GENDER SITUATION IN MALI

Employment

Based on these statistics, there is a high percentage of child labor in Mali, generally more boys are forced to work than women. Even though more boys work, there is a higher percentage of girls who are not in school, training or work.
The reason for this is probably due to the fact that girls are expected to engage in household chores or prepare to be married by their late teenage years.

  • During ages from 2010-2018, 30% of Mali children work, ages 5-17. - 35% of girls work, 40% of boys work. - 42% of female teens in Mali are not in education, training or employment, compared to 24% of male teens. - 24% of female teens engage in household chores, compared to 13% of male adolescents.

Education

Based on these statistics, it is clear that as the education level goes higher, there are less females in school. There is still a high percentage, for males and females, of young people in Mali that are not in school, but at least the majority of young males are literate. This is not the same for young women, where only about ⅓ of them are literate.
The lack of education for young women may be due to attitudes that education is not necessary for women who are supposed to get married, have children, and be obedient to their husbands. The lack of education for many young men, however, may be due to the fact that families start needing their sons to get a job and earn money for the family earlier. There also might be a higher price to get a quality education that would actually lead to a good job.

  • During ages from 2010-2018, 39% of young females are literate, 61% for young males (aged 15-19). - 25% of young females complete lower secondary school, 36% for young males. - 12% of young women complete upper secondary school, 23% for young men. - 68% of young men are out of upper secondary school, 77% for young women.

Marriage and Domestic violence

In Mali there are more women than men who justify mistreatment of the wife. Nancy Mezey's report notes that as of 2000, there were no laws prohibiting domestic violence. To this day, there are no laws that specifically prohibit wife abuse. Could this mean that women simply accept being abused as a way of life, especially since the government does not protect them from gender-based violence?

  • During 2011-2018, 18% of girls were married at 15 and 50% are already married at 18. Only 3% of teens are already married at 18. 73% of girls and boys have been abused. From 2016 to 2018, the percentage of women who accept abuse has decreased. In 2016, it was 73% while in 2018, 68% women accept gender violence. In contrast, the percentage of men who justify mistreatment has risen from 51% to 54%.

The body of the woman

According to statistics, the majority of women in Mali undergo FGM (female gender mutilation) and roughly the same number of women support it.
Furthermore, maternal care by doctors does not appear to be common in Mali and more than one appointment is a privilege. According to a 2000 report by Nancy Mezey, the ratio of doctors to patients in Mali villages is 1 doctor for every 1,350 inhabitants.
Most of the Malian women do not have modern knowledge about contraceptives or sexually transmitted diseases. The health system was privatized, which means that the system sets the prices of medicines.
There are many more healers and marabouts (Islamic healers) than there are doctors in Mali villages, and their prices are more affordable, so women use their services more.
The Nancy Mezey report also indicates that women who lived further away from the doctor were more likely to buy medication for themselves rather than visit the doctor.
As we saw in the UNICEF statistics, many women are married at 18, so this means that many would not have enough financial resources to obtain medicines. The report also notes that by the age of 18, many young women in MalI have already given birth. Lack of nutrition, forced sexual interactions and premature births contribute to their vulnerability to HIV.

  • Between 2004 and 2016, 83% of women underwent female genital mutilation (FGM), of these 75% agreed. In 2018, 14% of women asked to stop doing FGM. The mortality rate for women is 587 / 1,000. 48% of women had an appointment with their doctor before delivery. 38% of women had at least 4 visits with their doctor before delivery. 58% of mothers visit the doctor after giving birth. Between 2013 and 2018, 33% of 18-year-old girls give birth. Of the 14,000 adolescents with HIV, 8,800 are women. 25.7% of women use a condom, compared to 47% of men.