Bissau- “The aim of this proposal, through the revised version of the Constitution of the Republic, is to start paying off the debt owed to Bissau-Guinean women.”

A group of women lawyers in Guinea-Bissau is working hard to make sure that when the National People’s Assembly revises the Constitution this year, women’s rights and equality takes center stage.

“We want the Constitution to include protections for women, but also especially, equality,” says Carmelita Pires, a member of the Association for Women Lawyers in Guinea-Bissau.  The current Constitution is not explicit enough in laying out women’s rights, she says, adding the word ‘woman’ only appears once.  “Equality does not exist in practical terms, traditional practices put many women in a submissive position.”

Pires cites specific examples of land ownership, early marriage, and economic equality as key issues they address in their revision proposal.

“Right now, in this country, if the husband dies, a male relative can come in and take the widow’s land,” says Pires. “We want to prohibit this and also add that women have right to own property.”

Although the existing Land Law guarantees the right to use land without discrimination, the Constitution does not go far enough to protect women when it comes to implementation of the law, and among all ethnic groups in the country, land is often controlled and managed by men – landowners, elders, or family heads, she says.

Even though women farmers are the primary cashew labor force and also farm rice and horticulture for family consumption and market sales, they work on land that is allocated to them for use by male relatives. If a woman’s husband or father dies, she has no right to inherit family property. 

With the technical support of the United Nations Development Programme in Guinea-Bissau and financial support of the UN Peacebuilding Fund, the association held brainstorming sessions in the eight regions of the country, as well as in Bissau with women members of parliament, civil society organizations,  political parties leaders and other sovereign organs, to gather ideas and information about the needs of women and men in what they want to see in a revised Constitution.

Currently, there are several significant gaps in the constitution when it comes to women’s rights, says the group.

“There is a long way between the balance of social, political and economic roles of women in present-day Guinea Bissau.”

-Poverty effects women more, even though 55 percent of agriculture production is carried out by women;

-Unpunished customary or religious practices prevailing against the dignity, body and health of women: 42 percent of women aged 15 to 49 consider it acceptable for a husband to beat his wife;

-Discrimination: Male values and attitudes prevail in major national decisions and politics and a culture of “matchundadi” prevails;

-45 percent of women are literate;

-60 percent of Bissau-Guinean women are married with men at least 10 years older;

-37 percent of girls marry before 18 (compared to only 3.7 percent of boys);

-50 percent of girls up to the age of 14 have been subjected to female genital mutilation;

-13 women are deputies, for a total of 102 deputies.

“Women are in a better position to understand and seek legal protection of their interests, from reproductive rights to political freedoms and protection against violence; because women help to shape protections for other marginalized groups in societies; and all the more so, that women are effective in expanding participation to build more democratic and inclusive processes.”

The association makes specific suggestions, such as the ones below, to the Members of Parliament when presenting it to them:

Insert a specific provision on equality between women and men, compensating for the historical and social disadvantages of women and paving the way for gender equity and the fair treatment for women. women and men, according to their respective needs, for example:

-Define women’s rights in marriage, land ownership;

-Create rules and provide guidelines for labor legislation: equal pay for equal work; equal access to the labor market and professional advancement; extension of labor and social rights to domestic workers, salespeople, and rural workers; job security for pregnant women; old age protection; retirement right; death pension. In this way, according to CEDAW, the Bissau-Guinean state will be better able to adopt the appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment to ensure the same rights:

-The preamble should use inclusive gender language.

This will be the sixth revision of Guinea-Bissau’s Constitution since its independence from Portugal in 1974. The Bissau-Guinean Women’s Jurists Association presented on 30 June their revision suggestions to raise awareness of the topic at the Plenary Session of the National People's Assembly in the presence of Members of Parliament from the 6 parties with a seat at the National Assembly. The Women's Jurists Association conducted before consultations sessions in all the regions of the country and disseminated their proposal with all political parties and organs of sovereignty.

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Media contact: Charlotte Alvarenga Alves, UNDP Communications Analyst, Tel +245 955462227; charlotte.alvarenga@undp.org