Women and Gender Equality

Gender Equality: The unfinished business of our generation

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and half of its potential. Gender equality is important to achieve peaceful societies with the full contribution of everyone. Empowering women brings development, economic growth, stable families and productivity in businesses. Unfortunately, achieving equality between men and women is almost a utopia. However, it is urgent to end all forms of gender violence and secure equal access to quality education and health, economic resources and participation in political life for both women and girls as well as boys and men. Employment opportunities as well as access to leadership positions and decision making at all levels by women is a strategic move.

Why equality is so important

Equality ensures that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. No one should have poorer life chances because of the way they were born, what they believe or whether they have a disability.

Initiatives and Empowerment of women in Africa

Gender equality is a state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender. Gender equality is a human right.

Issues facing women in Africa

In most African societies, the division of jobs brought a belief that men were simply better equipped to handle certain jobs than women and most of the time, those jobs pay the best. This discrimination results in lower income for women Women have less access to property ownership, credit, training, employment. They are far less likely than men to be politically active and far more likely to be victims of domestic violence. As of 2017, gender equality is the fifth of seventeen sustainable development goals of the United Nations

Why Gender equality is so important in Africa as well as in the world?

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and is vital to the realization of human rights for all. The overall objective of gender equality is a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.

Sayap Africa empowers women in Africa in 3 categories

Areas of social inequality that Sayap Africa intends to work on with Communities in Africa are: Access to health care especially for rural women, income gap, gender inequality.

Five major challenges still facing women in the workplace are

• Unequal pay even when women are more educated than men
• Sexual harassment which is an obstacle to their promotion
• Corruption and favoritism
• Fear of retaliation or to be fired

How can we promote Equality in Africa?

• Laws and policies must clearly protect women and girls
• Ensuring equal access to land, to opportunities that enable women to fully participate equally as men in every stage of decision making of the country.
• Seriously enforcing the protection of women against domestic violence and any other abuse
• Employment laws and workplace policies must guaranty women workers rights
• Create a culture of fairness and inclusion
• Identify and prevent unconscious biases

Empowering women and Capacity building on Equality in Africa

Sayap Africa along with partners and local communities will identify and train focal points on gender and equality in each country. Sayap Africa has the international expertise on women and gender issues in Africa