Source: The Eagle Online
Considering Africa’s strong cultural and belief system, which downplays the position of women in social, political and economic development and the current situation, in the last one decade, significant progress has been recorded in creating equal opportunities for female gender in Africa. In communities across Africa, the contribution of women to economic development and political transformation is bogus and indispensable.

In Africa’s rural communities, women are actively involved in farming and food processing, in urban settlements across the continent, they are gainful entrepreneurs-trading in small and large scales, their savings culture in cooperative societies, micro-finance and commercial banks is a major “sustainer” of the economy. More also, during electioneering processes, their passion and ingenuity play key role in persuading voters while their chunk of votes is a major determinant of whoever emerges as winner- this perhaps explains the reason why all political aspirants engage various women associations, groups, cliques, etc during campaigns.

Gender disparity in Africa is essentially rooted in cultural and religious values; the average African cultural and belief system saddle the female gender with responsibilities such as cleaning of the house, fetching water, taking care of children and other domestic chores. Historically, the cultures do not allow women pursue leadership positions in the society or own a business. However, things are fast changing with a strong awakening about the place of the female gender in the society, empirical evidences support this.

In more than ten African nations, women hold close to one-third of the seats in parliament, more than Europe. Gender policies from the United Nations, African Union, and some African countries have enhanced closing gender gap. Though some countries in Africa are resilient in making and implementing policies that promote gender equality, such as the Gender Equality Bill which was voted down by the Nigerian Senate; however tough, women in Africa today now occupy key positions in the economy, politics, education to mention a few.

The successes recorded so far in Africa cannot be disconnected from:

i. Advocacy and funding from the international community and foreign organizations
ii. Inspiring stories of females in other continents shared on the media
iii. Gender oriented treaties and policies.

Efforts highlighted above have tremendously transformed the lives of women in Africa. In retrospect, assessing the development that followed the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, in 1995, women in Africa have made salient progress in science, education, politics, health, military e.t.c. By 2015, 51 of the 53 African Union member nations had ratified the UN convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In 2003 five women and five men were elected as AU commissioners.

The following year, Gertrude Mongella was chosen to head the AU’s Pan-African Parliament, where women make up 25 per cent of members. Another AU body, the African Peer Review Mechanism, which oversees standards for good governance, is led by Marie-Angélique Savané, in 2006 Ellen Sirleaf Johnson emerged the President of Liberia, Okonjo Ngozi Iweala served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister under two different administrations, in May 2010, Cecilia Akintomide became Vice President and Secretary General of African Development Bank, Dora Akunyili as Director General of Nigeria’s Food and Drug Agency led an impacting reformation in Food and Drug in Nigeria, Arunma Oteh emerged Treasurer and Vice President at the World Bank. These are few among several other examples that show that Africa is overcoming obstacles of gender disparity.

In spite of the significant and traceable successes recorded in bridging gender gap in Africa, the female gender is still confronted with some major challenges. These challenges come with responsibilities for international organizations and other play-makers to intensify efforts in closing gender gap in Africa. The Copenhagen announcement (May 2016) of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation charts a bright course in closing gender gaps. Melinda Gates in her keynote speech at the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen announced that Gates Foundation will commit $80 million over the next three years to close gender data gaps and help accelerate progress for women and girls around the world. Interestingly, along with Gates Foundation’s commitment, partners across governments, non-profits and philanthropic organizations have also agreed upon a new statement of principle regarding gender data and its importance in accelerating development outcomes.

Gates Foundation’s $80 million commitment will support efforts that:

i. Fill critical gender gaps
ii. Improve the accuracy and reliability of data
iii. Support civil society in holding leaders to account
iv. Amplify and strengthen organizations and platforms

Then, what’s in it for Africa?

Many African countries are faced with challenges that make it very difficult to attain gender equality. North African countries feature heavily at the bottom of Gender Gap Index in 2015, recording one the greatest political, social and economic difference between men and women. Rwanda is the only African country among the top ten nations that recognizes equal rights for men and women in leadership, education, health, family and norms. Many African countries are somewhere below the list.

Since Gates Foundation has been committed to strengthening development in Africa through health, agriculture and financial services for the poor, apparently, Africa will not be left out in the new commitment on gender which will span for three years. The Gates Foundation’s commitment is a great window for government, agencies, partners, non-profits, civil society and various gender oriented platforms identify with. The commitment to collate gender data is very crucial in advancing and promoting the place of women in the society, African Union, African national governments among others must align, agree, ensure access and support the commitment to collect gender data. This offers Africa a huge opportunity to transform itself socially, economically and politically.

Government across Africa must create sustainable framework and standards that will ease the activities of the Gates Foundation and other big play-makers in closing the gender gap in Africa. If the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be achieved in Africa among others in 2030, then gender equality is an obligation; economic, political, educational and social opportunities must not be guided by gender identity. Thus, Africa must position itself to align with the big play-makers across the world in creating a continent with equal opportunities for male and female.