Well, I’m from Colombia, and in this part of my blog I would like to do a contrast between my country and DR Congo, in particular about gender roles.
These days, gender roles in Colombia have changed, we can say in a better way. There are less traditional gender roles and there are also more modern gender roles. I mean, in a general view, people had changed their mindsets, however, still we can see people, majority on the rural areas who believe that women have to care the children and keep a clear house, be nice with her husband –because some people believe that the women’s life objective is married with a man who can protect her as physical as economical- and have pretty children, that`s it. In the same way, in RD Congo, but this mindset is expanded and is most common (obviously there are people who can’t believe that): man providing for family and woman take care of children. But is also important mentioned since the mid-1990s, there has been an increase in the number of women becoming wage earners in the DRC to help bring in extra income for the family (Weijs, Hilhorst & Ferf, 2012).
In Colombia, woman have acquired more recognized that years ago. Now, women had the same rights that men, and it’s a big progress, here the women’s independence it’s acceptable for community. Too different from DR Congo, where women’s legal rights are limited, with married women unable to open a bank account, obtain a passport, or rent or sell property without their husbands’ permission.
The promotion of women’s human rights and gender equality is not seen as a priority such as Colombia as DR Congo. But in DR Congo, violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal while in Colombia it’s a minority. In DR Congo, 74.8% of women agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances (The 2013–2014 DHS survey (pp. 299)). Mass rapes, sexual violence and sexual slavery are used as a weapon of war by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The eastern part of the country in particular has been described as the «rape capital of the world». It doesn’t mean Colombia is a paradise to be woman, women in Colombia are often abused and even raped and it doesn’t get reported or if it does, sometimes there are no punishments for the abuser.
Also, women in Colombia usually are describe like beautiful, and yeah, you can think oh it’s wonderful, but…not all, the problem is that in Colombia there are a big stereotype of beauty, and many times it’s directly related to sexuality, the woman who is “buena”, so, some men believed that scream it at the girl while she is walking on the street it’s a good idea, and he is on all his right. While in DR Congo, physical strength and feelings comes first and external beauty second.
To conclude, if well is true DR Congo had more deep troubles- majority accepted- about gender roles, both countries had gender roles problems and is necessary for us, don’t approve or justified these can of behavior on any way which related woman as the weak sex.
Bibliography
-Bart Weijs, D. H. (2012). Livehoods, basic servicesprotection in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wageningen: Wageningen university.
- Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
Talking about the Congo 