The multiple indicator cluster survey carried out in 2014 in Cameroon and just published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) is shaking the preconception according to which women do not contribute to the household expenses. And that they are more “consumers” than “contributors” with regards to those household bills.

This INS study shows that in general “51% of women aged between 15 and 49 years contribute to funding household expenditure, either partially or fully”. The proportion of women who take charge of all or part of the household expenses gradually decreases from the poorest households to the richest ones, according to the same study. Indeed, INS indicates, “the women living in the poorest households contribute in a relatively higher number (55%) to the household expenses compared to the ones living in the richest households (45%)”.

For the women who partially helped with the household expenses, the items they financed the most are: food and drinks (71%), clothing (54%) and household equipment (40%).

Depending on the area where they live, this figure is relatively higher in rural area (54%) than in the urban environment (47%). The analysis of the participation of women to the financing of the household expenses depending on their location shows that women in the North-West (67%) and South-West (64%) regions contributed relatively more than those from the other regions. However, the lowest percentages are observed in the Adamaoua (38%) and Extreme North (41%) regions. “These differences could eventually be explained by several cultural and traditional factors”, INS analyses.

Sylvain Andzongo