Women in Niger

Niger is a country in West Africa. It became independent from France in 1960, and was ruled by a single-party and military rule until 1991. Most of the country has a hot, dry, desert climate. It has almost 20 million inhabitants. The ethnic groups are: Hausa 53.1%, Zarma/Songhai 21.2%, Tuareg 11%, Fulani (Peul) 6.5%, Kanuri 5.9%, Gurma 0.8%, Arab 0.4%, Tubu 0.4%, other/unavailable 0.9%. It is mostly a rural society, and almost all the population practices Islam.[4]

Niger has the highest rate of child marriage and the highest total fertility rate in the world

Motherhood in Niger has many complications. Due to economic factors, healthcare inadequacy, and traditional practices, women are at a crucial disadvantage by the time they have their first child.

Child marriage is a common practice in Niger. Around 75% of Nigerien girls are married by their 18th birthday. Although sometimes with the complicity of their family, young girls are often sold into child marriages or sex work. The practice of wahaya allows for slave traders to exploit girl as young as 9, selling them either as domestic servants or commercial sex workers. Niger is a common place for human trafficking to take place, as it is a source, point of transit, and a final destination for victims of trafficking both within and outside the country's borders. Young women, sold into their unions, are then at the will of the master in the traditional master-slave cycle that wahaya fuels.

The highest TFR (almost 7 children/woman) in the world coupled with an extremely high adolescent birth rate suggests that the young women in Niger have children at an unprecedented rate. A high rate of child marriage would, naturally, lead to very young mothers and a high fertility rate, as aforementioned. The national median age at first child for women in Niger is 18.1 years old, falling second only to neighboring Chad.

With child marriage, high adolescent birth rates, and an even greater TFR comes maternal mortality. With a maternal mortality ratio of 555 per 100,000 births, Nigerien mothers must overcome preexisting complications to ensure both lives come out successfully. A lack of quality medical care, adequate health care professionals, and economic well being all contribute to Niger's very high maternal mortality ratio. It also doesn't help when mothers are giving birth at young ages either.

Niger's literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world. The national average is 19.1% with women's literacy at 11%, the lowest in the world.. This data is for those 15 years and over that can read and write. Education, although accessible, is not common for young women. Less than a quarter of females, all ages, were enrolled in the education system. A strong agrarian culture, such as that in Niger, doesn't always foster the most emphasis on formal education.

Gender based violence is also omnipresent in Niger. There is very little judicial assistance when it comes to the prosecution of the abusers. It has been reported that some women in Niger find it normal to be victims of domestic violence. Traditional practices often prevail as society has deemed women inferior and therefore customary to leave the abused without justice. Violence against Nigerien women has been legitimized by generations of this culture and hardly any legal regulations to change its course. Provisions have been taken to reduce the prevalence of violence, but they have fallen short of causing a noticeable change.

• Polygamy in Niger
• Human trafficking in Niger

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women of Niger.

• Photograph of two Nigerien Tuareg women
• Nigerien women take the lead in implementing practices to protect their families during the nutrition crisis (At a glance: Niger) by Chris Tidey
• NIGER: Rape and beatings of women seen as “normal”