Women-Focused Legislation, Economic Empowerment and Sustainable Development in Africa

Women constitute a great spring of manpower for sustainable development and a powerful but untapped economic resource in Africa. Yet, they are faced with a lot of challenges of discrimination and economic marginalisation. Various local and international conferences and treaties are geared towards advocating for legislation for women’s rights and empowerment in Africa. However, despite all these legislations, progress for women has been slow and superficial except for Rwanda. This study provides descriptive statistics on women’s economic empowerment in education, labour participation, employment, and in politics. While there have been some positive changes in education and politics, there have been negative growths in labour participation and employment between 1990 and 2020. African countries need to draw lessons from Rwanda’s experience in consistently advancing gender equality. It is essential to sustain and encourage progress in regions where positive strides have been made, while simultaneously intensifying efforts in countries that are facing challenges in this regard.