From World Bank

On the African continent, where the majority of the population subsists from agriculture, only 18% of farmland is owned by women. In Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top producer of cacao and cashews, a woman is usually obliged to make arrangements with her family or husband in order to cultivate food crops.

As the country struggles to recover from a decade of socio-political crises, Ivorian women remain marginalized, often without access to basic social services, according a recent World Bank report.

In rural settings, 75% of women live below the poverty line. They are hardly better off in the business realm: According to figures from the “Centre de Promotion de l’Investissement en Côte d’Ivoire” (CEPICI, a group that fosters investment in the country), out of 800 small businesses created from January to May 2013, only 15% were in women’s hands.

The political scene is also dominated by men, although women constitute more than half of the electorate (52%). Out of 29 government ministers, five are women, and only 10% of deputies in the National Assembly are female.

How can Côte d’Ivoire end discriminatory practices against women? This was the theme of workshops and consultations the World Bank held recently throughout the country. The objective: to allow Ivorian women to speak out and to arrive at concrete measures promoting women’s empowerment in a strategic period, as Côte d’Ivoire sets its sights on becoming an emerging country by 2020.

Read more at worldbank.org