Cape Verde

The Republic of Cape Verde is a country archipelago made up of 10 islands located in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the population (78 percent mixed of African and European blood) can be found concentrated in Santiago. In African countries such as Cape Verde, national poverty reduction programs have been key entry points to address women's economic needs. Thus, the United Nations Development Fund for [Page 226]Women partnered with the government in Cape Verde (as well as Burundi, Liberia, and Rwanda) to integrate a gender perspective into the national strategy in 2008. Women of Cape Verde have fought for their rights through advocacy, lobbying, and action, especially after several legal changes propitiated by the international and the African political arena. In fact, the Cape Verdean government has ratified the Banjul Protocol (1987), the Convention to End Discrimination Against Women (2003), and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality (2004) of the African Union or the Maputo Protocol (2007), aimed at promoting gender equality in African countries.

Women in Cape Verde have fought for their rights through advocacy, lobbying, and action.

The constitution of Cape Verde (1992) grants equal rights to men and women, and the penal law (Código Penal) has classified physical abuse since 1997. A posterior revision of the Código Penal (2007) added psychological abuse and cruelty as crimes against women. Cape Verde has advanced gender in public policies since 2001, such as Plano Nacional para a Igualdade e Equidade de Género (PNIEG) I (2001-05), PNIEG II (2005-09), and PNIEG III (2009-11). PNIEG II and III outline the lines on gender equality promotion and advocate for effective and visible participation of women in all grounds of the country's development. Those programs also contemplate research in poverty, violence based on gender, education, health, and so on, which is particularly important to the Instituto Cabo-verdiano para a Igualdade e a Equidade de Género (ICIEG) or Institute for Gender Equity, as well as other women's organizations and associations. Women's empowerment is at the center of all public policies, including the increase of opportunities for women in professional education, women's literacy, women's entrepreneurship, or integration of the female informal sector into the market. Violence based on gender is one of the main challenges to women in Cape Verde. A recent governmental report (2005) showed that 21 percent of Cape Verdean women are victims of violence.

The ICIEG, which is the main national mechanism for equality, together with the Network of Female Parliamentarians, has drafted both the Equality Law (Lei de Paridade) and the Law of Violence Based on Gender in coordination with the Ministry of Equality of Spain. The ICIEG is the most important governmental organ to promote women and their rights in the absence of a specific ministry, and was founded in 1994. The most important thing about ICIEG is that belongs to the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and the Administration of the State and coordinates actions with women's networks such as Rede de Mulheres Parlamentares, Rede de Mulheres Economistas, and Associação Cabo-Verdiana de Mulheres Juristas, along with international agencies (the United Nations Development Fund for Women, for instance), and with several nongovernmental organizations and other women's associations and organization.

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