In 2024 the population of Africa was estimated to be 1,515 million of whom around 264 million are women (female, over 14 years of age). The majority of African women are economically active, but they hold only 40% of jobs in the formal sector. Women are consequently the backbone of African agriculture, producing the majority of Africa’s food, and are thus a major driver of the continent’s economy.
Despite this, women working in agriculture suffer multiple disadvantages. Women are discriminated against over land ownership, access to credit and digital financing, and pay. They lack adequate political representation across the continent and so opportunities for collective upliftment and empowerment are scarce. A large part of the solution is to provide women with digital skills, and opportunities to take leadership roles both in and outside the agricultural sector. Considerable progress is being made in achieving these objectives.
Education
Women continue to suffer significant disadvantages in accessing education. In 2000, 93.4 million women in sub-Saharan Africa were illiterate and today over half of the 100 million children not in school are girls. Even so, their situation is improving in some respects.
UNESCO data shows that the proportion of African girls who complete upper secondary education increased from 27% in 2015 to 30% in 2022. However, this is not translated into the completion of tertiary education. Of the 20 countries worldwide having the lowest proportion of women with at least a bachelor’s degree, 15 are in sub-Saharan Africa. In Niger, for example, only 0.5% of women have a degree. In Sierra Leone the figure is 0.7% and in Tanzania it is 1.5%.
One area of brightness relates to STEM graduates. In Africa 47% of all STEM graduates are women, according to a recent McKinsey study. And in sub-Saharan Africa 30% of roles in STEM sectors are held by women. However, women hold less than 20% of the top tech roles in Africa as a whole. Translating degrees into workplace roles remains a considerable problem.
Leadership
According to data collected by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the proportion of women in Sub-Saharan Africa who are employed in management positions has increased from 19.3% to 30% over the past 20 years. This is a significant advance towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Gender Equality).
Continuing a slow upward trend, in 2020 women held one quarter of seats in national parliaments. Despite this progress disparities between countries remain great. In Nigeria women still hold just 3.4% of seats, but in Rwanda the figure is 61.2%. However, in only 12 African countries are more than 30% of seats held by women.
Recent examples of women achieving significant leadership roles in the political sphere are Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Director-General of the World Trade Organisation Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
African women are certainly making progress but they continue to experience discrimination in multiple contexts, Even so, the overall trend is upwards – even If positive change is coming very slowly.
By Godfrey Selbar