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African History 7.8 Women's Rights 7 Views


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Description:

This is probably going to be a real shocker, so you may want to take a seat: turns out colonization didn’t do much to help women’s rights in Africa.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

We'll be honest.

00:05

Women in most of Africa get the short end of a pretty short stick. [People pulling sticks]

00:09

Keep in mind, though, that when Americans talk trash about other countries' women's

00:13

rights records, the rest of the world thinks it’s like a D student criticizing others

00:18

for getting F's.

00:19

Americans might talk a good game about not being sexist.

00:23

But Mozambique beat us to having a female head of government with Prime Minister Diogo [Prime Minister Diogo giving a speech]

00:28

.

00:29

Mali, Liberia, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, and others have all had female

00:34

leaders too.

00:35

Still, Africa has definitely had its struggles with women’s rights. [People playing tug of war]

00:38

Just like everything else in Africa, the development of women's rights came to a screeching halt

00:41

under colonialism, and it took a while to get things moving again.

00:45

Colonial governments had a hard enough time with all those men complaining about oppression,

00:49

so they weren't in a hurry to allow women any rights.

00:52

In fact, when Britain took direct control of Sierra Leone and Igboland , [Britain puts leashes on Sierra Leone and Igboland]

00:57

they abolished women's voting rights in local elections.

00:59

Guess that’s what they meant by "bringing civilization" to Africa.

01:01

Maybe they should've stuck to bringing tea…

01:02

At the end of WWII, the only country in Africa where women were allowed to vote was South

01:05

Africa.

01:06

And even then, it was only white property-owning women.

01:08

So that left out…oh, we don't know…the majority of women in the country. [Disappointed looking women at polling station]

01:12

After WWII, decolonization activists got the push for women's suffrage revved up again.

01:17

The countries where decolonization movements packed the most punch were the places that [Boxing glove punching map of Africa]

01:22

gave women the vote first.

01:24

There was most of French West Africa…

01:26

Kenya…

01:27

And Ghana…

01:28

But the rest of Africa had to decolonize before their women could have rights.

01:32

One of the first acts of many independent African countries, like Sierra Leone, Rwanda,

01:36

Uganda, and Nigeria, was to finally give women the right to vote.

01:40

We imagine they wore their "I Voted!" stickers with pride.

01:41

And nowadays, there are no African countries where men can vote, but women can't. [Woman casting votes all over Africa]

01:45

Sounds pretty good, right?

01:46

But voting is only a small part of the battle here.

01:49

Women are still more likely to be victimized by armies or the police.

01:53

Domestic violence against women is even worse than in the West.

01:57

Women earn far less money for what is often way harder work. [Man holds very large check and woman holds small check]

02:00

And, of course, certain tribes still practice controversial rituals such as female circumcision…better

02:05

known as genital mutilation.

02:06

And just when we were feeling optimistic….

02:07

But because we don't want to leave you with those less-than-fun facts, let’s look on

02:11

the bright side.

02:12

In Africa, women have become the main focus of many aid programs… [Crying woman being comforted]

02:15

Both because they're so much more likely to be discriminated against, and because they're

02:19

more likely to be the ones taking care of the kids.

02:22

Supporting women now supports the next generation of both men and women. [Family sat together on sofa smiling]

02:26

Also, women's rights, access to health care, and education level all go hand in hand with

02:30

more use of family planning and lower fertility rates.

02:33

So pushing women's rights now can help stop overpopulation and nip future poverty in the [Bar chart with women's rights outweighing overpopulation]

02:39

bud.

02:40

A rich guy with a time machine could also solve future poverty, but women’s rights

02:43

seem like a better bet. [Man stood next to a time travelling car]

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