DISCRIMINATORY FAMILY CODE:
A new Mali Family Code was adopted by the National Assembly in August 2009, including provisions raising the age of marriage for women from 15 to 18, and equalising inheritance and parental rights.[12] But following protests from Islamic groups, President Amadou Toumani Toure refused to sign the new Code into law (despite supporting it himself).[13] As of mid 2010, the proposed legislation was being revised, in a move likely to weaken many of its provisions and reinforce many of the discriminatory practices it was designed to eradicate, such as early marriage and the stipulation that a wife should obey her husband.[14]
Under current legislation and customary practices, Malian women have a very low level of protection within the family. Women appear to have little option but to marry: of adult women aged 20-49 questioned for the 2006 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), only 2.2% were single.[15] The legal minimum age for women to marry is 15 years, but they can be married at a younger age with a judge’s permission and the consent of their parents.[16] It is a criminal offence to abduct a woman or a girl to force her into marriage, punishable by up to five years in prison (10 years if the girl is under 15), but the law is not effectively enforced.[17] Civil registrars can be punished for conducting marriages where one or both parties are underage, or are not entering into the union of their own free will, but most marriages are conducted under customary law and are not registered.[18] Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 2006 indicates that 52.6% of girls aged between 15 and 19 years were married, divorced or widowed, and according to survey data from 2001, of girls aged 15-19 who were already married, 19.4% had been married before they turned 15.[19] There have even been some reported cases of girls as young as nine being married.[20] Despite efforts to raise awareness that early marriage entails serious risks for women’s health, there seems to be no impetus within public opinion, NGOs or the government to take serious action to combat the practice.[21] In some regions, discriminatory or harmful practices relating to marriage persist, such as arranging a girl’s marriage when she is born, giving a daughter in marriage to a witch doctor for religious reasons, or exchanging women between families or communities in order to strengthen relations between them.[22] All of these underline the low value accorded to women in Malian society, and the consistent denial of their rights to self determination.
Polygamy is legal according to Mali’s Marriage Code and under the teachings of Islam, the religion practised by nearly all of the population; men may marry up to four women. [23] The husband must obtain the permission of the first wife before he marries again, although the authors of the 2004 report to the CEDAW committee remarked that this consent is often obtained through coercion and abuse.[24] It is estimated that around 40% of women are in polygamous marriages, including 20% of married girls aged 15-19.[25] The percentage is higher in rural areas (45%) than in urban areas (27%), and woman who have not received any education are twice as likely to be affected than women who have received secondary education (42% against 19%).[26]
In Mali, husbands are considered to be the heads of families: their wives are legally obliged to obey them, and the existing Civil Code grants them sole family and parental authority.[27] That said, in polygamous marriages, the husband is only considered to be the head of the family that he establishes with his first wife; subsequent wives are considered to be the heads of their respective households.[28] Overall, a total of 12.3% of households in Mali are considered to be headed by women.[29] Husbands decide where the family will live and their wives are obliged to obey.[30] Legally, either spouse may petition for divorce, but in rural areas women rarely initiate proceedings because of strong social pressure.[31] Decisions relating to custody of children in the event of divorce are decided in the best interests of the child.[32] Under Malian law, a man can appoint a legal guardian to look after the interests of his children in the event of his death: in such cases, the mother must consult the guardian in all legal matters pertaining to her children, and may lose custody of them if she remarries.[33] Malian women do not have the right to pass their nationality on to their children, in instances where the children’s father is not a Malian citizen.[34] In some communities, widows face discrimination that can fuel humiliating and degrading practices, such as forcibly having their heads shaved.[35]
Inheritance is governed by Sharia, customary, and civil law, depending on
the identity of the person concerned.[36] Under
sharia law, daughters are entitled to receive only half the share received by
sons.[37] A
further discrimination is that women can inherit only poor quality land that is
not very fertile.[38]
Customary law followed by certain ethnic groups views the wife as part of
the inheritance, and obliges her to marry a brother of her deceased husband,
who then receives all of the estate and assumes custody of the children.[39]
In other communities, when a woman dies, her younger sister is expected
to marry the widower.[40] In
2006, 28.86 percent of widows inherited the majority of assets after the death
of their spouses.[41]
[12] Africa for Women’s Rights (2010); BBC
(2009); Amnesty International (2010) p.220 [13] BBC (2009); Amnesty
International (2010) p.220 [14] IRIN (2010); Africa for Women’s Rights (2010)
[15] Cellule de Planification et de Statistique du Ministère de la Santé et al
(2007) p.85 [16] IRIN (2007); CEDAW (2004) p.62; US Department of State (2010) [17]
IRIN (2007) [18] CEDAW (2004) p.63 [19] UNICEF (2005) p.31 [20] US Department
of State (2010) [21] IRIN (2007) [22] CEDAW (2004) pp.14, 63 [23] CEDAW (2004)
p.63 [24] CEDAW (2004) p.63 [25] Cellule de Planification et de Statistique du
Ministère de la Santé et al (2007) p.82 [26] Cellule de Planification et de
Statistique du Ministère de la Santé et al (2007) p.83 [27] CEDAW (2004) p.23;
FAO (n.d.) [28] Cellule de Planification et de Statistique du Ministère de la
Santé et al (2007) p.15 [29] Cellule de Planification et de Statistique du
Ministère de la Santé et al (2007) p.16 [30] CEDAW (2004) p.62 [31] CEDAW
(2004) p.63 [32] CEDAW (2004) p.64 [33] CEDAW (2004) p.64 [34] CEDAW (2004)
p.31 [35] CEDAW (2004) p.14 [36] CEDAW (2004) p.66; FAO (n.d.) [37] CEDAW
(2004) p.66 [38] CEDAW (2004) pp.60, 61 [39] CEDAW (2004) pp.14, 24 [40] CEDAW
(2004) p.23 [41] Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2011) p.20
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RESTRICTED
RESOURCES & ENTITLEMENTS:
Under
Civil Law, Malian women have legal rights to property ownership, but these
rights are often restricted in practice, and many women are unaware of what
rights they do enjoy.[70]
Legally, women and men have the same access to land and the government
has launched revised legislation and several publicly funded agricultural
development projects that, theoretically, allow women to access land on the
same basis as men.[71] In
reality, many obstacles prevent women from exercising their rights, including
lack of access to credit to purchase equipment to work the land, meaning that
they have to rely on the goodwill of other family members who may or may not
allow them to use equipment.[72] In
some regions, customary law dictates that women are only entitled to poor
quality land, or have no rights to property at all,[73] or are
only able to obtain a life interest in the land that they work, through their
husbands.[74] The
percentage of women having access to land has increased in Mali from 18.7
percent in 2007 to 20 percent in 2008-2009. This positive trend can be
partially attributed to implementation of the Agricultural Framework Law (Loi
d’Orientation Agricole) favouring women.[75]
Women have the legal right to access to property other than land. However, their independent actions – purchasing a house, for example – can lead to family conflict if the husband has not agreed to the action.[76]
It continues to be very difficult for Malian women to access large bank loans, due to their very low incomes and inability to provide security.[77] However, a government-run micro-credit development programme launched in 1994 means that they are able to access credit for agricultural equipment and trade.[78] Malian women now have access to hundreds of associations that offer mutual credit, independently managed village savings schemes and short-term loans and women comprise nearly half of the beneficiaries of these credit institutions.[79] In addition, revolving group saving schemes known as ‘tontines’ also enable women to access funds, although this is not considered to be a very secure way of saving and accessing credit.[80] The latest data available shows that only 16 percent of creditors in Mali are women.[81]
[70] CEDAW (2004) p.60; US Department of State (2010) [71] CEDAW (2004) p.60; FAO (n.d.) [72] CEDAW (2004) p.60 [73] CEDAW (2004) pp.60, 61 [74] FAO (n.d.), quoting Goislard, Catherine, avec la collaboration de Moussa Djiré (2007) ‘Accès à l’information juridique, aux institutions et procédures légales: quelle sécurisation foncière pour les ruraux pauvres au Mali, Étude de cas dans le sud malien’, Rome: FAO [75] Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministère de l’économie et des finances) (2010) , SG/Cellule Technique du CSLP, «Rapport 2009 de mise en œuvre du Cadre Stratégique pour la Croissance et la Réduction de la pauvreté (CSCRP)» Document de synthèse, Août 2010 [76] CEDAW (2004) p.66 [77] CEDAW (2004) p.48 [78] CEDAW (2004) p.49 [79] CEDAW (2004) p.49 [80] CEDAW (2004) pp.50-51 [81] Ministry of Promotion of Women, Child and Family (Ministère de la Promotion de la Femme, de l’Enfant et de la Famille) (2010)