The campaign to popularize and advocate for the speedy and full implementation of the African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018-2028) at the national, regional, continental and global levels for women to realize, enjoy and benefit from their rights and expand the spaces for empowerment. The campaign envisions a continent in which women and girls, boys and men have equal voice, choice and control over their lives.

The campaign is also an opportunity to people across the continent and in the diaspora to engage and share success stories, testimonials or best practices on what has worked and projects that are advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. Such contributions can be shared as an article or video and all materials will be vetted to establish suitability for posting on AU platforms.

“What African Women Want” campaign advocates for, among others;

• A conceptual shift from the practical to the strategic needs of women; a Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment and Women’s Rights framework.
• Ending child marriages, gender violence and harmful traditional practices.
• Eradicating preventable maternal mortality, HIV and AIDS and ensuring affordable, accessible, youth friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights services.
• Ensuring women’s equal access to productive resources, including mining, land, credit, and ICTs, and training in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects.
• Guaranteeing equal pay for work of equal value; recognising and rewarding the unpaid work of women.
• Enhancing women’s effective participation in decision-making in and through public and private institutions, the media and new media.
• Engaging men, boys and the youth in the struggle for gender equality.
• Building strong Gender Management Systems including Gender Responsive Budgeting at all levels.

A key motivation for the African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018-2028) is the need to make gender visible in all areas of endeavour. Gender blind policies, laws and strategies ignore the systemic formal and informal factors that perpetuate gender inequalities. Gender neutral policies, laws and strategies assume that “people” refer to all people - women and men, boys and girls. This is a reasonable assumption, but in reality could lead to a perpetuation of the status quo in the absence of deliberate measures to ensure the views and needs of women, men, boys and girls are incorporated into planning. All of the aspirations of Agenda 2063, except for Goal 17, are gender neutral. By highlighting the gender dimensions, this strategy aims to ensure that gender is given visibility in all the aspirations and goals of Agenda 2063.

Africa has progressive normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality in social, economic and political affairs. Through years of activism and legal reforms, many countries are seeing progress in terms of women’s rights and status in societies. However, the continent is far behind from living up to the standards of our legal frameworks. Women and girls’ potential has not been fully utilized in various sectors, among others because it is hampered by underlying structural inequalities that perpetuate harmful cultural practices, negative social norms and lack of bodily autonomy resulting in the sidelining of women.

Through its legal and binding treaties such as the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights and its Protocol on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol), the African Union has made gender equality and women’s empowerment one of its priorities. The treaties have translated into political commitments at the level of Heads of State and Government, through the adoption of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa; the AU Gender Policy; and the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 2018-2028.

Women making up about 50 per cent of the African population, they remain largely underrepresented in leadership roles across financial, investment and entrepreneurial markets. As a result of these longstanding gender gaps, economic literature shows that the continent loses over 20 per cent of its GDP every year. Notwithstanding the various challenges, history proves that African women have been the backbone of the continent and continue to be so. Women’s contribution to our economies is evident in agriculture, environment, climate change entrepreneurship, governance, ICT, health, arts, science and many other fields. African women’s contribution is not documented enough because history has been told by men and has little reference on women’s legacy. There are many unsung heroines who are making a difference in their fields at grassroots level, in their communities, and through years of struggle while few have gotten the space in public life including in politics and governance.

On the 26th of February 2021, African Union Ministers in charge of Gender and Women’s Affairs, adopted the Common African Position (CAP) that seeks to advance women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life as well as the elimination of violence for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Africa. The consensus was part of the strategy to ensure the continent and aspirations of African women and girls are well articulated at the global discourse at the United Nations 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) to be held from 15 to 26 March 2021.

The CAP built on existing commitments at the international and regional levels, in particular Africa’s Agenda 2063; the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), the Programme for Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (PAICPD); Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SDGs) as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) and the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. It also restates the responsibility by governments to develop national policies and priorities in accordance with their international and regional obligations and commitments to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women.

Among the initiatives in place to support women in leadership positions, is the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) is a women’s led movement, launched in 2017 with the support of the African Union Commission and the United Nations, through the Office of the AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security and UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany, to enhance the leadership of women in the transformation of Africa with a focus on peace, security, governance and sustainable development.

In leadership positions, for instance, according to the first Women's Political Participation (WPP) Africa Barometer 2021, women constitute 24% of the 12,113 parliamentarians in Africa - 25% in the lower houses, and 20% in the upper houses of parliament. While local government is often hailed as a training ground for women in politics, women constitute a mere 21% of councilors in the 19 countries for which complete data could be obtained.

The #WhatAfricanWomenWant Campaign, makes recogition of the continuous struggle for women across the African continent spanning several centuries, in the pursuit of parity and equal representation of women in leadership position. In recent years, progress has been recorded as African governments, public and private institutions implement gender-responsive actions and as African women and girls through resilience and commitment, advance their quest to be break the barriers and glass ceiling.

1. Inadequately resourced gender structures.

Budgetary policies to affect men and women differently due to the various role and capacities each has in the society. It is therefore important that relevant stakeholders adopt the Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) by integrating gender perspectives into all steps of the budget process, including but not limited to, planning, drafting, implementing and evaluating, to ensure that budget policies take into consideration the gender issues in the society. Gender-Responsive Budget is a strategic approach to the assessment of the role of budgets in promoting gender equality and to bridge persistent inequalities between women and men, and facilitate development by integrating gender issues into macroeconomic policy and budgets. (ILO, 2006).

The African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018-2028) advocates for capacity building for GRB at regional and national level as well as undertake a gender budget audit of the African Union expenditure with a view to enhancing GRB within the organisation. This would enable the WGYD to cost and advocate for resources in the first three categories on Gender Management System, Employment Equity and Targeted Gender Interventions. Costing of the processes related to the strategy and the Gender Management System and Employment Equity within the African Union form part of the action plan.

According to UNESCO (2010), Gender Responsive Budgeting is generally important for the following reasons:

• GRB creates understanding and illustrates the existence of inequality in budgetary impacts between men and women.
• It increases accountability and accelerates the implementation of commitments to gender equality and human rights.
• It increases the efficiency of government budgets by allowing better informed financial resource allocations. If gender inequalities in budgetary impacts are not recognized, this could lead to losses in terms of productivity, quality of the labour force, economic growth, and health.
• GRB increases the effectiveness of both policies and programmes by assessing whether the stated objectives are achieved.
• GRB leads to transparency, accountability, predictability and participation in budget making.

Patriarchal Norms

Across the globe, patriarchal social norms (values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and practices) condone and perpetuate unequal power relations between women and men; undermining women’s economic, social, legal and political rights; denying them voice, choice and control over their bodies; lives and livelihoods. Reinforced in formal and informal ways, gender inequality begins in the home; is perpetuated by the family; schools; work place; community, custom, culture, religion and tradition as well structures within society more broadly–the media, new media, popular culture, advertising, laws, law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and others.

While society generally identifies other forms of inequality, gender inequality is so normalised that it often goes unnoticed, including by women who have been socialised to accept their inferior status. Gender inequality follows the life cycle of most women from cradle to grave. Despite changes in laws and Constitutions, many women remain minors all their lives – under their fathers, husbands, even sons, and as widows subject to male relatives. Gender inequality is a violation of human rights that for the most part goes unnoticed because it is so normalised.

In most African societies men enjoy the benefits of male privilege but they also share with women experiences of disenfranchisement, indignity and subordination as a result of diverse and persistent political, social and economic oppressions. Gender analysis of African masculinities exposes the myth of a singular African masculinity. Africa’s colonial past, patriarchal cultural structures and a variety of religious and knowledge systems has created masculine identities that may seem strong but can also be limiting for men. In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, Cairo) affirmed the importance of involving men in improving sexual and reproductive health, and emphasised the need to increase men’s involvement in the care of children. The 48th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2004 recognised that men and boys can and do make contributions to achieve gender equality. Dismantling patriarchy is no longer seen by all men as a win-lose proposition. They look to the history and experience of the feminist and women’s movement to inspire them in their own struggles.

Women's Political Participation in Africa key indicators 2021. Source,

Poverty.

Far too many African women are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. In order to break the cycle of poverty, hunger and exclusion, several priority and foundational areas of human development need to be finished. They include women’s sexual and reproductive health, jobs, education, food security and nutrition. Africa and the world have committed to leaving “no one behind and achieving zero hunger” between 2030 and 2063. These unresolved issues must therefore be brought to closure to deflect risks of reversing the gains and harnessing the demographic dividends. Women are asking for solutions which not only increase their productivity but create wealth and enable them engage more actively in citizenry. Agenda 2063 is designed to respond to such calls for action. It has set ambitious targets and defined innovative strategies to maximize the benefits of development, remove major hurdles to integration and endow the continent with essential support infrastructure. At the same time, Africa’s population landscape is rapidly changing. The youth population is the largest in the world and set to double by 2040. There is also growing pressure from the realities on an ageing population and lifestyle induced diseases. These pressures and realities require that the GEWE is broadened and speaks to the needs of a multi-faceted landscape.

Gendered economies.

In most of the countries in the continent, women constitute the highest proportion of the unemployed, while those employed are concentrated in low paying positions. Most women work in the informal sector; in casual, part-time and non-permanent jobs. Women in Africa remain the majority of the poor, the dispossessed, the landless, the unemployed, those working in the informal sector, and those shouldering the burden of care, especially where war, hunger and disease have weakened state capacity and responses. On the other hand, African women have shown tremendous resilience; they run their own businesses that need to be recognised and taken to scale. Women’s and girls’ carry an unequal share of Unpaid Care and Domestic work (UCDW); this poses a serious constraint to their empowerment. On average, women spend twice as much time as men on domestic work, which includes child and elderly care, domestic work, and fetching water and wood.

Violence Against Women and Girls

High levels of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) are at odds with the Agenda 2063 vision of “human security and a sharp reduction in violent crime.” Women in Africa continue to experience intimate partner violence (physical and/or sexual) or non-partner sexual violence or both, the highest prevalence in the world. VAWG has important public health dimensions because of the mental and physical consequences, and the public health sector provides a key entry point for survivors.

Women in conflict areas are especially at risk of displacement, violence and rape. New forms of gender violence, such as trafficking, are also on the rise. Demographic health surveys show how Violence Against Women and Girls has become normalised in many countries. For example, many women agree that domestic violence is justified on certain grounds. In 2016, In Guinea and Mali, more than 75% of women report acceptance of wife beating as a normal practise. Change of attitudes remains key in eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls yet programmes tend to be reactive rather than preventive.

Harmful practices.

Harmful practices such as cultural practices which affect the status, dignity and health of women and which often constitute violence against women include virginity tests, son preference, early marriage, and harmful widowhood practices like forcing a widow to marry her brother in law. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced among certain communities. By 2050, nearly 1 in 3 births worldwide will occur in many countries in Africa where FGM is concentrated, and nearly 500 million more girls and women will be living in these countries than there are today.

Key facts from on FGM (WHO 2020)

• Female genital mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
• The practice has no health benefits for girls and women.
• FGM can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.
• More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGM is concentrated.
• FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15.
• FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
• Treatment of health complications of FGM in 27 high prevalence countries costs 1.4 billion USD per year.

Dual legal systems.

Dual legal systems accord women some rights through general law and withhold others on the basis of traditional, customary and some religious beliefs and practices, denying women their fundamental rights .These contradictions affect women’s access to property, in particular land and housing as well as the domestic sphere of marriage, divorce and child custody. The systems also affect inheritance in cases of divorce or spousal death. Promoting gender equality in legislative frameworks, practices and attitudes fosters inclusive and dynamic economies, particularly important for the continent’s development ambitions.

Access to justice.

Agenda 2063 sets out a vision for “timely access to independent courts and judiciary that deliver justice without fear or favour.” Most of the laws protecting women’s rights lack proper enforcement due to lack of resources, political will, commitment and accountability. Additionally, legislative reforms need to be underpinned by budgetary allocations and monitoring and evaluation frameworks to ensure implementation. Realisation of women’s rights is hampered by the high cost of legal fees for cases such as divorce, inheritance, domestic violence and claiming child maintenance. Free legal aid to women is rare, provided mainly by civil society organisations.

Weak Political Will & Accountability

There is now widespread African and global consensus that gender inequality is a violation of human rights, undermines development and progress. The slow Ratification, domestication and implementation of the treaties and policies continue to deny women and girls comprehensive rights including the right to partake in political processes, social and political equality with men, reproductive health and rights, and an end to harmful practices. The domestication and enforcement of the provisions of the various national, regional and continental policies remain a key priority.

Gender gaps, biases and stereotypes in education.

There is a gender gap in the performance of girls and boys at secondary school in most African countries due to the dual role of girls as learners and care givers. While women constitute the majority of teachers at primary school level, the gender balance shifts at secondary school level. Research shows teacher biases towards encouraging boys to participate and answer questions more than girls - especially in maths and science. Women and girls are scarce in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects at secondary and tertiary level.

Technology and E-inclusion

The gender gap in ICTs in Africa is 23%. Key factors include availability; affordability; culture and norms (e.g. boys prioritised for technology use at home, online gender-based violence, restrictions to movement and limitations on access to devices);capacity and skills; relevant content; participation in decision-making roles pertaining to the Internet and/or in the technology sector; relevant policies; and/or other systemic barriers. Advances in the functionality and accessibility of social media are providing new opportunities for women’s rights and equality movements to organise and campaign for change. However, more than 70% of people who have reported being abused on the Internet during the past decade have been women.

Traction is needed to move from commitments to action witnessed by those most affected by inequalities. The AU is endowed with some of the most progressive legal and policy frameworks in the world. The mapping exercise showed that and governments have made over one hundred commitments to attaining gender equality through regional, African and global commitments. But there is still a big gap between the commitments and the reality. While issues at hand are often very complex, a few simple steps can help catalyze greater motion.

1. Identify scalable and high impact programmes synergised and owned at regional and national levels. This strategy should serve to place a gender spotlight on all AU Member States and REC initiatives, and ensure that women, men, boys and girls benefit equally from these, especially high profile flagship projects.
2. Accelerate financing and institutional capacity building, including CSOs Building strong institutions (Goal 12 of Agenda 2063) is a key continental objective, and essential to this strategy given the relative weakness and marginalisation of gender-related institutions. The strategy also recognises the funding challenges faced by Gender Structures and programmes aimed at achieving gender equality at a time when their role is more critical than ever, and pledges to support efforts to strengthen these institutions.
3. Identify strategic partnerships and synergies, including strengthening relationships with international cooperating partners, the private sector, media, civil society, faith based and cultural organisations, and leveraging off existing networks and programmes in support of the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
4. Undertake innovative campaigns and continuous dialogues to transform social norms Given that patriarchy is at the heart of gender inequality, a key focus in the coming period should be changing social norms.
5. Remove the contradiction between statutory provisions and practices that undermine these gender equality and women’s rights. The dual legal system in most countries result in rights being given with one hand, and taken away with another.
6. Enforce existing commitments to gender equality. In this era of moving from commitments to action, enforcement mechanisms should be invoked.
7. Mobilise women and men, boys and girls; enhance political and social accountability Citizen mobilisation is at the heart of Agenda 2063. Women in the diaspora, consulted in this strategy, are an integral part of this strategy.
8. Adopt and advocate for temporary special measures to level the playing field in social, political and economic spheres. Overwhelming evidence on women’s political participation shows that this is the only way to change the status quo. Such efforts now need to move into other spheres, such as economic and social.
9. Evidence-based decision-making. Strong monitoring, reporting and accountability systems.
10. Document and share what works; find new and innovative ways of measuring success and affirming good practice. Invest in evidence- based research to ground decisions on how these services/programmes should look if they are to meet the practical and strategic needs of women and men, girls and boys.

Youth. The 28th African Union Summit declared “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth” as its theme. Countries with the greatest demographic opportunity for development are those entering a period in which the working-age population has good health, quality education, decent employment and a lower proportion of young dependents.

Women living in rural areas play a key role in supporting their households and communities in achieving food and nutrition security, generating income, and improving rural livelihoods and overall well-being. They contribute to agriculture and rural enterprises and fuel local and global economies. Yet, every day, rural women lack access to productive resources (land, credit, and agricultural extension services), education and health. Their rights are often undermined by customary practices that go unchecked by formal structures.

Women living with disabilities. A Baseline survey found that women & girls with disabilities experience various abuses & violations and many other cases that go unreported. Among reasons cited are that People with Disabilities (PWDs) do not know where to report Exploitation, Violations & Abuses (EVA).

Migrant women. Of the 150 million migrants in the world, one third are Africans; 50% of the internally displaced persons and 28% of the worlds’ refugees are in Africa. Recent years have witnessed larger numbers of women on the roads of migration, often forced to leave their homes due to conflict or economic circumstances. Trafficking of women and girls within and out of Africa, often under the guise of domestic work opportunities, is on the rise. These women and girls are especially vulnerable to the abuse of their rights with little legal protection.

Men and boys. The 48th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2004 recognised that men and boys can and do make contributions to achieve gender equality. Dismantling patriarchy is no longer seen by all men as a win-lose proposition. They look to the history and experience of the women’s movement to inspire them in their own struggles. Male leaders on the continent, recognizing the disproportionate level of male responsibility for Violence Against Women and Girls, are mobilizing action on Positive Masculinity, to play a key role in supporting and driving efforts towards the eradication of VAWG on the continent. Learn more about the call for #PositiveMasculinity here.

• AU Strategy for Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment 2018-2028
• Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa
• The Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa
• 2010-2020 African Women’s Decade
• Guidelines for state reporting under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa
• AU Guidelines on Gender Responsive Responses to COVID-19
• Declaration: African Union Civil Society Organisations Consultation Meeting on Accelerating Actions Against the Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
• The African Network of Women in Infrastructure (ANWIN)
• Positive Masculinity.
• Documenting Stories and Contributions of African Female Leaders
• She Stands for Peace book
• African Women in Arts, Culture and Heritage.
• Gender Blog.
• Decade of Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion.

Click here to access the digital posters for “What African Women Want Campaign Materials” Campaign. Share them and spread the word using hashtag #WhatAfricanWomenWant.