TITLE:
Challenging Gender Equality: An Examination of Gender Egalitarianism in the South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo
AUTHORS:
Bercky Masheka Zihindula
KEYWORDS:
Gender Egalitarianism, South Kivu Province, Politic Participation, Cultural and Social Norms
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.8,
August
15,
2024
ABSTRACT: Egalitarianism is a concept that upholds the equal treatment of all people, irrespective of the diversity of backgrounds across the human race. Gender egalitarianism thus urges the essential need to treat people of both genders equally. Although there is a large body of literature on gender inequality in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), there is a lack of current literature that specifically addresses gender egalitarianism in this part of the Republic. This paper explores the effects of gender egalitarianism on people in the study area by examining this phenomenon in the context of the cultural, social, economic, and political lives of the residents of the study area. The findings are aligned with the gender structure theory to enhance its validity. The findings demonstrate various positive trends and improvements in gender egalitarianism in certain aspects of the socio-economic, political, and cultural lives and norms of people in the study area, but ongoing research is required to establish the causality and directionality of the observed associations and to generalize findings to the entire population. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of gender egalitarianism in South Kivu Province and it is envisaged that the findings will inform better targeted and more effective policy developments and practical intervention strategies to curb gender inequality and gender-related conflicts in the South Kivu Province.