Source: The Swazi Observer
The year 2014 is a black-spot in the development, advancement and improvement of the status of women and girls in Africa.

In Nigeria 276 girls remain missing after being abducted from their school by a terror group Boko Haram.

The girls were abducted because they were pursing their education – a reminder to us all of the many obstacles related to culture and tradition that girls in many parts of the world must overcome to improve their lives.

Boko Haram is an Islamic group that claims to be fighting against the westernisation of Islamic tradition. Boko Haram is against the education of women and girls.

It is reported that the remaining girls of the 276 abducted have been turned into cooks and wives of Boko Haram fighters.

This incident sparked international outcry, world leaders and celebrities have condemned the abduction of the girls and called for their unconditional release.

Situation

Many have taken this opportunity to highlight the vulnerability of women and girls in the continent.

It has been said that the hash tag "Bring Back Our Girls" is not helping in this situation and that radical measures must be put in place to address women vulnerability and minority status in our society.

Today we know that vulnerability and invulnerability are distributed unequal amongst men and women.

We know that the minority status of women in our societies perpetuates this vulnerability.

There are good reasons to argue for the differential vulnerability of women; they suffer disproportionately from property and literacy, two very important dimension of any global analysis of women's conditions.

In many parts of the world including Swaziland, women's rights to land and property are systematically denied.

Laws and traditional practices give women fewer or less secure rights than men, and discriminatory attitudes and practices undermine them.

This leaves many women almost entirely dependent on the men in their lives for basic economic survival and vulnerable to violence, poverty and food insecurity, particularly if widowed, divorced, single, or in marriages not formally recognised.

Education is widely recognised as a fundamental human right of every individual, in practice girls and women have been historically locked out of educational systems.  Young girls face the most challenges in accessing education.

Their burdens are a unique intersection of discrimination based on restrictive traditional roles for women and in most cases, endemic poverty.

Pregnant young girls continue to be sent out of school while their male partner and father to their unplanned baby suffer no consequences.

Evidence demonstrates that investing in girls is more than a moral obligation, since it is likely to prevent the transmission of poverty from generation to generation and yield high economic and societal returns.

Continue

Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in human history.

An estimate of one in every three women has had an experience with physical or sexual abuse.

Gender-based violence undermines the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims.

Gender-based violence happens while governments all over the world continue to move slowly to pass laws on sexual offenses.

Economic vulnerability of women has not been taken too seriously in this continent yet many women find themselves involved in sex work not out of their choice but forced by economic conditions.

It is also true that women will continue to stay in an abusive relationship because the partner provides for their economic needs.

And for this reasons, many women have died in the hands of their abusive partners.

More must be done to address women vulnerabilities and the minority status of women.

There is a need for women to occupy decision making positions to influence change in policy and practices.

Women must fight and occupy their rightful position in society.