and it was comparable only to levels recorded in Middle East and North Africa countries, where, as we have seen, women face comparable institutional and cultural barriers to self-empowerment. According to Hakura et al. (2016), who did not make specific estimates for Niger, per capita income growth in sub-Saharan Africa could be higher by as much as 0.9 percentage points annually on average if inequality was reduced to the levels observed in the fast-growing emerging Asian countries. Such estimates of potential GDP gains mean for Niger that narrowing the gender gap might well be the most effective step it could take to improve economic activity and reduce poverty.
Niger: Income Losses Associated with Gender Gaps in Labor Participation
(Percent, 2015)
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2015).Niger: Income Losses Associated with Gender Gaps in Labor Participation
(Percent, 2015)
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2015).Niger: Income Losses Associated with Gender Gaps in Labor Participation
(Percent, 2015)
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 060; 10.5089/9781475582888.002.A003
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2015).D. Promoting Gender-Equality in the Context of Recent Government Programs
16. Policies to address gender-inequality in Niger have been a recurrent feature of recent government programs, especially those supported by donors. This was the case of the 2012-16 ECF-supported program that was underpinned by a poverty reduction and strategy paper (PRSP) for 2012-15 (Plan de Development Économique et Social-PDES) that identified “promotion of gender equality rights” as a national priority. The PDES acknowledged not just the unfairness of Niger’s status quo for women, but also the significant opportunity costs for the country as a whole in terms of the wasted potential contribution of women to national income generation and overall social welfare.
17. Niger’s PDES envisaged two gender-inequity reduction areas—women’s rights and women’s opportunities—with 10 explicit objectives through its original implementation horizon of 2012-15. These objectives were considered overwhelmingly accomplished in the government’s 2016 PDES Implementation Report that highlighted the successful conclusion of several public education initiatives on gender issues; the distribution of household equipment (water pumps, sewing machines, grinders, donkeys and chariots) to make women’s chores less harsh; leadership training for 8,703 women with technical qualifications, and special lines of credit for small businesswomen. It also stipulated quotas for women in public offices of 10-15 percent for elected positions and 25-30 percent for appointed positions, which are being barely met. Some progress was also reported in making legislation and social services less discriminating against women.
18. The Economic Guidelines Document (Document d’Orientations Economiques—EDD) that succeeded the PDES also set priorities in the area of gender-equality. It seeks to consolidate progress made in improving women’s access to education and health services, legal reforms, and with public education efforts on the merits of empowering women. The full strategy will only be available in March 2017 and will be intertwined with that for containing Niger’s high demographic growth rate, which is another highly sensitive area for public policy that is closely linked to gender equity promotion.
19. Gender equality is also being pursued in the context of sectoral strategies, such as the National Financial Inclusion Strategy approved in 2015. The thrust of the strategy is to make credit available to Nigeriens excluded from the financial circuit, with women being explicitly given priority, especially in rural areas or those running small individual businesses with potential for expansion.
20. The World Bank and other donors are assisting with women empowerment and the new ECF arrangement lends support to these initiatives. The World Bank has an important regional initiative: The Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (2014-19) that was officially launched in Niamey and targets for Niger US$ 53.5 million of the total US$ 170 million available. Bilateral donors and NGOs are also active in Niger with smaller scale programs to empower women in selected areas. The government in its MEFP for the Fund’s ECF-supported program for 2017-19 takes note of these initiatives and sets goals towards their implementation.
E. Conclusion and Policy Considerations
21. Nigerien women are doubly hindered by the country’s extreme poverty and long-established social institutions. Despite recent progress in improving gender-specific indicators, such progress has been slow and the indicators remain lagging behind the peers’, which means even the next generation will continue to face major obstacles to their self-empowerment.
22. Against such background, affirmative policies to empower women in Niger will necessarily face hurdles and Nigerien ownership is paramount to their success. It is of the utmost importance that women empowerment policies be designed and advocated in a persuasive manner that leaves as little room as possible for detractors to generate broader resistance. Recent governments have shown leadership in putting gender-equality on Niger’s policy agenda, but more needs to be done to substantially improve opportunities for today’s women in their lifetimes.
23. Addressing gender inequity in Niger is not only compelling for social reasons, it also makes economic sense. The potential gains to GDP are high and self-sustaining, which means that combatting gender inequity has to be at the center of any credible poverty reduction efforts. It is also closely intertwined with moderating demographic growth to levels where investments in health and education can be boosted on a per-child basis.
24. As elsewhere, Niger’s policy choices should be carefully designed to reduce inequality and further women empowerment in their specific context. According to a survey of Sub-Saharan countries done at the IMF (2015), removing legal gender-based restrictions in the region could immediately boost growth and reduce inequality by enabling women to participate more fully in economic activities and own assets. To that effect, fiscal policies should aim at making tax systems more progressive, prioritizing expenditures on women’s health and education, and at providing safety nets for single mothers, widows and other women vulnerable to exclusion. Financial sector and labor market policies should be aimed at strengthening legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks that support women’s ability to participate fully and productively in economic activities.
25. The international community can play an important role in assisting with women empowerment, but should be mindful that its efforts do not become counterproductive. While reducing gender inequity will take money and knowledge resources that only Niger’s development partners may provide, such assistance will have to be dispensed tactfully as not to appear an external imposition that could give pretext for resisting change. Overcoming Niger’s long-held legal and cultural biases is something only Nigeriens themselves can do.
References
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Hakura, Dalia, Mumtaz Hussain, Monique Newiak, Vimal Thakoor, and Fan Yang. 2016. “Inequality, Gender Gaps and Economic Growth: Comparative Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa”, IMF Working Paper WP 16/111, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC.
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The Gender Inequality Index (GII) is an index for measurement of gender disparity introduced in 2010 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is a tri-dimensional (reproductive health, empowerment, and labor participation) composite measure which captures the loss of achievement within a country due to gender inequality. The GII ranges between 0 to 1, with 0 being full equality between men and women. and 1 maximum inequality. There exists an alternative Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) computed since 2006 by the World Development Forum for several countries, but Niger is not among them. The African Development Bank also computes a Gender Equality Index (GEI) that largely mirrors the UNDP’s GII.
The SIGI covers five dimensions of discriminatory social institutions, spanning major socio-economic areas that affect women’s lives: discriminatory family code, restricted physical integrity, son bias, restricted resources and assets, and restricted civil liberties. The SIGI’s variables quantify discriminatory social institutions such as unequal inheritance rights, early marriage, violence against women, and unequal land and property rights. Through its 160 country profiles, country classifications and unique database, the SIGI provides the criteria to more effectively address the discriminatory social institutions that hold back progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
