In the past, women were not considered in the society. Their roles in the family were to take care of the children, their husband, the house, and to prepare food for the family. Women were usually busy with their activities. They had to do all the things a woman must do. They worked 16 hours a day; that is why they were usually tired and did not find time to rest. Before our independence, women were not educated, but they went to the mahadra to learn the Koran. At that time, there were not women in the offices or even in schools as teachers. A very low number of women were in public services. Even one could count them. Women were only at home. Our ancestors said that women must stay at home taking care of children, and the husband must go to work in order to provide his family with material goods and food. This opinion is not nowadays valuable because now women want to work as men to participate in the family income. They rent a housekeeper to take care of the children, clean the house and prepare food. In other continents, like Europe and America, we can find men that stay at home, taking care of children and preparing food while the mother is at work. Maybe one day we can find that in Africa in general, in Mauritania in particular.
Today in Mauritania, women are in offices, they are teachers in schools and at the university, they are members of the government, they own properties, they are NGO leaders, and finally, they own all the beautiful cars. They really have all the things they hoped to have and freedom, too. Nowadays, Mauritanian women contribute in the development of the country. Women are comfortably placed in offices and other kinds of work, because they are usually hard workers and have more diplomas than men. Although women are nowadays considerable in public places, others are until now suffering from some things that the Mauritanian government did not solve.
Problems of women that are in villages are more important than those in the cities. The Mauritanian government is doing all its possibilities to help women. This will be a long and difficult job, but we think that one day Mauritanian women will be comfortable in its situation.
The aim of this work is to write our priority activities if we were the director of women's promotion in Mauritania. Like anyone who dreams one day to be a director, minister, or even president, we treat this topic because we have a dream to become one day a director. In this case, our first priority activity would be at the educational level, because education is one of the most interesting things that people should consider; after the sanitary level, then the social level
Education is very important. To put a child in school is the most precious present parents give to their child. So, we will first of all push parents to send their children to school, particularly girls, because the percentage of girls in full-time education in Africa is in general weak. Mauritania also has a weak percentage of girls in full-time education, but for many years we have noticed that we have an important percentage of children; and also girls schooling is very important in Mauritania. Our percentage of girls in full-time education is better than other African countries. We talk about the schooling of girls because these educated girls will be tomorrow women that will become directors, ministers, inspectors, women doctors and teachers. So, we will begin from the base to make our future plans. After, we should encourage educated girls who major in examinations classes, such as six years primary school, third year secondary school, bachelors, diplôme d'études universitaires générales (DEUG), and master's degree. We would like to give prizes to the three first girls of each of these classes. Educated girls should be encouraged to do better. Teaching populations to read and write should be a priority, too, because the major problem that women are confronted with contribute to the underdevelopment of the country. It's a matter of some structural problems, such as the illiteracy in female populations and women relegation at secondary importance. At first, we will suppose to have teacher training and then we scatter them in all the villages to help women to be able to count, calculate, write French and Arabic and speak and understand them. These teachers should teach these women so that they will be able to communicate with other people different from themselves or calculate because most women come to big cities to sell their goods after harvesting. But, also they should be able to understand a little in news because in general if illiterate women are near the screen or the radio, they usually ask educated people what the news said. So, if they understand, they can only ask educated people over explanation. Next, we would like to open schools that train girls who have not the chance to go to school or did not succeed in schools to learn kitchens, hairdressing, knitting, dressmaking, and dying. At the end of the training, these people will get certificates. This can be profitable for them if they really do their job. As basketball is the most famous sport in Mauritania, we will help these basketball players by multiplying competitions and encourage them by giving them sports clothes and socks and sport shoes; but also, other sports, too, like judo, karate, tennis, volleyball, handball, athleticism and gymnastics.
At the sanitary level, our priority activities will be very interesting. First, we will make women aware of some diseases, like AIDS, by organizing colloquiums, showing televised stage dramas and films on these diseases, to require girls and women to do their best to be protected. This sensitization is not only for women, but also for men. We will make them aware of some other diseases, like paludism (malaria), that threaten the majority of the population located in the south, for instance Guidimakha, Boghe, Kaedi, R'Kiz, Rosso, etc. Impregnate mosquito nets should be accessible to everyone. We will also fight against tuberculosis, which is an infectious disease that kills every year a great number of people. Next, we will also fight against malaria and diarrhea, too. Both of these diseases threaten lots of children and babies. We will not forget again yellow fever and polio. Everyone should be vaccinated to avoid these diseases. We want to fight against all these diseases and maybe others, too, because usually if the children are sick it is the mother that will take care of them or the father sometimes. So here, the mother will be very tired and busy and also won't have time to rest. Some women said that if your child is sick, you will also look sick because you will not be happy. Also, women should be sensitized to family planning. This plays an important role in our society. It makes women feel healthier. More maternity hospitals will be created and we will search for talented nurses. Women should be encouraged to give blood in hospitals to save other people like themselves. Giving blood to people who are sick is the most precious charity a person must do. Most of the people are dying because of insufficient blood in hospitals. And also, some doctors said that the number of women who come to give blood is very low.
At the social level, the equalities between men and women will be our first priority because men usually disapprove this ideology, but in fact nowadays maybe men approve of it or will approve of it because women are really doing their best to seem equal as men. They are doing all kinds of work, sports, they are members of the government and they own cars and houses, too. So, from this idea we can say that women are courageous and men should accept this idea. This usually treats women as weak persons and does not respect them. We will try to integrate women in all activities, even in the army, police force, and the national gendarmerie. We want women to show their capabilities and intelligence through work. Also, parents should put their daughter in school and later not accept the idea of leaving school if the girl decided it or the father or mother should not tell her to leave saying sometime that she is hopeless. Parents should let their daughters go to school until they are expelled. We will try to put in their minds to say that men and women are equal. An expelled girl can go and find an activity to do, but she should not stay at home without doing anything because if it is the case later, when she will get married, she will depend on her husbands and not participate in the family income. It is better in a family to have a mother and a father that work rather than a father who works. So, when we claim equalities between men and women, we can not pass without claiming women's freedom. Lots of women are not free today. They usually are dictated to by their husbands. Men should know that women should have their freedom. Sometimes women get lots of problems if they want to be a member of a group that pays one's subscription and every two weeks or a month, they make drawing lots. We want all women to accede to bank loans because some people said that women who keep money will not pay because their activities do not go well. We also would like to eliminate competition between women themselves. The consequences of this competition make the country underdeveloped. The access to women's training at the farming level is very important. They will have more ideas about harvesting or breading and also they will have more opportunities. We will also claim the protection of women by justice. This is an important idea that will satisfy women. But, one interesting thing that women would like to have done is water and electricity and maybe phones. This is very important either in villages or in cities so it will be included in our plan. We should not also forget to facilitate the means of transportation because after the harvest lots of women come to cities to sell their goods. If there is not a road or if roads are bad, they could not sell their goods. They will be in a bad situation.
Finally, through this essay one can consider that we would like really to help women of our country because they are suffering and lots of them cannot express their feelings. All the priorities we decided to do one day if we were appointed director of women's promotion is to give to women better conditions of life.