Ensuring Gender Equality and Equity in Mali

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Background
Like many parts of the world, Mali has also suffered from gender inequality. Mali has a low rate of gender equality since it is ranked 184 of the 189th countries (Besançon et al., 2022, p.2). Even though gender inequality is likely to affect any gender, women have been the main victims of gender inequality. One of the reasons has been since this society was mainly patriarchal, it was hard for them to incorporate other people into the society. This instance made most women struggle to have some aspects, such as education, that their male counterparts freely enjoyed. Furthermore, despite succeeding in learning, they have also suffered to attain the top position due to society's perspective. This inequality triggered some women and human rights groups to fight for gender equality. The struggle for gender equality has a long history since it started in 1962 when the country passed the Family Code, called the Code de la Famille (Whitehouse, 2022, p.82). The main reason why this law faced huge opposition was that it advocated for the traditional power of men over women. This law would therefore continue the oppression of women.
After many years of struggle, the National Assembly provided a go-ahead that could help the revision of the Family Code. This revision aimed to promote women's empowerment while boosting equality between the two genders. However, after the National Assembly passed the adoption of this law, Former President Amadou Toumani Touré rejected it and sent it to the National Assembly for further review (Kombo, 2022, p.1). This law took a long process, and in 2011, two years later, the National Assembly adopted the new Family Code (Kombo, 2021, p.10). This family Code subjugated the women even more than the Code la Famille of 1962. For instance, this law formally declared the men as the head of the families. This family Code prompted some social groups to join in the process of attaining greater gender equality through the application of quotas in government institutions. Even though these groups have made huge steps in attaining gender equality, some parts have gender inequality. Since this inequality is negatively affecting women, there should be measures to improve it to attain an equal society.
What is the current state of gender equality and equity in Mali?
Over the years, Mali has made huge steps in attaining gender equality and equity. For instance, the country gave approximately 27.3% of parliamentary seats only reserved for women (Richards, 2020, p.7). The main reason for this move was that due to the competitive nature of politics, most women failed to win a position in the parliament.
However, despite improvements in gender equality, the country is still far from attaining gender equality. For instance, there have been some instances where women have continued to be oppressed. The research shows that approximately 53.7% of women aged between 20 and 24 years were married or had been in a union before 18, which is usually the legal age for a woman to consent (Seidu, 2022, p.1). This case is critical since there have been high adolescent birth rates; for every 1000 women aged 15 and 1...