About half of citizens say violence against women and girls is a common occurrence in their community.
Key findings
- Gender-based violence (GBV) ranks second on a list of the most important issues related to women's rights that Cameroonians want their government and society to address.
- About half (48%) of citizens say violence against women and girls is a "somewhat common" or "very common" occurrence in their community.
- Nearly two-thirds (63%) of Cameroonians believe it is "sometimes" (47%) or "always" (17%) justified for a man to use physical force to discipline his wife. Only 36% reject this practice.
- Six in 10 respondents (60%) consider it "somewhat unlikely" or "very unlikely" that a woman will be criticised, harassed, or shamed by others in the community if she reports GBV to the authorities. But four in 10 (40%) think such a negative response is to be expected. o Most citizens (84%) say the police are likely to take cases of GBV seriously. ▪ More than half (54%) of Cameroonians say domestic violence should be treated as a criminal matter, but 44% see it as a private matter to be resolved within the family.
Cameroon has adopted a number of international conventions and laws against gender based violence (GBV), including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Maputo Protocol. Its National Strategy to Combat Gender-Based Violence (2017-2020) aimed to help reduce the occurrence of various forms of GBV by half (National Institute of Statistics, 2020).
Despite these measures, GBV continues to be a threat for many Cameroonian women, especially in the country's anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions battered by armed conflict between separatists and government forces (Craig, 2021; Moussi, 2024; Cameroon Human Rights Commission, 2023; United Nations Population Fund, 2023).
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According to Cameroon's 2018 Demographic and Health Survey, 43% of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical or sexual violence, and 32% of married or separated women suffered intimate partner violence during the 12 months preceding the survey (National Institute of Statistics & ICF, 2020; National Institute of Statistics, 2020). One in five women say their first sexual encounter was forced (Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, 2018). Cultural norms and fear of stigma prevent many women in Cameroon from reporting GBV and seeking care (Mildred, 2014; Nguefack-Tsague et al., 2024). Despite a drop in under age marriage, 12% of girls still marry under the age of 15 (National Institute of Statistics, 2020).
This dispatch reports on a special survey module included in the Afrobarometer Round 9 (2021/2023) survey to explore Africans' perceptions of gender-based violence.
In Cameroon, about half of citizens say violence against women and girls is a common occurrence in their community, and GBV ranks as the second-most-important women's-rights issue requiring government and societal action. A slim majority see domestic violence as a criminal matter requiring police involvement, rather than a family matter. Yet a clear majority endorse men's use of physical force against their wives.
Baba Adou Baba Adou is a researcher of Political Science at the University of Florida and the UF Sahel Research Group
