Cabo Verdeans overwhelmingly support gender equality, yet women in the archipelago continue to face steep economic barriers and persistent safety concerns in public spaces.<\/p>\n
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According to a new Afrobarometer report, an overwhelming 92% of citizens believe women should have equal opportunities to run for political office. That public consensus has already yielded visible results in governance, where recent quota laws helped propel female representation in the National Assembly to over 47%.<\/p>\n
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However, the survey highlights a sharp contrast between political progress and everyday economic reality. Working-age men remain far more likely to hold full-time employment than women, with citizens pointing to employer hiring preferences and a lack of flexible work options as primary obstacles to women entering the workforce. In lower-income households, nearly four in10 respondents noted that family members or spouses frequently discourage women from taking paid jobs.<\/p>\n
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Education and public safety also present serious challenges. Women in Cabo Verde trail men in secondary and higher education completion, while roughly a quarter of citizens reported that female students face ongoing harassment or demands for sexual favors from educators. Beyond the classroom, one-third of respondents said women frequently endure sexual harassment in public areas like streets, markets, and public transport.<\/p>\n
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Although Cabo Verde is often praised as a regional leader for its progressive legal protections, public trust in enforcement remains tested. According to the report, 81% of Cabo Verdeans believe the police and the judiciary must do significantly more to protect women and girls from harassment and discrimination, stressing the urgent need to bridge the gap between progressive national policy and daily life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelArfrica\/Afrobarometer–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22018,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-49097","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Report highlights sharp contrast between political equality and economic barriers in Cabo Verde","published_date":"2026-10-26 18:46:06","news_description":"Report highlights sharp contrast between political equality and economic barriers in Cabo Verde","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49099,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49097\/revisions\/49099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}