Objectif 3 : Promouvoir l'égalité de genre et l'autonomisation des femmes

Most African Countries on Target to Achieve Gender Parity

African countries have achieved overall progress in gender equality and female empowerment, according to the latest 2007 data.

On primary education, most countries are likely to achieve gender parity.  However, gender parity decreases in secondary education, and the gap widens even more in tertiary education.

The West African countries of Guinea, The Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal have made the most progress in achieving gender parity.

Of 38 countries with data, 28 countries have improved gender parity by between 0.02 and 0.37 points, while six have slightly regressed.  Some have gone further – in Malawi, Mauritania, Rwanda and The Gambia, more girls than boys are enrolled in primary education.  Southern African countries are the closest to achieving parity, but their progress towards it has slowed of late.

On secondary education, of the 26 countries with data, 19 reduced gender disparity between 1991 and 2007 in the range of 0.03 to 0.4 points.  Five have regressed – Ethiopia, Swaziland, Madagascar, Namibia and South Africa, with the last showing the greatest regression at 0.13 points.

With few African countries having achieved a gender parity index for secondary education of 0.9 in 2007, on current trends it is highly unlikely the continent will reach the target by 2015.

On tertiary education, the information is scanty.  Only nine countries have reported data for 1991 and 2007 – Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Tanzania and Tunisia.  They have all reduced gender disparity.  On 2007 data, three countries – Cape Verde, Algeria, and Tunisia - show indices above 1, meaning that women are more likely than men to enter tertiary education.

On current trends, it is highly unlikely that African countries will reach the tertiary level target by 2015.

On the subsidiary target of share of women in the non-agricultural job market, there is limited data.  What is available shows that Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, South Africa and Botswana are the best performers.  Countries that need to make more effort include Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, Libya and Egypt.

On the subsidiary target of share of women in national parliaments, the change has been impressive.  All 53 African countries provided 2009 data, and 31 countries increased the percentage of female seats, although it decreased in six countries – Guinea-Bissau, Săo Tomé and Principe, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon.

Rwanda is the best performer with 56% of seats held by women, followed by South Africa (45%), Angola (37%), Mozambique (35%) and Uganda (31%).