Achieving Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from the Experience of Selected Countries

Abstract

Despite the progress that has been made towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), evidence shows that gender disparities remain persistent in most countries. The aim of the article is to identify lessons from the experiences of those countries which have made considerable progress in bridging the gender gap. More specifically, the article seeks to identify strategies that will enable SSA countries to achieve the gender equality goal in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Keywords

Gender equality gender inequality unequal power relations patriarchy hierarchy gender mainstreaming

Introduction

Current evidence shows that despite many international conventions and agreements on gender equality and women’s empowerment, many countries around the globe still experience wide gender disparities (e.g., see Schwab, 2018; and Human Development Reports published by and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 2009). The continued existence of gender inequality is reflected in women’s unequal access to economic and environmental resources, social, and legal discrimination against women and girls, women’s disproportionate share of unpaid work, and incidences of violence against women and girls. Furthermore, they face discrimination in workplaces in terms of their relative exclusion from leadership and management positions and the lower earnings as compared to their male counterparts (UNDP, 2014, p. 3).

According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (UN Women):

Based on data from 87 countries, 1 in 5 women and girls under the age of 50 will have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner within the last 12 months. Harmful practices, such as child marriage, steal the childhood of 15 million girls under age 18 every year. Women do 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. While families, societies and economies depend on this work, for women, it leads to lower earnings and less time to engage in non-work activities. (UN Women, 2018)

Furthermore, gender disparities retard the political, economic, social, and cultural advancement of women in society. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African Union (AU), African Development Bank (AfDB), and UNDP, (2015, p. 15) emphasize that “gender inequality therefore represents the archetypal inequality trap that reproduces further inequalities, with negative developmental consequences that continue to be experienced in the world to date.”

The net effects of gender inequality are the violation of the fundamental human rights of women and girls. It also hinders their progress and capability to take advantage of opportunities on an equal footing with men.

The UNDP (2014, p. 9) emphasizes that when such inequalities are addressed and policies are reshaped, women and girls can become catalytic agents of change and equal partners with men in the quest to promote growth that is inclusive, just, equitable, and sustainable. Thus, accelerating gender equality and women’s empowerment can provide a significant opportunity to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by generating sustained inclusive growth, creating jobs, alleviating poverty, and significantly reducing the cost of achieving the other SDGs goals.

To understand the full meaning of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, it is important to explain what SDG 5 is concerned about. Based on the presentation of the goal by the UN Women, Goal 5 is a call for countries to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Empowerment is to be achieved by addressing the critical areas in which women and girls are not empowered. Women are still largely excluded from power and decision-making, both within private and public spheres, in government, in business, in the community, and at household level. Unequal power relations between men and women often translate into violence and other abuses against women and girls. This limits their participation in society and makes them more vulnerable to trafficking and sexual exploitation. In many parts of the SSA, young women are forced into an early marriage and are, thereby, robbed of their childhood as well as opportunities for education and training. Harmful cultural practices which dehumanize and perpetuate the subordinate position of women in the household and in wider society, continue in many parts of SSA.

The SDG 5 seeks to address all the above challenges (Warren & Antoniades, 2016). First, it seeks to eliminate all harmful practices such as early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation. Second, it aims to redistribute fairly, the responsibilities for unpaid care work between men and women. This will allow women to have equal opportunities with men on issues such as labor force participation, participation in both formal and informal employment, taking part in leadership and management positions and in wider society. Third, empowerment of women and girls requires that they have universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and, that they have equal rights and access to economic resources, ownership and control of land, financial resources, and other resources. They should also have equal access to technology and learning opportunities.

The article aims to assess the progress on gender equality and women empowerment in SSA. Its main objective is to identify gender gaps and to recommend a range of strategies for fast tracking gender and women empowerment in SSA. The article argues that while considerable progress has been made at the policy and legislative levels, much more still needs to be done to achieve gender equality and women empowerment in SSA. The policy implications of the article are: the mainstreaming of gender dimensions in planning systems at both national and sub-national levels should be intensified, more resources should be allocated towards gender and women empowerment and strengthening of institutional and implementation gender mainstreaming capacities at national, sectoral, and local levels.

Conceptual and Methodological Approach of the Article

The point of departure of the article is that despite global and regional commitments to gender equality; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, various Security Council Resolutions on women, peace, and security and on sexual violence in armed conflict, and the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003) among others and attempts to mainstream gender dimensions in national development frameworks, gender inequality remains widespread in most SSA countries. For instance, the Africa Human Development Report 2016 indicates that African women on average achieve only 87 percent of the men’s human development levels. This discrepancy is mainly attributed to women having less command on economic resources as well as poorer education and health outcomes.

This article reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on gender inequalities. It uses empirical literature to illustrate the effects of gender disparities and draws on some countries’ experiences to show pathways to achieve gender equality and women empowerment in SSA.

Review of Theoretical Literature on Gender Disparities

There are diverse theoretical approaches to gender inequality and the underlying reasons why women are less empowered than men in the different spheres of political, economic, social, and cultural life. An understanding of these approaches contributes towards identification of possible critical entry points in the quest for policy and strategic interventions towards achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls (SDG 5) and specific targets on other SDGs that are linked to women’s right, gender equality, and women empowerment in particular SDGs (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 17) (Warren & Antoniades, 2016).

Peterson (2000) in Fry and O’Hogan (2000, p. 65) explains that while sex is a biologically natural dichotomy between male and female, gender is “a systematic social construction that dichotomizes identities, behaviours and expectations as masculine-feminine”. As a social construct, gender is not “given” but learned and, therefore, mutable. Most significantly, the authors argue that “gender is not simply a trait of individuals but a historically institutionalized, structural feature of social life.” Lorber (2010, p. 15) and Kennedy, Merz and Lorber (2000) articulate the concept more succinctly. Lorber explains that “through the social processes of gendering, gender divisions and their accompanying norms and role expectations are built into the major social institutions of society, such as the economy, the family, the state, culture, religion, and the law.” These processes create what she calls “the gendered social order.” This is a hierarchical order in which the male sex is “constructed” as superior to that of the female. Hierarchy gives birth to the unequal power relations whereby the “superior” sex is bestowed more power over the one deemed to be inferior and subordinate. The power transcends into the political, economic, social, and cultural arena. It is the unequal power relations that result from social constructions around the sexes that are the root causes of gender inequality. To use Lorber’s terminology, the “gender order” is sustained and perpetuated by social norms, beliefs, laws, customs, and policies. The gender inequality that characterizes a gender order that is based on male dominance privileges men over women in terms of access to productive resources and control of household income and wealth, better access to better employment opportunities, higher incomes, more leisure time because the responsibility of unpaid care work disproportionately falls on women. Gender inequality also marks the social relationship between boys and girls because of a social construction that considers boys to be superior to girls. Butler (1986) also explains gender as a social construction which subordinates women to men in all spheres of life. In SSA, many societies value the boy child more than the girl because the former will always remain with the parents to take care of them in old age, whereas a girl gets married and leaves home to join her spouse with his family.

The study by Gherardi and Poggio (2001, p. 245) extends the analysis of gender to business organizations. They argue that in the business context, gender asymmetry is maintained through “rules and rituals” or practices that are defined by what is expected of women who enter traditionally male territories. They also argue that gender is not a natural phenomenon but rather that it is “done,” meaning that it is socially defined by conscious actions and attitudes that characterize hegemonic masculinity. Gender inequality breeds gender discrimination. The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 1 defines it as:

Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on the basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. (United Nations, 1979)

Crenshaw (1991, pp. 1242–1244) advances intersectionality as a lens to analyze the subordination and oppression of women in society. Writing about African American experiences on gender, she argues that while women generally have been dominated by men because of the social construction which perceives them as superior to women, the character of that oppression was not uniform across race and class. She contends that because women are not a homogeneous category, their experience of oppression and subordination was different. As an example, she explains that the forms of oppression experienced by white middle-class women were different from those experienced by black, poor or women with disabilities. Thus, a conceptualization of gender inequality which was sorely based on sex, was a misrepresentation of historical experience at least in the context of America. Crenshaw then offers intersectionality as a multidimensional framework in which gender intersects with race, class, and other possible categories to produce forms of oppression, discrimination, subjugation, and marginalization, which are more complex and more pronounced in their nature and effect than those emanating from a purely binary conception of gender as being based on sex difference. Intersectionality is an important contribution to the understanding of gender inequality because its underlying tenet is the notion of multiple forms of subordination in society, thus emphasizing the need for a deeper understanding of the systems and processes that create gender inequality. Gender equality then is not only about equality between men and women but also with respect to human rights, equality before the law, equality of opportunities, and responsibilities.

Considering, Crenshaw’s intersectionality, such equality also applies to the social relationships between other categories of human relationships, which are also characterized by dominance of one category over another, whether by race, ethnicity or class, for example. Achieving gender equality therefore calls for transformation of these unequal gender relations which are constructed by culture, politics, ideologies and religion. Hillenbrand, Karim, Mohanraj and Wu (2015: 23–28) and Miller and Razawi (1995: 34–36 ) among others, propose gender transformative solutions that ensure equal access to assets and resources and also transformation of power relations between men and women in all dimensions of life. SDG 5 is a crystallization of multi-dimensional strategies that attempt to do just that.

Review of Empirical Literature on Gender Inequalities

Although SSA has made considerable progress towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, there is evidence to show that gender inequality is still persistent in most SSA countries. Data from the MDGs Report of 2015, UNDP Human Development Report 2016, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2017 report, attest to this. The UNECA, AU, AfDB and UNDP (2015, p. xiv and 16) conclude that SSA made considerable progress even though it did not meet all the targets of the MDGs. There was progress in terms of near universal primary school enrolments, an increase in enrolments at secondary and tertiary education. However, the enrolments of girls at secondary and tertiary levels was much lower than that of boys. Furthermore, completion rates were much lower for girls than boys and so were the transition rates between levels, that is, from primary to secondary and from secondary to tertiary. SSA has also made progress in improving maternal health, although only Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, and Rwanda have reduced their maternal mortality ratio by more than 75 percent between 1990 and 2013, hence, meeting MDG 5 (Improve maternal health). There is still a challenge however in that SSA remains the region with the highest maternal mortality ratio in relation to the rest of the world. With 289 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, this is higher than the global average of 210 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2013 (UNECA, AU, AfDB and UNDP, 2015, p. xv).

The Schwab (2017, p.17) also presents evidence on the performance of SSA. We chose to focus on a few countries to illustrate the point that gender inequality remains a challenge in SSA. Using the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), an aggregate of indicators which include economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival as well as political participation, the report shows that while SSA is making progress in closing the gender gap, there is a gender gap still to be closed in many countries.

Table 1 shows the GGGI values for the top 18 countries from the region (their global ranking ranged from 4 to 107).

Table 1.

GGGI: Rankings for Selected Countries in SSA 2017

Country	Overall Rank	Overall score	Country	Overall Rank	Overall score
Rwanda	4	0.882	Lesotho	73	0.695
Namibia	13	0.772	Kenya	76	0.694
South Africa	19	0.756	Madagascar	80	0.692
Burundi	22	0.755	Cameroon	87	0.689
Mozambique	29	0.741	Cape Verde	89	0.686
Uganda	45	0.721	Senegal	91	0.684
Botswana	46	0.72	Malawi	19	0.672
Zimbabwe	50	0.717	Swaziland	105	0.67
Tanzania	68	0.7	Liberia	107	0.664

Sources: World Economic Forum (2017); Global Gender Gap Report, p. 27.

Rwanda was the top performer on the continent, with a global ranking of 4 and a GGGI of 0.882, implying that the country had covered 88 percent of its gender gap. This was followed by Namibia (ranked 13th with a GGGI of 0.772). Other relatively good performers were South Africa (with a rank of 19 and score of 0.756); Burundi (ranked 22nd and scored 0.755), Mozambique (ranked 29th and scored 0.741). Countries with a score of above 0.7 also included Botswana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The rest of the countries listed in the table had a score between 0.664 (Liberia) and 0.695 (Lesotho). While several countries scored between 0.5 and 0.695 (implying that they had at least covered half of the gender gap), most of countries fall below 0.50, meaning that they have not even closed half of the gender gap that exists in their respective countries.

Some caution should be exercised though about the GGGI as it may give countries a false impression that they have solved the gender gap problem. When compared with the UNDP Gender Inequality Index (GII), which is a much broader measure, a country like Rwanda, for example, which seems to have performed very well on the gap index, has very high inequality when the GII is applied. That means that the country still needs to address the different dimensions of gender inequality which are captured by GII, for example, in the areas of labor force participation, gender parity in secondary school education, reduction of maternal mortality rates, and adolescent birth rates.

This evidence is corroborated by the UNDP Human Development Report 2016 data. The Report uses the GII.¹ Figure 1 presents the GII values for some selected African countries with a few comparator countries.

The GII is very low for countries such as Norway, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, and Sweden, countries that UNDP categorized under the “Very High Human Development group of nations.” Their GII values for 2015 were all below 0.1, implying that they are very close to achieving gender equality. SSA countries on the other hand, (most of which are categorized by UNDP under the “Low to Medium Human Development” group, have very high GII values of above 0.3, an indication of relatively high gender inequality. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Ghana, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, are, therefore, characterized by high gender inequality, based on this index. Evidence from the same report also shows that most SSA countries that are not listed in Figure 1, also registered high GII values. Overall, based on the GII measure, the evidence is that gender inequality is still prevalent in most of SSA.

Figure 1.

Source: Authors’ computation based on UNDP 2016.

Gender inequality is also reflected in the disparities between men and women in terms of income earnings. This is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Source: Authors’ computation based on UNDP 2016.

The figure shows that the per capita incomes (in USD purchasing power parity) terms, while lower for SSA as compared to developed countries, men’s incomes are higher than those of women in all countries listed (Namibia, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Egypt, Botswana, Libya, Algeria, and Mauritius). The figure also shows that although per capita incomes are generally higher in Norway, Singapore, Republic of Korea, and Germany, men also earn more income than women. Thus, in SSA, gender inequality in earnings is still a problem.

Lack of voice or agency is another challenge that shows women are still not empowered to a significant extent. Data on the gender pattern in decision-making, as proxied by representation in Parliament, shows that the proportion of women is much lower than for men in many countries.

Although SSA is still far from achieving gender parity in decision-making (notably at parliamentary level), the assessment by UNECA, AU, AfDB, and UNDP (2015, p. 24) indicates that the improvement made by Africa was far ahead of all other regions. From 2000 to 2014, the global average for women’s representation in national parliaments rose steadily from 14 to 22 percent (UNSD, 2014). Over the same period, SSA has made the most progress on this target, with an increase of the share of women in national parliaments by at least 15 percent, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (11% increase), Asia (9.8%) and developed regions (9%) UNECA, AU, AfDB, and UNDP (2015, p. 22). Several countries achieved at least 30 percent or more in terms of women’s representation. For example, Algeria (32%), Angola (37%), Burundi (31%), Cameroon (31%), Mozambique (39%), Rwanda (64%), Senegal (43%), Seychelles (44%), and South Africa (44%).

UNDP (2016), however, shows that in many countries, the proportion of women in parliament is still less than 30 percent. South Africa is one of the exceptions, with 40 percent representation. Tunisia and Zimbabwe were between 30 percent and 35 percent. The rest of the countries were below 30 percent, a figure which is way below parity. Figure 3 presents the evidence on this.

Figure 3.

Source: The authors (using UNDP Human Development Report 2016).

In contrast, some countries in the Very High Human Development group, for example, Sweden, were close to 44 percent.

Gender inequality is also pronounced in terms of labor force participation, with the proportion of women being less than that of men (Figure 4)

Figure 4.

Source: The authors (using UNDP Human Development Report 2016).

UNECA, AU, AfDB, and UNDP (2015, p. 22) support these observations. They also add that, even though there were increases in the participation of women in the labor market, the proportion was still below that of men. They also highlight the fact that the proportion of women in vulnerable employment was larger than the proportion of men, based on 2013 statistics

Tables 2 and 3 show details on the performance of the top three performers in SSA, namely, Rwanda, South Africa, and Namibia using the specific indicators which make up the GGGI.

Table 2.

GGGI: Performance of Top Three SSA Countries 2017

Country	GDP in US$ billions	GDP per capita (Constant 2011 US$ PPP)	Population (000s)	Popuation/Sex ratio
Rwanda	8.38	1,773.75	11,918	0.96
Namibia	10.27	9,812.41	2,480	0.96
South Africa	294,84	12,260.17	56,000	0.95

Source: World Economic Forum. Global Gender Gap Report (2017, pp. 250, 284, 298).

Table 3.

GGGI: Performance on Selected Indicators—Top Three SSA Countries 2017

Country	Global Gender Gap Score		Economic Participation		Educational Attainment		Health and Survival		Political E mpowerment
Country	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score
Rwanda	4	0.822	7	0.82	113	0.95	1	0.98	3	0.539
Namibia	13	0.777	9	0.813	41	0.999	1	0.98	26	0.318
South Africa	19	0.756	89	0.652	64	0.993	1	0.98	18	0.399

Source: World Economic Forum. Global Gender Gap Report (2017, pp. 250, 284, 298).

Using the specific indicators, which make up the GGGI, in 2016, the countries were close to closing the gender gap on educational attainment, (with an average score of 0.95), health, and survival (average score of 0.98). Rwanda and Namibia were close to closing the gender gap in economic participation, having scored an average of 0.81 on the indicator (WEF, 2017 p. 250, 284, 298). However, the three countries still experience a huge gap regarding political empowerment as reflected by the score on the indicator (0.539 for Rwanda, 0.318 for Namibia, and 0.399 for South Africa).

While there is some inequality in mean years of schooling, the gap has narrowed for most countries. Figure 5 shows this.

Figure 5.

Source: The authors (using UNDP Human Development Report 2016).

The picture presented from all the data presented is that although progress has been made towards gender equality in the last decade, gender disparities are still prevalent in most SSA countries. Although progress in educational attainment has been made in most SSA countries, the gender gap is still wide at tertiary level. Gender inequality is still wide with respect to political participation and political empowerment. Thus, the agenda to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls should continue to be a priority. The eradication of gender inequality or what some feminist scholars more militantly refer to as “degendering” or “undoing gender”, therefore, must dismantle the “gender order” of power dominance, inequality and oppression.

Some Selected Countries’ Experiences in Promoting Gender Equality and Empowerment of Girls

While there is no country in SSA which has achieved 100 percent gender equality, there are useful lessons that can be drawn from some of the successes that the few countries which have made considerable progress. For example, the progress made by Rwanda, South Africa, and Namibia, while not offering a blue print, could be useful in terms of the broader strategic approaches which they have implemented. We also think that even though the economic, political, and cultural context that prevails in industrialized countries is distinctly different from the African situation, the experiences of those that have made substantive progress on the gender issue, may offer some important lessons in achieving SDG 5 and other related SDGs.

We, therefore, review the key strategies that countries such as Rwanda and South Africa have employed. However, it should be emphasized that even though they have achieved some measure of success relative to other countries, they also have a challenge to intensify their efforts to close the gap which they still have as discussed earlier. The experiences of Iceland, the Norway, and Finland, are also discussed because, even though they also have a gender gap to close, it is much smaller relative to the rest of the world. The strategies which they followed could provide a broader framework upon which other countries can design their own interventions

Rwanda

Rwanda’s Constitution of 2003 makes provisions for equal rights between women and men and mandates at least 30 percent women in all decision-making positions. According to Stotsky, Kolovich, and Kebhai (2016, p. 21), women constitute about two-thirds of the lower house of Parliament and are well presented in judiciary and cabinet positions. Inheritance laws have been changed to allow for equal opportunity for women to inherit property from their spouses and girl children from their parents. Rwanda has also created a strong institutional base to advance the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda. It has established a devoted ministry, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to coordinate and champion the implementation of gender policies at national and local levels and across the various sectors of the economy. The Gender Monitoring Office was set up to monitor the implementation of gender policies in all ministries and other spheres. The government has also introduced the New Civil Code which accords women full legal rights to open bank accounts, enter into legal contracts or agreements in their own right.

Because of all these reforms, in 2017, as indicated earlier, Rwanda was one of the best performer in the world in terms of women’s representation in parliament (at 64%). In addition, these reforms have contributed to a reduction of poverty among women. Maternal mortality has also fallen, girls’ enrolment in primary and secondary school has improved although in the case of secondary and tertiary education, gender disparities are still large.

Rwanda’s progress is not without its critics. For example, Berry (2015, pp. 3–5) while commending the country’s efforts to reduce gender inequality, argues that there is a paradox in that in most of the reforms, women are granted new rights but cannot access them unless they are married, which further reinforces their dependence on men. She also argues that some policies aim to empower women through education but have unintended consequences that create new forms of oppression. She also points out that, in its quest to advance the image of a modern Rwanda, the government restricts women’s labor, and that this further entrenches their poverty. She concludes that instead of remedying the challenge of women’s subordination, some reforms may inadvertently reinforce it. These are the issues which the government will have to address in future

South Africa

Schwab (2017, p. 10), South Africa was ranked third in terms of its performance on gender quality. Its GGGI score was 0.756. On economic participation and opportunity, it scored 0.652, on educational attainment, 0.993, on health and survival, 0.980 and on political empowerment, 0.399. With a women participation ratio of 40 percent in 2017, it is among the better performers in Africa. It has also achieved a high measure of success on educational attainment although there is a gender gap at secondary and tertiary education level.

The South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), specifically, the Bill of Rights, has detailed provisions on equality between men and women and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or another characteristic. The government has also introduced Employment Equity legislation to create equal opportunities between men and women, protect both against discrimination of any form. The Commission for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment was set up as an oversight body to guide the various agencies of government, private sector and others, on gender equality matters. The government has also tried to mainstream gender into its National Development Plan (2030), strategic plans of the various government ministries, and departments at national, provincial, and local government levels.

Iceland

Schwab (2017) report on the GGGI ranked Iceland first globally with respect to its performance on gender equality. It had a GGGI score of 0.878, implying that it had closed 88 percent of its gender gap. It had a score of 0.798 on economic participation and opportunity, 0.995 on educational attainment, 0.969 on health and survival and 0.750 on political empowerment. There is still much room for it to improve on the economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment scores but overall, in comparison with the rest of the world, the country is close to achieving gender equality (Centre for Gender Equality Iceland, 2012, p. 7).

The principle of equality is specifically addressed in a provision in the Constitution of the Republic of Iceland (see Article 65 of the Constitution, No. 33/1944, cf. the Constitutional Law Act, No. 97/1995), stating that men and women are to have equal rights in every respect. Iceland is a representative democracy and a parliamentary republic (Centre for Gender Equality Iceland, 2012, p. 35)

One of the distinctive features about Iceland is the existence of an Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men No 96/2000 (Centre for Gender Equality Iceland, 2012, p. 7). The aim of the legislation is to maintain equal status and equal opportunity for men and women in all spheres of life. Unlike most countries around the globe, Iceland has a strong institutional architecture for coordination, implementation and monitoring of its gender policies and strategies. The Ministry of Social Affairs has overall responsibility for the implementation of the legislation and policies. The Centre for Gender Equality is responsible for its administration. Within the Ministry, there is a special department that is responsible for Gender Equality and Employment Affairs. The Minister of Social Affairs also appoints a Gender Equality Council and Complaints Committee (Centre for Gender Equality Iceland, 2012, p. 10). The Minister of Social Affairs also appoints a Ministerial Committee on Gender Equality which oversees preparing an action plan on gender equality, on behalf of the government. Evidence of the commitment of the government to the gender agenda, is the fact that the Committee is composed of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Welfare (who also serves as the Minister for Gender Equality), and the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Finance. Downes, Von Trapp, and Nicol (2017) also add that Iceland has used gender responsive budgeting to ensure adequate allocation of resources towards implementation of gender equality programs.

To ensure that care work is shared fairly between women and men, the government introduced a Maternity/Paternity Leave and Parental Leave Act No. 95/2000. This grants paternity leave to both fathers and mothers on an equal footing. It is 9 months for each and 9 months which both should share (Centre for Gender Equality Iceland, 2012, p. 36). In addition, the government invests in childcare facilities which are spread across the country and these particularly make it possible for more women to participate in the labor market. There laws that also protect women and girls from human trafficking and gender-based violence. The government has also made efforts to support initiatives for engaging men on gender equality issues.

Norway

Norway is also one of the countries that have made progress and have nearly closed the gender gap in several dimensions. In 2017, the country was ranked second on the GGGI performance, with a score of 0.830, meaning that it had closed about 83 percent of its gender gap. It had a score of 0.816 on economic participation and opportunity, 0.999 on educational attainment, 0.973 on health and survival and 0.530 on political empowerment (Schwab, 2017, p. 10). Except for political participation, the country has relatively performed quite well on a global scale in terms of progress towards gender equality. Some improvement is clearly needed on the political participation dimension and in improving the overall GGGI.

There are several factors which could have contributed to the country’s success. First, like the case of Iceland, Norway has a Gender Equality Act. As of January 1, 2014, the Gender Equality Act No. 45 was replaced by a new Act (LOV-2013-06-21-59). Norway’s national gender equality policy is managed by the Ministry of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion. A Gender Equality Ombudsman was established to enforce the act. According to Teigen (2015), Norway has enacted legislation to prevent discrimination, for example, discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, religion, political view, sexual orientation, functionality, and age.

The government has also introduced gender quota reforms for corporate boards, first adopted in Norway in 2003 and fully implemented from 2008.

The Norwegian adoption of gender quotas for corporate boards in 2003, revealed a first example of a regulative approach to promote gender balance in economic decision-making. The legislation was radical and innovative, no other country had prior to Norway even considered any similar kind of regulation.

The Norwegian gender quota legislation for corporate boards applies for a wide range of companies: in the boards of public limited companies, intermunicipal companies, and state enterprises. Cooperative companies and municipal companies were included from respectively 2008 and 2009 (Teigen, 2015, p. 2).

Finland

Finland was ranked third on the WEF 2017 GGGI, with a value of 0.830. Performance on economic participation and opportunity was 0.793, educational attainment 1.000, health and survival 0.978, and political empowerment 0.519.

Like the case of Iceland and Norway, Finland also has an Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986), which came into force in 1987 (International Labour Organisation (ILO), 2017). It has been amended to the most recent Non-Discrimination Act which was passed in 2015. Basically, the legislation stipulates equality between women and men in all spheres and prohibits any form of discrimination. It also seeks to improve the status of women, particularly in working life.

The country’s gender equality policy is coordinated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. It supports line ministries in the formulation of Government Action Plans for Gender Equality. The government has a long-term planning approach to the implementation of its gender policies and strategies. The implementation of the action plan requires extensive interministerial cooperation and commitment. The Government Action Plan for Gender Equality 2016–2019 was adopted as a Government resolution on May 4, 2016 (Finland Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 2017, p. 3). The preparation of the Action Plan for Gender Equality is based on, among other things, the results of a hearing of the key stakeholders and on negotiations between ministries. The definitions of policy outlined in the Government Report on Gender Equality, and on the other hand, responding to international obligations have both underlaid the preparation. Finland Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2017, p. 3).

Finland also has an Ombudsman for Equality and a National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal. The role of the Ombudsman is to guide state and other agencies and advise them on application of the Gender Equality Act.

The country was among the first to introduce gender quotas in the form of preferential treatment in education, employment, organizations, public commissions, and corporate boards.

In the case of education, preferential treatment is applied to select candidates of the underrepresented gender so that they are given priority in cases of equal qualifications (same amount of school points).

Preferential treatment in employment involves recruitment and promotions applicants of the underrepresented gender being granted preferential treatment when qualifications are equal or about equal. (Teigen, 2015, p. 5).

In the case of public commissions and corporate boards, Minimum 40% of each gender should be represented in publicly appointed boards, councils, and committees

Section 4(a) subsection 1 of the Act on Equality between Women and Men states that:

The proportion of both women and men in government committees, advisory boards and other corresponding bodies, and in municipal bodies and bodies established for the purpose of intermunicipal cooperation, but excluding municipal councils, must be at least 40 per cent, unless there are special reasons to the contrary. (WordPress)

The Selected Countries and Implications for Achieving Gender Equality in SSA

While the above mentioned countries have not achieved 100 percent gender equality, they have made progress through taking concerted actions. They were selected precisely because of the strategies which they have implemented to bridge the gender gap. Their experiences bring out some critical issues that contribute to success in achieving gender equality. First, it is evident that they all integrated gender equality into their constitutions. As the supreme law of the land, a constitution provides the fundamental legal framework for all the laws and policies that affect the lives of the citizenry. Second, they introduced specific legislation to direct all institutions and wider society to work towards achieving gender equality. Thus, in the case of Iceland, Norway and Finland (countries which have made a lot of progress in bridging the gender gap), the government introduced an act of parliament on gender equality. This demonstrates the seriousness which they attached to the goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Although Rwanda and South Africa do not specifically have a gender equality act per se, they have introduced important policies on affirmative action, inheritance and employment equity. Third, all these countries gave responsibility to strong institutional entities to drive the gender equality agenda. In Iceland, this is the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and in Norway, the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion. In Rwanda, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion was set up to take responsibility for promoting gender equality. South Africa has the Commission for Gender Equality. Fourth, gender equality and empowerment of women is integrated into the government’s short and long-term planning and budgeting. Finally, there are effective monitoring mechanisms in these countries that are charged to ensure implementation.

Final Considerations and Recommendations

The Africa Human Development Report 2016 highlights four strategic pathways to accelerate gender equality and fully integrate gender into the broader development agenda in SSA:

Prioritizing support for the adoption of legal reforms, policies, and programs for advancing women’s empowerment

Prioritizing support for enhancing national capacities to promote and increase the participation and leadership of women in decision-making in the home, in the economy, and society at large

Prioritizing support for enhancing national capacity to implement a multisectoral approach to mitigate the impacts of discriminatory health and education practices

Prioritizing support for women to gain ownership and management of economic and environmental assets

Although some progress has been achieved with respect to gender equality and the empowerment of women in SSA, gender inequality is still prevalent in most SSA countries. The examination in this article of the experiences of selected countries which have performed reasonably well in pursuing gender equality and women’s empowerment, namely, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and in SSA, Rwanda and South Africa, suggests lessons about the kind of strategies which they have applied to achieve success. These include the importance of constitutional amendments, the key role of legislation and policies on gender equality and women’s empowerment, the value of including gender equality in government planning and budgeting and auditing the implementation of programs designed to achieve gender equality.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 calls upon countries to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women. On the basis of our research, we recommend that developing countries seriously consider implementation of the four strategic pathways which the Africa Human Development Report (2016) emphasizes. With respect to Pathway 1, it will be crucial for SSA countries to improve their current legal and policy frameworks to support the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Whereas many countries have in place national gender equality programs, the capacity for implementation is still limited at the national, sectoral, and local levels. Pathway 2 should, therefore, be promoted by enhancing national capacities to promote and increase the participation and leadership of women in decision-making in the home, economy and society at large. To empower women to participate more in decision-making in the public, private and community sectors, SSA countries should increase the quantity and quality of investments in education, particularly at secondary and tertiary levels where inequalities are still pronounced. They should also invest more in improving the health of women and their reproductive rights. Gender-based violence (GBV) continues to be a major obstacle to women to enjoy equal rights and opportunities in the home, the workplace and community. Countries therefore should increase their efforts to end GBV. The SSA countries should also prioritize support for enhancing the national capacity to implement a multisectoral approach to mitigate the impacts of discriminatory health and education practices; and prioritize support for women to gain ownership and management of economic and environmental assets.

Achieving gender equality and empowerment of women requires the full implementation of related SDGs. For instance, SDG 1—ending poverty in all its forms everywhere, SDG 2—to end hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, SDG 4—to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all, SDG 6—to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, SDG 7—to provide access to affordable, reliable, sustainable energy for all.

Policies and programs designed to end poverty should equally target women’s as well as men’s poverty. Often rural and poor women are not able to access poverty alleviation programs due to the sheer lack of information and knowledge on how to access such programs. SDG 2 seeks to end hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030, countries need to “double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, …including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and value addition and non-farm employment” (Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 2016). Strategies to end hunger and achieve food security should ensure that women as well as men have access to productive resources such as land, financing, and other support programs.

SDG 4 seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. It calls for countries to ensure equal treatment of boys and girls at all levels of education (early childhood, primary, high school, and tertiary education) in terms of access to learning opportunities and quality education. Equal opportunities must also be guaranteed in terms of access to affordable and high quality technical and vocational education. SDG 6 is about ensuring sustainable potable water and sanitation for all. This is extremely important, since a majority of the rural population are women and that access to sufficient potable water is a serious challenge. Women bear a disproportionate responsibility to provide unpaid work related to fetching water, often walking long distances on a daily basis. Thus, the provision of gender equality in water and sanitation provision must recognize the inequalities in the household distribution of work. Countries should invest more in improving rural water infrastructure and bring access to water closer to rural households. This will help to empower girls who assume a disproportionate share of responsibility in fetching water as compared to boys. These arguments also apply to SDG 7 which addresses access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy. Many rural communities in Africa still do not have access to electricity and this is also the case in poor urban areas. Providing universal access to electricity can significantly reduce the amount of time that women and girls spend looking for firewood and other forms of fuel, which is another responsibility they disproportionately shoulder as compared to their male counterparts.

Gender inequality is pervasive in the labor markets in most SSA countries. SDG 8 seeks to address the problem by promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. One of the activities that is planned under this goal is the promotion of development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and promotion of small, medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.

SDG 9 is about building infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering technological innovation. The gender divide in science, mathematics, and technology education disadvantages women and limits their participation in high-skilled and high-wage jobs. Consequently, they tend to occupy more unskilled or semiskilled low-wage jobs and, their share of employment in high value-added production activities are limited. Gender equality and empowerment of women in terms of this development goal, therefore, calls upon countries to invest in bridging the gap between women and men in the fields of science, mathematics, and technology in higher education.

Gender equality and empowerment of women also should be achieved in the context of climate change. Women, who are the dominant actors in small-scale subsistence agriculture throughout rural Africa, are adversely affected by the effects of climate change such as droughts and erratic rains, desertification. Yet adaptation and mitigation programs do not always respond to their plight. Thus, in trying to achieve SDG 9, countries should integrate gender considerations into their planning and budgeting processes to support the implementation of gender equality responsive actions.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Note

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