For an estimated 90 percent of women, including virtually all ethnic groups except the Bubi, tradition dictates that if a marriage is dissolved, the wife must return the dowry given her family by the bridegroom at the time of marriage, while the husband automatically receives custody of all children born after the marriage. The mother maintains custody of all children born prior to the marriage. Similarly, in the Fang, Ndowe, and Bubi cultures, primogeniture is practiced, and as women become members of their husband's family upon marriage, they usually are not accorded inheritance rights. According to the law, women have the right to buy and sell property and goods, but in practice the male-dominated society permits few women access to sufficient funds to engage in more than petty trading or to purchase real property beyond a garden plot or modest home. The Constitution provides for equal rights, but women in Equatorial Guinea are confined by custom to traditional roles, particularly in agriculture.
Women also experience limited educational opportunity.
However, women's participation in public and political life is increasing. Extreme poverty, experienced by 65 per cent of the population gives little or no access to any kind of medical services. Teresa Efua Asangono, Minister for Women s Integration and Social Affairs of Equatorial Guinea stated on the 8 June this year, that the problems of women in the country are connected with the paternal society. Equatorial Guinea does not have institutionalized discrimination, but suffers from attitudinal discrimination. Therefore, the Government has introduced a new way of socializing boys and girls and has reinforced policies of equal access for women to basic social services, education and health, equal pay for equal work, equal protection under the law, and equal rights in every area of public life.