Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Gender parity and women’s empowerment – a glass half full

African countries have made significant strides in promoting gender parity in primary education. But they need to do more at secondary and tertiary levels to fully exploit women’s intellectual capacities. And although gender parity in paid non-agricultural employment is observed in the services sector (where women usually outnumber men), the reverse is true for higher-paying industrial jobs, which may stoke gender wage disparities because wages differ across sectors, skills and occupations. In politics, Africa needs to move beyond women’s participation to improving their capacity for contributing to development discussions and outcomes.