Economic
How the finances, fiscal policies, employment, production, distribution, and allocation of Cameroon's resources affect the continuation of breast ironing
Education Budget: Cameroon vs United States
Although Cameroon is an impoverished country, it spent 3% of their GDP ($61 billion) on education in 2015; the amount spent on total education is $1.83 billion. In comparison, the United States in 2015 spent 5.2% of their GDP ($16,230.2 billion) on education; the amount spent on total education in the United States was $843.97 billion (Cameroon, 2015).
(Lueong, n.d.)
Resources for Sex Education
Both Cameroon and the United States would benefit significantly from not leaving the responsibility of teaching sex education to the public schools. However, Cameroonian parents delegate sex education to the schools due to their ignorance and shyness of discussing sex with children. Because many of the Cameroonian teachers are as ignorant as the parents in discussing sex with their students, there is little consistency or quality in the information taught. The topics of “HIV/AIDS, “STIs” and “sex education” are included in Cameroon’s National Syllabus for Primary Schools, but there are no details on what material must be taught.
Unfortunately, sex education is either insufficient or provided too late to benefit most of the country (Tapscott, 2012). Further compounding the effectiveness of sex education being taught in Cameroonian schools is the fact that only 47.7 percent of girls and 56.7 percent of boys attend primary school. The low school enrollment rate was attributed to cost, with girls’ participation further reduced by early marriage, sexual harassment, unwanted pregnancy, domestic responsibilities, and certain sociocultural biases (Cameroon Web, n.d.). Without adequate education and prevention, breast ironing will continue to ravage the lives of Cameroonian girls and rob them of more-fulfilling lives.
Access to Contraceptives
Most Cameroonian women are aware of the existence of contraceptives. Although they are accessible and affordable when a female wants to use them, these goods are socially unpopular. According to Cameroonian custom, it is very common to have unprotected sex with regular and irregular partners alike. There is a cultural stigma for Cameroonians to use contraceptives, for doing so is both an indication of distrust and disrespect. There is an
(Bankano, 2013)
imbalance in power dynamic between males and females; and is is culturally expected for females to submit to the male’s sexual wants. Breast ironing is done to detract from unwanted sexual attention. If a male were to notice the female as a sexual object, it is not a normal practice to have safe sex even though contraceptives are readily available and inexpensive to use (Tapscott, 2012).
Impractical Hospital Expenses
The existence of hospitals means little or nothing to the impoverished Cameroonians. Of Cameroon’s two government run general hospitals and the ten provincial hospitals and a handful of district hospitals, most are inaccessible due to distance or the lack of resources to pay for any treatment received. The clinics and hospitals operated by missionaries, although more affordable, lack medical specialists and equipment to provide high quality care. Because of the inaccessibility of hospitals, Cameroonians must resort to seeking aid from traditional healers (Weinger,
One of the government hospitals in Cameroon (IRIN, 2014).
2007). In the past, a Cameroonian woman traditionally received financial assistance for medical care and in some cases food from her family of origin rather than her husband/boyfriend. Because of modernization, neither the family of origin nor the Cameroonian community at large which formerly offered its impoverished women food, money, and emotional support no longer extends itself to meet the most basic needs to these women. Rather, the women’s immediate nuclear family bears the responsibility (Weinger, 2007).
Trekking through mud, rivers and jungle to provide free medical care
This video displays firsthand the vast need for medical care in the rural villages of Cameroon. Impoverished Cameroonians are unable to access or afford healthcare, and suffer in quality and length of life because of this. Dr. Bwelle made it his mission to provide free medical care and surgeries to Cameroonian villages. He has served 125,000 people for free since 2008. (Dunn and Berger, 2017).
In a study of 264 children born out of wedlock in urban Cameroon, a significant gap in care and support was found in the areas of food, clothing, and medical expenses if the biological fathers did not recognize these children as their personal responsibility. Although dollar amounts were not provided in the study, percentages were given. Thirty-nine percent of unrecognized children have their food and health expenses paid mainly by their mother. In the case of clothing expenses this percentage rises up to 46 percent. The role played by grandparents and persons other than parents in financially supporting children’s education is also significantly higher in the case of unrecognized children than in the case of recognized children (Calves, 2000).
Financial Cost of Raising Children Born Out of Wedlock
Current source of Child's Care and Financial Support and Child's Living Arrangements
These images show "Table 3" from Calves' journal article, which display the results from her comparative family study on 264 children in Cameroon. The number for each category represents the percent of the 264 children for which the statistic was true. For example, the father was the main person responsible for the child's education and upbringing in 28.9% of children with married parents, but for only 1.4% of children who did not have a recognized father. (Calves, 2000).
