On this momentous event of Worldwide Girls’s Day 2025, the African Fee on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), by way of its Particular Rapporteur on the Rights of Girls in Africa (SRRWA), stands at a pivotal juncture within the world pursuit of gender equality and the empowerment of girls and ladies. This 12 months’s theme, “For ALL Girls and Ladies: Rights. Equality. Empowerment,” resonates deeply as we commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Motion. This landmark framework has formed the worldwide agenda for ladies’s rights and gender equality.
The Beijing Declaration, adopted in 1995, was a clarion name to dismantle systemic obstacles, problem discriminatory norms, and make sure the full participation of girls in all spheres of life. Three a long time later, we have a good time progress, notably in Africa, the place ladies have damaged obstacles in politics, training, entrepreneurship, and management. But, we should additionally confront the stark realities that persist: gender-based violence, unequal entry to training and healthcare, financial disparities, and the underrepresentation of girls in decision-making areas.
Africa has witnessed outstanding strides in advancing the rights and empowerment of girls and ladies, demonstrating the continent’s resilience and dedication to gender equality. A number of the most notable tendencies embody:
Elevated Political Illustration: Since adopting the Beijing Declaration in 1995, quite a few African States have made outstanding strides in advancing ladies’s political participation. Rwanda leads globally, with ladies occupying over 60% of parliamentary seats. Nations reminiscent of South Africa, Namibia, and Senegal have additionally achieved important progress in selling gender-balanced illustration. Moreover, the appointment of feminine Heads of State throughout the continent has marked a transformative shift in political management. Notable examples embody Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa’s first elected feminine president; Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia, who serves because the nation’s first feminine president; and Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, who grew to become the nation’s first feminine Head of State. Different inspiring leaders embody Catherine Samba-Panza of the Central African Republic, interim president, and Ameenah Gurib-Fakim of Mauritius, the nation’s first feminine president. Most not too long ago, Namibia appointed its first feminine Head of State, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, additional underscoring the rising momentum towards gender equality in African politics.
Developments in Training: The gender hole in major and secondary training is narrowing throughout the continent. Nations like Kenya, Ghana, and Botswana have achieved close to parity in class enrolment, empowering ladies with the instruments to construct brighter futures.
Girls’s Financial Empowerment: African ladies are more and more breaking obstacles in entrepreneurship and management. Initiatives such because the African Girls’s Improvement Fund and the African Union’s Girls in Enterprise program have supported women-led companies, fostering financial progress and innovation.
Authorized Reforms: Many African nations have enacted progressive legal guidelines to guard ladies’s rights, together with legal guidelines in opposition to gender-based violence, little one marriage, and office discrimination. Nations like Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Gambia, and Mali have raised the authorized age of marriage to 18, safeguarding ladies from early marriages.
Grassroots Actions: Girls-led actions and organizations are driving change on the neighborhood stage. From the #MeToo motion in Nigeria to the battle in opposition to gender-based violence in South Africa, African ladies are elevating their voices and demanding accountability.
Regardless of these optimistic tendencies, important challenges stay, hindering the total realization of gender equality and ladies’s empowerment in Africa, together with:
Gender-Based mostly Violence (GBV) and Dangerous Conventional Practices: Regardless of the institution of progressive authorized frameworks, gender-based violence, and dangerous conventional practices proceed to plague societies, pushed by deeply entrenched cultural norms, plural authorized methods, and a scarcity of political will to implement progressive legal guidelines. Baby marriage stays widespread, perpetuating cycles of inequality and disempowerment. Equally, GBV persists at alarming charges, manifesting in home violence, sexual assault, and dangerous practices reminiscent of feminine genital mutilation (FGM). These challenges spotlight the pressing want for stronger implementation of current legal guidelines and a transformative shift in societal attitudes to eradicate these violations and shield the rights and dignity of girls and ladies.
Humanitarian crises, reminiscent of local weather change and conflicts, have additional exacerbated these challenges, highlighting the pressing want for stronger protections and assist methods.
Financial Inequality: Girls proceed to face obstacles to financial participation, together with restricted entry to land, credit score, and know-how. The casual sector, the place many African ladies work, typically lacks social protections and truthful wages.
Well being Disparities: Maternal mortality charges stay unacceptably excessive in some areas, and entry to sexual and reproductive well being companies is usually restricted. Teenage being pregnant and HIV/AIDS disproportionately have an effect on ladies and ladies.
Underrepresentation in Management: Whereas progress has been made, ladies stay underrepresented in political and company management roles. Cultural and institutional obstacles typically stop ladies from ascending to decision-making positions.
Battle and Displacement: Girls and ladies in conflict-affected areas face heightened dangers of violence, exploitation, and displacement. The continued crises in elements of the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and the Nice Lakes area underscore the necessity for gender-sensitive peacebuilding and humanitarian responses.
Intersectional Discrimination: Marginalized teams of girls, together with these with disabilities, older ladies, and rural ladies, face compounded discrimination and exclusion from alternatives.
To construct on the progress and deal with persistent challenges, the ACHPR urges African governments, civil society, the personal sector, and worldwide companions to speed up the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Motion and Agenda 2063. This may be achieved by way of aligning nationwide insurance policies with these frameworks and guaranteeing gender equality is mainstreamed throughout all sectors. The ACHPR requires the strengthening of authorized frameworks, enhanced entry to justice for survivors, and elevated funding in prevention applications to eradicate gender-based violence in all its types.
It additional emphasizes the necessity to increase ladies entrepreneurs’ entry to finance, land, and know-how and guarantee equal pay for equal work to shut the gender wage hole. Affirmative motion measures, reminiscent of quotas, needs to be applied to extend the illustration of girls in political and management roles in any respect ranges. The ACHPR additionally urges prioritizing ladies’ training, notably in STEM fields, and guaranteeing common entry to sexual and reproductive well being companies. Lastly, the ACHPR requires the popularity and addressing of the distinctive challenges confronted by marginalized teams of girls, together with these with disabilities, rural ladies, and refugees.
As we have a good time the resilience and achievements of African ladies and ladies, allow us to keep in mind that the battle for gender equality is much from over. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Motion, alongside Agenda 2063, present a roadmap to a future the place each girl and lady can dwell with dignity, freedom, and alternative. On this Worldwide Girls’s Day, allow us to recommit to the rules of rights, equality, and empowerment—not only for some, however for ALL ladies and ladies.
Honourable Commissioner Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-NjieSpecial Rapporteur on the Rights of Girls in Africa of the ACHPR and Vice-Chairperson of the ACHPR
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Fee on Human and Individuals’s Rights (ACHPR).
