Africa is rising, remove barriers and biases to women’s progress

The March 8 International Women’s Day fête was framed by the “Africa rising” narrative – itself a celebration of the steady and strong economic performance across the continent over the 2000-2017 period.

Africa’s millennial challenge is to ensure that its rise does not leave its womenfolk behind.

Expectedly, the “Africa rising” narrative has its naysayers. But concrete achievements are drowning old-era Afro-pessimism.

TERRORISM

In 2015, the World Bank reported that six of the world’s fastest growing economies were in Africa.

Despite sporadic acts of terrorism, the continent is beginning to enjoy the dividends of unprecedented peace after guns have fallen silent in many countries.

The continent’s focus now is on building infrastructure, developing its natural resources, boosting trade, attracting foreign investments and industrialising.

The heroes of the Africa rising story are young men and women, the bulk of a fast-growing population now powering the continent’s economic boom.

POVERTY

African men and women are also reaping the benefits of a more egalitarian world economic order.

With the rise of China and other new economic giants in the Global South over the last 30 years, worldwide absolute poverty has fallen sharply from about 40 per cent to under 20 per cent.

Africa’s absolute poverty levels have fallen from 56 per cent in 1990 to 43 per cent in 2012, though women continue to bear the brunt of extreme poverty.

Africa is still a highly unequal continent in income and gender terms.

BILLIONAIRES

Seven of the 10 most unequal countries in the world are in Africa. Women’s progress is hampered by inequalities, barriers, biases and stereotypes.

Africa’s newly created wealth is not trickling down to women. According to Forbes magazine, only two of Africa’s 24 billionaires are women! Out of 54 African countries, only two have been led by women — Malawi and Liberia.

Worse still, humanity is fast regressing from achieving a more gender equal world.

We live in a world where the global gender gap is widening again for the first time in a decade.

SILVER BULLET

Men’s earnings globally are rising faster than women’s, making achieving the feat of gender parity a whistling in the wind.

A 2016 report by the American Association of University Women, Barriers and Biases: The Status of Women in Leadership rightly concluded that lack of women in leadership roles has continued to undermine their progress in the workplace.

Educating the girl is part of the equation, but it is hardly the proverbial silver bullet. A report by the Centre for American Progress, Women’s Leadership Gap, aptly noted that although women earn almost 60 per cent of undergraduate degrees and 60 per cent of all master’s degrees in the US, they comprise only 25 per cent of executive and senior-level officials and managers, hold 20 per cent of board seats and only six per cent are chief executives.

CLOSING GAP

The 2017 Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum concluded, rather forlornly, that at the current rate of regression, the world might take 217 years to reach gender parity.

Africa must work to reverse this regression. Progress towards parity with women, practically half of the continent’s total talent pool, will drive economic growth, wealth creation, poverty eradication and greater human freedom.

Closing women’s leadership gap will help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the world we want by 2030.

BIG FOUR

It will also help speed up the attainment of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and its First Ten Year Plan, the continent’s strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation over the next 50 years.

And in Kenya, stronger women leadership will help propel the “Big Four” agenda that President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled to catalyse socio-economic transformation — expansion of manufacturing; affordable housing; universal healthcare; and food security.

Manifestly, leaving women behind is proving to be very expensive.

MERITOCRACY

According to the UNDP’s Human Development Report (2016), gender gaps in areas such as labour markets, education and health cost Sub-Sahara on average $95 billion a year.

Laudably, Africa has made significant gains to enhance the role of its women in leadership.

The 2010 Constitution came as a bold attempt to balance between meritocracy and tokenism in considerably expanding the role and space of women in leadership and governance in devolved and national structures.

As a pioneering innovation in balancing between the democratic imperative of competitive elections and the need for affirmative action, the Constitution provided for an elected woman representative in the National Assembly from every county.

MINISTERS

A 50-50 rule has largely been observed by political parties in nominating candidates to the 12 special seats in the National Assembly, 20 in the Senate and 774 in county assemblies nationwide.

This new shift to meritocracy in women empowerment was evident from Mr Kenyatta’s recent appointment of six women to the cabinet and several others to senior positions.

Kenya’s female cabinet secretaries hold commanding perches traditionally reserved for males - Defence, Public Service, Foreign Affairs, Health, Education and Lands.

PUBLIC OFFICES

In their own right, Kenyan women are audaciously winning in straight fights for pivotal public offices previously monopolised by men.

In 2017, three women were competitively elected as Governors, three as Senators and many in historically marginalised areas.

The number of elected female MCAs has increased from 84 in 2013 to 100 in 2017.

But the participation of women in electoral politics across Africa is still low.

TWO THIRDS

A rare exception is Rwanda, which boasts the world’s highest proportion of women representatives in parliament at 63.8 per cent.

In Kenya, achieving the two-thirds threshold set by the Constitution in elective positions remains a bridge too far. By 2017, 68 (19 per cent) women were elected to the National Assembly, 18 (27 per cent) to the Senate and 82 (six per cent) to the 47 county assemblies.

Parliament has twice declined to pass a bill that would introduce the two-thirds threshold, with legitimate fears that such a law would be tantamount to “giving women free seats”.