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The Impact of Religion on Women Empowerment as a Millennium Development Goal in Africa

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Abstract

The study examines the impact of religion on women empowerment. Three religions, indigenous African, Islam and Christianity, comprising Africa’s triple heritage, are considered. The hypothesized relationships are confirmed. Christianity correlates with each of the four Development Targets specified for women empowerment under the third of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including raising the: (1) percentage of school-aged girls in school, (2) female adult literacy rates, (3) female share of non-agricultural employment, and (4) female representation in government. African indigenous religion correlates with Target #3. Islam is inversely linked to each of the four Targets. A composite index incorporating values on these Targets was developed and employed as the dependent variable in a multiple regression model. The model is statistically significant, and confirms the hypothesis of a link between women empowerment and religion. Therefore, any meaningful effort to promote women empowerment in Africa must account for the continent’s three main religions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban & Regional Planning Program, Department of Geography, Environment and Planning, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. (NES 107), Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Ambe J. Njoh

  2. Environmental Science & Policy Program, Department of Geography, Environment and Planning, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. (NES 107), Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Fenda A. Akiwumi

Authors
  1. Ambe J. Njoh
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  2. Fenda A. Akiwumi
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Correspondence to Ambe J. Njoh.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 The WOMPOWER Index Formula

To illustrate the workability of this formula, consider the following values on the four targets for the Women Empowerment of the MDGs for Cameroon.

  1. 1.

    Proportion of 5–15 year-old girls in schools: 84.0%

  2. 2.

    Adult female literacy rates (women 15–24): 59.8%

  3. 3.

    Ratio of women to men in non-agricultural work: 53.0%

  4. 4.

    Percent. of seats in Nat. Parliament held by women: 13.9%

The composite score for the country can be obtained as follows:

$$ \sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N} {{\frac{1}{{N(T_{i} )}}} = {\raise0.7ex\hbox{$1$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 4}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} \!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$4$}}} (84.0 + 59.8 + 53.0 + 13.9) = {\raise0.7ex\hbox{$1$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 4}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} \!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$4$}}(234) = {\mathbf{52}}{\mathbf{.67}} $$

Thus, Cameroon’s score on the Women Empowerment (WOMPOWER) variable is 52.67.

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Njoh, A.J., Akiwumi, F.A. The Impact of Religion on Women Empowerment as a Millennium Development Goal in Africa. Soc Indic Res 107, 1–18 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9827-4

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