Addressing Gender Gaps in Cameroon to Enhance Inclusive Growth1
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1. The government’s growth and employment strategy recognizes the promotion of gender equality as key to achieving inclusive growth and meeting the SDGs. The 2035 Vision of Emerging Cameroon states that “Cameroon, an emerging country, builds on the principles of good governance where women and men can enjoy the same rights and participate equally and in an equitable manner to the development”. Implementation has followed, with a rapid reduction of Cameroon’s gender inequality index (GII)2 in recent years, to just above the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average. But remaining gender gaps prevent women from fully participating in the economy. Women suffer more from poverty and unemployment and tend to work in low paying activities. Women’s access to education and health access is lower than for men. Almost 40 percent of women are married before age 18, resulting in fertility and maternal mortality rates well above the SSA average.

Abstract

1. The government’s growth and employment strategy recognizes the promotion of gender equality as key to achieving inclusive growth and meeting the SDGs. The 2035 Vision of Emerging Cameroon states that “Cameroon, an emerging country, builds on the principles of good governance where women and men can enjoy the same rights and participate equally and in an equitable manner to the development”. Implementation has followed, with a rapid reduction of Cameroon’s gender inequality index (GII)2 in recent years, to just above the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average. But remaining gender gaps prevent women from fully participating in the economy. Women suffer more from poverty and unemployment and tend to work in low paying activities. Women’s access to education and health access is lower than for men. Almost 40 percent of women are married before age 18, resulting in fertility and maternal mortality rates well above the SSA average.

A. Introduction

1. The government’s growth and employment strategy recognizes the promotion of gender equality as key to achieving inclusive growth and meeting the SDGs. The 2035 Vision of Emerging Cameroon states that “Cameroon, an emerging country, builds on the principles of good governance where women and men can enjoy the same rights and participate equally and in an equitable manner to the development”. Implementation has followed, with a rapid reduction of Cameroon’s gender inequality index (GII)2 in recent years, to just above the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average. But remaining gender gaps prevent women from fully participating in the economy. Women suffer more from poverty and unemployment and tend to work in low paying activities. Women’s access to education and health access is lower than for men. Almost 40 percent of women are married before age 18, resulting in fertility and maternal mortality rates well above the SSA average.

2. An increasing body of literature highlights the role of gender equality in enhancing inclusive growth. Gender equality has been associated with high income and faster growth (IMF 2015; Hakura et al 2015; Duflo 2012; and Kochhar et al 2017), better income distribution (Hakura et al 2015; Gonzalez et al 2015; Ashan et al 2017), more economic diversification (IMF 2016), and better access to finance (Aslan et al 2017). Staff estimates indicate that Cameroon GDP per capita growth could increase by ¼ percentage point if its GII score was brought down to the SSA average and to more than 1 percentage point if it is brought to average of the 5-main emerging Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam) or the 5 leading Latin American economies (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru).

3. This chapter maps and benchmarks key gender gaps in Cameroon in terms of opportunities and outcomes and assesses the macroeconomic cost of gender gaps in Cameroon. Policy considerations to address remaining gender gaps aim at ensuring a level playing field, and do not represent a normative stance on Cameroon’s social, cultural or religious norms. Given the economic costs to remaining gender gaps in Cameroon, enhancing women’s contribution to the economy would support the government’s development agenda.

B. Gender Gaps in Cameroon

Overview of Cameroon’s Performance in Addressing Gender Gaps

4. Gender inequality indicators are improving but progress is still needed in term of women’s access to assets and political empowerment. Cameroon recorded a rapid improvement of its GII between 1995 and 2015, almost catching up with the SSA average (Figure 1). Cameroon’s GII significantly improved in 2010–12 and declined further in 2013 as both opportunities (health) and outcomes (labor participation and political empowerment) for women improved. The recent improvements reflect the implementation of the 2012 electoral code in the 2013 municipal, legislative and senatorial elections that resulted in more elected women, and the adoption of the new National Gender Policy in 2015 (Box 1). The 2017 global gender gap index (GGGI)3 of the World Economic Forum ranked Cameroon above the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) and West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries and about the average SSA countries on both the overall GGGI and its sub-indexes. Cameroon performance on the OECD’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)4 shows the importance of improving the legal and institutional system mainly regarding non-land assets ownership and violence against women as well as ensuring that existing statutory laws are applied.

Figure 1.
Figure 1.

Cameroon: Gender Inequality Indices, 2010–17 1/

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2018, 256; 10.5089/9781484373378.002.A003

Sources: UNDP; World Economic Forum; OECD; and IMF staff calculations.1/ The indices are subject to uncertainty around the point estimate. Rankings reflect the relative, not the absolute, performance of the country.

The National Gender Policy

The authorities’ 2015 National Gender Policy Paper (NGP) aims at providing an environment that protects women, provides equal access to social services and equal right and opportunities. Relying on Sustainable Development Goal no 5 on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, the NGP relies on 4 pillars: (i) creating a conducive environment for social protection and equitable access to social services, (ii) ensuring equal rights and opportunities in resources control, (iii) creating conditions for equal participation to development actions, and (iv) ensuring institutionalization of gender in public/private affairs.

Progress to date includes amendments of the Criminal Code and its provisions against gender discrimination and sexual harassment. In the education system, specific trades such as a Master’s Degree in Gender and Development have been introduced at universities. Free primary schooling has contributed to increasing girl-to-boy enrollment ratios. Collective weddings organized by the ministry in charge of women empowerment contribute to reduce women’s vulnerabilities amid unrecognized cohabitation by the law.

Gender Inequality in Outcomes

5. There have been noticeable improvements in women’s economic empowerment with Cameroon outperforming its peers (Figure 2). While the male labor participation rate was almost flat between 1990–2016 going from 80 to 82 percent, women’s labor participation rate increased from 55 to 72 percent (UNDP), contributing to significantly reducing gender gaps. The World Bank enterprise survey shows a larger share of women owners of business, full-time workers, and among top managers compared to peer countries except for Rwanda.

Figure 2.
Figure 2.

Cameroon: Women’s Economic and Political Empowerment, 2016 or latest

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2018, 256; 10.5089/9781484373378.002.A003

Sources: WDI; the World Bank’s enterprise survey; UNDP; Index Mundi; and IMF staff calculations.

6. However, gender gaps persist mainly in terms of access to formal work and equal earnings. Women receive about 67 percent of men’s earning for similar jobs, and only 66 percent of the estimated men’s income in PPP dollar term. Several factors contribute to these gaps: (i) weak bargaining power for better pay; (ii) women working mostly in low-skilled and low-paying jobs5, and (iii) high women’s unemployment, with a female-to-male ratio of 1.4 in 2015 (UNDP). This ratio declines to 1.2 among youths partially due to government programs targeting women and improved access to education for young women.

7. Political empowerment needs to be sustained especially in senior public positions at the level of Cameroon’s regions. Women’s advocacy campaigns have paved the way to growing female participation in the political sphere. The 2012 electoral code required, without setting quotas, that women be included on candidates lists for municipal, legislative and senatorial elections. As a result, women representation to the Parliament reached 31 percent in 2017 (13.9 percent in 2010), to the Senate 20 percent (26 percent with the newly elected senate), to town councils (16 percent), and among mayors (8 percent). However, there are only 17 percent of women in cabinet positions, and no women among regional governors. Women represent a ¼ of legal professionals (judges, bailiffs, notaries, and lawyers).

Women’s Access to Health

8. Progress in the health sector has been slow, especially for women. Over 1990–2015 The maternal mortality rate only declined from 728 to 596 deaths for 100,000 live births to stay well above the average SSA (474) and comparator countries (figure 3). Births attended by skilled health personnel remains low (65 percent). The HIV prevalence rate for women, 5.6 percent in 2016, is almost twice that of men. In addition, the fertility rate remains high, 4.7 children per women, as a result of high unmet family planning (24 percent of married women) and limited use of modern contraception, mainly in rural areas. Violence against women is pervasive with 51 percent of women reporting to have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime (OECD).

Figure 3.
Figure 3.

Cameroon: Health Performance, 1990–2015

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2018, 256; 10.5089/9781484373378.002.A003

Sources: Cameroonian authorities; UNDP; World bank; and IMF staff calculations.

9. Low and inefficient health spending contributes to low health outcomes. Health spending in Cameroon is very low 1.2 percent of GDP in 2015 below the average SSA of 2.3 percent of GDP. Wages account for about 1/5 of total health budget. In 2016, 44 percent of non-wage budgets was spent at the central level (up from 22 percent in 2014). Primary health facilities in the regions are poorly funded with large leakage, receiving less than 50 percent of their intended funds (World Bank, Public Expenditure Review 2018). Thus, out of pocket health spending is higher in Cameroon relative to peer countries. The unequal regional distribution of health spending contributes to large disparities in regional health outcomes (Figure 3). Addressing these inefficiencies in health spending at given spending levels could bring significant gains in health outcomes (measures by the health adjusted life expectancy) in Cameroon of little more than 4 years, the 7th largest in SSA, Grigoli and Kapsoli (2013).

Women’s Access to Education

10. Government policies in the education sector are helping to improve educational outcomes for both men and women, however disparities remain in terms of gender, region, income, and ethnicity. Cameroon has mandatory and free primary education and the government has put in place programs, often in conjunction with development partners, to enhance access to education especially for the most vulnerable including girls. Compared with peer countries and the average SSA country, Cameroon’s education gender gap is larger in primary and secondary education while it is narrower in the tertiary education suggesting a relatively better retention rate for women at upper school levels. Barriers to female access to education include poverty, juvenile pregnancies, and early marriage with 13.4 percent of girls married before age 15 and 38.4 percent before age 18 (Table 1, Figure 4).

Table 1.

Cameroon: Key Gender Indicators, 2016 and Most Recent Available Data

article image
Sources: World Economic Forum; World Development Indicators, UNICEF; USAID; and Index Mundi.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.

Cameroon: Education Performance, 2016

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2018, 256; 10.5089/9781484373378.002.A003

Sources: Cameroonian Authorities; UNDP; World bank; and IMF staff calculations.

11. There are large disparities in access to education across regions, reinforced by an uneven allocation of public education spending. For example, education spending per student allocated to the Far North is 2.2 times lower than that of the Littoral, and overall primary enrollment rate in the Far North is only 65 percent. The female male ratio in primary school enrollment is also less than 80 percent in the northern regions against around 100 in the Littoral. The share of education spending has declined from 14.6 to 12.5 percent of total spending between 2014 and 2016. Compared to peer countries, Cameroon spends less in education 3 percent of GDP in 2015 compared to 7.3 percent in Senegal and 5.2 percent in Kenya.

Women’s Access to Finance

12. Access to finance is low in Cameroon, remaining well below the average CEMAC and SSA, but with a lower gender gap. Female account ownership is 10.2 percent compared with 26.2 percent for SSA countries, while the gender gap in account ownership is only 4 percent against 6.8 percent for the average SSA (Figure 5). The gap drops to 2.2 percent for borrowing from a financial institution. Women’s use of informal financial service is as high as that of men.

Figure 5.
Figure 5.

Cameroon: Gender Gaps in Account Ownership, 2014

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2018, 256; 10.5089/9781484373378.002.A003

Sources: 2014 Global FINDEX; and IMF staff calculations.

13. Gender gaps in financial inclusion remain conditioned by socioeconomic characteristics and financial innovations seems to benefit women more. Women have a higher ratio of account ownership than men (negative gender gap) for the categories of (i) poor, the first two income quintiles;6 (ii) completed tertiary education; and (iii) received a salary in the last 12 months. Financial innovation tends to benefit women in Cameroon. The proportion of women using a credit card, having a mobile account, and using a mobile phone to perform a transaction were larger compared to men in almost all socio-economic categories. This highlights the beneficial role that financial innovation and fintech could play in fostering women’s access to finance.

Legal and Institutional Aspects of Gender Inequality

14. Cameroun has ratified several international treaties that promote gender equality and prohibit violence against women, but progress in transposing their dispositions into national law has been slow.7 The country’s labor code and the general statute of the civil service prohibit any form of discrimination including on gender. However, the 2017 criminal code (Box 2) and the 1981 civil code continue to include discriminatory provisions against women and do not fully protect women against domestic violence. The legal marriage age is 15 for women compared to18 for men. According to the 2018 Women, Business and the Law, there are still regulations that restrict women’s employment and legally preventing them, without a permission, from getting a job and applying for a passport and a national identity card. Women can perform an economic activity and own property; however, the husband can prevent the wife from working for the household’s interest, and he has the right to administer, sell or mortgage shared marital properties without the wife’s consent.

15. In addition, customs and traditions weigh heavily against implementing and improving the law. Cameroon is a socially, culturally and religiously diverse country with two legal systems (English common law and the French civil law). In rural areas, customary laws are often used to settle domestic and property disputes which often tend to deprive women from their rights. In the case of inheritance, most cultures in Cameroon tend to provide a larger share to men, despite the legal provisions that grant equal right to women and men. In addition, the prevalence of gender based violence is high (51 percent of surveyed women) often unreported because it remains widely and socially accepted (Time, 2014) (Table 1).

The New Penal Code and Women’s Empowerment

As far as gender equality is concerned, public opinion recognizes improvement in the new penal code adopted in July 2016 which replaced the 1967 version. One of the major improvement is the equal criminalization and lifting of discrimination regarding adultery. Under the provisions of Article 361, both men and women are subject to the same sentence. Nevertheless, polygamy remains the default matrimonial regime, which adversely differentiate women against men.

The new penal code punishes instigators of early and forced marriages, recognized as such for every boy and girl under 18. This progress remains to be considered in the civil code under revision, which differentiates the legal age of marriage at 15 for girls and 18 for boys. In addition, genital mutilation, sexual harassment, preventing girl from attending school, eviction from the matrimonial home and excessive demand for bride-price for marrying a girl are now punished under the criminal code.

C. Macroeconomic Impact of Gender Gaps in Cameroon and Potential Gains

16. Economic gains from further reducing gender inequality could be significant. Using the estimates of the determinants of growth in a panel of 115 advanced, emerging market, and developing economies (IMF, 2015), a decomposition exercise highlights the impact of gender inequality in explaining differences in average real GDP per capita growth rates in Cameroon compared to SSA and some benchmark Asian (Asean 5) and Latin American (LAC 5) countries.8 Figure 6 highlights that female legal equity contributed to ½ percent of GDP points to the growth deficit with SSA and the gender inequality contributed to ¼ percentage point These contributions become even larger when compared to Asean5 or LAC5 where they could reach 1¼ percentage point, pointing out to significant gain Cameroon could get in reducing gender gaps.

Figure 6.
Figure 6.

Cameroon: Macroeconomic Impact of Gender Inequality

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2018, 256; 10.5089/9781484373378.002.A003

Sources: UNDP; WDI; and IMF staff calculations.1/ LAC 5 are: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru and ASEAN 5 are: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines Thailand, and Vietnam.

17. Reducing gender gaps could enhance women’s access to finance, and, in turn, reduce income inequality. Aslan et al (2017) found that gender gaps in access to financial services are positively and significantly related to income inequality. This is consistent with previous findings (IMF, 2016) that narrowing the gender gap in financial inclusion by 10 percentage points could decrease gender gap in labor participation rates by 2 to 3 percentage points which benefits growth and productivity.

D. Policy Recommendations

18. Cameroon has made rapid and significant progress in reducing gender inequality in recent years, and stands to gain from further reducing remaining gender gaps, including by:

  • Pursuing ongoing efforts to translate approved international treaties that promote gender equality into domestic laws and issue implementation decrees to operationalize existing laws. Widespread implementation of the new penal code will ensure better protection of women against violence and harassment. It will also help address early marriage and discrimination against girl’s school enrollment, thus contributing to improve women’s health, lowering adolescent birth rate, and maintaining girls longer at school. Providing training (to judges, local officials, and traditional leaders) and awareness campaigns on legal rights and regulation changes, especially in rural areas, could support the shift from customary laws to statutory laws.

  • Moving to more gender responsive budgets while increasing budgetary resources and allocations to the education and health sectors. The implementation of the 2017 social protection strategy combined with scaling-up of the cash transfers project and performance based financing in health could improve both the efficiency and the impact of public social spending on the most vulnerable including women. Education and health spending should be increased with an allocation across regions that reflects funding needs and a higher share of spending allocated to primary education and health care.

  • Encouraging women’s entrepreneurship and access to formal work, and eliminating remaining legal barriers to women’s access to property and enhancing women’s education. This will help enhance overall revenue at national level through better access to well-paid jobs, investing in profitable business and accessing credit, thus contributing to reducing inequality while promoting inclusive growth.

  • Continuing to support increased women’s political participation. The 2018 senatorial elections resulted in more elected women. Maintaining that trend with the legislative and municipal elections scheduled later in the year could help accelerate legal and institutional reforms aimed at protecting and promoting women. Furthermore, efforts to promote women at cabinet level and upper managerial positions in the civil service need to be pursued.

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1

Prepared by Mamadou Barry and Du Prince Tchakote.

2

The GII is an inequality index compiled by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that measures gender inequalities in three aspects of human development—reproductive health, empowerment, and economic status.

3

The GGGI measures gender gaps between women and men in four key areas: health, education, economy and politics to gauge the state of gender equality in a country.

4

The SIGI is an index focused on the causes behind gender inequalities. The SIGI uses 12 social institutions indicators grouped into 5 categories: family code, physical integrity, son preference, civil liberties and ownership rights.

5

The 2010 employment survey shows that 9 out of 10 women are employed in the informal sector and larger share of men are employed in the public and formal private sectors respectively 7.2 percent (4.3 percent for women) and 5.2 percent (1.9 percent for women).

6

The authorities reported 17 development partner-supported projects targeting women and vulnerable populations in the regions and areas mostly dominated by the poor at end-2017 supported by African Development bank, Canada, France, Germany, IFAD, the Islamic Development Bank, Netherland, UNDP, World Bank etc.

7

Cameroon signed the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1994, and its Optional Protocol in 2005 and (i) the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa in 2012.

8

The Asean 5 countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The LAC 5 countries are Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

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Cameroon: Selected Issues
Author:
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.