Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there are over one million people in a population of around 70 million living with AIDS, is known as one of the worst places in the world for women. The variety of different reasons for this range from the devastating demographics of the country, to the family, work and reproductive rights of the women living there. The violence against women in this country is directly related to the prominent health concerns among the female population as well as leaving them with a diminished family structure. The continuing political war that has been happening in the country for the last fifteen years is the prime reason for the corruption and abuse that goes on, leaving the traditional culture of the people completely disrupted. Although there have been many activist groups both inside and outside of the country attempting to better the treatment of women in the Congo, insiders believe that race plays a large role in the little that has been accomplished by western culture to ensure safety for Congolese women.  Despite what activist groups have accomplished, the country still has poor demographics, and women have very few rights relating to family, work, and reproductive rights. Because of these issues, Congolese women suffer from many health problems and a corrupt government system that has dismantled mantled many of their cultural traditions. Many of the basic demographics of the country are directly related to the problems associated with it. 

Congo contains a population of roughly 71,712,867 people within an area that is less than quarter of the size of the United States, and more than seventy percent of the population living below poverty (Congo, 2012). The high count of disease in the country leaves less than three percent over the age of sixty-five, with a life expectancy right around fifty-five years at birth. Some of the diseases that are common in the Congo include hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, African trypanosomiasis (also known as “sleeping sickness”), schistomosomiasis (a disease contracted from contaminated water), and animal contracted diseases such as rabies. All of the different diseases and health concerns in the country are also nearly impossible to pay for because of the low literacy rates causing lack of education making it harder to find work.

The literacy rate is weighted much towards males, with around eighty percent of men being literate, and merely fifty percent of women (Congo, 2012).  At young ages, both boys and girls attend primary schools, but fewer than seventy-five percent of girls that enter finish their education (Seager, p.81). These statistics correlate with a higher number of men having jobs, and women in the Congo, much like women in many other third world cultures around the world are left with the responsibility to feed and care for the family. Some of the financial problems that women face may be related to the poor government structure and the long-lasting political war.  

The Congo war began when Rawanda’s government sent troops to hunt the Hutu soldiers that were accused to be responsible for the 1994 genocide, and since then the surrounding areas of the Congo have joined the war hoping for a chance to gain control over the many minerals the Congo has to offer. After years of government turmoil and the assassin of Laurent Kabila, his son, President Joseph Kabila is now leader of the country. Kabila announced a peace deal in 2002 which is enough to be reeling in money from outside nations to help build the government back up and hope for it to gain power and integrity over the surrounding countries (Nolen, 2005).  The problem though, is that not much is being done to fix the problems all around the country, and instead just the capital city is being improved as of now. It has been found that the Congo war has taken more lives than any other since World War II with nearly four million or more deaths since 1996, but it has not gotten much attention from outside of central Africa. Sadly, most of the deaths have been due to preventable causes such as disease, starvation, and injuries from rape, rather than from gunfire (Nolen, 2005).

 The Congolese’s corrupted government is so poor that many people in the country that work, have not received any salary in over fourteen years (Nolen, 2005). The poor government leaves women significantly helpless because they are already so financially behind due to the cultural male dominance in the country. This leaves women limited rights to many assets within marriage, along with limited opportunity for education, work and land ownership (Parsons, 2012).  Many of these rights are so restricted that women need permission from another male figure in their family to accept a job or open a bank account (Seager, p.19). Although women tend to be the ones that take care of the house, children and meals, men are still considered the dominate, powerful members of the family. This can be proven by the fact that only nine percent of the entire population of women in the Congo owns their own land (Seager, p.87). Women of the Congo also do not get much say in their reproductive rights.

 Congolese women rarely have any say in how many children they give birth to, when they get pregnant, or even who they make a child with. The average number of births per woman in the Congo is 6.7 (Seager, p.108). Because of their lack of reproductive rights, contraception is rare among Congolese women. Only four percent of women use modern birth control methods (Seager, p.37).  Termination is also an issue that women do not have much choice over. Abortion is illegal and would be done only if necessary to save a woman’s life (Seager, p.39). Homosexuality is also a factor in sexual and reproductive rights of women in the Congo and lesbian women are not commonly heard of in the country. Even if a woman was openly lesbian, homosexuality is nationally criminalized, so she would not have the choice to be with the person she really wanted to be with (Seager, p.27). Some women are even sent out of the country as sex slaves in other countries. Congo is considered to be a major source country for sex trafficking (Seager, p.57). Another way a women loses her freedom of choosing who she wants to have intercourse with is through rape. 

The high number of rapes and domestic violence within the country and the reproductive rights of women can go hand in hand. Studies have shown that forty-eight women are raped every hour, adding up to 1,152 per day. These numbers were conducted by a study done on only 3,436 Congolese women from fifteen to forty-nine years old (Adetunji, 2011). The real numbers of the women raped could be devastatingly higher than what the study shows. These rapes are not limited to vaginal penetration; these rapes are brutal and degrading. Woman are being gang raped by militia groups, and being penetrated by foreign objects including tree branches, bayonets, and barrels of guns with bullets being shot inside them. These bloody rapes have been the cause of many deaths and injuries to the women of the Congo, who have little access to any sort of medical attention. Some of the most severe injuries resulting for the high prevalence of rape in the country include rips and tears of the vaginal walls and anus, prolapsed uteruses, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, and most of all, fistulas. A fistula is when the rape has torn away the flesh that separates the bladder from the rectum and vagina. These fistulas often leave the women incontinent and infertile, as well as leaving them with the need for reparative surgery that is nearly impossible to get in the country. In a place where the chances of contracting AIDS is already quite high,  risks are increased even more with so many rapes happening daily. Over sixty percent of the rapists are assumed to be infected with HIV (Nolen, 2005). Physical injuries are not all that the rape victims suffer from.

The Congolese women suffer from the same psychological effects as women all around the world after a rape, and maybe even at a larger expense.  They feel the same emotions like guilt and shame, as well as feeling worthless. They also suffer from depression and paranoia especially when many of the victims have to see the man or men that raped them on a daily basis. Along with the typical psychological feelings that rape victims endure, Congolese women also are usually shunned by their families and their communities after a rape and they end up estranged from their husbands and children (Medair, 2012). Because of the culture and religion of the Congolese people, husbands, families, and communities do not seem to realize that the primary focus should be. The focus should be to embrace their wives, mothers, neighbors and children who have been raped and hurt. Instead, since virginity is so sacred to the people of Congo, rape victims are sent away to fend for themselves when they are sick, weak and vulnerable even if the rape happened right in front of their family members (Nutt, 2004).  Some women have even been sent to jail for trying to attain some of the property they shared with their husband after being sent away when they were raped. They were told that women are not entitled to any of the property and that it all belonged to the husband (Nutt, 2004). The torn families, battered and beaten women, and high numbers of rapes and deaths can all be attributed to the ongoing political and economic war going on in Congo.

The war and the rapes have completely deteriorated the family and cultural structure of the Congolese people. When rape victims return to their homes, they are punished and abandoned by their loved ones for a choice they did not make. These women are left with no financial security for themselves or their children. Many of the women do not have the chance to accomplish in their lives what they would like to because of the chance that they contracted HIV or another disease through a rape. They cannot be considered “clean” anymore, which in a culture like that of the Congo, means a women cannot become a nun, a wife, or a mother by choice. They also cannot even be tested for the diseases because they do not have as little as ten dollars to pay for it (Nutt, 2004). The culture has been diminished and deflated by hurting and killing innocent women because of political wrongdoing.

The attempts to help and better the lives of Congo women from local and international groups have made little progress. Some local groups and programs have tried to promote public awareness and put an end towards violence against Congolese women. These programs are more focused towards advising families and communities to embrace their loved ones that have gone through traumatic rapes instead of sending them to fend for themselves when they are already damaged beyond repair, both physically and emotionally. Some elderly Congolese women are helping victims deal with the psychological trauma they have endured, and there are fistula victims that are gathering money to help each other afford and receive the reparative surgeries that are necessary. Women’s organizations are also informing not only women, but also Congolese men about the rights of women (Karumba 2012). Some efforts have been done by outsiders as well.

There have been international groups that have attempted to create programs to promote and protect the victims of sexual abuse both in marriages and from the violent abuses done by militia men. There have been signs placed on big city streets that read ‘Raping a woman is the same as raping your own mother,’ but there has been little positive response shown, and little change is evident. (Nutt, 2004).  One assumption that is made in response to the lack of global efforts to reduce the violence among women and children is the argument of racism. Many of the Congolese do not believe the promises that are made by the western cultures to promote change for the women of Congo. Some efforts that have been made by the United States include Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, visiting the Congolese people in August of 2009 where she wanted to fixate on putting a stop to the out of control sexual violence that was made towards women. Clinton had pledged seventeen million dollars to go towards various medical care and support to the victims of rape and domestic violence. The problem with many attempts to help the nation of the Congo is that the attempts are to help with the after effects of the violence, instead of fixing the actual causes (Schuler). These are all efforts that could someday help to better the lives of not only the women of the Congo, but all members of the nation.

The poor demographics and the lack of rights for women related to their work and reproductive rights, along with the violence that ties to the many different prominent health problems throughout the country are many issues in which the country needs help to fix. A great place to start would be ending the war that has disrupted the traditional Congolese culture by bringing together inside forces with the help from outside nations to inform and educate the members of the society. These rape victims need medical treatment and support from their families and communities, and their children need them. America has programs like Planned Parenthood, and medical assistance to help alleviate the stresses of financial costs for medical treatments. Congolese women cannot even afford to get a lifesaving surgery or to get tested for HIV for seventy cents or ten dollars respectively, yet Americans are getting these procedures done for free through various aid programs.

Works Cited

Adetunji, Jo. Forty-eight women raped every hour in the Congo, study finds. (2011, May 12). The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/12/48-women-raped-hour-congo.

Ahmen Obaid, Thoraya. Women in Global Conflict. (2012). Congo Women. Retrieved from http://congowomen.org/essays/women-in-global-conflict-sexual-violence-is-not-inevitable/.

Congo, Democratic Republic of the.  (2012, January). The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html.

Karumba, Christine. The Culture of Women. (2012). Congo Women. Retrieved from http://congowomen.org/essays/the-democratic-republic-of-congo-the-culture-of-women/.

Medair, Nancy Say Kuna. Physical and Psychological Impact of Rape. (2012). Congo Women. Retrieved from http://congowomen.org/essays/the-democratic-republic-of-congo-physical-and-psychological-impact-of-rape/.

Nolen, Stephanie.  “Not Women Anymore…”.(2005). Ms.Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2005/congo.asp.

Nutt, Samantha. Living in Fear. (2004, February 16). EBSCOhost. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/ehost/detail?sid=4be9c17a-4d1c-4d52-8e72-92c7f934c5d0%40sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=12222860.

Parsons, Lizzy. Economic Conditions and Women. (2012). CongoWomen. Retrieved from http://congowomen.org/essays/the-democratic-republic-of-congo-economic-conditions-and-women/.

Schuler, Christine. Hillary’s  Good Start. (2009, October 12). EBSCOhost. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/ehost/detail?sid=101a7471-394e-45ff-a149-9fe936db0e0b%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=44493302

Seager, Joni. (2009). The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World: Fourth Edition. Brighton, UK. Myriad Editions.