Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development: Toward Achieving the United Nations' 2030 Goals [1st ed.] 9783030591014, 9783030591021

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Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development Toward Achieving the United Nations' 2030 Goals Edited by Ogechi Adeola

Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development

Ogechi Adeola Editor

Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development Toward Achieving the United Nations’ 2030 Goals

Editor Ogechi Adeola Pan-Atlantic University Lagos Business School Lagos, Nigeria

ISBN 978-3-030-59101-4    ISBN 978-3-030-59102-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Foreword by Mrs Bola Adesola

Increasing the social, political, and economic inclusion of women continues to be a key focus of global developmental goals. Women are among the most marginalised groups in the world despite the multifaceted and dynamic roles they play in every sphere of national development. Despite numerous developmental programmes initiated by the United Nations, the World Bank, and the African Union, women still struggle for equal opportunities. In September 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. That agenda identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be attained within 15 years. The theme of the SDGs is sustainable development for all under the principle of “Leaving No One Behind”. Goal 5 focuses on gender equality and seeks to achieve gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls. Twenty years earlier, in September 1995, gender equality was the focus of the fourth UN Conference on Women held in Beijing, China. With the participation of 189 countries, the Beijing conference released the Beijing Declarations—a declaration and plan of action for empowering women in 12 critical areas that included women and poverty and the girl child. The year 2020 marks 25  years after the Beijing conference and the fourth year of the implementation of the UN SDGs. The editor of this

Mrs. Bola Adesola is the Co Vice-Chair of the United Nations Global Compact Board. v

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FOREWORD BY MRS BOLA ADESOLA

book, Dr. Ogechi Adeola, recognised that the time is right to evaluate the success of those initiatives as they relate to the African woman. It is, therefore, my pleasure to write the Foreword of this book. The editor and the contributing authors have put together excellent propositions worthy of reflective study by African leaders who will benefit by recognising the ways in which the empowerment of African women can contribute to their nations’ sustainable development. This book proposes strategies on how Africa’s leaders can empower women at both regional and national levels. Insights into the value of African women’s empowerment is found in the book’s well-researched and fact-based chapters that deal with basic human rights’ issues of poverty, hunger, violence, religion, health, and quality of life as well as economic and political issues related to gender equality, participation in politics and business, economic stability, financial inclusion, and the digital divide. Each chapter proposes an action plan and a holistic approach towards empowering the African woman to achieve the UN SDGs 2030. I recommend this book for students interested in gender and developmental studies, government administrators at both local and national levels, stakeholders in whichever capacity they operate, and national and regional leaders who play a role in policymaking and implementation. Without the proper inclusion of women in key institutions in the society, laws that advance gender equality, and policies that empower women, sustainable development will not be achieved, and nations’ full economic and political capacities will not be reached. African nations’ mantra must be Leave No African Woman Behind or, with less than a decade to go, there might be challenges in achieving UN SDGs of 2030. It is time to change the narrative, challenge the norms, reform the laws, and empower African women.

Preface

As a young girl, I watched with fascination the television broadcast of the United Nations’ September 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Splendidly dressed attendees included the First Ladies of African countries. Maryam Sani Abacha, then first lady of Nigeria, was head of a powerful delegation of Nigerian women. I learned that the success or failure of that conference hinged on its ability to produce a declaration in support of equal rights for women. My passion for empowering women and honouring the potential of the girl child was born at that moment. The delegates came back energised with a message of a new mandate— women empowerment. Soon women in Nigeria were jokingly referred to as Beijing Women or said to be exercising their Beijing Powers whenever they tried to assert their rights in the local environment. This year 2020 marks 25 years since the Nigerian and African delegates returned to the continent after the conference, and it is a good time to take stock of progress made by the African continent on key goals of the conference. An African proverb says If you educate a woman, you educate a nation. I would add If you empower African Women, you will get the African nation you dream of. Women and girls who are healthy, educated, valued, and empowered will make a positive contribution to society. I would like to thank the contributing authors who believed in this vision. Together we have produced a history-making book to address the problem of gender equality in Africa, the challenges confronting gender equality in Africa, as well as the realisation of the related 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. vii

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PREFACE

Today we have a message, and the message is clear. Africa can be great if we all join hands to make deliberate, strategic, conscious, and concerted efforts towards changing the narrative. We can challenge the norms that have defined the place of the African woman. We can change history by pushing for women empowerment and balanced gender representation in key sectors. We can work with policymakers, business organisations, and national and local authorities to create gender equality interventions and integrate gender-based perspectives into all facets of our social and economic lives. This race to gender equality is not a sprint, but a marathon marked by numerous milestone goals that can be reached by 2030. Then we can sit back and celebrate the Empowered African Woman who has persisted in her pursuit of respect and human rights for herself, her society, and the girl child. Let’s make it happen, Africa! Lagos, Nigeria

Ogechi Adeola

Acknowledgement

This book project was initiated by Empower African Women (EAW), a platform of the Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative, a non-profit organisation in Nigeria. See www.empoweringafricanwomen.com

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Contents

1 Introduction: Empowering African Women – Towards Achieving the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals  1 Ogechi Adeola 2 Sustainability of Women’s Empowerment Initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards Achieving the UN’s 2030 Goals 11 Yvonne Uchechukwu Carver 3 Gender Parity Gaps and Poverty: Empowering African Women for No Poverty and Zero Hunger 23 Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku 4 Human Rights as Inalienable Rights: An Assessment of the Realities of African Women 39 Abolaji Adewale Obileye, Joan Mbagwu, and Isaiah Adisa 5 Is Violence Against Women Systemic in Africa? An Enquiry to Change the Status Quo 51 Abolaji Adewale Obileye and Oluchi Enapeh

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Contents

6 Towards a Healthy Life for the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Women 61 Chioma Dilichukwu Ifeanyichukwu 7 Religious Organisations and Quality Education for African Women: The Case of Nigeria 73 Ebes Aziegbe-Esho and Friday Osemenshan Anetor 8 African Women’s Participation in Business and Politics: Challenges and Recommendations 85 Yetunde Anibaba and Godbless Akaighe 9 Realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Entrepreneurial Activities of Women and Disadvantaged Groups 97 Patience Aku Bruce and Nathaniel Boso 10 African Women in Academia Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Towards Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals107 Lydia Aziato, Merri Iddrisu, Priscilla Y. A. Attafuah, Joyce B. P. Pwavra, and Lillian A. Ohene 11 Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Through Tourism in Africa: Towards Agenda 2030121 Ewoenam Afua Afenyo-Agbe and Ogechi Adeola 12 Financial Inclusion as a Tool for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa: Achieving UN’s 2030 SDG133 Benjamin Mwanzia Mulili

 Contents 

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13 The Digital Gender Divide and Women’s Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Achieving the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals145 Ogechi Adeola 14 Positioning African Women for the United Nation’s 2030 Goals: A Way Forward157 Ogechi Adeola Index169

Editor and Contributors

Editor Ogechi  Adeola is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Lagos Business School, Pan-­Atlantic University, Nigeria, and the Founder of Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative. Her multi-dimensional research focuses on the advancement of knowledge across the intersection of marketing, tourism, entrepreneurship, and gender in sub-Saharan Africa.

Contributors Isaiah Adisa  Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria Ewoenam Afua Afenyo-Agbe  Department of Hospitality and Tourism, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana Godbless Akaighe  University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK Friday Osemenshan Anetor  Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria Yetunde  Anibaba Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria Priscilla Y. A. Attafuah  School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

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EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS

Lydia  Aziato  School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Ebes  Aziegbe-Esho  University South Africa

of

Johannesburg,

Johannesburg,

Nathaniel Boso  Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Patience  Aku  Bruce Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Yvonne Uchechukwu Carver  West African Health Organisation, Bobo-­ Dioulasso, Burkina Faso Oluchi Enapeh  Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku  WealthyGen, Inc., Hyattsville, MD, USA Merri Iddrisu  School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Chioma  Dilichukwu  Ifeanyichukwu Department Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

of

Marketing,

Joan Mbagwu  Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria Benjamin  Mwanzia  Mulili Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Abolaji Adewale Obileye  Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria Lillian A. Ohene  School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Joyce  B.  P.  Pwavra  School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 Fig. 3.4 Fig. 3.5 Fig. 3.6

Gender equality across world regions (Data Source: Sachs et al., 2020) Gender Inequality Index (GII) across regions (1995–2017). (Data from the Databank—World Development Indicators, the World Bank) Poverty headcount ratio at US$1.90 a day across regions (1996–2015). (Data from the Databank—World Development Indicators, the World Bank) Unemployment by gender, 1995–2017 (sub-Saharan Africa). (Data from the Databank—Gender Statistics, the World Bank) Labour force participation rate, sub-Saharan Africa (1995–2017). (Data from the Databank—Gender Statistics, the World Bank) Female account ownership at financial institutions or mobile money service providers (per cent). (Data from the Databank— Gender Statistics, the World Bank) Population with at least some secondary education, female (per cent). (Source: Human Development Data, UNDP)

3 26 28 31 32 33 34

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List of Tables

Table 1.1 Table 1.2

United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals UN 2030 SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Table 3.1 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) – (2018) Table 3.2 Gender inequality and poverty in Africa Table 13.1 The gender gap in mobile ownership and mobile Internet usage for male and female in 2018 Table 14.1 Practical recommendations from the book’s authors

5 6 27 28 147 159

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Empowering African Women – Towards Achieving the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Ogechi Adeola

Abstract  As the world celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 2020, and moves towards the actualisation of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2030), there is still more to be achieved on gender equality (Goal 5). Despite global advancements, a wide gender gap persists in Africa’s social, political, and economic life. This introductory chapter provides the background to initiatives put forward over the years by the United Nations (UN) to empower women and a discussion on the progress being made on gender equality, women empowerment, and sustainable development in Africa. The authors of this book provide an actionable prescription for empowering African women, thereby enabling them to contribute to sustainable development by 2030 and also, create the healthy, peaceful, and

O. Adeola (*) Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_1

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prosperous Africa described in Agenda 2063, the African Union’s 50-year strategic framework that serves as a blueprint to “The Africa We Want”. Keywords  Gender equality • Women in Africa • Sustainable development • SDGs • Agenda 2063 • United Nations Conference on Women • Beijing Conference There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. —Kofi Annan

Introduction Gender inequality is apparent in politics, education, employment, social involvement, economic development, and human dignity across the globe (Hennig, 2019). It is also recognised as a major problem for development (Branisa, Klasen, Ziegler, Drechsler, & Jütting, 2014). Increased awareness of this injustice has galvanised global leaders’ efforts to support the adoption and implementation of policies that assure gender equality and empowerment of women. Considering the wide array of challenges for women, available statistics show that overall, gender inequality remains at high levels in the continent of Africa, compared to other regions of the world. As shown in Fig. 1.1, for example, in 2018, the ratio of female-to-­ male mean years of education received in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was a mere 68%, compared to a significant 90.7% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and a massive 102.2% in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2019, the ratio of female-­to-­male labour force participation rate (%) in SubSaharan Africa was 83.9%, compared to 56.5% in East and South Asia. In developing countries, high female labour force participation rates usually reflect poverty; women earn far less than men and are more likely to be involved in unprotected jobs, such as domestic work (Verick, 2020). Interestingly, in 2020, the number of seats held by women in national parliament (%) across regions was relatively very low with SSA accounting for 23%. Thus, across regions and Africa inclusive, women’s leadership and political participation are limited. Women are under-represented as voters and in leading positions, despite their proven abilities and their equal right to democratic governance (UN Women, 2020).

1  INTRODUCTION: EMPOWERING AFRICAN WOMEN…  120 100 80 60 40 20 0 SubSaharan Africa

East & South Asia

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Latin America & the Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

OECD

Ratio of female-to-male mean years of education received (%) [2018]

68.3

76.9

90.7

102.2

85.3

97.4

Ratio of female-to-male labor force participation rate (%) [2019]

83.9

56.5

73.7

70.1

26.4

75.5

23

20.1

22

22.7

16.2

28.7

Seats held by women in national parliament (%) [2020]

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Fig. 1.1  Gender equality across world regions (Data Source: Sachs et al., 2020)

This book assesses the progress Africa has made in achieving an inclusive social, political, and economic society, including gender equality, as proposed by the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The authors of this book acknowledge the realities of the continued marginalisation of women in Africa and offer recommendations for government policy makers and stakeholders at all levels, to initiate the kind of change that empowers women to be full contributors to their nation’s welfare.

The UN International Conferences on Women and the Beijing Declarations A World Conference on Women has been offered four times by the United Nations (UN): 1975  in Mexico City with 133 nations in attendance, 1980 in Copenhagen attended by 145 member states, and 1985 in Nairobi with 157 member nations attending. These conferences focused on the creation and implementation of policies related to education, health, and employment. Strategies for achieving gender equality at national levels, overcoming cultural challenges, and promoting women’s participation in peace and development efforts were adopted. Failure to achieve the goals identified by the previous conferences became the focus of the fourth UN Conference on Women—titled Action for Equality, Development, and Peace—held in Beijing in September

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1995. In an unprecedented turn-around in the global agenda, the 189 countries attending the Beijing conference released a plan of action (hereinafter, the Beijing Declarations) that identified 12 topics requiring attention: Women and poverty Education and training of women Women and health Violence against women Women and armed conflict Women and the economy Women in power and decision-making Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women Human rights of women Women and the media Women and the environment The girl-child

The Beijing Declarations underlined the universality of human rights, that is, human rights are women’s right.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Over the years, the UN has introduced measures to ensure socio-­economic development of nations, key among them being the inclusion of gender equality in the MDGs adopted in September 2000, with a 2015 target achievement date. MDGs were a set of eight goals, 18 measurable targets, and 48 indicators that included promoting gender equality and empowering women. Despite huge investments in MDG-related programmes, African countries, and indeed many parts of the world, were unable to attain the stated goals. Some observers argue that MDGs were not achieved because the goals did not take appropriate cognisance of national contexts and implementation capacities (AbouZahr & Boerma, 2010; Fehling, Nelson, & Venkatapuram, 2013). Others claim that MDGS had an underlying political agenda and were poorly designed ab initio or that the focus was too narrow (Easterly, 2009; Fehling et al., 2013; Langford, 2010) (e.g., gender equality and women’s empowerment were narrowed down to apply only to the area of education and then only to primary education). The MDGs also failed to include political rights, promoted quick-fix solutions, focused on but had little input from developing countries, and did little to address

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extreme poverty (Easterly, 2009; Fehling et  al., 2013; Langford, 2010; Sachs, 2012). Lack of timely and accurate data, especially in developing countries, was also a barrier to achieving MDGs by 2015 (Easterly, 2009). Despite the shortfall in the full achievement of the MDGs, some measurable progress had been made globally in the areas of education, health, poverty reduction, and gender equality. However, the concept of sustainable development was not fully incorporated into MDGs (Akinloye, 2018; Sachs, 2012). The UN’s 2030 SDGs sought to be more encompassing and to fully incorporate sustainable development.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) In 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development introduced a set of SDGs to serve as proactive and reactive measures to combat current and future global challenges. Those measures were adopted by the UN in 2015 in New York and are generally referred to as SDGs 2030, 2030 being the year proposed as the deadline for attainment across the globe. SDGs 2030 consists of 17 goals (see Table 1.1) and 162 associated targets (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, n.d.). The 17 SDGs (see Table 1.1) encompass economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability, a triple bottom-line approach that critics note was missing from the defunct MDGs (Klarin, 2018). Table 1.1  United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Goal 1 No Poverty

Goal 2 Zero Hunger

Goal 3 Good Health and Well-being

Goal 4 Quality Education

Goal 5 Gender Equality

Goal 6 Clean Water and Sanitation

Goal 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

Goal 9 Industry, Innovation and Infra­ structure

Goal 10 Reduced Inequality

Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Comm­ unities

Goal 12 Goal 13 Responsible Climate Consum­ Action ption and Production

Goal 15 Life on Land

Goal 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Goal 17 United Nations Partnerships SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS to Achieve (SDGs) the Goal

Adapted from: UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations [n.d.])

Goal 7 Affordable and Clean Energy Goal 14 Life Below Water

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Beginning with the elimination of poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2), these goals formalised a bold commitment to improve health and well-­ being (SDG 3), make quality education available to all (SDG 4), achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (SDG 5), and reduce inequality (SDG 10). The SDGs are a blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. The 17 goals are interconnected and address the global challenges that must be met in order to Leave No One Behind. Though the focus of this book is SDG 5: Gender Equality (see Table 1.2), this theme criss-crosses other goals. The UN recognises that achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls will make crucial contributions towards realising all the 17 goals and 162 targets (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform, n.d.). Goal 5 is significant for women and girls across the world. In 2016, Nathalie Ebead, International IDEA’s Programme Manager for the Table 1.2  UN 2030 SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls GOAL 5 TARGETS • End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere. • Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. • Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation. • Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies, and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate. • Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life. • Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences. • Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws. • Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women. • Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels. Source: UN Women (n.d.)

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EU-funded Support to Electoral Processes and Democracy (STEP Democracy) Programme in Yangon, Myanmar, offered this commentary on gender, empowerment, and democracy: The landmark adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 attests to the increasing global consensus that achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls (SDG 5) is intrinsic to the holistic development of participatory and representative democracy of each country and the world at large. The SDGs articulation of a specific goal to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls builds upon the Millennium Development Goals and comprehensive frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW 1979) and the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (1985).

Africa’s Agenda 2063 and SDGs 2030: Synergies for Women’s Empowerment The themes of the Beijing Declarations and the SDGs 2030 also feature prominently in Agenda 2063, the African Union’s (AU) 50-year strategic framework that serves as a blueprint to “The Africa We Want”. The framework, introduced on May 26, 2013, aims to transform the continent into a powerhouse by 2063 partly through 15 flagship projects that encompass infrastructure, education, trade, science, technology, arts, and culture (African Union, 2020). Agenda 2063 aims to achieve seven objectives which the AU has labelled “aspirations”. The Africa We Want expresses a desire for a society of empowered women and youths and where children are cared for and protected, and is articulated as Aspiration 6: “An Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children”. The seven aspirations aim to create a peaceful, prosperous, and integrated Africa with good governance, inclusive growth, and sustainable development. Though the shortcomings of Agenda 2063 have been reported in some literature (Ogbonnaya, 2016), Africa’s 50-year road map is full of promise, deviating from previous largely deficient plans that were not implemented on the continent (DeGhetto, Gray, & Kiggundu, 2016; Ndizera & Muzee, 2018). Similar to UN’s SDGs, the preparation of Africa’s Agenda 2063 largely followed a “bottom-up participatory approach, and advocates for inclusion

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and empowerment of all groups of people” (Ndizera & Muzee, 2018, p. 142). In its strategic plan, which seeks to improve the lives of women, Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 envisions an Africa where African women will have equal access to economic, political, and social opportunities and all forms of discrimination, violence, and harmful practices against women and girls will be eliminated. A major difference between Agenda 2063 and SDGs 2030, other than the timeline for attainment, is the integrated nature of SDGs 2030. Attaining one of the 17 goals simultaneously contributes to achieving others. SDG 5, for example, calls for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls globally. The attainment of other goals that provide quality education and decent work for all, by their very nature contribute directly to gender equality and women empowerment. Hence, 17 SDGs are, therefore, intricately linked to one another. Agenda 2063, on the other hand, has a broader and more diversified scope than the SDGs. Although the first ten-year implementation plan for Agenda 2063 that spans between 2013 and 2023 lays out more specific targets for women empowerment, detailed action plans are conspicuously missing. Detailed implementation plans are also missing from the SDGs despite the more direct focus on women empowerment and gender equality. To achieve the 2030 SDGs, and Agenda 2063 aspirations as they relate to women empowerment in Africa, nations must focus on concrete and concerted strategies to design and implement action plans for women’s empowerment and gender equality.

The Focus and Structure of the Book Twelve salient themes provide the framework for this book’s approach to sharing the policies, practices, and strategies that can empower African women to achieve the UN’s SDG 5: Gender Equality by 2030. Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 evaluate the progress made since the 1995 Beijing Declarations and link it with the 2030 SDGs, specifically No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, and Reduced Inequalities. Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 examine specific context in which women have been denied entrance or advancement due to social/cultural values and beliefs. Such contexts include academia, politics, business, finance, entrepreneurship, and tourism, and the digital divide as it relates to gender. Because existing policies in developing countries are largely gender-neutral and do not adequately address gender equity and women’s rights, the authors advocate for

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meaningful strategies to address related political, economic, social, and cultural realities within Africa. Chapter 14 concludes the discussion by making recommendations for achieving the UN’s SDGs by 2030.

Towards the Africa We Want As the world celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declarations in 2020 and moves towards the actualisation of the SDGs of 2030, research continues to show a widening gender gap in Africa’s social and economic life. In ten years’ time, how ready will Africa be for gender equality? This preparedness will require nations to design adaptive interventions acceptable to both women and men, conduct gender analyses to identify specific vulnerabilities, and adopt vulnerability-reduction initiatives, particularly for women in rural areas. The contributing authors challenge readers of this book to advocate for legislative, social, and economic decision-making in Africa that unfailingly incorporates women to ensure adequate and diverse representation.

References AbouZahr, C., & Boerma, T. (2010). Five years to go and counting: Progress towards the millennium development goals. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 88(324), 1–14. African Union. (2020). Flagship Projects of Agenda 2063. Retrieved from https:// au.int/en/agenda2063 Akinloye, I. A. (2018). Towards the implementation of sustainable development goals in Nigeria: Maximising the influence of religious leaders. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 4(1), 39–60. Branisa, B., Klasen, S., Ziegler, M., Drechsler, D., & Jütting, J. (2014). The institutional basis of gender inequality: The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). Feminist economics, 20(2), 29–64. DeGhetto, K., Gray, J.  R., & Kiggundu, M.  N. (2016). The African Union’s Agenda 2063: Aspirations, challenges, and opportunities for management research. Africa Journal of Management, 2(1), 93–116. Easterly, W. (2009). How the millennium development goals are unfair to Africa. World Development, 37(1), 26–35. Ebead, N. (2016). SDG 5 – What does it mean for women and girls across the world? Retrieved from https://www.idea.int/news-media/news/sdg-5-what-does-itmean-women-and-girls-across-%C2%A0world Fehling, M., Nelson, N. D., & Venkatapuram, S. (2013). Limitations of the millennium development goals: A literature Review. Global Public Health, 8(10), 1109–1122.

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Hennig, B. D. (2019). In focus: Inequalities of gender: Education, work, and politics. Political Insight, 10(2), 20–21. Klarin, T. (2018). The concepts of sustainable development: From the beginning to the contemporary issues. Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, 21(1), 67–94. Langford, M. (2010). A poverty of rights: Six ways to fix the MDGs. Ids Bulletin-­ Institute of Development Studies, 41(1), 83–91. Ndizera, V., & Muzee, H. (2018). A critical review of Agenda 2063: Business as usual? African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 12(8), 142–154. Ogbonnaya, U. M. (2016). Terrorism, Agenda 2063 and the challenges of development in Africa. South African Journal of International Affairs, 23(2), 185–199. Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Woelm, F. (2020). The Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19. Sustainable Development Report 2020. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Sachs, J. D. (2012). From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. The Lancet, 379(9832), 2206–2211. UN Women. (2020). What we do: Leadership and political participation | UN Women – Africa. Retrieved from https://africa.unwomen.org/en/what-wedo/leadership-and-political-participation UN Women. (n.d.). SDG 5Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/ women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. (n.d.). About the sustainable development goals. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform. (n.d.). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/ transformingourworld Verick, S. (2020). IZA World of Labor – Female labor force participation in developing countries. Retrieved from https://wol.iza.org/articles/female-labor-forceparticipation-in-developing-countries/long Ogechi Adeola  is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria, and the Founder of Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative. Her multi-dimensional research focuses on the advancement of knowledge across the intersection of marketing, tourism, entrepreneurship, and gender in sub-Saharan Africa.

CHAPTER 2

Sustainability of Women’s Empowerment Initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards Achieving the UN’s 2030 Goals

Yvonne Uchechukwu Carver

Abstract  Women’s empowerment is a measure of the level of development of any community and increases opportunities for women in decision-making processes that affect every aspect of their lives and well-being. Several international agencies, such as the United Nations (UN), have championed a gender equality agenda, starting with the pledge of equality in the founding UN charter of 1945 to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, which produced the Beijing Declaration, and is hailed as the most progressive framework for advancing women’s rights. The Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063 have maintained the necessary momentum, permitting objective assessments of progress made and evaluation of bottlenecks. Available evidence indicates that gaps still persist with

Y. U. Carver (*) West African Health Organisation, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_2

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African countries in their efforts to target women’s empowerment due to a lack of political consensus and other socio-­economic factors. This chapter reviews the progress made by various international agencies over the years towards women’s empowerment, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The interrelationships between these initiatives are reviewed and recommendations for empowering women in sub-Saharan Africa provided. Keywords  Women’s empowerment sub-Saharan Africa • Beijing Declaration • Agenda 2063 • Demographic transition • “Aspiration & Consent”

Introduction Initiatives and projects targeting women’s empowerment are not new. There has been increasing global recognition of the importance and benefits of empowering the woman and the girl child in the society. Iterations of demonstrated successes have been gaining momentum over the years, especially in low- and middle-income countries. More than ever before, young women today have more choices in their educational path, reproductive rights, careers, protection from violence and exploitation, and have better control of their lives. Despite the notable progress, there are still women around the world who are relegated to only childcare and domestic chores. Furthermore, there are countries where rules are currently in place, which significantly and negatively impact the rights of the woman. These discriminatory practices are compounded by high rates of illiteracy and fertility of women in some countries (Sahay, 1998). Delving into possible sustainable recommendations to maintain or accelerate the progress made so far requires an objective assessment of some of the studies that have been documented thus far on women’s empowerment.

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Women’s Empowerment Over the Years at the Global Level The drive for women’s empowerment is centuries old. In 1893, New Zealand was the first self-governing country to grant women over the age of 21 the right to vote, whereas it took several years for the same rights to be achieved by women in the United Kingdom in the early twentieth century following the Suffragettes Movement1. By the middle of the century, the United Nations (UN), in its founding charter, provided for equality between men and women. The UN has been a leading force in highlighting the linkage of women’s empowerment to economic development and sustainable peace. Its founding charter of 1945 provides in chapter III, article 8 a framework for equality between men and women, and efforts have been made in subsequent years by various leaders of feminine movements to operationalise this provision.2 In 1995, the UN convened in Beijing, China, on the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace. The Beijing Conference produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and created a comprehensive plan for achieving global legal equality.3 The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) produced a broad framework for the advancement of women’s advocacy and rights. It highlighted the importance of an empowered woman in accelerating many socio-economic issues and improving the economic status and safety of any developed or developing country. Despite these global achievements, women remain disenfranchised, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Gender violence, high fertility rates and non-inclusive labour laws are some of the issues that persist as roadblocks to women’s empowerment. The UN continues to maintain the impetus in the area of women’s empowerment by reviewing progress made, and evaluation of bottlenecks encountered, whether by learned social behaviours, existing policies, or the financial resources at country level. Following the Beijing Conference, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000–2015 were set. The goals served as a precursor to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).4 MDG Goal 3A focused on empowerment through education, improving access to health and on  https://www.britannica.com/topic/womensuffrage  https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-iii/index.html 3  https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm 4  https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ 1 2

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social development. Although the MDGs were successful in stimulating countries to increase political and financial support for gender equality and women empowerment goals, the investments were largely insufficient for sustainable results. Moreover, other specific areas of gender equality and women’s empowerment such as violence against women, engagement of women in economic and productive sectors, peace and security were conspicuously missing from the MDGs. In a remarkable show of commitment by the UN, the post-2015 SDGs incorporated lessons learned to develop targets that more specifically addressed wider issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The SDGs are “a call for action by all countries regardless of economic standing, to promote prosperity by instituting and implementing policies that end poverty while simultaneously addressing a range of social needs including education, health, equality and social protection.” The focus of SDG 5 is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” It raises awareness of discrimination and violence against women and girls, harmful practices, unpaid care and domestic work, participation in decision-­making, and sexual and reproductive health and rights5 (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, 2016).

Women’s Empowerment and Development in Africa Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment goals has moved at a much slower pace in Africa, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the UN have made significant gains in the area of women’s empowerment, the impact in Africa is mediocre at best. African leaders have made declarations at the 1989 Abuja Declaration and the 1994 Dakar Declaration, to cite two examples, committing themselves to achieving women’s empowerment.6 Unfortunately, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are still not on track with achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment goals within the targeted timeframe of the SDGs 2030. Sub-Saharan Africa lags in identified domains that contribute to women’s empowerment, including attitudes towards violence, labour force participation, education, greater representation in the political field and access to health care. The Sustainable Development Goals Centre for Africa report of 2019, through a dashboard compilation, indicates that no sub-Saharan 5 6

 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/  https://digitallibrary.un.org

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country is yet on track to achieve SDG 5 goals. The dashboard indicators are red on a Red-Amber-Green rating, demonstrating that the probability of achieving the SDG assessments is remote. The reasons for this subpar performance range from lack of funding and resources, reported to be the “single most significant challenge both in terms of SDG implementation and monitoring” (SDG Center for Africa and Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2019) to the lacklustre engagement of the general public and other stakeholders. Cognisant of this drawback, the policy direction of the African Union (AU) and the subsequent creation of Agenda 2063 are invariably instrumental in building a sense of ownership needed to address these shortcomings and achieve greater goals within the continent. The AU is a continental sociopolitical-cum-economic body that consists of 55 member states in Africa. The main task of the AU is to increase collaboration and cooperation of African States and promote growth and economic development by championing citizen inclusion.7 Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, which was launched in 2015 by the AU, is Africa’s framework and master plan for transforming the economic and developmental prospects of the continental community. It is a strategic framework developed by African leaders that aims to deliver on identified goals for inclusive and sustainable development on the continent (Africa Union, n.d.). It is motivated by political consensus and therefore emboldens the feeling of ownership of African development by African leaders and the population. It offers a great opportunity for empowering African women at the grassroots level, with the goal of achieving a greater level of successful implementation and sustainability of identified programmes. Agenda 2063 and the SDGs work in synergy and have several intersecting areas that share common objectives, such as protection of women and youth against violence and other harmful practices, improved standards of living, transformed, inclusive and sustained economies. The relevant paragraph (Empowered Women, Youth and Children) in Agenda 2063 is supportive of gender equality and women’s empowerment goals and specifically addresses obstacles to property ownership and financial well-­ being, inequalities in leadership roles, violence against women, harmful practices against women, economic growth of women and youth, and the protection of women and youth against child labour practices, trafficking and early marriages (Africa Union, n.d.). 7

 https://au.int/en/overview

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Despite the collaborative efforts from both Agenda 2063 and the SDGs, an objective analysis of the current state of affairs of women in Africa, specifically women in sub-Saharan Africa, shows that much still requires to be done. In measuring the progress of women’s empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa, factors specific and endemic to the geographical area must be considered. African leaders have consistently committed to improving the continent’s standing on gains linked to gender equality and women’s empowerment. There is noticeable evidence of the efforts that these leaders are making in advancing policies and initiatives that benefit women, youth and the girl child. For example, as of 2019, Rwanda leads the world in women parliamentarians, where women have won 61.3 per cent of seats in parliament. In sub-Saharan Africa to date, the number is 23.9 per cent within the global average percentages of women parliamentarians.8 Several other countries are steadily increasing access to education and health. For instance, in the area of education, Niger instituted a policy that made education free for young girls up to the age of 16.9 Senegal, Benin and a few other countries in Africa have programmes where contraceptive commodities are made available at local family planning centres free of charge or at reduced costs.10 Many of the countries have included policies that tackle or reduce harmful discriminatory practices that affect women’s rights. Challenges remain, nonetheless. Measurement indices show that gender inequality in economic opportunities persists, human development capacity is weak, and women are still poorly represented in areas of agriculture, energy and business entrepreneurship (Asaolu et al., 2018). The demonstration of political will is commendable, but this is not nearly enough. Without political consensus, financial resources and the engagement of stakeholders, the gains made will not be sustainable. The International Development Association report from the World Bank shows a significant lack of funding in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa in areas for social programmes, including women’s empowerment (World Bank Annual Report, 2019). African leaders must do more to increase funding for socio-economic development and health care. The year 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, and several years into the SDGs and Agenda 2063. The BPfA identified 12  http://africa.unwomen.org/en  https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/niger 10  https://www.waho.org 8 9

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critical areas that are imperative to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. In assessing progress, important questions should include how sub-Saharan countries have responded to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment goals, how their accomplishments have been measured and how these achievements are aligned with the Beijing Declaration of 1995. A review and assessment by the UN of the implementation of the BPfA found evidence of slow and inconsistent implementation of the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda, particularly in relation to marginalised women and girls, with significant stagnation and even regression in several areas (UN Women, 2015). Lingering practices that derailed progress included endemic discriminatory norms, recurring stereotypes and violence directed at women, and gender-based discrimination that continues to be deeply entrenched in the minds of individuals, institutions and societies (Asaolu et al., 2018). The subpar performance, as revealed by various indicators, should not, however, be allowed to deter further efforts. Rather, they should be a call to further action by African leaders, to engage more rigorously with all stakeholders to chart the way forward with regard to gender equality. The main challenges to implementation should be determined and vigorously addressed.

Recommendations for Africa Addressing the identified challenges and improving the goal of women’s empowerment in Africa will require bolder commitments that are necessary to prevent the complacency of using conventional assumptions on what empowers women. This means that the initiatives to be adopted should ideally focus on multidimensional and holistic approaches that take the following into account: the educational imperatives, social behavioural changes, reproductive rights, legislative changes, innovative changes and the aspirations of the young girl child. (A) Demographic dividend and transition: An innovative idea is the concept of demographic dividend and transition. The theory of demographic transition establishes a direct correlation between high fertility and high infant mortality rates to low socio-economic development. Conversely, a transition to low fertility (and infant mortality) rates will lead to increased social and economic development. With demographic transition, the interrelationships

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between health, fertility rates, child marriages and economic growth are harnessed to ensure self-sustaining policies in reference to women’s empowerment.11 In sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 12 million girls under 18 are married each year; almost four out of ten young women are married before their 18th birthday. “Child marriage often results in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupts schooling, limits the girl’s opportunities and increases her risk of experiencing domestic violence.”12 The stagnant economic development in sub-Saharan Africa, high fertility rates, low levels of educational opportunities, low participation in the labour market, all invariably lead to women disempowerment and should stimulate discussions around demographic transition on the continent. (B) Self-actualisation: An important question in determining the way forward is focusing on what young women really desire in order to self-actualise their inner power. A novel concept offered by Professor Stanley Okolo, the Director General of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), is “Aspiration and Consent,” where various factors contribute to a significant diversion from the original aspirations of the girl child before reaching the age of maturation (Okolo, 2019). Prof. Okolo refers to cross-sectional data from WAHO, which highlights the fact that in their teenage years, women in West Africa aspire to have 3.4 children. However, at age 35–39, the actual number of children that each woman has varies depending on their individual level of education; with those who have had at least secondary education achieving the number of children they desired in their teenage years (3.4), while those with less than secondary education had a far higher number of children at 5.3 children. By age 40–49, the number of children increased significantly to 6.2 in women with less than secondary education. Therefore, addressing these factors would lead to the achievement of lower birth rates through the consent of the women during their teenage years, rather than through legislative curtailment of birth numbers. (C) Access to energy: A lesser addressed topic is the link between gender equality, women’s empowerment and access to energy. Several  https://www.unfpa.org/demographic-dividend  http://africa.unwomen.org/en

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studies indicate that the availability of reliable and affordable energy enables economic growth and improves the health and security of women, which are all prerequisites to women empowerment. Studies have shown that increased access to clean and reliable energy enhances the chances of young girls completing primary school education, an increase in small businesses and wages for women and reduces the occurrence of gender-based violence against women.13 Currently, in sub-Saharan Africa, approximately two-thirds of the population is without access to power. Access to energy programmes that are combined with meaningful income-generating activities can play a pivotal role in empowering women in sub-Saharan Africa (O’Dell, Peters & Wharton, 2015). African leaders should mobilise the energy sectors and stakeholders to fund innovative energy-producing concepts that include solar and wind-generated energy, making it more accessible and stimulating approximately 50 per cent of a labour force to be more productive and engaged. (D) Access to health care: Access to health care is also a significant contributor to women’s empowerment. Measuring improved access to health correlates with national health care financing and budget. In April 2001, Heads of State of the AU pledged to set a target of 15 per cent of their annual GDP towards health financing. Unfortunately, since that pledge, only a handful of countries have met the 15-per cent goal with a few even spending less now than at the time of the pledge.14 That leaves the people with high out-of-pocket expenses, which in itself is an impediment to receiving health care. It is therefore important for African leaders to continue to increase funding for health, with consideration of each country’s intricacies and budgetary capabilities as opposed to a continent-wide pre-determined percentage. (E) Affirmative or positive action: African leaders should also consider the use of affirmative or positive action policies that specifically target increased participation of women in political roles in countries where systemic discrimination persists. These policies must

13  https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/sustainable-energy-all-empoweringwomen 14  https://who.int.abuja-10

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not be arbitrary, however, and should be closely tailored to the women’s skills and performances (Glazer, 1987). (F) Collaboration: In consideration of all these aspects and multidimensional approaches, the question then becomes how do continental bodies like the AU accelerate progress and ensure that African countries meet SDGs by 2030, particularly SDG 5 goals? The answer perhaps lies in the efficiency of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), civil society organisations (CSOs), intergovernmental, and inter-parliamentary institutions and their collaborative efforts in setting priorities, and grassroots involvement in the planning and implementation of relevant women-centred and gender equality projects. The critical role of civil society in mobilising communities cannot be overemphasised, including the overarching need to strengthen its capacity as a community advocate. For instance, Action for Health, Education and Development, a CSO in South-East Nigeria sponsors the Ta Bu Echi Women’s Cooperative that provides part-time, flexible employment and training to women in rural communities for capacity building skills and improved earnings.15 RECs and inter-parliamentary bodies can facilitate the implementation of the SDGs by leveraging their unique ability to galvanise political actors, which can lead to coordinated actions that help national governments navigate the requirements of SDGs 2030 and Agenda 2063.16 One of the RECs, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its health institution, the WAHO and the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre, is involved in several programmes addressing women’s empowerment, gender equality and other initiatives centred on family planning and demographic dividend. Information learned from monitoring and evaluation reports suggest a greater level of successful implementation of these projects within regional entities, as they are better situated to provide country-level support. These projects include, but are not limited to, the following:

 http://aheadinternational.org  http://africa.unwomen.org/en

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• Amplifying the supply of information and services on gender equality and family planning and strengthening interventions at the community level. • Intensifying actions with partners to improve the status of women; for example, through the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project. The objective of the SWEDD project is to contribute to the broader goal of reducing vulnerabilities and improving economic opportunities for women in the Sahel Region. Specifically, the project objective is to promote cross-border benefits, help “increase women and adolescent girls’ empowerment and their access to quality education, reproductive, child and maternal health services” (World Bank, 2019). • Developing research that tackles sociocultural/behavioural barriers to women’s rights, such as addressing patriarchal and pronatalist views of the society. • Leadership and governance initiatives that engage the various governments in empowering women regarding their reproductive behaviour and rights through legislation and policies, and protection from violence and exploitation programmes (West African Health Organization, n.d.).17 These initiatives are not exhaustive, but rather offer holistic recommendations from a regional organisational perspective.

Conclusion Undoubtedly, the concepts of women’s empowerment and gender equality have come a long way. Globally, women can participate in decision-­ making policies that affect their lives in greater numbers, and the progress continues. However, progress in developing countries, particularly countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has occurred at a slower pace, for a variety of reasons. As the world marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and continue the march towards the achievement of SDGs 2030, the opportunity to move from stagnant policies and embrace innovative concepts that will push for maximal and sustainable goals that continue to empower women, particularly in Africa, must be seized with both hands.

 https://www.ccdg.ecowas.int

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References African Union. (n.d.). Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. Retrieved from https:// au.int/en/agenda2063/overview Asaolu, I. O., Alaofè, H., Gunn, J. K., Adu, A. K., Monroy, A. J., Ehiri, J. E., et al. (2018). Measuring women’s empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the demographic and health surveys. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 994. Glazer, N. (1987). Affirmative action: Ethnic inequality and public policy. Retrieved from https://hup.harvard.edu O’Dell, K., Peters, S., & Wharton, K. (2015). Women, energy, and economic empowerment. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/ deloitte-shifts/women-energy-and-economic-empowerment/261/ Okolo, S. (2019, October). Demographic transition in Africa. Presentation at EU Parliament, Berlin, Germany. Sahay, S. (1998). Women and empowerment, approaches and strategies. New Delhi, India: Discovery Publishing House. SDG Center for Africa and Sustainable Development Solutions Network. (2019). Africa SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2019. Kigali and New York: SDG Center for Africa and Sustainable Development Solutions Network. UN Women. (2015). The Beijing declaration and platform for action turns 20, Summary Report. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ content/documents/1776The%20Beijing%20Declaration%20and%20 Platform%20for%20Action%20turns%2020.pdf United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2016). 17 Goals to Transform Our World Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainab West African Health Organization. (n.d.). Regional Program on Reproductive Health, Family Planning and HIV / AIDS Prevention in the ECOWAS Region. Retrieved from https://www.wahooas.org/web-ooas-prod/en/projets/prsrregional-program-reproductive-health-family-planning-and-hivaids-prevention-ecowas World Bank Annual Report 2019. (2019). Providing sustainable development solutions. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/annual-report World Bank, International Development Association. (2019). SWEDD in action. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/data/interactive/2019/ 09/17/swedd-in-action Yvonne Uchechukwu Carver  is a registered nurse, a licensed attorney, and a diplomat with a rich and diverse background. She is the Executive Officer at the West African Health Organization. Through her career progression, she has demonstrated a passion for cross-cultural and socio-economic determinants of health. It is her driving ambition to help improve the health of the global community.

CHAPTER 3

Gender Parity Gaps and Poverty: Empowering African Women for No Poverty and Zero Hunger

Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku

Abstract  Since the Beijing Declaration, gender inequality gap and poverty rates have declined in the African region. However, the region still remains at the top of the chart as having the highest incidence of gender inequality and home to the world’s poorest people. This chapter applies current data from the United Nations Human Development Reports, World Bank World Development Indicators and current research data to review the direction and rate of poverty in relation to African women post-­ Beijing. The study finds some progress in closing the gender inequality gap and reducing poverty in Africa, with a remarkable progress in the women financial inclusion rate. To advance this progress and further empower African women for no poverty and zero hunger, the study

C. Ezenwa-Onuaku (*) WealthyGen, Inc., Hyattsville, MD, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_3

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recommends targeted initiatives that promote women’s access to resources and capital, access to financial education and a refocus on agriculture. Keywords  Gender and poverty • Poverty • Gender gaps • Human development • Financial inclusion

Introduction According to the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), about 1.3 billion people live in multidimensional poverty. Poverty encompasses much more than income and includes health, education and living standards dimensions (UNDP, 2018). Although multidimensional poverty can be found in all the developing countries, it is significantly high in sub-Saharan Africa where 560 million people (58 per cent of the population) are living in multidimensional poverty (UNDP, 2018). Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty (those living on US$1.90 a day or less) has declined from 1.9 billion in 1990 to about 735 million in 2015 (Wadhwa, 2018). Although poverty rate continues to fall in other regions of the world, the number of extremely poor people in sub-Saharan Africa continues to rise (Wadhwa, 2018). A recent report by the World Bank (the 2019 Africa’s Pulse) shows that the extreme poverty rate in Africa declined from 54 per cent in 1990 to 41.4 per cent in 2015. However, the number of people living in poverty in Africa increased from 278 million in 1990 to 416.4 million in 2015 due to continued population increase in the continent. The report took a multidimensional approach to poverty and highlighted gender parity gaps in education, access to work and income opportunities, and access to capital as prevalent in many African countries. Klasan and Lamanna (2009) show in their research that increase in female share of labour force participation can lead to faster economic growth and help countries move out of poverty. Since Beijing, significant progress has been made in providing more opportunities for women, improving laws to support economic rights and increasing financial inclusion and access to credit (UN Women, n.d.). However, there is still much to be done to fully involve African women, respect their rights and reposition them for economic growth, no poverty

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and zero hunger. The purpose of this chapter is to review the direction and rate of poverty in relation to sub-Saharan African women post-­Beijing. The review examines key human development indicators for women (1995–2017) for each country to determine the progress made since Beijing, as well as the trajectory of poverty.

Gender Inequality and Poverty Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond income or just living on less than US$1.90 a day. It measures the different deprivations that people face such as hunger and malnutrition, poor health, limited education and marginalisation or exclusions (USAID, 2015). Gender unequal situations mean that men and women have unequal rights and access to household resources and responsibilities, education, healthcare and other societal resources and opportunities. Some level of gender inequality exists in all regions of the world. However, these gaps are prevalent in developing countries (USAID, 2015). According to Sanchez-­ Paramo and Munoz-Boudet (2018), women account for about 50 per cent of the world’s extreme poor, although this does not translate to poverty being gender-neutral. Figure 3.1, Gender Inequality Index (GII) across regions, shows a declining trend in gender inequality for all the regions between 1995 and 2015. However, sub-Saharan Africa remains at the top of the chart with the highest GII. According to Nieuwenhuis, Munzi, Neugschwender, Omar, and Palmisano (2018), gender, poverty and economic inequality are intrinsically linked. A high GII for the sub-Saharan Africa region would, therefore, mean high MPI for the region. Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is a measure of non-income-based dimensions of poverty. The index looks beyond income to identify how people experience poverty across three dimensions: health, education and standard of living (UNDP, 2018). Table 3.1, Multidimensional Poverty Index (2018), shows sub-Saharan Africa as having the highest MPI of 0.315 among all the regions. Although 57.5 per cent of the African population is multidimensionally poor, 44.7 per cent are below the income poverty line. This means that 44.7 per cent live below US$1.90 a day. The data shows that income level alone does not offer a true picture of poverty, because those living below the income poverty line may have access to other resources, not income-based. Therefore, while income expansion is commendable, the fight against poverty should be multidimensional and extend beyond income expansion.

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Gender Inequality Index (GII)

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Year Latin America and the Caribbean Europe and Central Asia South Asia

East Asia and the Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Fig. 3.1  Gender Inequality Index (GII) across regions (1995–2017). (Data from the Databank—World Development Indicators, the World Bank)

Also seen from the data is that standard of living contributes the highest (48.1 per cent) to the overall poverty of deprivation in Africa. Next to this is education (29.6 per cent), with health contributing the least (22.2 per cent) to the overall poverty of deprivation. Figure 3.2 shows poverty headcount ratio at US$1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (per cent of population) across regions. Just as the GII trends, population of Africans living in poverty decreased from 58.9 per cent in 1996 to 41.4 per cent in 2015. However, sub-Saharan Africa remains home to the world’s poorest people. An analysis of the relationship between gender inequality, as measured by the disparities in reproductive health, political empowerment, educational attainment and economic status (USAID, 2015), and poverty shows significant correlation between the two variables for all regions of the world. This means that regions and countries with high gender parity gaps have higher poverty rates than countries or regions with lower gender parity gaps. In Africa, the coefficient of correlation between gender inequality and poverty is very high and statistically significant at +0.99. This suggests that gender parity gaps contribute significantly to the high poverty rates in the sub-Saharan Africa region (Table 3.2).

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Table 3.1  Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) – (2018) Population share

Contribution of deprivation to overall multidimensional poverty (per cent)

Regions

MPI value

Headcount Number of (per cent) poor (thousands)

Arab States East Asia and the Pacific Europe and Central Asia Latin America and the Caribbean South Asia Sub-­ Saharan Africa

0.076 15.7 0.024 5.6

52,251 113,247

4.6 2.1

26.2 27.4

35.3 35.6

38.6 37.0

0.004

1.1

1240

0.6

52.8

23.3

23.9

0.033

7.5

39,324

4.1

35.4

25.7

38.9

548,048 571,884

17.5 44.7

29.2 22.2

27.9 29.6

42.9 48.1

0.142 31.0 0.315 57.5

Below Health income poverty line (per cent)

Education Standard of living

Source: Multidimensional Poverty Index Data, UNDP

Considering the different dimensions of poverty and how they each contribute to the overall poverty of deprivation in Africa, identified below are some factors inherent in the region that shape the bi-directional relationship between gender inequality and poverty: Gender and Time Use According to Blackden and Wodon (2006), both men and women play different roles in the society. However, while men are able to play their multiple roles sequentially, women play their roles simultaneously and must be able to balance the simultaneous competing roles with their limited time. They argue that women have much more constrained flexibility and labour time than men. UN Statistics Division (2010) noted that women generally spend twice as much time in unpaid domestic task as

Poverty Headcount Ratio (% of Population)

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70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

1996

1999

2002

2005

2008 2010 Years

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Asia

Europe & Central Asia

East Asia & Pacific

2011

2012

2013

2015

Latin America & Caribbean

Fig. 3.2  Poverty headcount ratio at US$1.90 a day across regions (1996–2015). (Data from the Databank—World Development Indicators, the World Bank) Table 3.2  Gender inequality and poverty in Africa Description Gender Inequality Index (GII) Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (per cent of population) Correlation coefficient

Correl 2010

2011

2012

2013

2015

0.601 0.593 0.592 0.584 0.579 46.50 45.10 43.90 42.60 41.40 0.99

Source: Databank—World Development Indicators, the World Bank. Correlation coefficient calculated by the author

men. As Blackden and Wodon (2006) stated, “low productivity in many non-market tasks renders them time- and labour-intensive, thus reducing the availability of time to participate in more economically productive activities” (p. 17). This time poverty, according to Gammage (2011), not only affects the current well-being of women but also limits their ability to invest time in expanding their capabilities through education, thereby affecting their future opportunities. In most African homes, especially those who live in poor households, women are more likely to be limited to performing domestic chores and

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farming. Due to the heavy responsibilities for children and housekeeping, women would either not have sufficient time resources to take on other regular higher-paying jobs than farming or would not have invested time in education and training to qualify for higher-paying jobs. Although farming, as a common activity for women in Africa, would not account for time poverty in women by itself, another factor—limitations in access to resources and assets—makes this time poverty in women a truism as discussed below. Limitations in Access to Resources and Assets One of the major determinants of the livelihood available to poor women is access to productive resources and assets—both physical and financial assets (USAID, 2015). As it relates to farming, which is the main source of livelihood for most rural women in Africa, land is a major productive asset and one of the main sources of capital for the poor (Lipton, 2009). However, there are many cultural impediments to the exercise of land rights in Africa, such as the patriarchal system where the father or the eldest male is the head of the family and controls land ownership. As Akinola (2018) stated, “the absence of effective land management and gender construction in land allocations has deepened gender inequality, restricted women’s capacity building and agricultural development in Africa” (p. 1). Just as women are less likely to own land in many African countries, women are also likely to have lower access than men to housing, agricultural equipment, labour, fertiliser and other inputs. Without gender inequality in access to these resources, the productivity of women in agriculture would increase substantially. Also, key to poverty reduction is access to financial assets. Generally, women in developing economies such as in Africa have limited access to financial instruments and are less likely than men to have formal bank accounts and use savings and lending instruments. Due to their limited ownership rights to other physical assets, female entrepreneurs have limited collateral instruments and are therefore less likely to obtain financing. Gender and Education As previously noted, due to time poverty and limitations in access to resources and assets, girls and women living in poor African homes are more likely to have limited access to quality education. Because the girl

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child has to play more domestic roles, available resources are more likely to be allocated to the male child. According to UNESCO (2013), the disadvantages are greatest for the poor households. In its study, as many as nine out of ten poorest young women have not completed primary school. The focus on education includes financial education. According to Musiitawa (2018), about 35 million women in sub-Saharan Africa are excluded from financial services. According to OECD (2006), financially educated individuals are more likely to achieve improved savings culture and to challenge financial service providers to develop products that truly cater to their needs. Financial education would help to close the gender gap in access to financial assets.

Statistical Evidence on Gender Inequality and Poverty in Africa: Post-Beijing In general, the empirical evidence suggests that multidimensional poverty has decreased significantly in Africa post-Beijing. Although no MPI data was available for 1995, the 2018 MPI data from UNDP (2019) for sub-­ Saharan Africa shows that the population of Africans who are multidimensionally poor decreased from 61.9 per cent in 2010 to 57.5 per cent in 2018. The country with the lowest incidence of poor people is South Africa (6.26 per cent measured in 2016), followed by Gabon (14.85 per cent measured in 2012). At the other end of the spectrum is Niger with the highest incidence of poor people (90.47 per cent in 2012). Next to Niger is Chad. However, Chad saw a decrease in its population of poor people from 87.2 per cent in 2010 to 85.67 per cent in 2015. Selected Human Development Indicators (1995–2017) Below is a review of selected human development indicators in relation to gender disparities in Africa between 1995 and 2017. The following are evident among other things: Female Unemployment Rate Figure 3.3 shows total unemployment by gender, with a decreasing unemployment trend for both male and female labour force. However, while the percentage of unemployed female labour force declined by 16 per cent, the male counterpart declined by 18 per cent. Review of total unemployment rate for each African country shows

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that this improvement is not evenly spread. The highest improvement is seen in Kenya with a 51 per cent decline in female to male unemployment ratio, from 2.03 in 1995 to 1.0 in 2017. However, according to Timmis (2018), the jobs women do access tend to be lower quality jobs, mostly in agriculture. Because of this, opportunities exist to increase Kenyan women’s access to jobs in the services and the industry sectors. Niger recorded the lowest female unemployment rate of 0.17 per cent in 2017. Female Labour Force Participation Rate This has remained about the same between 1995 and 2017, although the male labour force participation rate has declined by 4.9 per cent within the same period. About half of the African countries saw a decrease in female labour force participation rate, while about half saw an increase in the same rate, evening out the change. Cape Verde saw the highest improvement, from 47 per cent in 1995 to 65 per cent in 2017. Burkina Faso lost the most women in labour force from 73 per cent in 1995 to 59 per cent in 2017. Figure 3.4 shows labour force participation rates for sub-Saharan Africa between 1995 and 2017. Female Financial Inclusion Rate  There has been a remarkable increase in female financial inclusion rate in Africa. Measured by the percentage of

% of labour force

10.00 9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 Unemployment, % of male labour force

Unemployment, % of female labour force

Fig. 3.3  Unemployment by gender, 1995–2017 (sub-Saharan Africa). (Data from the Databank—Gender Statistics, the World Bank)

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female population aged 15+ who own accounts at a financial institution or with a mobile money service provider, women financial inclusion rate increased significantly for every country where there is availability of data between 2011 and 2017. Democratic Republic of Congo saw the highest increase by almost 800 per cent (from 2 per cent in 2011 to 24 per cent in 2017). Figure 3.5 shows the percentage of female population who own an account with a financial institution or at a mobile money service provider. Generally, financial inclusion rate has increased significantly in Africa from 23 per cent in 2011 to 43 per cent in 2017 (The World Bank, 2019). According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC’s) CEO, Philippe le Houerou (as cited in Shapshak, 2018), it is one of Africa’s great success stories of the decade. A major driver of this remarkable increase is the increasing popularity of digital financial services through mobile money solutions. The mobile money solution has been successful in reaching more people with financial services and products in rural villages and other urban areas where banks do not have branches.

90.00 80.00

% of population

70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 Labour force participation rate, female

Labour force participation rate, male

Fig. 3.4  Labour force participation rate, sub-Saharan Africa (1995–2017). (Data from the Databank—Gender Statistics, the World Bank)

100.00 90.00 80.00 70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00

33

Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Congo, Dem. Rep. Congo, Rep. Gabon Ghana Guinea Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Niger Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Sierra Leone South Africa Togo Uganda Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe

Female account ownership %

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2011

2017

Fig. 3.5  Female account ownership at financial institutions or mobile money service providers (per cent). (Data from the Databank—Gender Statistics, the World Bank)

Female Secondary Education  Percentage of female population, 25 years and above, with at least some secondary education increased remarkably by 62 per cent from 10 (in 1995) to 25 (in 2017). All countries with sufficient data for these periods saw significant increases in female secondary education (Fig. 3.6). Botswana has the highest population of women who have at least some secondary education at 89 per cent in 2017. In Niger, only 4.4 per cent of the women have at least some secondary education. Although Mali has only 7.3 per cent in 2017, it saw the highest increase of 421 per cent (from 1.4 per cent in 1995 to 7.3 per cent in 2017). Recommendations for Achieving No Poverty and Zero Hunger From the above analysis and empirical evidence, policies and other special initiatives targeted at women should address the following three key focus areas: access to resources and assets, access to financial education and refocus on empowering women in agriculture. Addressing these areas would

C. EZENWA-ONUAKU

% female secondary edu. Benin Botswana Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Congo CÙte d'Ivoire Congo (Democratic Republic of the) Gabon Gambia Ghana Kenya Lesotho Liberia Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Namibia Niger Rwanda Senegal Sierra Leone South Africa Sudan Eswatini (Kingdom of) Togo Uganda Tanzania (United Republic of) Zambia Zimbabwe

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1995

2017

Fig. 3.6  Population with at least some secondary education, female (per cent). (Source: Human Development Data, UNDP)

help to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (1 and 2) of No Poverty and Zero Hunger by 2030. Access to Resources and Capital Handley, Higgins, and Sharma (2009) stated that “inequality, exclusion and adverse incorporation are key drivers and maintainers of poverty” (p. 4). While attention must be paid to the deep-rooted cultural practices in Africa that shape inequality and exclusion (such as was discussed on asset ownership and access to other resources and capital), attention must also be paid to the catalytic effects of equity and inclusion to achieving inclusive growth and poverty reduction in the continent. Poverty reduction strategies must also focus on reducing those barriers that restrict female ownership and access to resources, such as restrictions on property inheritance, access to lending instruments and other productive resources. Access to capital includes an emphasis on social capital as a key enabler for poverty reduction. The focus on this area should be on connecting women through different groups to build bonds, bridges and linkages. This will create avenues for networking, empowerment and information

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exchange. Building social capital for women will help to reduce the traditional culture that excludes women from the patriarchal networks of economic and political power (McFerson, 2010). Access to Financial Education Financial education is a catalyst for poverty reduction and inclusive growth. According to Central Bank of Nigeria (2015), financial education can help achieve financial system stability and poverty reduction. Financial education will provide women with the skills, knowledge and confidence on how to make money, manage and grow their financial resources. It will help women to become financially capable. Financially capable consumers have the information and knowledge to assess and take up appropriate financial products. Also, financially literate consumers that are capable of managing, protecting and growing their assets, coupled with viable and strong financial sector, will ultimately lift themselves out of poverty and support overall macroeconomic stability and growth (Central Bank of Nigeria, 2015). African countries should take advantage of the ubiquity of Internet usage and mobile devices to implement a financial education open learning programme to reach more women who may be out of formal education but have access to the Internet and mobile devices. Financial education ensures economic and financial empowerment of individuals and families. Refocus on Empowering Women in Agriculture The need to achieve zero hunger and end poverty by 2030 calls for a refocus on empowering women in agriculture. Many women in poor countries such as in Africa rely on agriculture as the major source of their income. Also, due to time poverty and lack of access to productive resources, many of these women resort to low productive farming, therefore continuing the cycle of poverty. Empowering women in agriculture to end poverty and hunger ensures that women farmers have the same access as men to fertilisers, pest-resistant seeds and other agricultural inputs that help increase their productivity and output. These may best contribute to reducing poverty and hunger. Findings from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID’s) Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index baseline survey show that lack of access to credit and the power to make credit-related decisions are some of the constraints on

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empowering women in agriculture (USAID, 2013). But with the implementation of the recommended “access to resources and capital” as well as “access to financial education,” these constraints can be eliminated.

Conclusion There has been some significant progress made around poverty reduction and achieving zero hunger among African women since the 1995 Beijing Declaration. Gender parity gap and poverty in Africa has decreased; however, Africa remains the home to the world’s poorest people and has the highest incidence of gender inequality. Much progress can still be achieved to end poverty and achieve zero hunger by 2030. Huge gaps still exist around women and their untapped potential. In addition to the recommendations earlier stated, women should be fully involved and their voices should be heard in order to empower them for no poverty and zero hunger by 2030.

References Akinola, A. (2018). Women, culture and Africa’s land reform agenda. Frontiers in Psychology, 23. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02234. Blackden, C., & Wodon, Q. (2006). Gender, time use, and poverty. World Bank Working Paper, 73, 1–172. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-6561-8. Central Bank of Nigeria. (2015). The national financial literacy framework. Retrieved from http://www.cbn.gov.ng/out/2016/cfpd/financial%20 %literacy.pdf Gammage, S. (2011). Gender, time poverty and Amartya Sen’s capacity approach, evidence From Guatemala. In S. H. Chant (Ed.), The international handbook of gender and poverty: Concepts, research, policy (pp.  71–76). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Handley, G., Higgins, K., & Sharma, B. (2009). Poverty and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa: An overview of key issues (ODI Working Paper 299). Retrieved from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/860.pdf Klasan, S., & Lamanna, F. (2009). The impact of gender inequality in education and employment on economic growth: New evidence for a panel of countries. Feminist Economics, 15(3), 91–132. Lipton, M. (2009). Land reform in developing countries: Property rights and property wrongs. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

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McFerson, H. (2010). Poverty among women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review of selected issues. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 11(4), 50–72. Retrieved from https://vc.bridgewater.edu/jiws/vol11/iss4/4 Musiitawa, J. (2018). Africa’s banks must bank on women. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/ cf4e600c-cd6d-11e8-b276-b9069bde0956 Nieuwenhuis, R., Munzi, T., Neugschwender, J., Omar, H., & Palmisano, F. (2018). Gender equality and poverty are intrinsically linked: A contribution to the continued monitoring of selected Sustainable Development Goals. UN Women Discussion Paper. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/media/ headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2018/discussionpaper-gender-equality-and-poverty-are-intrinsically-linked-en.pdf?la= en&vs=4100 OECD. (2006). The importance of financial education (Policy Brief). Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/finance/financial-education/37087833.pdf Sanchez-Paramo, C., & Munoz-Boudet, A. (2018). No, 70% of the world’s poor aren’t women, but that doesn’t mean poverty isn’t sexist. Retrieved from blogs. worldbank.org/developmenttalk/no-70-world-s-poor-aren-t-womendoesn-t-mean-poverty-isn-t-sexist Shapshak, T. (2018). Mobile drives financial inclusion in Africa, growing 20% in past six years. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2018/05/16/mobile-drives-financial-inclusion-in-africa-growing20-in-past-six-years/ The World Bank (2019). DataBank: World development indicators. Retrieved from https://databank.worldbank.org/repor ts.aspx?source=worlddevelopment-indicators Timmis, H. (2018). Jobs in Kenya. 4KD Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. UNDP. (2018). Beyond income: A broader picture of poverty. Retrieved from https://feature.undp.org/multidimensional-poverty/ UNDP. (2019). Human development reports. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp. org/en/data UNESCO. (2013). Girls education – The facts. Education for all global monitoring report. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/ MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/GMR/images/2011/girls-factsheet-en.pdf UN Statistics Division. (2010). The world’s women 2010: trends and statistics. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/products/ worldswomen/ww2010pub.cshtml UN Women. (n.d.). Women and poverty. Retrieved from https://beijing20. unwomen.org/en/in-focus/poverty#top

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USAID. (2013). Measuring progress toward empowerment: Women’s empowerment in agriculture index: Baseline report. Retrieved from http://www.ifpri.org/ publication/measuring-progress-toward-empowerment USAID. (2015). Gender and extreme poverty. Getting to Zero: A USAID Discussion Series. Retrieved from https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/Gender_Extreme_Poverty_Discussion_Paper.pdf Wadhwa, D. (2018). The number of extremely poor people continues to rise in sub-­ Saharan Africa. Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/ number-extremely-poor-people-continues-rise-sub-saharan-africa World Bank Group. (2019). Empowering African women, accelerating poverty reduction in Africa. Africa’s Pulse, 20, 1–97. https://doi.org/10.1596/ 978-1-4648-1509-6. Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku  is a Nigerian-born US-based chartered economist, accountant, and corporate finance executive. She is the founder and CEO of WealthyGen, a non-profit organisation providing financial empowerment programmes for women and youth. She is an adjunct professor of finance and a fintech expert designing and implementing financial education programmes.

CHAPTER 4

Human Rights as Inalienable Rights: An Assessment of the Realities of African Women

Abolaji Adewale Obileye, Joan Mbagwu, and Isaiah Adisa

Abstract  Human rights constitute an inherent attribute of every human being regardless of social, economic, biological and geographical differences. It is expected that no person in any region should experience anything contrary to the prescription of nature and law. Sadly, that is not the reality in the world. The realities of African women paint an even worse picture. This chapter reviewed the realities of African women regarding human rights, their challenges and the implications of gender inequality for Africa. Most African women are still denied basic rights, and they experience discrimination in every sphere of life. The socio-cultural and political structure of the African countries ensures this is a continuing experience even after world leaders have initiated policies to reduce gender

A. A. Obileye (*) • J. Mbagwu Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria I. Adisa Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_4

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inequalities. Appropriate recommendations are made in this chapter to change the status quo. Keywords  Africa • African women • Human rights • Realities • Women

Introduction One of the basic features of human rights is their inalienability, which means that such rights are embedded in the bloodstream of every individual (Brown, 2016). Throughout the world, human rights are innate regardless of the physical, socio-economic, political and psychological status of an individual. Human rights are intrinsic; they are inborn. However, Nasr (2016) highlights the fact that very few people will agree to the inalienability aspect of human rights. In reality, there are differences in the meaning and application of the concept of human rights. This paper seeks to review the realities of African women in relation to human rights. Globally, it is no longer news that the negatives of gender-related issues—violence against women, sexual harassment, discouraging girl-­ child education, discrimination against women, female genital mutilation, maternal mortality, among others—have become one set of the most persistent evils of our times (Jakobsdóttir, 2019). These highlighted issues are basic infringements of the human rights of women and the girl child that have generated and will continue to generate strong reactions, uproar and interventions, at both national and international levels. Essentially, the current relatively improved reality of women has been attained through the relentless efforts of fearless women in different groups supported by both governmental and non-governmental organisations. An epochal moment in this journey was the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in 1995—Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Conference was critical in building momentum in the agitation for gender equality across the globe (United Nations, 2014). One key message that became like the anthem of the Conference was Hillary Clinton’s remark that “Human rights are women’s rights … And women’s rights are human rights” (Esfandiari, 2014). This reflection was an indictment of the system (with its irregularities) which did not recognise women as equal citizens.

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Although some countries have achieved better results in the fight against the denial of women’s rights, the overall result at the global level is still relatively insignificant. Over 50% of the world population (i.e. the proportion made up by women) is disenfranchised, disempowered and restricted from reaching their goals (Sonenshine, 2014). Women are under-represented in key political and economic positions at either public or private sectors (de Alwis, 2014). Regrettably, the experience of African women is worse off, being greater in scale (compared to women in other regions) because they also suffer various kinds of abuse and discrimination at every corner (United Nations Population Fund, 2019). The effect of such abuse is seen in the increasing rate of maternal mortality and women’s retaliation against men in the region. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action addresses critical areas necessary to affirm women’s rights as human rights from the global North to the global South. These areas reflect and address issues of poverty, education, health, violence, power, armed conflict, economy, media and environment. Collectively, these areas would, when given the necessary attention, ensure economic prosperity, peace-making, peace-building, growth, sustenance and development of the world for all humanity, not just womenfolk.

Realities of African Women in Relation to Human Rights Twenty-five years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, it has been a mixed story regarding the pursuit of gender equality. The results so far have been uneven: some regions have moved up the ladder while others have been retrogressing since the Beijing Conference in 1995. The latter situation appears to define the realities of African women in terms of human rights. Although some countries like Rwanda, Namibia, South Africa, Burundi and Uganda are at a commendable level in terms of gender equality, the discrimination against women in other parts of Africa remains apologetic (Ighobor, 2019; World Economic Forum, 2018). In the view of John (2019), Africa’s poor scorecard on human rights is an indicator of poverty rates, unemployment crisis, gender pay gaps, gender-­ based violence and lack of social services.

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Goal 5 “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls” of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has not received a great deal of attention in Africa compared to other regions of the world. John (2019) noted that to achieve gender equality by the year 2030 (the target year set for the Goal) will be a mirage since no single country is fully transforming its laws and policies to achieve the goal of the Beijing Conference. The report of the World Economic Forum (2020) indicated that gender gaps can be closed in 54 years in Western Europe, 59 years in America, 95 years in sub-Saharan Africa, 140 years in the Middle East and North Africa, and 163 years in East Asia and the Pacific. On a three-area scale of measurement—educational attainment, political empowerment and economic participation—there exist different dynamics regarding Africans in terms of the yardsticks to measure gender inequality issues in Africa. Consider educational attainment, for example. At the primary school level, the gender gap seems close to parity while it is massive at both secondary and tertiary levels (World Bank, 2017). A recent report by the World Economic Forum (2020) claimed that 35 countries had achieved full parity on educational attainment with only 3 of the countries from sub-Saharan Africa and 1 in North Africa. Also, eight countries in Africa are yet to close more than 20% of their gaps: Togo (77.8%), Angola (75.9%), Mali (75.7%), Benin (73.3%), Yemen (71.7%), Guinea (68.0%), Congo DR (65.8%) and Chad (58.9%). These are pointers that gender gap remains wide in Africa on educational attainment. Chichester, Pluess, Lee, and Taylor (2017) argued that gender gaps in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math restrict women from securing technical and high-level positions. This position is supported by the unspoken bias against educating the African woman since the culture expects her to leave school or work in order to get married and raise children. Aside from cultural inclinations, the educational attainment of African women is affected by early marriage, adolescent pregnancy and school costs (Chichester et  al., 2017). Since the Beijing Conference, UNESCO has introduced different strategies to bridge the wide gap between male and female educational attainment globally. UNESCO’s programme “Better Life, Better Future” (Global partnership for girls’ and women’s education), introduced in 2011, paved the way for other programmes like girls’ and women’s education using Information Communication Techologies (ICTs) in Senegal and Nigeria in 2012, Malala Fund for Girls’ Education in 2013, UNESCO/HNA partnership—a 2014–2018 framework agreement to fund girls’ and women’s education in Africa and South Asia (UNESCO, 2015). All these

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programmes represent phenomenal progress being made to close the gender gap on educational attainment since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Political empowerment is another core area where women are severely under-represented (United Nations, 2014), and no single country has fully closed the gap (World Economic Forum, 2020). According to Dominic, Amodu, Azuh, Toluwalope, and Oluwatoyin (2017), Rwanda has the highest level (57.5%) of women in politics, Senegal (42.7%) and South Africa (40%), while countries like Swaziland (14.7%), Burkina Faso (13.3%), Mali (9.5%), Congo DR (8.2%) and Nigeria (6.6%) are still lagging. Although attitudes and awareness of African women’s right in public and political life have improved since the Beijing Conference, it has not led to significant changes. The area with the widest gender gap globally is economic participation, and this is regardless of how improved women educational attainment is in this age. This gap has made some countries to rank as the best performers, while the rest occupy the bottom position. Among the ten best performers on economic participation and opportunity, four are from sub-Saharan Africa, namely Benin (84.7%), Burundi (83.7%), Zambia (83.1%) and Guinea (80.3%) (World Economic Forum, 2018, 2020). However, having just 4 countries out of the 54 countries in Africa do not exactly represent the region well. Considering women registering businesses, signing contracts, getting employed, choosing where to live in the same way as men, the Democratic Republic of Congo improved the most, measuring 70% in 2017 as against their previous score of 42.50% a decade ago (Ighobor, 2019; Picheta & Mirchandani, 2019). In fact, the legal requirement that wives obey their husbands was also removed by Congo DR. An earlier study by Jayachandran (2015) revealed that the number of females in the labour force is abnormally low in the Middle East and North Africa. Aside from their level of participation, men often earn more than women in essentially all societies. African women, like women in other developing regions, have relatively less control over their lives than those in developed countries. This is because some husbands prevent their wives from working, they determine when they go out, where they go, whom they hang out with and when the wives return late or challenge their authority, the wives tend to be battered. Discrimination in the area of family law remains a challenge in sub-­ Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and even South Asia.

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Importantly, inheritance rights have been a male-dominated affair in Africa from the earliest of time to date. On the continent, gender inequality when it comes to land and other resources is often related to poverty, inadequate legal standards and implementation, discriminatory cultural practices at the institutional and community level (African Union Commission & United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2017; United Nations, 2014). There are a few positives here. Sierra Leone and Guinea have granted equal rights for both men and women in their constitution, evidence of the impact of the Beijing Platform of Action. According to the United Nations Population Fund (2019), gender-­ based violence is one of the heights of women’s and girls’ rights violation across the globe with some countries less tolerant than the rest. African women’s realities in this regard have been most deplorable. Women in Africa are often at the receiving end as reported by existing studies. Findings of Temmerman et  al. (2019) showed that 32% of females in Kenya had experienced sexual violence before they became 18 years old. Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (2017) also indicated that armed men and community members in Sudan had used sexual violence as a weapon of war, targeting marginalised women to destabilise and victimise communities. Another study conducted by Yaya, Kunnuji, and Bishwajit (2019) in Angola affirmed that intimate partner violence is a widespread phenomenon in Africa with significant medical implications for the victims. The study revealed that women in Angola sustained physical, psychological and emotional injuries from their intimate partners. Groves et al. (2015) discovered that over 20% of all women experienced at least one act of sexual, psychological or physical intimate partner violence during pregnancy.

Challenges Confronting African Women in the Drive for Gender Equality Legal discrimination remains the topmost rationale behind the under-­ representation of women in all spheres of life. This is simply not just Africa’s reality, but a global challenge. As at 2016, the World Bank Group revealed there was no legal backing for women against domestic violence in Lesotho, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger. Earlier,

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Jayachandran (2015) had noted that most states in Africa still hold firmly to the cultural belief of a male-dominated society where men are meant to lead and direct and be at the helm of affairs of the people. Consequently, core issues affecting the female gender are given less attention politically, further increasing the gap between men and women, as against the spirit and letter of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. African women are under-represented politically and economically compared to these six countries: France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg and Latvia, which give men and women equal rights (Picheta & Mirchandani, 2019). The cultural system of Africa has further widened the gender gap by assigning different duties, responsibilities and opportunities to men and women as supported by religion (African Union Commission & United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2017). Indeed, cultural heritage remains strong in Africa despite its dilution by the wave of globalisation of the twenty-first century. Within Africa, most leaders are still bent on following cultural traditions at the expense of the common good, which can be realised by also making room for capable and viable women in different industries. Relatively few women are provided with the opportunity to excel. Most who have broken through the glass ceiling are the determined ones who fought their way into the system. The success stories and reputation of African women like Sahle-Work Zewde, Amina Mohammed, Isabel dos Santos, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Folorunsho Alakija, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, Lucinda Evans, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, among others, are a testament to the ability of the woman race to contribute to the emancipation of the globe (Shaban, 2019).

Implications of Gender Inequality for Africa The implication of the slow pace of achieving gender equality in Africa, for instance, will elongate Africa’s expected time for economic prosperity, growth and development across all sectors. The uneven representation in key decision-making process and discrimination against African women will further make Africa less relevant in the global world. It puts in jeopardy the African Union’s Agenda 2063 that seeks to transform Africa into the global powerhouse of the future, which plan could end up as a mirage (see African Union, 2015). Dominic et al. (2017) asserted that the failure to include women in all spheres of life is responsible for the continued

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underdevelopment of African nations associated with weaker governance, poor quality of life, slower economic growth and poverty. A more recent article by Ighobor (2019) argued that sub-Saharan Africa was losing the sum of US$95 billion yearly because of the gender gap in the labour market. The argument is reinforced by the statement of the Interim President of the World Bank Group, President Kristalina Georgieva, that “if women have equal opportunities to reach their full potential, the world would not only be fairer, it would be more prosperous as well”. The United Nations (2020) also make the same argument that granting womenfolk equal access to decent work, education, health care and their inclusion in the key socio-political and economic decision-­ making process will benefit societies and humanity as a whole.

Recommendations for Africa The richness of the African cultural system and its prioritisation of male needs and leadership need to be reviewed in the interest of the greater good. This is important to give room to the most populous citizenry (i.e. the womenfolk) who possess quality skills and abilities to support the cause of Africa’s development. In order to position African women to achieve UN’s SDG 5 of gender equality, it is expedient for administrators in Africa to design and implement policies that will promote gender equality and empower women in both rural and urban centres. This they can ensure by investing in key infrastructures—information and communication technology, education, safely managed water, sustainable transport and legislation. Crucially, government should remove all laws that hinder women’s progress including those restricting them from familial inheritance. There is an urgent need for organisations—local, international, public and private—to channel funds to support African women in education and entrepreneurship. Women’s rights activists within and outside the shores of Africa need to use all platforms to fight against those cultural underpinnings that infringe on the rights of women. Digital advocacy for greater public investments and incentives to keep girls in school and encourage more engagement in science and technology-related subjects will also support gender equality in Africa. An enabling environment should be created by the government, working together with civil society and the private sector, for African women to enjoy their inalienable rights for the sake of rebranding, reshaping and resuscitating the fading glory of Africa.

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Conclusion The notion that human rights are inherent rights enjoyed equally by both men and women across the globe is far from present realities. Gender inequality, discrimination and wanton infringements of women’s rights raise curiosity as to whether women’s rights are also inalienable human rights. Sadly, this situation is more prevalent in Africa even after 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. While there have been some positive changes since the Beijing Conference, there are yet, more desired changes, particularly for African women regarding their human rights. Following the 1995 Beijing Conference, several laws, conventions, policies and interventions were put in place to protect women’s rights and promote gender equality in Africa. However, there is no rigorous implementation of these; also, unflinching advocacy to affirm the status of women’s rights as inalienable human rights is lacking. In the absence of both, the gender gap in all ramifications would continue to widen. Hence, all hands must be on deck to ensure the full implementation of appropriate laws, conventions, principles and policies on infringements of women’s rights across the globe.

References African Union. (2015). Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want (pp.  1–25). ISBN: 978-92-95104-23-5. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/ pdf/au/agenda2063.pdf African Union Commission and United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2017). Women’s rights in Africa (pp.  1–56). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?Ne wsID=21312&LangID=E Brown, G. (2016). The universal declaration of human rights in the 21st century: A living document in a changing world. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers. Chichester, O., Pluess, J.  D., Lee, M., & Taylor, A. (2017). Women’s economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Recommendations for business action (pp. 1–68). The Business of a Better World (BSR). De Alwis, R.  S. (2014). Delivering on the promise of the Beijing platform for action. In K. Heideman, C. Nietsche, J. C. Romano, E. White, M. Fetterly, & E.  Parker (Eds.), Beijing+20 looking back and the road ahead: Reflections on milestones in women’s leadership in the 21st century (pp.  3–4). The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

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Dominic, A., Amodu, L., Azuh, A.  E., Toluwalope, O., & Oluwatoyin, M. A. (2017). Factors of gender inequality and development among selected low human development countries in sub-Saharan Africa. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 22(2), 1–7. Esfandiari, H. (2014). Revisiting the Beijing declaration. In K.  Heideman, C.  Nietsche, J.  C. Romano, E.  White, M.  Fetterly, & E.  Parker (Eds.), Beijing+20 looking back and the road ahead: Reflections on milestones in women’s leadership in the 21st century (pp.  1–2). The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Retrieved from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/ default/files/beijing%2B20_look ing_back_and_the_road_ahead.pdf Groves, A. K., Moodley, D., McNaughton-Reyes, L., Martin, S. L., Foshee, V., & Maman, S. (2015). Prevalence, rates and correlates of intimate partner violence among South African women during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(3), 487–495. Ighobor, K. (2019). Economic empowerment of women good for all. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2019-july-2019/ economic-empowerment-women-good-all Jakobsdóttir, K. (2019). Gender inequality is one of the most persistent evils of our times. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/17/opinions/ katrn-jakobsdttir-gender-inequality-intl/index.html# Jayachandran, S. (2015). The roots of gender inequality in developing countries. The Annual Review of Economics, 7, 63–88. John, T. (2019). No country will achieve gender equality by 2030. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/03/world/gender-equality-report-intl/ index.html Nasr, L. (2016). Are human rights really ‘Universal, Inalienable and Indivisible’? The London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved from https:// blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2016/09/14/are-human-rights-really-universalinalienable-and-indivisible/ Picheta, R., & Mirchandani, K. (2019). Only six countries have equal rights for men and women, World Bank finds. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn. com/2019/03/02/europe/world-bank-gender-equality-report-intl/ index.html Shaban, A. R. A. (2019). Two Africans on 2019 Forbes 100 most powerful women list. Retrieved from https://www.africanews.com/2019/12/16/two-africanson-2019-forbes-100-most-powerful-women-list// Sonenshine, T. (2014). We the people. In K. Heideman, C. Nietsche, J. C. Romano, E. White, M. Fetterly, & E. Parker (Eds.), Beijing+20 looking back and the road ahead: Reflections on milestones in women’s leadership in the 21st century (p. 15). The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa. (2017). It’s always her fault: Sexual violence in Sudan. Kampala, Uganda: SIHA.

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Temmerman, M., Ogbe, E., Manguro, G., Khandwalla, I., Thiongo, M., & Mandaliya, K.  N. (2019). The gender-based violence and recovery centre at Coast Provincial General Hospital, Mombasa, Kenya: An integrated care model for survivors of sexual violence. PLoS Med, 16(8), e1002886. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002886. United Nations. (2020). Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ gender-equality/ United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2015). Re-thinking women’s empowerment and gender equality in 2015 and beyond. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/ HQ/BSP/GENDER/PDF/BPEN.pdf United Nations Human Rights. (2014). Women’s rights are human rights. Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Events/ WHRD/WomenRightsAreHR.pdf United Nations Population Fund. (2019). The inter-agency minimum standards for gender-based violence in emergencies programming. Retrieved from https:// reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/19_200_minimun_standards_report_english_nov_1.final_pdf World Bank. (2017). World Bank open data. Retrieved from http://data. worldbank.org/ World Economic Forum. (2018). Global gender gap report 2018. Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from https://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gapreport-2018/sub-sahara n-africa/ World Economic Forum. (2020). Global gender gap report 2020. Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum. Yaya, S., Kunnuji, M. O. N., & Bishwajit, G. (2019). Intimate partner violence: A potential challenge for women’s health in Angola. Challenges, 10(21), 1–11. Abolaji Adewale Obileye  is an astute researcher teaching at the Department of Criminology, Security, Peace and Conflict Studies, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria. He holds MSc in Sociology from Olabisi Onabanjo University, AgoIwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria. His research interests are not limited to human rights, recidivism, entrepreneurship, crime, and corruption. Joan Mbagwu  holds a BA (Ed), in English Education from University of Ilorin; MA, in Conflict Resolution and Management, Macgregor School of Antioch University, USA; and PhD, in Defense and Strategic Studies from Babcock University, Nigeria. She is the HOD of Criminology, Security, Peace and Conflict Studies, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria.

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Isaiah Adisa  is an astute researcher with BSc and MSc degrees in Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria. His research interests focus on, but are not limited to, industrial relations and human resources management, organisations strategy, and gender-related studies.

CHAPTER 5

Is Violence Against Women Systemic in Africa? An Enquiry to Change the Status Quo

Abolaji Adewale Obileye and Oluchi Enapeh

Abstract  Globally, women have constantly been subjected to various forms of abuse that limit their socio-economic contributions. Fortunately, in more recent times, various interventions have been made, championed by courageous women and non-governmental organisations, to change the narrative of women across the world. However, the outcome has not been encouraging as evidenced by the exposure of inhumane treatment of the female gender through social media platforms. Particularly in Africa, reports of domestic violence against women are prevalent on the continent, which, sadly, are not duly addressed. Socio-cultural factors across the continent contribute to the systemic nature of violence against women. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 sets laudable targets on gender equality and women empowerment towards the year 2030, which Africa may struggle to achieve given her current trajectory. A

A. A. Obileye (*) • O. Enapeh Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_5

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paradigm shift is critical to dealing with the systemic issue of violence against women for the greater good, to achieve the Africa we want. Keywords  Africa • Change • Violence • Violence against women • Women

Introduction Violence against women (VAW) is one of the major threats affecting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, which focused on gender equality and empowering all women and girls by 2030. VAW is more than just a human rights violation. It is also a core public health issue warranting urgent attention across the globe today (Garcia-Moreno & Amin, 2019; WHO, 2019). In its entirety, violence against women encompasses physical abuse, social abuse, economic abuse and psychological abuse which are prevalent in both the developing and the developed nations (Medie, 2019). The dynamics differ in these nations, but the reality—women’s maltreatment by either intimate or non-intimate partners— remains the same everywhere. WHO (2019) reports that one out of every three women in the world is faced with gender-based violence, a staggering figure equivalent to one billion of the total population of Africans. This underlines how worrisome the case is and the need for more proactive and reactive responses from all stakeholders: governmental agencies, non-governmental bodies and private individuals. Certainly, the victims of such violence perpetrated by either intimate partners or non-intimate partners suffer both acute and chronic pains. Even in mild cases, victims sustain bruises, injuries and scars while in extreme cases, violence against women has culminated in the increasing rate of maternal mortality (DeVries et  al., 2014; Mohammed, 2019). The global account of violence against women has been sustained by legal frameworks, cultural patterns and political structures in different countries. African nations, for instance, have been lax in the fight against gender-based violence in its entirety, unlike the developed nations. This was why a recent study by Beyene, Chojenta, Roba, Melka, and Loxton (2019) confirmed gender-based violence as high in the region. In the

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same vein, Mohammed (2019) revealed that over 75% of girls in Niger and Chad marry before the legal age of 18. These girls often drop out of school, become pregnant and sustain pregnancy complications due to their age. A further emphasis on the degrading treatment of women in Africa was highlighted subsequently. In response to the violation of women’s rights (which are also part of human rights) in countries across the world, several proactive and reactionary methods, strategies and interventions have been undertaken at local, regional and continental levels. One of such interventions that was epochal in effect was the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action initiative of 1995, where strong emphasis was laid on the fight against all forms of discrimination against women around the world. Through this initiative, supported by some fearless African women like Rose Lokissim, Radha Poonoosamy, Huda Shaarawi, Mulatto Solitude and local/international bodies, the untold hardship and oppression womenfolk were hitherto subjected to in Africa have lessened compared to the period before the Beijing Declaration. However, there is still a long way to go in the fight against women oppression in Africa. However, an important victory that has been won is the growing consciousness around the globe, including Africa, of the issue of gender inequality culminating in its inclusion as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Given the slew of legislation, conventions and treaties seeking to eliminate gender-based violence, it is worrying that one of the most pervasive issues of the twenty-first century remains violence against women, particularly in Africa. This chapter will, therefore, seek to understand why this is the case by reviewing literature on the existence of violence against women on the African continent, risk factors associated with it and challenges to the fight against it, before closing with suggestions on the possible way forward.

Situation Report and Risk Factors of Violence Against Women in Africa Prior to the Beijing Declaration, there were incalculable gender inequality issues across the world, violence against women inclusive. The absence of adequate gender-disaggregated statistics on the incidence made it more worrisome (United Nations, 1996). Until data became available and accessible, there was little or no significant effort taken to rescue

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womenfolk from their precarious state. Following the Declaration of Beijing Platform for Action and subsequent programmes and policies developed in recent times, the experience of women in both public and private spaces has been highlighted, discussed and improved. Although the battle against violence against women is still very much ongoing in the twenty-first century, the role played by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Africa to elevate gender issues to the top of the public agenda cannot be downplayed. Reports of violence against women in Africa are encompassing: child marriage, human trafficking, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, elder abuse and sexual violence are all included (Medie, 2019). The 1994 Rwandan genocide, which prominently featured attacks on women and children, remains a sad reminder to the world of how vulnerable women are on the African soil and how easily their basic human rights could be violated. Inevitably, an accusing finger would be pointed at the system that permits such gross violations against women. This corresponds with the views of Makhunga (2014) and Malan, Spedding, and Sorsdah (2018) who hold that violence against women is systemic in Africa. The World Health Organisation (2013) declared that the highest prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) (65.64%) was reported in the African region, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. A major worrisome form of this IPV was said to occur during pregnancy in low- and middle-­ income countries (Malan, Spedding, & Sorsdah, 2018). This was gruesome as it could affect both the life of the mother and that of the unborn child. DeVries et  al. (2014) revealed that the rates of violence women sustained from their partners occurred between the range of 27% and 48%. Using South Africa as an example, studies carried out by Graham-Kevan and Archer (2011) and Connor-Smith, Henning, Moore, and Holdford (2011) revealed that the most common form of abuse experienced by women in South Africa was physical violence (46%), then emotional abuse and controlling behaviours (44%), followed by sexual violence (24%) (Malan, Spedding, & Sorsdah, 2018). Outcome of a survey carried out by Epstein, Bendavid, Nash, Charlebois, and Weiser (2020) on 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa revealed that drought was associated with measures of IPV towards women with significant relationship among unemployed women and adolescent girls. The study further confirmed heterogeneity in the relationships across countries in the region. To support this view, an earlier study by Benebo, Schumann, and Vaezghasemi (2018) affirmed that higher women’s status

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reduced the odds of IPV while men’s attitude and community norms propagated the increasing occurrence of violence against women in Nigeria. Findings of Koen et al. (2016) showed that 544 mothers from socially disadvantaged peri-urban communities outside Cape Town had experienced violence by their partners within the preceding year to their study. In Liberia, sexual abuse and exploitation was the order of the day with children as majority of victims, while Sierra Leone had a multifaceted nature of violence against women and its inter-linkages (United Nations Mission in Liberia, 2016). United Nations Women global database recorded that 39% of girls and women between the age range of 15 and 49 had intimate partners violently abusing them physically and/or sexually at least once in their lifetime, while women within the same age bracket abused by non-partners was 3%. The issue of child marriages was also prevalent in Liberia, while 50% of the girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 had undergone female genital mutilation in most African countries from millennium till date (Make Every Woman Count, 2016; UN Women, 2013, 2016). Undoubtedly, violence against women has detrimental effects on them and their children. These effects, according to Beyene et al. (2019), manifest in the form of injuries, sexually transmitted infections, mental health disorders, adverse pregnancy outcomes, reproductive health issues, physical disability, chronic pain, depression, poverty, risk of non-communicable diseases, among others. Existing studies attributed violence against women to substance abuse, parental violence, childhood experience, mental illness, educational status, place of residence and marital status (Aborisade, Adedayo, & Shontan, 2019; Sanjel, 2015; Steiner, 2018).

Challenges Affecting the Agitation Against Violence Against Women in Africa The report of Steiner (2017) on the International Women’s Day celebration and 16 days of activism, with the theme “Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls”, highlighted one of the guiding principles of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 as ending violence that leaves women and girls behind on every part of the world. However, this goal may prove difficult to achieve in Africa, given that a significant number of women are still left behind, having suffered and still suffering from

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violence of many different kinds. There are challenges facing the agitation for a violence-free experience for women and the girl-child in Africa. These challenges will be explained using legal frameworks, cultural underpinnings, leadership orientation and interest. Sibanda-Moyo, Khonje, and Brobbey (2017) noted the existence of a myriad of laws and interventions made by both the state and non-state actors on violence against women in South Africa, but observed that they still experience high rates of violence. These authors and other scholars have linked structural problems, contemporary social problems and violent legacy of the apartheid era as formidable forces contending with efforts to eliminate violence against women in South Africa. Generally, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action from the earliest time to date has necessitated the enactment of several laws and interventions in most African countries. However, given little or no commitment from governments (at different levels), violence against women has remained prevalent on the continent. A non-governmental organisation, Africa Renewal (2019), looked at the role of culture, noting that it was considered culturally wrong for women to speak up in public. As a result, many women would end up as victims of violence and not seek any redress. Gregg (2014) argued that one of the factors that blocked the progress of violence against women was the concept of “normalisation”. This implies that violence against women has become the order of the day, which is no longer shocking due to its high rate of occurrence. Sibanda-Moyo, Khonje, and Brobbey (2017), on their part, point to the lack of political will, reflective in the non-committal of funds to fight violence against women, as well as the ineffective coordination among stakeholders of collaboration based on differences in what they are supposed to do. From the foregoing, it is so much the absence of laws, conventions and intervention at the local, regional and continental levels as much as their rigorous implementation that is working against efforts to end the perpetration of violence on women in Africa.

Recommendations to Position African Women to Achieve UN’s SDG 5 From the dawn of time till date, activism has been a significant source of social change. Certainly the same tool of activism can be employed to great effect in battling violence against women in Africa. In this regard, it

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is incumbent on all, given the fact that it is an issue that affects everyone without exceptions—all are stakeholders—to join in the fight to end violence against women everywhere on the continent. Governmental bodies, women’s groups, public prosecutors, religious leaders, civil society organisations, traditional/community leaders and all people of goodwill, at home and in the diaspora, share a common responsibility to push for change in the status quo rather than maintaining the existing oppressive system that alienates women from their basic rights. African women, in particular, being the stakeholders most affected, need to raise their heads and voices high at all times in the face of any form of violence against them. To them alone belong the challenge of establishing themselves as a force to reckon with in the development of the African race. Addressing violence against women is critical at the local and community level where much of the violation of women’s rights takes place against the spirit and letter of laws passed at the national level to protect womenfolk from abuses. Local forums should be created for discussing issues of violence against women under the auspices of traditional heads and be duly monitored/supervised by elected authorities and civil society groups. Digital advocacy is another important tool to employ in this age when all things have gone digital. Digital advocacy is activism that is done online or promoted via digital channels such as the Internet and social media. By creating hashtag campaigns like #WomanIsHuman, #VAWisEvil or #WeHuman similar to #TimesUp, #MeToo, or #NiUnaMenos, digital advocacy can be used to sensitise and increase awareness of the pressing issue (violence of any kind) and its detrimental effects on the individual, family members, community and the nation as a whole. It can also be used to call out offenders of laws, protect women’s rights and bring pressure to bear on public agencies and officials who are supposed to enforce those laws. It is crystal clear that the goal of attaining gender equality by 2030 will only come to reality if all present challenges militating against efforts to address gender-based violence are eliminated. Eliminating them will require all stakeholders joining forces to push for change in the status quo. Laws, conventions and interventions in place to protect women’s rights must be made to work and institutionalised. Offenders of such laws must be appropriately punished to serve as a deterrent to others, and there must be a system in place that will help to heal both the direct and indirect victims. International bodies such as the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, United Nations

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Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) also have a role to play. They should intensify their intervention programmes and support for African women in countries where women face violent abuses, such as Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Conclusion The question of whether violence against women is systemic in Africa seems historical. The experience of African women today, despite gains made since the Beijing Declaration, remains worrisome due to the prevailing cultural underpinnings, leadership orientation and legislative frameworks in nations across the continent. The societal change required is yet to be attained, and the fact that Africa lags in the fight against violence faced by women is probably a pointer to the systemic nature of the problem. As with all systemic problems, a paradigm shift is required to address the situation, support the health and opportunities for women to hold power and enhance developmental efforts in Africa. The paradigm shift is very pertinent if Africa is to achieve the UN’s SDG 5 before or by 2030.

References Aborisade, R. A., Adedayo, S. S., & Shontan, A. R. (2019). Spousal homicide in Nigeria: Socio-psychological profiles of men who kill their wives. Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 8(1), 488–502. Africa Renewal (2019). Nigerian women say ‘no’ to gender-based violence. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/nigerian-women-say-%E2% 80%98no%E2% 80%99-gender-based-violence Benebo, F. O., Schumann, B., & Vaezghasemi, M. (2018). Intimate partner violence against women in Nigeria: A multilevel study investigating the effect of women’s status and community norms. BMC Women’s Health, 18(136), 1–17. Beyene, A.  S., Chojenta, C., Roba, H.  S., Melka, A.  S., & Loxton, D. (2019). Gender-based violence among female youths in educational institutions of Sub-­ Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic Reviews, 8(59), 1–14. Connor-Smith, J.  K., Henning, K., Moore, S., & Holdford, R. (2011). Risk assessments by female victims of intimate partner violence: Predictors of risk perceptions and comparison to an actuarial measure. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26, 2517–2550.

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DeVries, K. M., Child, J. C., Bacchus, L. J., Mak, J., Falder, G., Graham, K., & Heise, L. (2014). Intimate partner violence victimization and alcohol ­consumption in women: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Addiction, 109, 379–391. Epstein, A., Bendavid, E., Nash, D., Charlebois, E. D., & Weiser, S. D. (2020). Drought and intimate partner violence towards women in 19 countries in sub-­ Saharan Africa during 2011–2018: A population-based study. PLOS Medicine, 17(3), 1–17. Garcia-Moreno, C., & Amin, A. (2019). Violence against women: Where are we 25 years after ICPD and where do we need to go. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 27(1), 1–4. Graham-Kevan, N., & Archer, J. (2011). Violence during pregnancy: Investigating infanticidal motives. Journal of Family Violence, 26, 453–458. Gregg, M. R. (2014). An incomplete transition? Explaining the ongoing prevalence of violence against women in post-apartheid South Africa. Vancouver: School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University. Koen, N., Brittain, K., Donald, K. A., Barnett, S. K., Mare, K., Zar, H. J., & Stein, D. J. (2016). Psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: Risk factors and associations with birth outcomes in the Drakenstein child health study. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 7(1), 281–299. Make Every Woman Count. (2016). African women’s decade 2010–2020: Mid-­ term review. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/ events/2018/201803 15/AfricanWomenDecade.pdf Makhunga, L. D. (2014). South African Parliament and blurred lines: The ANC Women’s League and the African National Congress’ gendered political narrative. Agenda, 28(2), 33–47. Malan, M., Spedding, M. F., & Sorsdah, K. (2018). The prevalence and predictors of intimate partner violence among pregnant women attending a midwife and obstetrics unit in the Western Cape. Global Mental Health, 5(1), 1–13. Medie, P. A. (2019). Women and violence in Africa. In Oxford research encyclopedia of African history. Mohammed, A. (2019). Ending violence against women and girls in the Sahel: Crucial for sustainable development. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/ december-2018-march-2019/ ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-sahel-crucial-sustainable Sanjel, S. (2015). Gender-based violence: A crucial challenge for public health. Kathmandu University Medical Journal, 11(2), 179–184. Sibanda-Moyo, N., Khonje, E., & Brobbey, M. K. (2017). Violence against women in South Africa: A country in crisis 2017 (pp. 1–80). Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. Retrieved from https://www.csvr.org.za/pdf/ CSVR-Violence-Against-Women-in-SA.pdf

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Steiner, A. (2017). Elimination of violence against women. Retrieved from https:// www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2017/elimination-of-violence-against-women-.html Steiner, A. (2018). International women’s day. Retrieved from https://www. undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2018/international-womens-day.html UN Women. (2013). In Ethiopia, church bells ring for women and girls. Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/10/in-ethiopiachurch-bells-ring-for-women-andgirls UN Women. (2016). Global database on violence against women: Liberia. Retrieved from http://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en/countries/africa/liberia United Nations. (1996). Report of the fourth world conference on women (pp.  1–223). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/Beijing%20full%20 report%20E.pdf United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). (2016). Addressing impunity for rape in Liberia; Landis & Stark, Examining promising practice; Gender-based Violence Interagency Taskforce, Republic of Liberia. World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. World Health Organization. (2019). Respect women: Preventing violence against women (pp. 1–14). Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/WHO-RHR-18.19-eng.pdf Abolaji Adewale Obileye  is an astute researcher teaching at the Department of Criminology, Security, Peace and Conflict Studies, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria. He holds MSc in Sociology from Olabisi Onabanjo University, AgoIwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria. His research interests are not limited to human rights, recidivism, entrepreneurship, crime, and corruption. Oluchi Enapeh is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Caleb University, Lagos. She specialises in Peace and Conflict Studies. Her research interests are gender and armed conflicts, conflict management and security studies. Her doctoral research is focused on women organisations and peace building in Nigeria.

CHAPTER 6

Towards a Healthy Life for the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Women

Chioma Dilichukwu Ifeanyichukwu

Abstract  This chapter provides an insight into the past, present and future health status of the sub-Saharan African (SSA) women by drawing insights from a plethora of scholarly articles, publications and reports in this area and related areas. The rising population growth, increased poverty levels, age-long ‘African Culture and tradition’ with their concomitant implications are among the critical challenges facing the health of the SSA women. The SSA region, like other developing regions of the world, needs rapid development to ‘catch up’ with developed regions and foster good health and well-being for her people, especially women, through cutting edge actions, strategies and programmes tailored towards this need. Given this clarion call, it is expedient to take a look at these healthrelated challenges of women, the healthcare system, and major breakthroughs, and proffer timely recommendations.

C. D. Ifeanyichukwu (*) Department of Marketing, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_6

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Keywords  Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) • Women • Health

Introduction There is an intensely rising concern about how the health status of the sub-Saharan African (SSA) women can be improved since the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on the advancement of women was convened by the United Nations (UN). This concern is imperative because 25 years down the line, evidence giving insights towards attaining a healthy living for the SSA women looked somewhat skewed in a negative direction although with a ray of hope. This health status, whether physical, social, mental or psychological, calls for urgent and rapid attention towards improving the living standards of women in Africa. In more than 35 countries of the world, a woman’s life expectancy at birth is above 80 years while it is only 54 years in the SSA region. This harsh reality is evident in the World Health Organization (WHO) 2015 report as statistics recorded a 66 per cent maternal death rate in SSA, which is about two-thirds of all maternal deaths in the world. This simply portrays SSA women as the most vulnerable to diseases, deaths and maternal mortality. These diseases range from cardiovascular diseases down to cancer and diabetes; thus, the WHO (2015) postulated a 50 per cent increase in the death rate among SSA women by 2020. The health and well-being of the African women will lead to the health of the modern world. There have been several recorded cases of diseases, deaths and maternal mortality. Studies have found most of these maternal deaths and diseases to be a result of poor obstetric care services, unsafe abortions, excessive bleedings, high blood pressure, obstructed labour, amongst others (UN, 2010). Recently, Pons-Duran, Lucas, Narayan, Dabalen, and Merendez (2019) analysed the opportunities for women of reproductive age (Pregnant women, older adolescent girls) in 29 SSA countries by employing an indicator that combines the availability of an opportunity with a measure of how equitably it is distributed among groups of women. Results revealed a 26 per cent low average for maternity care package, when compared to others. This strengthens the fact that there is the unavailability of proper health package and under-­patronisation of the few existing ones.

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Furthermore, maternal mortality negatively affects the health, education, nutrition of the child and the larger community. Traditionally, there had been recorded cases of battering, domestic violence, gender inequality and high preference for the male counterpart. Women were meant to be seen and not heard, relegated to the background, had no voice, less relevant than men, and their place meant to be in the kitchen. All these have greatly affected their self-confidence, mental and psychological health. Improving the health and well-being of women, especially in Africa, is vital to attaining the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3—Good Health and Well-Being. Hence, an ardent need to focus on women’s dimensions of health and advocate for good health and well-being for SSA women.

Health (Physical, Social, Mental and Psychological) Status of Women in SSA The SSA region is characterised by rising population, increased poverty levels, polygamy, poor sanitation, lack of clean water and inadequate nutrition (Tomlinson & Walker, 2010). More than 230 million women live in the SSA region. This is well above 50 per cent of the total SSA population (WHO, 2015). Women are mostly regarded as the principal caregivers; thus, majority of the informal care is provided by them. They are being framed into accepting the responsibility to care for everybody: husband, children, ageing parents, sick in-laws, amongst others. This is seen as an age-long African culture and tradition and is said to depict acts of kindness (UNAID, 2012). Therefore, as they grow from a girl child to an adolescent, the hard reality of this cumbersome task dawns on them. Going down the pregnancy lane, childbearing, nurturing, motherhood and managing a home, women are tasked with even greater responsibilities. These tasks and responsibilities require energy and tell on their psychological, physical and mental health. Regrettably, most times, it becomes imperative to support these female caregivers’ health and well-being as they get infected with the diseases of the care recipients, are stressed or depressed and supports, whether in the form of provision of materials, socio-emotional aid, and sympathy, are not forthcoming. UNAID (2012) powerfully asserted gender bias to play a significant role in the non-recognition of female caregivers in Africa.

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Polygamy has also done more harm than good to the SSA women. The constant fights (physical fight, mental fight, spiritual fight) and quarrels have given rise to psychological trauma and even death of the SSA women (Al-Krenawi, 2014). The author further revealed that more than 10 per cent of married women in SSA countries are in polygamous unions and attributed polygamy to be the leading cause of Africa’s low savings rate, high level of child mortality and female depression as most of these women are burdened with the individual task of fending for their respective children. Further, there is an increased prevalence of rape and violence in the SSA region, and the women are highly vulnerable to this indecent and self-­ diminishing act. Seventy per cent of women in SSA were reported to have experienced rape or sexual abuse (World Health Organization, 2011). In the event of rape, the woman is advised to keep mute, not speak up and die in silence 80 per cent of the time majorly to avoid being stigmatised (Onyejekwe, 2008). Fifteen million adolescent girls aged 14–18 years in SSA have experienced forced sexual intercourse, and only about 1 per cent have sought professional help, and many are being silenced (UNICEF, 2019a). For example, Steele et  al. (2019) study on sexual violence in South Africa showed that 25 per cent of 966 women had been sexually violated by age 15 and almost one-third of them told no one of their experiences. The United Nations report on violence against women in 2006 presented that 35 per cent of women in SSA have experienced physical violence which can be from partners or non-partners (WHO, 2013). The United Nations has also estimated that out of every 20,000 women killed in SSA, more than half (58 per cent) were killed by their intimate partners or family members (El Feki, Heilman, & Barker, 2017). Baaz and Stern (2013) aptly captured this scenario in ‘a gendered story’ where men became masculine, and this transforms them into violent beasts towards women. Moreover, women and female child trafficking are on a steady increase in SSA.  Adult women account for 49 per cent of all human trafficking victims. Also, three out of every child trafficking victim is a girl between ages of 10–15 (UNODC, 2018). Globally, there is a decline in the rate of girl child marriage. Yet, in SSA, 12 million girls under 18 years are married off each year (UNICEF, 2019a, 2019b). Consequently, evidence has shown the girl child to be physically abused in the form of female genital mutilation or ‘circumcision’, as the practice is popularly called. Two hundred million women and girls in SSA have been subjected to female genital

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mutilation, and about 53 per cent of this cut was given to girls below the age of 5 (UNECA, 2018). At a later age, this has resulted in depression, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, and caused the deaths of many women in SSA. The World Health Organization (2011) recorded that 31 out of every 1000 African women indulge in unsafe abortion annually with about 8.2 million induced abortions occurring each year. The annual abortion rate varies and ranges from 31 per 1000 women of reproductive age in Northern Africa to 38 per 1000 women in Southern Africa. This rate is roughly 26 per cent for married women and 36 per cent for unmarried women in this region (WHO, 2013). This is mainly because of restrictions in abortion services in SSA.  About 93 per cent of women in SSA were reported to live in countries with restrictive abortion laws. Again, UNAIDS (2012) reported an increase in the number of people living with HIV in SSA and women constitute about 60 per cent of these statistics. This is basically as a result of the nature of the female genital organ, which increases its vulnerability to infections and diseases. Cervical cancer is on the increase in many African countries. The World Health Organization (2013) ranked East African and South African women as the most vulnerable and highest carrier of these diseases. As a result of the poor healthcare, late diagnosis and treatment of the treatable infections and diseases like gonorrhoea, syphilis, urinary tract infections become chronic and many times leads to infertility and increases vulnerability to more serious diseases. The United Nations Development Program in 2004 reported that SSA women have the highest fertility rates when compared to other regions. These women reproduce children ranging from five to eight during their lifetime. Despite this report, many cases of infertility are prevalent, which has led to a greater percentage of women falling into depression, because of ‘name-calling’, pressure from spouses and in-laws and stigma from the society. Globally, 186 million people are battling infertility, and 70 per cent of this number comes from SSA (WHO, 2015). These facts and figures call for a need to advance the physical, social, mental and psychological health and well-being of women in SSA.

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State of Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa The healthcare system in Africa is stifling and not encouraging—thus the desire for many to migrate to countries that have more efficient healthcare systems. More than 50 per cent of the SSA population do not have access to modern health facilities. The World Health Organization (2011) reported that 51 per cent of all maternal deaths arise from poor maternal healthcare, and a greater percentage of these deaths occur in the SSA region. There is also a shortage of skilled health attendants. In Nigeria, for example, several healthcare attendants migrate to more developed countries where they will be adequately compensated. In most developed countries, the hospitals are well equipped, and the healthcare system very conducive. Even some governments provide free access to healthcare and insurance for their citizens. This cannot be said about the SSA region where the healthcare system is expensive and unaffordable (Obansa & Orimisan, 2013). There is limited or no insurance covering healthcare. For instance, in Nigeria, the federal government introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme in 2004 to ensure access to good healthcare services with pregnant women ranking first as the most vulnerable group. However, an employee is required to pay a certain percentage of the cost of the medical bill. This notwithstanding, most medical care services that will be beneficial to the SSA women were not covered under the scheme. These services include rehabilitation, HIV antiretroviral medicines, assisted reproductions/artificial insemination and others. This scheme only covers employees of the federal government. Regrettably, 60 per cent of the Nigerian population are women, and 50 per cent of the female population are either unemployed, unskilled or live below the poverty line, thus cannot benefit from such an arrangement. This leaves them to spend out of their pockets for medical care (UNFPA, 2008). In addition, the health sector in SSA is ranked relatively low, with regards to national development priorities. Even the budget allocation is very low, as when compared to other sectors of the economy. In 2001, the African Union countries came together in Abuja, which was captured as ‘Abuja Declaration’, to agree that budget allocation for healthcare should be 15 per cent of the total budget annually. Nineteen years later, only five African countries have achieved this ‘Abuja Declaration’. West and Southern Africa sub-regions spend 7 per cent, while central Africa spends 4.7 per cent (UNECA, 2018).

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Major Breakthroughs for the SSA Woman The twenty-first century has brought a ray of hope for the SSA woman. Various events have aided and continue to aid the life of the African woman. First, the influx of Christianity and its principles into Africa has reduced to a large extent, the polygamous nature of men; thus, SSA women have little stress from the home front. Polygamy, although still prevalent, has declined in the last decade. In a Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (2013), 33 per cent of Nigerian women reported that their husbands have more than one wife. This is well below the 58 per cent polygamous men as of 1995. A more recent Demographic Survey in 2019 showed 82 per cent of the SSA women as the only wife of their husbands. Second, the advancement of technology has aided fertility in women. Though expensive, more women are beginning to embrace assisted conceptions like, in vitro fertilisation, embryo freezing and artificial insemination. According to Inhorn and Patrizio (2015), assisted reproductive technology has helped 13 per cent of the infertile SSA between 2004 and 2015. Third, some platforms like social media are beginning to lend a voice and support to the raped and sexually abused; thus, more victims are speaking up. Social media has also stimulated debates, sympathy and ‘walks’ for rape victims, education and public enlightenment by providing a platform where survivors share their stories and create awareness (Nwabueze & Oduah, 2014). This was aptly revealed by Ayodeji, Yosra, and Sheila’s (2019) research on sexual harassment and rape discourse where a total of 311,234 comments on Instagram from June 2018 to May 2019 focused on rape and its related issues, and over 80 per cent of these comments spoke strongly against rape, beckoning the government and legal authorities to step in. More SSA women are getting formally educated, and this has increased their knowledge and understanding. SSA women are getting employment, vying for political positions, becoming entrepreneurial, developing businesses and doing many other things they could not do in the past.

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Recommendations for Africa—Towards Attainment of SDG 2030 • Changing SSA healthcare structure: Efforts should be tailored towards promoting women-centred healthcare and not disease-­ specific healthcare. This simply means taking a holistic approach at a woman’s health instead of focusing on a particular disease. • Improved technology (IT) and healthcare facilities: This can be in the form of advanced health delivery services; IT infrastructure to record, analyse and share patient health data; telemedicine; wearables and insertables; artificial intelligence; eHealth systems; amongst others. Though these suggestions sound utopian, they will give a facelift to healthcare and advance women’s health in SSA. Adeola and Evans (2018) have identified the use of these digital health technologies such as telemedicine, wearable devices and microprocessors to aid affordability and accessibility of healthcare services in SSA and greatly reduce maternal mortality. Studies such as Prata (2009) and Deitch and Stark (2019) have identified non-prevalence of affordable family planning in the region. Goldenberg and Stephenson (2019) also identified a pervasive high unmet need for modern contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa. • Strict laws with regards to rape: There are existing laws against rape, but these laws are not stringent enough to curb rape (Muoghalu, 2014; Peters & Olowa, 2010) and other sexual offences; thus, there is a need for a more practical way of implementing laws on violence against women. • Adequate training of healthcare attendants: Willcox et  al. (2015) reported inadequacy of healthcare attendants and even the trained healthcare personnel leave to work elsewhere. Also, some health centres and hospitals had just a midwife or a doctor attending to several female patients. Even the World Health Organization (2015) identified a critical shortage of trained health workers. • Partnerships for effective health actions: Partnerships should exist between female legal practitioners, women organisations and other non-governmental organisations in a bid to empower women to speak up, reduce poverty levels, fend for and defend themselves. More so, there should be a stronger public–private partnership contribution to the health sector.

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Conclusion Women’s health is a great investment and key to attaining the SDG3— Good Health and Well-Being. Government and other stakeholders in SSA countries must come together to ensure that this is achieved by 2030.

References Adeola, O., & Evans, O. (2018). Digital health: ICT and health in Africa. Actual Problems in Economics, 10(208), 66–83. Al-Krenawi, A. (2014). Psychosocial impact of polygamy in the Middle East. New York: Springer. Ayodeji, A. O., Yosra, J., & Sheila, N. (2019). Social Media, sexual harassment and rape discourse in Nigeria: An exploratory study. Religion Revista, 4(19), 1035–1045. Baaz, M. E., & Stern, M. (2013). Sexual violence as a weapon of war? Perceptions, prescriptions, problems in the Congo and beyond (1st ed.). New  York: Zed Books Ltd. Deitch, J., & Stark, L. (2019). Adolescent demand for contraception and family planning services in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review. Global Public Health, 14(9), 1316–1334. El Feki, S., Heilman, B., & Barker, G. (2017). Understanding masculinities: Results from the international men and gender equality survey (IMAGES)Middle East and North Africa. UN Women. Goldenberg, T., & Stephenson, R. (2019). Applying a deviance framework to understand modern contraceptive use in sub-Saharan Africa. PLOS One, 14(5), 1–13. Inhorn, M. C., & Patrizio, P. (2015). Infertility around the globe: New thinking on gender, reproductive technologies and global movements in the 21st century. Human Reproduction Update, 21(4), 411–426. Muoghalu, C. O. (2014). Rape and women’s sexual health in Nigeria: The stark realities of being female in a patriarchal world. The African Anthropologist, 19(1&2), 33–41. Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. (2013). National population commission (Nigeria) and ICF international. Abuja, Nigeria/Rockville Maryland, USA. Nwabueze, C., & Oduah, F. (2014). Media re-victimization of rape victims in a shame culture? Exploring the framings and representation of rape cases in Nigerian dailies. Global Media Journal, 13(24), 1–20. Obansa, S.  A. J., & Orimisan, A. (2013). Health care financing in Nigeria: Prospects and challenges. Mediterranean Journal of social sciences, 4(1), 221–236.

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Onyejekwe, C. J. (2008). Nigeria: The dominance of rape. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 10(1), 1–17. Peters, O., & Olowa, O. (2010). Causes and incidence of rape among middle aged and young adults in Lagos State, Nigeria. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 5(10), 670–677. Pons-Duran, C., Lucas, A., Narayan, A., Dabalen, A., & Menendez, C. (2019). Inequalities in sub Saharan African women’s and girls’ health opportunities and outcomes: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys. Journal of Global Health, 9(1), 1–10. Prata, N. (2009). Making family planning accessible in resource-poor settings. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 364(1532), 3093–3099. Steele, S. J., Abrahams, N., Duncan, K., Woollett, N., Hwang, B., & O’Connell, L. (2019). The Epidemiology of rape and sexual violence in the platinum mining district of Rustenburg, South Africa: Prevalence, and factors associated with sexual violence. PLOS One, 14(7), 1–15. Tomlinson, M., & Walker, R. (2010). Recurrent poverty: The impact of family and labor market changes. York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. UNAIDS. (2012). Reports on the Global Aids Epidemic: HIV and Aids Statistics Worldwide. Retrieved from https://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/ global-statistics UNECA. (2018). Health care and economic growth in Africa. Retrieved from https://www.uneca.org/publications/healthcare-and-economic-growthafrica#:~:text=Economic%20growth%20rate%20is%20projected,better%20productivity%20and%20job%20creation UNICEF. (2019a). Child marriage around the world- Infographic. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/stories/child-marriage-around-world UNICEF. (2019b). What is female genital mutilation? 7 questions answered; How the harmful practice affects millions of girls worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/stories/what-you-need-know-about-female-genitalmutilation United Nations. (2010). The Millennium Development Goal Report. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/2010_MDG_Report/pdf United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA). (2008). Reaching common ground: Culture, gender and human rights. In The state of the world population. New York: UNFPA. UNODC. (2018). Global Report on trafficking in persons. Retrieved from https:// www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2018/GLOTiP_ 2018_BOOK_web_small.pdf

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Willcox, M. L., Peersman, W., Daou, P., Diakité, C., Bajunirwe, F., Mubangizi, V., Mahmoud, E.  H., Moosa, S., Phaladze, N., Nkomazana, O., Khogali, M., Diallo, D., De-Maeseneer, J., & Mant, D. (2015). Human resources for primary health care in sub-Saharan Africa: Progress or stagnation? Human Resources for Health, 13(1), 1–12. World Health Organization. (2011). Violence against women – Intimate partner and sexual violence against women. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. World Health Organization. World Health Organization. (2015). State of inequality: Reproductive maternal new born and child health: Interactive visualization of health data. World Health Organization. Chioma Dilichukwu Ifeanyichukwu is a lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria, with an academic career that spans over half a decade. She has research interest in sustainability marketing, part of which hinges on women’s health and wellbeing in sub-­ Saharan African (SSA) region.

CHAPTER 7

Religious Organisations and Quality Education for African Women: The Case of Nigeria

Ebes Aziegbe-Esho and Friday Osemenshan Anetor

Abstract  This chapter explores the role of religious organisations in education, not just as owners and providers but also as great influencers. Religion and religious organisations constitute part of the broader society and are major influencers of culture and society, especially in Africa. This chapter uses Nigeria as a case study and presents historical data and facts on religious organisations’ involvement in education. The authors identify new roles religious organisations can play in the quest for the provision of quality education for African girls and women, and thus contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of ensuring an inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. This chapter concludes with suggestions and recommendations

E. Aziegbe-Esho (*) University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa F. O. Anetor Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_7

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on how religious organisations can, directly and indirectly, contribute to training and quality education of African women. Keywords  Religious organisations • Religion • Education • Girl education • Quality education

Introduction The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 calls for inclusive and equitable quality education for everyone. Of the 258.4 million children, adolescents and youths reported to be out of school globally, 97.5 million or over 37.7 per cent are in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (UNESCO, 2019). The out-of-school rate for SSA is 31.2 per cent, with the rate for males at 28.9 per cent and females at 33.6 per cent (UNESCO, 2019). In addition to these dismal rates, the gender disparity in access to education still persists. A cursory glance at the out-of-school rates provides some evidence of this. Some progress has been made in increasing access to education and in reducing the gender disparity in education since the Beijing Declaration on women’s empowerment in 1995. However, the out-of-school rates for SSA, especially for females, are still the highest in the world. Evidently, the low dropout rates and gender disparity in access to education that still persists in Africa point to a need to do more in providing access to quality education for African women. This chapter looks at religious organisations and the roles they need to play in providing access to education for African women. With an abundance of religious organisations, affiliated with institutionalised religions, Africa is one of the most religious regions in the world (Greene, 2010). Africans are indeed regarded as overtly religious, and religion plays a role in almost all areas of their lives (Agbiji & Swart, 2015; Akinloye, 2018; Mbiti, 1999). It is therefore not much of a surprise that religious organisations abound tremendously in most countries on the continent. In most of Africa, religious leaders also have tremendous power to influence people, and the average African has more confidence in his or her religious leader than in political leaders (Akinloye, 2018). Beyond serving a sacred purpose, religion and religious organisations can serve education purposes (van Ommering, 2009). The question that arises is how religious

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organisations can contribute to the development of the continent, especially in the area of education. A case study is provided of Nigeria, where many religious organisations have become direct stakeholders in the education sector by owning schools at various levels of education. Beyond presenting the case study, specific ways in which religious organisations can contribute to providing quality education for African girls and women, are explored. This chapter concludes with recommendations for African governments and religious organisations.

Quality Education Measures of education generally use enrolment rates, years of completed schooling at different education levels, school dropout rates or out-of-­ school rates. To measure inequality in education, UNESCO Gender Parity Index is sometimes used. However, these measures provide neither an assessment of quality nor other nuances in the education being received. Inequality in the type of education being received, such as discrimination between private and public schools’ enrolment for men and women, for example, is not reflected in these measures. Moreover, it is quality education, especially for women, that increases economic growth, not necessarily the quantity (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2008; King & Winthrop, 2015). Measuring quality education is not equal to measuring the linear input– output of different genders; that relates more to quantity than to quality. Quality education, for women, needs to look at various aspects of the education process, the providers, the institutions governing education and the whole ecosystem of education, and not merely the student output. Measuring linear input–output of genders merely looks at students, who are only one group of participants in education. Moreover, gender inequality in education is not linear; it is broad, complex and multifaceted (Aikman & Rao, 2012; Aikman & Unterhalter, 2012). Assessing quality education will have to involve simultaneously assessing the non-student participants in education, while measuring quantitative indices relating to access and enrolment rates. This is not, however, to berate the utility of linear input–output measures of students. Indeed, such measures have some value and are useful indicators. However, they need to be taken as basic indicators and starting points for further analysis that aims at assessing quality. Other participants involved in the process of education, such as institutional regulators, providers, teachers, the educational process itself, other stakeholders and indeed the broader society that

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all participate in providing (quality) education, are often neglected. These non-student participants are important not only because they determine the quality of education received but also because they can help increase the number of girls and women that have access to education. One group of participants in education that is often neglected in the discourse on education are religious organisations. The role of these organisations in the education of women must not be overlooked for two main reasons. One, many of them are already directly involved as stakeholders in education and own many schools at various levels. The link between religion and education dates back to ancient times, and in much of Africa, education was oftentimes spearheaded by religious organisations such as Christian missionaries (Gallego & Woodberry, 2010). Two, religion plays a prominent and influential role in African societies and in almost all aspects of the lives of Africans (Agbiji & Swart, 2015; Mbiti, 1999).

Religion, Women’s Education and Africa’s Religious Organisations In the developed world, or as more recently referred to, the global North, modern secularism has pretty much succeeded in separating religion from the economic, social and political spheres of life (Agbiji & Swart, 2015; Clarke & Jennings, 2008). However, in many parts of the global South, especially in Africa, religion is still intricately intertwined in all spheres of life. Religion in Africa pertains to the very essence of being, and there is no compartmentalisation of life into separate parts (Agbiji & Swart, 2015; Mbiti, 1999). Therefore, it is sometimes a wonder that despite the religiosity and the increase in the number of religious organisations in Africa, the continent still lags behind in many indices of development. Indeed, placing the high levels of religiosity in Africa side by side, the continent’s formidable challenges of corruption, poverty and inequality, among others, may cause some to question the value of religious organisations. However, evidence of philanthropic activities of religious organisations abounds in many African countries. There is therefore little doubt that religious organisations are making a form of contribution to the continent beyond the “religious development” of the people. Nevertheless, there is a dire need for religious organisations to begin to make more direct contributions to Africa’s development, especially in the area of education and

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in educating women. Poverty is best eradicated by aiding the poor in developing skills, talent and human capital through quality education, especially quality education of women (White & Tiongco, 1997). Extant research has shown that educating women has great impact on the economic growth of low-income countries (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2008; King & Winthrop, 2015). Therefore, many African countries, which indeed are low-income countries, will benefit immensely when women have access to quality education. Unfortunately, gender disparity in education in many African countries is often a consequence of religious and cultural beliefs. The exclusion of women from education is linked to religious beliefs rooted not only in traditional African religion but also in the Christian and Islamic religions (Moyo, 2004; Mukudi, 2002; Rwafa, 2016). In the Christian religion, for example, some sects use quotations from biblical texts to justify the oppression of women, such as excluding women from education (Rwafa, 2016). Consequently, many people in Africa still see educating women as a waste of resources. In some African countries like Nigeria, however, there are religious organisations that believe education should be for all and are getting directly involved in education, and providing access to education for both genders, without discrimination.

The Case of Nigeria Prior to the end of the country’s civil war, religious organisations made substantial investments in education. Mission schools, as the schools owned by Christian religious organisations were then known, were founded by foreign Christian missionaries (Miracle, 2015). In most of these mission schools, western education was often offered for free, while in some others the costs were highly subsidised. In spite of being free or highly subsidised, quality education was offered in these mission schools. Apart from mission schools, there were also Islamic schools in the northern and western parts of Nigeria. However, while mission schools concentrated on the western form of education, the focus of Islamic schools was Islamic education. Religious organisations were at the centre of providing basic education at the primary and secondary school levels in Nigeria. In 1970, the government of Nigeria took over the mission schools. While there have been various arguments on the reasons for this action (Fagbunmi, 2005; Miracle, 2015), what became clear was that the burden of funding education shifted from religious organisations to the

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government. And the reality from then on has been that Nigeria’s education sector has been beset by incessant challenges. The challenges range from lack of books, materials and incentives for research, to incessant strike actions by teachers and “mass exodus of lecturers to greener pastures abroad” (in foreign lands) with better working conditions (Miracle, 2015, pp. 246). Added to those is the disparity in the education of both genders, as indices for measuring education output and quantity show discouraging enrolment and dropout rates for girls that compete for a place amongst the worst nations globally. Government began handing over some of the mission schools back to religious organisations in 2001 (Miracle, 2015), although the Nigerian government is still the primary funder of education. However, religious organisations are increasingly becoming more active in the education sector. In tertiary education, for example, since the establishment of private universities received legal backing in 1999 (Miracle, 2015), religious organisations have become directly involved in higher education with many setting up their own universities. Some of these institutions are setting quality standards that are higher than those of the counterpart institutions owned by the government. However, religious organisations can, and indeed need to, do more than owning schools in order to provide more access to quality education, especially for African girls and women.

New Roles for Religious Organisations in Advancing Quality Education Gender inequality in education results from discrimination against women. Gender discrimination is entrenched in cultural and religious beliefs. Education in Africa needs to be reoriented to the wider processes in the economic, cultural and political domains (Tikly, 2019). Religion in Africa is an influential force in these three identified domains. Consequently, religious organisations play (or should play) a big part in shaping society. It is, therefore, advocated that religious organisations in Africa take on new roles in education. However, it is pertinent to make a clarification. The focus on the new roles for religious organisations in advancing quality education for women must be distinguished from religious education. Religious education involves the teaching of religious subjects at various levels of education, especially at basic levels. The involvement of religious organisations being

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advocated here has no relation to this. This is not to diminish in any way the value of religious education. Religious organisations can play more roles beyond just owning schools. And even in owning schools, they can do better in managing the schools than what they have done hitherto in the case of Nigeria. First and foremost, religious organisations need to sensitise their members to the importance of education for the girl child. The average African venerates the teachings of their religious leaders and religious organisations (Akinloye, 2018). They need to teach their members the dangers of excluding the girl child from education or placing the girl child below the boy child in terms of priority regarding access to quality education. This they can do either as part of their religious activities or by organising training, seminars and other forums that educate members on the importance of educating the girl child. Successful African women, who abound in many religious organisations, can also be invited to give speeches to members in this regard. Such successful women in this capacity as trainers can simultaneously serve as role models to young girls. This can potentially encourage parents who are not inclined to providing education for their daughters to change their beliefs about educating women and motivate more parents to send their daughters to school. Second, religious organisations that already own schools need to ensure their schools meet standards for providing quality education and encourage admission for girls. Offering scholarship opportunities specifically for women to study subjects related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in tertiary education, for example, will go a long way. There has been much debate on the huge financial resources available to religious organisations because of members’ “donations”. Some have even called for religious organisations to be taxed. It is not the object of this chapter to attempt in any way or form to delve into such debates and issues. However, religious organisations can begin to counter such issues with more meaningful contributions, for example, by offering scholarships aimed specifically at the girl child, especially girls from areas where gender inequality in education is still prevalent. Scholarships need not be only in the form of tuition. Providing books and other educational materials will go a long way in increasing the quantity and quality of education for women. Making education affordable to as many Africans as possible should become a priority for religious organisations that own education institutions. Undoubtedly, providing quality education is not cheap. However,

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beginning from members of their organisations, attempts should be made to provide quality education at affordable costs. Various schemes that enable parents to send children to schools owned by religious organisations can be put in place to encourage parents, especially the poor and those in rural areas, to send their children to school. Such parents do not need to see sending their girl child to school as a financial burden. Third, in the area of teacher training, religious organisations, especially those that already own schools, can begin to train teachers not just for their schools but for their communities and nations. Many of the schools owned by these organisations are set up as not-for-profit organisations. If the aim of setting these schools is not to make a profit but to genuinely contribute to advancing education, then asking these organisations to also provide training for teachers at all levels of education for other schools should not be unreasonable. Otherwise, the motive for setting up schools in the first place becomes doubtful. Fourth, and related to the third point above, religious organisations that own schools should also provide the right working conditions for staff. Quality teachers will provide quality education, and good working conditions will attract qualified and capable persons to education. Good working conditions do not need to be complex, and neither do they always have to be in terms of monetary or financial rewards and incentives. Such things as discounting school fees for children of staff and offering other non-financial incentives can serve to motivate staff and to attract teachers that are able and willing to make a difference in education as teachers. Fifth, religious organisation also needs to commit to building schools in rural areas. Places of worship of various religious organisations abound in rural areas all over the continent. Providing schools in these rural areas alongside the places of worship will also serve even to encourage and attract more members to their organisations. Rural areas should not be neglected in the quest to provide educational institutions in more visible and/or commercially viable urban areas. Moreover, gender inequality in education is more prevalent in rural areas than in urban or suburban areas.

Recommendations African countries would be able to move towards achieving many of the SDGs faster if religious organisations on the continent take up new roles that give greater impetus to the drive towards the goals. When women have access to quality education, part of SDG 4, it almost simultaneously

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leads to poverty reduction, SDG 1; zero hunger, SDG 2; good health and well-being, SDG 3; gender equality SDG 5; and decent work and economic growth, SDG 8. However, some of the new roles outlined above may not be easy for some religious organisations to solely embark on. Some may indeed not have the wherewithal to organise training for teachers, for example. Forging strategic partnerships with other religious organisations and other stakeholders in education, locally and globally, is one way forward in this regard. Religious organisations interested in truly advancing education should put aside religious and doctrinal differences and forge partnerships that aim to advance the education of the girl child to reduce gender inequality in access to education. Governments need to encourage religious organisations by providing incentives. However, this must not be to the detriment of standards. In the case of Nigeria, for example, the quest and venture of religious organisations have been more in terms of investment in tertiary education. Religious organisations in Africa can begin to invest in other levels of education, such as basic education, which is even cheaper and relatively easier to administer than higher education.

Conclusion While it is commendable that religious organisations have become increasingly involved in the education sector, it has become imperative, given the influential role of religion in Africa that they take on more roles in developing the continent. In the quest for quality education for the African woman, religious organisations can change the current narrative by taking on the additional roles outlined above in this chapter. By 2030, there should be no disparity between males and females in accessing quality education in Africa, and religious organisations in the continent can be proud that they played an important role in helping to realise the UN SDG 4.

References Agbiji, O. M., & Swart, I. (2015). Religion and social transformation in Africa: A Critical and appreciative perspective. Scriptura, 114, 1–20. Aikman, S., & Rao, N. (2012). Gender equality and girls’ education: Investigating frameworks, disjunctures and meanings of quality education. Theory and Research in Education, 10(3), 211–228.

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Aikman, S., & Unterhalter, E. (2012). Gender equality, capabilities and the terrain of quality education. In L. Tikly & A. M. Barrett (Eds.), Education quality and social justice in the south: Challenges for policy, practice and research. Routledge. Akinloye, I. A. (2018). Towards the implementation of sustainable development goals in Nigeria: Maximizing the influence of religious leaders. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 4(1), 39–60. Clarke, G., & Jennings, M. (2008). Introduction. In G. Clarke, M. Jennings, & T.  Shaw (Eds.), Development, civil society and faith-based organizations: Bridging the sacred and the secular (pp. 1–16). Palgrave Macmillan. Fagbunmi, M. (2005). Historical analysis of educational policy formulation in Nigeria: Implications for educational planning and policy. International Journal of African & African American Studies, 4(2), 1–7. Gallego, F. A., & Woodberry, R. (2010). Christian missionaries and education in former African colonies: How competition mattered. Journal of African Economies, 19(3), 294–329. Greene, R. A. (2010, April 15). Africans among world’s most religious people, study finds. CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/15/africa. religion/index.html Hanushek, E. A., & Woessmann, L. (2008). The role of cognitive skills in economic development. Journal of Economic Literature, 46(3), 607–668. King, E.  M., & Winthrop, R. (2015). Today’s challenges for girls’ education (Working Paper 90). Brookings Global Economy and Development. Mbiti, J. S. (1999). African religions and philosophy (2nd ed.). Heinemann. Miracle, A. (2015). Religious education and nation building in Nigeria. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 1(2), 263–282. Moyo, F. L. (2004). Religion, spirituality and being a woman in Africa: Gender construction within the African religio-cultural experiences. Agenda, 18(61), 72–78. Mukudi, E. (2002). Gender and education in Africa. Comparative Education Review, 46(2), 234–241. Rwafa, U. (2016). Culture and religion as sources of gender inequality: Rethinking challenges women face in contemporary Africa. Journal of Literary Studies, 32(1), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.2016.1158983. Tikly, L. (2019). Education for sustainable development in Africa: A critique of regional agendas. Asia Pacific Education Review, 20, 223–237. White, S., & Tiongco, R. (1997). Doing theology and development: meeting the challenge of poverty. Saint Andrew Press. UNESCO. (2019). Sustainable development goals: Factsheet no. 56, September 2019. UNESCO Institute of Statistics. van Ommering, E.  V. (2009). The roles of faith-based educational institutions in conflict transformation in fragile states. ICCCO Alliance.

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Ebes Aziegbe-Esho is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Friday Osemenshan Anetor  is a lecturer at the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria. He specialises in International Economics and Quantitative Economics, such as Applied Statistics and Mathematical Economics. He has several publications in reputable journals.

CHAPTER 8

African Women’s Participation in Business and Politics: Challenges and Recommendations

Yetunde Anibaba and Godbless Akaighe

Abstract  In Africa, women have traditionally played important roles in society based on their multiple identities which include mothers, daughters, producers, home managers, community organisers, and socio-­cultural and political activists. Despite their significant numbers and crucial contributions to societal functioning, the power dynamics between the male and female gender assign the subordinate position to women in many cultures, limiting their capacity to contribute to a sustainable future for their world. It is not surprising, therefore, that international organisations like the United Nations consider the matter of gender equality important enough to mobilise resources to focus on its achievement. In this chapter, we

Y. Anibaba (*) Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] G. Akaighe University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_8

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problematise the issue of gender inequality with respect to politics and business. We identify mechanisms by which women continue to be under-­ represented in these spheres, including the persistence of cultural norms that facilitate their subjugation as well as maternal issues that organisations use as an excuse to repress their advancement along the organisational hierarchy. Our recommendations are geared towards facilitating the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 regarding gender equality in all spheres of life. Keywords  African women • Underrepresentation • Participation • Business • Politics

Introduction Women around the world have suffered inequality on many fronts, especially in politics and business. This has been captured in research in the domain of the glass ceiling, defined as the barriers that women face in attaining leadership or managerial positions (e.g. Krøtel, Ashworth, & Villadsen, 2019). In Africa, the inequality and exclusion of women from politics and business appear to have been systematic and sustained over the last few decades. In many instances, women have suffered violence, abuse, discrimination, persecution, and prejudice from their male counterparts when they attempt to contest for political positions or vie for top leadership positions in corporate organisations (Elu & Loubert, 2013; Koter, 2017). Recognising these issues, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by member states in 2015 list Gender Equality and Decent Work and Economic Growth as SDGs 5 and 8, respectively. The rest of this chapter is organised as follows. The next section discusses women’s under-representation in politics and business, followed by an articulation of the underlying factors hindering women’s participation. This chapter concludes with recommendations for closing the gap.

African Women Under-representation in Politics and Business The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index has measured gender-based gaps along four dimensions over the last two decades. These dimensions include economic participation and opportunity,

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educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Among these four, the widest gender disparity has remained in the dimensions of political empowerment and economic participation and opportunity, with the widest gap being in political empowerment, albeit being the most improved of the four indices in 2019 (WEF, 2020). This suggests that there may be increasing awareness and participation in politics by women, but the inequality remains wide. A glance at the political landscape in Africa shows that at best, women get a few positions in the National Assembly or State House of Assembly. For example, in the last decade (2010–2020), Africa has had only five female presidents: Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia, 2018–present), Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius, 2015–2018), Catherine Samba (Central African Republic, 2014–2016), Joyce Hilda Banda (Malawi, 2012–2014), and Monique Ohsan Bellepeau (Mauritius, March–July 2012 and May–June 2015). Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia served two consecutive terms between January 2006 and January 2018.1 Regarding other political positions, only about 21% of the 3343 ministers in the 149 countries covered by the Global Gender Gap Report (GGGR) are women. In Africa, there is such a wide variation in the gender gap across countries. While Rwanda ranks number 4  in the world for the political empowerment of women after Iceland, Norway, and Nicaragua, Nigeria ranks 128, and the Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 149 of 153 countries. With respect to African women’s participation in business, the African Development Bank’s (ADB) Gender-Equality Index (2015) reports that women own a third of businesses in Africa. However, these are more likely to be micro-enterprises in the informal sector, which are established primarily to meet their most basic needs. In the corporate world, women are found mostly in middle management positions and are thus excluded from decision-making at the upper echelons of organisations. These are pointers to the fact that women are still largely unable to break through the power structures that constitute the proverbial glass ceiling (African Gender Equality Index, 2015). The under-representation of women in politics and business in Africa has not been for lack of effort by women and other stakeholders. Efforts to bridge the gender gap in politics and business have been driven by the UN and other agencies such as the African Development Bank, European Institute for Gender Equality, and many other national and regional  https://afjn.org/list-of-female-african-presidents/

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government and non-governmental institutions. While these efforts have been considerably productive such that more women have gained access to leadership positions as indicated by the WEF GGGR (2020), women in Africa remain under-represented to various degrees in government and executive-level positions in organisations. According to the WEF (2020), it will take about 68 years to achieve parity across all the sub-indexes in Africa.

Factors Preventing African Women from Participating in Politics and Business Research has shown that there are gender perceptions and biases against women in leadership in terms of leader emergence, evaluation, roles, and effective leadership (e.g. Paustian-Underdahl, Walker, & Woehr, 2014). Role congruity theory explains the prejudice or bias that a group experiences because they are misaligned with certain societal expectations (Eagly & Karau, 2002). In the African context, prejudices against women, that preclude them from increasing their participation in political and organisational leadership, has deep roots in culture and traditional practices or expectations some of which are discussed below: Masculinity and Gender Role Socialisation Masculinity is socially constructed to imply strength, energy, muscles, and vigour (Stibbe, 2004). Men are under pressure to display their masculine behaviour from their childhood, for example, toughness, dominance, control, and lack of emotional sensitivity (Wall & Kristjanson, 2005). In Africa, the birth of a male child is celebrated disproportionately because Africans have been socialised to ascribe greater value to the male child (Eccles, Freedman-Doan, Frome, Jacobs, & Yoon, 2000) in terms of kingship, head of the family unit and their potential to extend their family names, with women playing supportive roles as defined by the men. This orientation is carried on into business and politics so that women are subjected to prejudice when they attempt to or assume leadership roles in these spheres. Violence Against Women  According to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (2016), political actors use violence against women at every point in the electoral cycle to dissuade them from participating as

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election administrators, voters, and candidates. Other forms of political violence are reflected in gender-based hate speech geared towards deterring women from presenting themselves as candidates or voting in elections (Ajanaku, 2015). In a recent study of female parliamentarians across 39 countries, 44% of them reported that they had been victims of threats of being killed, raped, molested, maimed, or abducted, amongst other threats, while 20% have been subjected to sexual violence (Saskia, 2017). This sad tale has largely prevented women from emerging into leadership positions, mostly in the political landscape in Africa. Cultural and Traditional Norms  The same norms that define the wider social structure tend to shape women’s ability to engage in the political process, whether as voters, community organisers, or elected officials. These norms are entrenched in a patriarchal system that ensures that family control and decision-making authority lies solely in the hands of their male counterparts (Mlambo, 2019). Traditional roles and division of labour are still clearly gendered, making it more difficult for women to leave their conventional domestic roles for more public responsibilities in politics and business (Mlambo, 2019). Regarding identity, women are still predominantly perceived as being domestic by nature, and this remains a barrier to women’s entry into formal politics or their ascension up the corporate ladder (O’Brien, Mendez, Peterson, & Shin, 2015). The inability of their counterpart men, as well as women themselves to make the transition from the cognitive frame that automatically defines women as wives and homemakers to women as leaders in the corporate and political space, remains an obstacle to the attainment of the desired levels of participation in positions of authority and decision-­making, especially in Africa (Davis & Maldonado, 2015). Education Access and Attainment Despite many gains recorded with regards to the overall level of education worldwide so that more children today are now attending primary schools, gender parity in education has remained elusive as the gender gap in educational attainment remains wide, beyond this level. According to a UNICEF report in 2017, for every 100 boys that attend upper secondary school, there are 85 girls. According to a study by Okorie (2017), 65 million girls and women never started school, and an estimated 100 million do not complete primary education,

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because the quality is poor, and their opportunities are far from equal to those of boys. Linking these statistics to poverty, globally, 44% of girls from the poorest families have never attended school, compared to 34% of boys (UNICEF, 2020). The implication is that the girl child is often sacrificed for the boy child when the financial resources are little, and when a choice is to be made by parents on who to educate between their male and female children (Anna, 2017; Okorie, 2017). Atayi (2008) also noted that parents’ demand for the education of their daughters is low, reflecting cultural norms that place the girl child in work in and around the home. Such norms place the girl child at a disadvantage later in life in the world of work, while also facilitating her subjugation in other spheres of life, including political participation. Economic Power According to the African Development Bank (2015), African women work 50% longer than men on average, yet there is a considerable pay gap in favour of the men for comparative work (Elu & Loubert, 2013). Hence, women generally lack the economic base, which would enhance their participation in positions of authority and decision-­ making. For example, the cost of running a political campaign or participating actively in politics in many African countries is prohibitively high (Koter, 2017) and automatically excludes the economically challenged from the process of seeking political office. African women also have limited access to opportunities in the formal sector due to some of the historical, social, cultural, and political factors mentioned previously (Das & Kotikula, 2018). Research has shown a consistent difference favouring men’s accessibility to, and utility of, resources for power (Nelson & Constantinidis, 2017) so that control in business and industry especially in Africa is still firmly in the hands of men. It should be noted, however, that African women have a larger representation on boards of Africa-based companies compared with their counterparts around the world (Bloomberg, 2019). Nevertheless, only one in four board members is a woman. Maternal Body Issues  In management studies, the maternal body concept encapsulates issues associated with pre-birth, maternity, and post-­maternity of the employed body. It involves the discomfort that women go through

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because of their body and the changes in their body including childbirth, breastfeeding, and motherly care to their children (Gatrell, Cooper, & Kossek, 2017). According to Acker (2003, p.  56), ‘women’s bodies  female sexuality, their ability to procreate and their pregnancy, breastfeeding, and childcare, menstruation, and mythic “emotionality” - are suspect, stigmatised, and used as grounds for control and exclusion’. In Africa, for example, childcare responsibilities are mostly handled by women. Attending to these maternal responsibilities has cost women career opportunities and advancement (Gatrell, 2013). In the final section, we present some suggestions for African women and concerned stakeholders to emphasise in accelerating and growing women’s participation in the decision-making ranks of politics and business.

Recommendations Concerted focus on the recommendations below should help to accelerate women’s advancement to leadership ranks in business and politics in a sustainable fashion: 1. Economic empowerment: ‘Poverty alleviation’ programmes are common in several parts of Africa. There is a need to go beyond this, and cash breaks, school feeding programmes, and the distribution of raw food items. The focus needs to be on empowering African women to take control of their destinies via sophisticated skills acquisition programmes that will empower them economically. African governments and regional organisations such as the African Development Bank (ADB) need to collaborate with the organisations already engaging in the economic empowerment of women to expand their reach and accelerate their impact on women across sectors. Mentoring programmes, such as the ones facilitated by groups such as Nigeria’s Women in Management, Business and Politics (WIMBIZ) and similar NGOs need to be strengthened, and their impacts expanded to more women, and not just women of a particular socio-economic cadre. 2. Policy enactment to support women participation: Some corporate organisations are beginning to require a minimal level of female representation on their boards. This development does not only sig-

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nal to other women that there is room at the top, thereby boosting their confidence; it also brings a balance to the decisions that such boards make. However, for many organisations, appointing women to boards is still a matter of checking boxes. Governments and organisations, therefore, need to go beyond these one-off appointments by making it a matter of enforceable policy to ensure equal opportunities for men and women in leadership positions, without compromising the quality and competence of the board. In the same vein, governments in Africa should take steps to amend their constitutions to facilitate equal participation of women and men in political appointments. These steps should be followed up by mechanisms to protect. This should rapidly increase women’s participation in politics and business. . Free and compulsory education policy: To ensure a pipeline of 3 women that are equipped to take on leadership roles in government and business, we cannot overemphasise the importance of education access and quality for girls particularly beyond the primary school level. Responding to the dire state of the educational system, Kaduna State of Nigeria was reported to have made schooling mandatory for boys and girls resident in the state, for the first 9 and 12 years, respectively. In 2020, this was extended to include both genders.2 Governments can build on such initiatives by enforcing and monitoring compliance and facilitating a pipeline of productive opportunities for female students that complete their education to both the public and private sectors. 4. Fostering a gender-inclusive culture: Governmental and non-­ governmental organisations need to vigorously and intensively pursue efforts to foster a gender-inclusive culture in all aspects of society, to address practices of gender and maternal body discrimination against women. Enforcement areas should include banning cultural practices that encourage under-age marriage and forced labour, abrogating laws that prevent women from owning property and enforcing such abrogation. While many African countries have such laws in place, subtle contradictions still exist in the system. For example, to obtain the Economic Community of West Africa States Travel Certificate, the father’s letter of consent is required, while the 2  https://dailypost.ng/2020/01/20/kaduna-govt-approves-free-primary-secondaryeducation/

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relevant agency will only accept the mother’s signature, where she is a single parent.3 Women also still bear the biggest brunt of being divorced or being a single parent regardless of the cause and find it difficult to rent or buy property on their own, without recourse to their husbands in many parts of Africa. A collaborative effort to address these gender prejudices through advocacy, orientation, and legislation will go a long way in increasing African women’s participation in politics and business. . Gender-sensitive policing: Gender-sensitive policing includes, but 5 is not limited to, encouraging and facilitating increased participation of women in the police force and other security apparatus of government. It also includes gender-sensitive training for male police officers with the objective of raising their awareness regarding sexual and gender-based violence. By this, they will be adequately prepared to strategically address or prevent the occurrence of gender-based violence either on the political or on the business terrain.

Conclusion There is no gainsaying the fact that women issues have been on the top burner in the international arena, with some regions being a long way ahead of others in advancing the cause of gender equality, reduced inequality, and discrimination. This chapter has examined African women’s participation in politics and business. We have articulated the under-representation of women in political and organisational leadership and the underlying factors responsible for the inequality. Lastly, we have proffered workable solutions to closing the gap between men and women and potentially achieving the SDGs of gender equality and decent work and economic growth in Africa, emphasising the prospects of an increase in women empowerment and a better inclusive society. In conclusion, whilst most of the suggestions in this chapter are institutional, women have an important role to play in their collaborative efforts, to mobilise support for themselves both in business and in politics, push for reforms in the continent that will increase their chances of ascending to leadership positions and increased participation in politics and business.

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References Acker, J. (2003). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. In R. Ely, E. Foldy, & M. Scully (Eds.), Reader in gender, work and organization (pp. 49–61). Oxford, UK: Blackwell. African Development Bank. (2015). Where are the Women? Inclusive Boardrooms in Africa’s top listed companies? Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. African Gender Equality Index. (2015). Empowering African women: An agenda for action. Abidjan: Côte d’Ivoire. Ajanaku, A. (2015). Halting violence against women in Nigeria’s electoral process. Retrieved from https://guardian.ng/features/halting-violence-against-womenin-nigerias-electoral-process Anna, O. (2017). Attitude of parents toward female-child secondary education in Sokoto State, Nigeria: Implications for counselling. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 8(2), 21–27. Atayi J. B. (2008). Disabling barriers to girls’ primary education in Aura district (Uganda) – An intersectional analysis, Master’s thesis. Retrieved from https:// pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f2c/f4ec90bd86c4f4daee5c82f37286c c177618.pdf Bloomberg. (2019). In Africa’s biggest democracy, women go backward in politics. New York: USA. Das, S., & Kotikula, A. (2018). Gender-based employment segregation: Understanding causes and policy interventions. World Bank, Washington, DC. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. Davis, D. R., & Maldonado, C. (2015). Shattering the glass ceiling: The leadership development of African American women in higher education. Advancing Women in Leadership, 35, 48–64. Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109(3), 573. Eccles, J. S., Freedman-Doan, C., Frome, P., Jacobs, J., & Yoon, K. S. (2000). Gender-role socialization in the family: A longitudinal approach. The Developmental Social Psychology of Gender, 333–360. Elu, J. U., & Loubert, L. (2013). Earnings inequality and the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case of Tanzanian manufacturing. American Economic Review, 103(3), 289–292. Gatrell, C., Cooper, C. L., & Kossek, E. E. (2017). Maternal bodies as taboo at work: New perspectives on the marginalizing of senior-level women in organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 31(3), 239–252. Gatrell, C. J. (2013). Maternal bodywork: How women managers and professionals negotiate pregnancy and new motherhood at work. Human Relations, 66(5), 621–644.

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International Foundation for Electoral Systems. (2016). Violence against women in elections: A framework for assessment, monitoring, and response. Arlington, TX. Koter, D. (2017). Costly electoral campaigns and the changing composition and quality of parliament: Evidence from Benin. African Affairs, 116(465), 573–596. Krøtel, S. M., Ashworth, R. E., & Villadsen, A. R. (2019). Weakening the glass ceiling: does organizational growth reduce gender segregation in the upper tiers of the Danish local government? Public Management Review, 21(8), 1213–1235. Mlambo, V. (2019). Exploitation dressed in a suit, shining shoes, and carrying a suitcase full of dollars: What does China want in Africa?. Journal of Public Affairs, 19(1), 1–9. Nelson, T., & Constantinidis, C. (2017). Sex and gender in family business succession research: A review and forward agenda from a social construction perspective. Family Business Review, 30(3), 219–241. O’Brien, D. Z., Mendez, M., Peterson, J. C., & Shin, J. (2015). Letting down the ladder or shutting the door: Female prime ministers, party leaders, and cabinet ministers. Politics & Gender, 11(4), 689–717. Okorie, M. (2017). An assessment of factors militating against girl-child education in Nigeria. International Journal of Advanced and Multidisciplinary Social Science, 3(2), 49–54. Paustian-Underdahl, S. C., Walker, L. S., & Woehr, D. J. (2014). Gender and perceptions of leadership effectiveness: A meta-analysis of contextual moderators. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(6), 1129. Saskia, B. (2017, October 05). Fighting violence against women in politics: The Limits of Legal Reform. Retrieved from https://carnegieendowment. org/2017/10/05/fighting-violence-against-women-in-politics-limitsof-legal-reform-pub-73339 Stibbe, A. (2004). Health and the social construction of masculinity in Men’s Health magazine. Men and Masculinities, 7(1), 31–51. UNICEF. (2017). Gender equality; Annual results report 2017. New York: Author. UNICEF. (2020). Addressing the learning crisis: An urgent need to better finance education for the poorest children. New York: Author. Wall, D., & Kristjanson, L. (2005). Men, culture and hegemonic masculinity: Understanding the experience of prostate cancer. Nursing Inquiry, 12(2), 87–97. World Economic Forum. (2020). Global gender gap report 2020. Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved from https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ GGGR_2020.pdf

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Yetunde Anibaba  is a senior lecturer at the Lagos Business School where she leads sessions in Leadership and Managerial Decision Making on the MBA and other Executive Education Programmes. She is a member of several academic and professional associations including the African Academy of Management and the International Coach Federation. Godbless Akaighe  is a doctoral researcher at the Institute of Work Psychology (IWP), Sheffield University Management School, United Kingdom. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

CHAPTER 9

Realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Entrepreneurial Activities of Women and Disadvantaged Groups

Patience Aku Bruce and Nathaniel Boso Abstract  Whilst development indicators in sub-Saharan Africa are some of the worst in the developing world, severe socio-cultural institutional blockades have persistently undermined efforts of African women and disadvantaged groups to emancipate themselves from extreme poverty and social exclusion. This chapter contributes to the ongoing dialogue on repositioning African women for United Nations 2030 development agenda by making the case that removal of socio-cultural institutional structural hindrances to the growth of entrepreneurial activities of women and other disadvantaged groups, and increased empirical research on entrepreneurial activities of these groups can help empower women for inclusive economic growth on the continent. The chapter proposes three

P. A. Bruce (*) • N. Boso Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_9

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key areas that scholarly discussions should focus on, particularly with reference to the form, determinants and contingency forces impacting entrepreneurial activities of women and disadvantaged groups in sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords  Entrepreneurial activity • Women empowerment • Disadvantaged groups • Wealth creation • Sub-Saharan Africa

Introduction The growing inequality, poverty and marginalization of disadvantaged groups in many parts of the developing world threaten the achievement of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The UN 2030 Agenda aims to address a broad range of global development challenges, with specific attention given to eradication of extreme poverty and reduction of multiple and intersecting inequalities and social exclusion, among other challenges. Although strategies and actions have been formulated to tackle these challenges, several UN reports suggest that progress has been slow, particularly in the developing world. For example, it is still the case that unequal power relations at the household level are making women and girls more vulnerable to extreme poverty, and the problems of marginalization and social exclusion are affecting this disadvantaged group1 more than men. Illiteracy continues to be greater among these disadvantaged groups than men, and women are increasingly denied decision-making power at home, work and political spaces. Whilst studies have consistently demonstrated that access to quality healthcare, education and food security is strongly associated with increases in wealth, it is often the case that women and other disadvantaged groups seeking to enhance their wealth are hindered by countless socio-cultural institutional roadblocks. This chapter makes the case that increases in the growth of entrepreneurial activity among women and other disadvantaged groups can provide a lever to bridge the wealth and power gap between 1  Disadvantaged group is used in this chapter to refer to individuals who come from a background of poverty and have access to little opportunity. The assumption is that individuals who are born into poverty may live in poverty for a long time and find it difficult to escape from the cycle of poverty.

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the 1 per cent rich and the 99 per cent poor, thus helping to move the world closer towards the realization of the UN 2030 Agenda. Whilst several reports indicate that sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest rate of women entrepreneurs at 27 per cent (Toesland, 2018), and although major development agencies such as the World Bank Group recognize that women entrepreneurs hold the future to Africa’s economic prosperity (Gaye, 2018), it is still the case that entrepreneurial activity (EA) on the continent remains largely male-dominated, with women and disadvantaged groups playing peripheral roles in major entrepreneurial processes. However, an interesting phenomenon emerging across sub-­ Saharan Africa is the rapid improvement in the level of personal freedom and economic opportunity indices, which can be leveraged to fuel high-­ growth entrepreneurial ventures among women and other disadvantaged groups. In particular, although women entrepreneurs2 have traditionally been constrained by a multitude of socio-cultural and institutional blockades (e.g. social prejudice, poor access to education, limited access to finance and exclusion from business networks), they are capable of pioneering major and transformative entrepreneurial ventures. For example, Siza Mzimela, the first woman CEO of South African Airways, shattered male dominance in the airline industry to become the first woman in sub-Saharan Africa to launch a regional airline. Additionally, Njeri Rionge overcame all stereotypes to become a pioneer investor in the IT sector in Africa having co-founded Wananchi Online, East Africa’s first mass-market internet service provider. Furthermore, Hajia Bola Shagaya, the CEO of Bolmus Group International and a board member of Unity Bank in Nigeria; Sibongile Sambo, the founder and managing director of SRS Aviation, the first black female-owned aviation company in South Africa; and Devine Ndhlukula, the woman who tackled a male-dominated industry head-on by founding SECURICO, the largest security firm in Zimbabwe, are among other ground-breaking women entrepreneurs who are helping end extreme poverty and social exclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. This exploding growth in African women entrepreneurs has caught the attention of the World Bank Group, which suggests that “expanding the opportunities for female entrepreneurs through policies that foster gender equality would have a tremendous impact on Africa’s growth” (Gaye, 2018). 2  The term “women entrepreneurs” is defined in this chapter as female members of society who initiate, own and manage high-growth businesses for a period of at least one year,

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Studies have shown that a rising number of women entrepreneurs can help significantly reduce extreme poverty and socio-economic inequality in sub-Saharan Africa by providing the opportunity for vulnerable and marginalized groups to create and grow personal wealth. For example, a study by Prowess, a global women advocacy group, estimates that a significant increase in wealth creation in a country would only come from encouraging more women to go into entrepreneurship. Additionally, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor studies have found that a dollar invested in developing women-owned enterprises provides a greater return on investment than a dollar invested in developing male-owned enterprises. Further, studies have indicated that economic rent generated by women entrepreneurs is more likely to be invested in household welfare (including education and healthcare for children), which ultimately may lead to an improvement in the socio-economic well-being of households (Seshie-­ Nasser, & Oduro, 2018). Despite the huge socio-economic benefits from women EA, it is the case that women in sub-Saharan Africa are less likely to start a business due to institutional barriers to capital. This chapter joins ongoing UN women dialogue on gender equity for the realization of the UN 2030 Agenda by discussing some pertinent challenges that confront women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa: socio-cultural and institutional roadblocks, perception of women not being strong enough to endure the challenges of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance market failure. The chapter suggests that extreme poverty and the inequality challenge in Africa are more likely to be reduced if constraints to women EA are removed.

Women Entrepreneurial Activity and Reduction of Poverty and Inequality The entrepreneurship literature suggests that the socio-cultural environment within which entrepreneurship is undertaken influences the performance of entrepreneurial ventures. For women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa, local customs, religion, societal obligations, societal illegitimacy and gender disparity represent a major barrier to success. For example, in an analysis of barriers to women entrepreneurship in sub-­ Saharan Africa, Aterido and Hallward-Driemeier (2011) find that cultural norms and practices significantly inhibit women EA. Al-Dajani and Marlow (2010) find that male power or masculinity represents gender stereotypes

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that inhibit emergence and growth of women ventures. In addition, evidence shows that perception of conflict between the entrepreneurial role and family responsibility (such as being a mother, wife and housewife) undermines entrepreneurial engagement in many parts of Africa (Amine & Staub, 2009). Other studies have shown that religious norms and family obligations are key inhibitors of women EA in West Africa (Fletschner & Carter, 2008; Roomi & Parrott, 2008). In sum, evidence seems to point to socio-cultural institutional forces cancelling out likely benefits of women EA in sub-Saharan Africa, which may explain the disproportionately high incidence of extreme poverty among women on the continent. To help address these institutional blockades, this chapter proposes that institutional changes are crucially needed, particularly changes in perception of the role of women in the family. In this respect, focus should be directed to examining the idiosyncratic characteristics of the institutional environment within which women entrepreneurs operate in sub-Saharan Africa. It is acknowledged that the institutional environment within which African entrepreneurs operate is highly precarious (Parente et al., 2019), and these institutional roadblocks are noted to affect women-owned enterprises more severely: “unfavourable conditions in  local regulatory, normative, and cognitive systems place additional burdens on women who desire to become entrepreneurs or to expand an entrepreneurial business” (Amine & Staub, 2009, page 183). One way to change these entrenched socio-cultural beliefs and attitudes embedded in social-cultural institutional structures is for women advocacy groups and development agencies to draw on contemporary scientific advances in psychology (e.g. neuromarketing science) to study societal perceptions and responses about women. The goal could be to adjust campaign messages on traditional and social media platforms, to elicit more positive responses, especially in relation to women entrepreneurs. With this information, advocacy groups can have a better understanding of people’s cultural beliefs and attitudes, and the brain parts that motivate people to form specific beliefs and attitudes about women entrepreneurs. Ultimately, institutional structures would be compelled to become friendlier to women enterprises through a process of modernization, predicated on infusion of science into institutional structures (e.g. marriage administration), enforcement of women rights, rationalization of social life and emergence of a rational outlook in every walk of life in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Some scholars have also argued from a social-psychological perspective that because EA is an extremely challenging human endeavour, greater EA may have a negative effect on women’s well-being, especially in relation to women’s family-work life balance (Shelton, 2006). Whilst some may interpret such claims as another form of stereotyping, it is important to indicate that this well-being outcome of EA is yet to receive full empirical support (Wiklund et al., 2019). This chapter suggests that women are more likely than not to invest a greater proportion of economic rent generated from EA in more progressive activities that boost the well-being of their families and societies. To this end, studies focusing on the intersection between women entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship have argued that women entrepreneurs are more likely to be sensitive towards social problems in the communities, and as a result, they are more likely to develop creative business models to address social problems such as gender disparity, social exclusion, illiteracy and extreme poverty (Benavides-Espinosa & Mohedano-Suanes, 2012). Thus, women entrepreneurial efforts are likely to create a more resilient society in sub-Saharan Africa than previously thought. Despite the potential of women entrepreneurs to become catalysts of resilient African societies, the socio-cultural institutional roadblocks facing women entrepreneurs have also created a market failure condition as far as financing of women entrepreneurial ventures is concerned. A general outlook is that women entrepreneurs are likely to be denied funding by financial institutions in Africa (Brixiová & Kangoye, 2016). A key driver of this condition is the perception that women entrepreneurs operate in less capital-­intensive industries and, therefore, require less capital to operate high-growth ventures (Klapper & Parker, 2011). Further, there is a perception that women entrepreneurs lack physical and reputational assets due to their traditional role in the family (i.e. woman of the house, taking care of the family, being focused on children and their happiness), hence their inability to provide strong collateral to access financial capital. However, evidence shows that providing women greater access to finance would lead to the greater propensity of women to engage in successful EA, helping strengthen women financial independence (Chowdhury, Yeasmin, & Ahmed, 2018). Thus, whilst women are capable as their male counterparts to use their entrepreneurial skills to create new wealth and address developmental challenges in the African society to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda, socio-cultural stereotypes and biases have denied women entrepreneurs equal access to entrepreneurial financing opportunities.

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Avenues for Future Research This chapter proposes that the lack of empirical evidence on the successes of women entrepreneurs is feeding into the growing institutional constraints facing women entrepreneurs in Africa. There are, however, several avenues for researchers to explore in their efforts to deepen knowledge on women EA, particularly in relations to how this activity influences the resilience and empowerment of women and other disadvantaged groups in sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter identifies three fruitful areas for further research. Future Research Avenue 1: Revealing Unique Features of Women and Other Disadvantaged Group Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa Inarguably, our understanding of entrepreneurial activities of women and other disadvantaged groups in Africa is rather fragmented. The field as a whole is rather inconsistent, lacking in unifying paradigms whilst suffering from theoretical paucity. Research that does exist on women EA in sub-­ Saharan Africa tends to test established theories, without taking into account the unique socio-cultural and historical characteristics of sub-­ Saharan Africa within which women and other “disadvantaged group” entrepreneurs operate. Hence, when differences are found from what is expected in industrialized markets, they are attributed to Africa’s cultural complexity, without really enhancing our understanding of the socio-­ cultural and institutional implications for operating as a woman entrepreneur in Africa. This calls for a recalibration of existing theories to enrich scholarly discourse on women entrepreneurship. As one cannot assume that women entrepreneurship is the same in all cultures, the dynamics of women entrepreneurship should be examined within the cultural purviews of sub-Saharan Africa. Future Research Avenue 2: Investigating the Drivers, Processes and Consequences of Women Entrepreneurship By complementing recent work on entrepreneurship as emancipation and social entrepreneurship (Rindova et  al., 2009), researchers can examine how governments can harness the efforts of women entrepreneurs to create domestic wealth and minimize reliance on foreign donor aids. This

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research agenda can speak to the African Union 2063 and UN 2030 development agendas that aim to alleviate extreme poverty in Africa and work on enhancing societal well-being in African societies by developing an understanding of how local or indigenous communities can build stronger entrepreneurial cultures to become emancipated from conditions of extreme poverty. Future Research Avenue 3: Developing Best Practices, Entrepreneurship Management and Training Toolkits, and Further Collaborative Opportunities In revealing unique features of women entrepreneurs and the socio-­ cultural and institutional environmental forces impacting on businesses owned and managed by women and other disadvantaged groups across sub-Saharan Africa, researchers can develop best practices and toolkits that can boost success rates of these businesses. Thus, a potential outcome of such research efforts may be the development of entrepreneurial training programmes for women entrepreneurs, targeting both those in formal and those in informal sectors. For example, such studies may come up with strategies for developing financial accessibility and management toolkits for women entrepreneurs to aid their efforts to navigate institutional blockades in financial institutions. This can help women enterprise owners to access credit facilities and to competently manage those facilities for growth.

Conclusion This chapter contributes to the gender equality perspective of Sustainable Development Goals and the conversation on repositioning African women for the UN 2030 Goals. The chapter suggests that the challenge of extreme poverty, socio-economic inequality and social exclusion can be overcome if entrepreneurial activities of women and other disadvantaged groups in sub-Saharan Africa are institutionally supported and integrated into mainstream entrepreneurial processes. Specifically, this chapter takes the view that extreme poverty and inequality are most likely to be eliminated in sub-Saharan Africa if the socio-cultural institutional structures on the continent are revisited with the aim of injecting a modernization process that facilitates entrepreneurial activities of women and other disadvantaged groups. The chapter further highlights the extreme lack of empirical

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research on entrepreneurial activities of women and other disadvantaged groups on the continent as one of the key hindrances to positively repositioning African women for the UN 2030 Goals. The chapter provides three areas that future research may focus on with the aim of advancing knowledge on women entrepreneurial activity in sub-Saharan Africa.

References Al-Dajani, H., & Marlow, S. (2010). Impact of women’s home-based enterprise on family dynamics: Evidence from Jordan. International Small Business Journal, 28(5), 470–486. Amine, L. S., & Staub, K. M. (2009). Women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa: An institutional theory analysis from a social marketing point of view. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 21(2), 183–211. Aterido, R., & Hallward-Driemeier, M. (2011). Whose business is it anyway? Small Business Economics, 37(4), 443. Benavides-Espinosa, M.  M., & Mohedano-Suanes, A. (2012). Linking women entrepreneurship with social entrepreneurship. In Women’s entrepreneurship and economics (pp. 53–71). New York: Springer. Brixiová, Z., & Kangoye, T. (2016). Gender and constraints to entrepreneurship in Africa: New evidence from Swaziland. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 5, 1–8. Chowdhury, T.  Y., Yeasmin, A., & Ahmed, Z. (2018). Perception of women entrepreneurs to accessing bank credit. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 8(1), 32. Fletschner, D., & Carter, M. R. (2008). Constructing and reconstructing gender: Reference group effects and women’s demand for entrepreneurial capital. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 37(2), 672–693. Gaye, D. (2018). Female entrepreneurs: The future of the African Continent. Available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2018/11/29/ women-entrepreneurs-the-future-of-africa Klapper, L. F., & Parker, S. C. (2011). Gender and the business environment for new firm creation. The World Bank Research Observer, 26(2), 237–257. Parente, R., Rong, K., Geleilate, J.  M. G., & Misati, E. (2019). Adapting and sustaining operations in weak institutional environments: A business ecosystem assessment of a Chinese MNE in Central Africa. Journal of International Business Studies, 50(2), 275–291. Rindova, V., Barry, D., & Ketchen, D. J., Jr. (2009). Entrepreneuring as emancipation. Academy of Management Review, 34(3), 477–491.

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Roomi, M. A., & Parrott, G. (2008). Barriers to development and progression of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The Journal of Entrepreneurship, 17(1), 59–72. Seshie-Nasser, H.  A., & Oduro, A.  D. (2018). Women-owned businesses and household welfare. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 10(4), 310–331. Shelton, L. M. (2006). Female entrepreneurs, work–family conflict, and venture performance: New insights into the work–family interface. Journal of small business management, 44(2), 285–297. Toesland, F. (2018). Women-led tech startups on the rise in Africa. Available at https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-november-2018/ women-led-tech-startups-rise-africa Wiklund, J., Nikolaev, B., Shir, N., Foo, M.  D., & Bradley, S. (2019). Entrepreneurship and well-being: Past, present, and future. Journal of Business Venturing, 34(4), 579–588. Patience Aku Bruce  is a doctoral researcher at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Chief Executive Officer of the Secret-­Escape Beauty Company Limited. Her research interest is in the areas of high-performance human resource practices, leadership behaviour and strategic organisational performance. She holds MA in Personnel and Development from De Montfort University, UK. Nathaniel Boso  is the Dean and Professor of International Entrepreneurship and Marketing at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Business. His research focuses on the interface between international technology entrepreneurship, innovation and marketing (including logistics and supply chain) strategies. He received his PhD from Loughborough University, UK.

CHAPTER 10

African Women in Academia Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Towards Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals

Lydia Aziato, Merri Iddrisu, Priscilla Y. A. Attafuah, Joyce B. P. Pwavra, and Lillian A. Ohene Abstract  Few women occupy a professorial rank in academia and senior management positions globally. The issues relating to women in academia find a locus in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on quality education, gender equality, and reduced inequalities, with discussions focusing on women in power and decision-making. This chapter seeks to unveil challenges African women in academia encounter and how they can overcome these challenges and position themselves to contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. Socio-­ cultural ties and obligations for women in Africa create challenges that make it difficult for women in academia to break the glass ceiling. Young female academics require mentorship, work-life balance, self-reflection,

L. Aziato (*) • M. Iddrisu • P. Y. A. Attafuah • J. B. P. Pwavra • L. A. Ohene School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_10

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and a bounce back from adverse life events. We recommend policy direction and legislation in African universities to create equal opportunities for leadership positions for women and girls at every level of decision-making to reduce the gender gap and inequalities. Keywords  Academia • Africa • Development goals • Glass ceiling • Women

Introduction Women encounter barriers that often restrict them from advancing through institutions with a cultural orientation to occupy leadership positions. A glass ceiling is a figure of speech that refers to non-natural barriers that stop women from getting a promotion to managerial and executive-­ level positions in an organisation (Jackson & O’Callaghan, 2009). In this chapter, the “glass ceiling” is used to denote barriers women face when trying to occupy higher positions in academia often considered male-­ dominated in a hierarchy. The world is poised to create a gender balance in many settings. Most presidential aspirants promise to allow more females to occupy decision-­ making positions, and there are efforts being made across the globe to achieve “gender equality”, but these efforts are not yielding much impact. The cultural upbringing and socialisation of both genders in Africa consider women inferior to men (Tazuh & Tosam, 2016), and this notion is planted in men, who also portray this in academia. Women are the ones who play the roles of taking care of the children and undertaking all domestic chores. The society also views the world of academia as a male-­ dominated area (Williams, 2017). When a woman tries to push to the top, she is seen to be deserting her domestic responsibilities. According to Boateng (2018), most females in academia are not respected by their male counterparts because of their gender. In a study by Yousaf and Schmiede (2017), the progression of women in academia is delayed in Pakistan. Most of the participants were publishing less when compared to their male counterparts. Rather, the female participants focused more on teaching and educating the students than on research and publication, which is required for promotion. Additionally, in

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terms of networking at international conferences, an avenue for promotion in academia, the study found that 75% of the women had not attended any international conference, mainly because of family ties. Sexual harassment at workplaces was also found to hinder academic progression and women virtually begged for their rightful positions, and some harassed in their bid to rise to the top (Yousaf & Schmiede, 2017). The remaining part of the chapter discusses the connection between women in academia, women in power, decision-making, and reduced inequality as they relate to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also, barriers to the progression of women, mentorship, and skills to progress, including issues of reflection and learning from experiences, are discussed.

The Interphase Between Women in Academia and the Sustainable Development Goals The prevailing view among development experts suggests that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will remain unattainable if there is no active contribution and involvement of the academic community (Adriansen, 2016; Ketlhoilwe, Silo, & Velempini, 2020). Several prominent organisations, including the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the Agency of Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), and the International Association of Universities (IAU), recently emphasised these concerns at the July 2019 UN High-Level Political Forum in New  York (O’Malley, 2019). Research findings generated at these institutions constitute crucial intellectual property that underpins strategic mainstream policy directives to inform change (Mitchell, Rose, & Asare, 2018). More importantly, policies to promote and empower women to occupy key leadership and decision-making positions must stem from universities and be championed by women scientists in academia (Prozesky & Mouton, 2019). Notably, women scientists in Africa are still under-­ represented within senior ranks, compared to a global average of 40% in high-income countries (Lopez, Margherio, Abraham, & Feghali-Bostwick, 2018; Tiedeu, Para-Mallam, & Nyambi, 2019). Significantly, the drive towards women’s empowerment and the girl child’s education has gathered pace across the African continent, especially after the United Nations (UN) Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (UN Women, 2019). This has contributed to a significant

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narrowing of the gender gap as governments strive to promote gender equality and advance women’s rights in the post-Beijing Conference era. Additional efforts to encourage girls to pursue science courses and attain university degrees have yielded similar increasing numbers (UN Women, 2019). However, gender gaps still exist within the upper echelons of higher educational institutions in Africa, including Ghana (Aziato, 2016), despite this concerted global drive towards addressing gender inequality (Shakirova, 2019). Nonetheless, women academics are expected to represent and champion the course of women scientists on the continent. The continued imbalances suggest that Africa is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on quality education and gender equality. Historically, postcolonial conceptions of education in Africa have favoured the male population (Mahabeer, Nzimande, & Shoba, 2018). Consequently, a male-dominated agenda has characterised the operational setup and organisational structures that underpin African universities and institutions of higher learning (Zvobgo, 2015). Regrettably, neoliberal and colonial legacies render African universities rigid in character, structure, and form, given the dominance of males in key positions of power and influence. Meanwhile, African women’s gender roles and social responsibilities constitute considerable barriers to higher educational attainment, which in turn affect their capacity to occupy significant positions of authority and power in academia (Bhana & Pillay, 2012; Mahabeer et al., 2018; Sharmam, 2019). Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive organisational restructuring within African universities to promote gender equality and women empowerment.

Barriers of Women in Academia Breaking the Glass Ceiling The rate at which women are earning doctoral degrees is increasing and almost comparable to their male counterparts. Nevertheless, the rate of promotion to the professorial rank is much slower for women (Van den Brink & Benschop, 2012; Winslow, 2010). Williams (2017), in a study on the career progression of women academics at Stellenbosch University, highlighted factors that hinder academic advancement such as socialisation and societal norms, and starting a family. Patriarchal socialisation has women playing the role of homemakers, whereas men remain leaders in

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every sphere of life (Nica, 2013; Panigrahi, 2013). Given this societal expectation, women have been reluctant to pursue education, administration, and leadership positions. Women always choose to start families and bear the consequences of slow career progression (Williams, 2017). Additionally, gender stereotypes and women’s perceived homemakers’ role in the African context often lead to workplace tensions as women academics strive to assert themselves. However, women in academia are considered more serviceable than their male counterparts (Guarino & Borden, 2017). Cumulatively, cultural boundaries, societal expectations, and limited political disposition serve as impediments to the advancement of female academics (Sabharwal, Henderson, & Joseph, 2020). Some women also feel intimidated by the number of males in their institutions, and although women could be occupying the same positions as their male counterparts, the self-confidence to act as an equal is absent (Boateng, 2018; Kessler, Spector, & Gavin, 2014; Norman, 2014). Women in these instances would prefer not to speak or contribute at meetings, for fear of being ridiculed or disregarded. Lack of self-motivation and proactiveness could lead to slow progression among female academics, in addition to poor time management and lack of resilience (Boateng, 2018). Some female academics are unable to work effectively in a team, and they find it challenging to manage their stress, which consequently affects their leadership and academic prowess (Hejase, Haddad, Hamdar, Massoud, & Farha, 2013; Takami, 2018). The absence of women in the high hierarchies of academia creates a block in the minds of most young females, as they perceive the top to be attainable only by men. Furthermore, a study by Howe-Walsh, Turnbull, Papavasileiou, and Bozionelos (2016) emphasised the absence of female role models as a key factor propagating the male-dominated networks. Indeed, the presence of more females in the high hierarchies of academia will motivate future generations of females to surge higher and progress. There is no doubt that political limitations, societal norms and expectations, homemakers’ role, cultural boundaries, male dominance intimidation, and lack of self-motivation limit women in academia from climbing the higher ranks in their profession.

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Issues of Leadership and Mentorship Among Women in Academia The participation of women in academic leadership is critical for the growth of institutions because of the unique leadership qualities women possess (Longman, 2018). Women leaders are better listeners, big dreamers, empathetic, multitaskers, and problem solvers, and have exceptional emotional intelligence (Chakraborty & Saha, 2017). Studies have indicated that women adopt a transformational leadership style to innovatively succeed in solving problems, and encourage, motivate, and support people (Eliadis, 2018). The involvement of women in academic leadership positions results in diverse views in decision-making that enhance development (Eliadis, 2018). Even though gender bias and racism play a role in deciding who gets promotion and occupies leadership positions in academia, studies further abound that assert that only fewer women obtain doctoral degrees due to their gender roles and societal expectations (Davis & Maldonado, 2015; Sadiq, Barnes, Price, Gumedze, & Morrell, 2018). This, therefore, causes discouragement in other women who aspire to occupy leadership positions, and this is regarded as self-elimination (Chakraborty & Saha, 2017). For female academics to break the glass ceiling and occupy higher leadership positions, they need to engage themselves in advocacy, dialogue, lobbying, research, publication, and mentorship (Hingston, 2016). The demands of the academic environment require the adoption of strategies for work-life balance and employ specific academic skills that could lead to effective career progression (Helitzer et  al., 2016). The contemporary skills of using bibliographic managers for referencing and software for data analysis, selecting credible journals for publishing, undertaking team research and having co-authorship of manuscripts are important in enhancing development in academia and, in the long run, culminating in achieving a professorial rank and being appointed a member of top management (Linková, 2017). Young female academics should participate in international conferences, go into collaboration both locally and internationally, and engage in grantsmanship (Klein, Kelling, Pais, Lee, & Bostwick, 2019). These could provide opportunities to work with other experienced researchers within their micro-fields of interest. Mentoring increases women’s feelings of self-esteem and preparedness towards goal attainment (Cohen, 2019). Mentorship does not only transmit knowledge, but gives psychosocial support to a mentee, which is

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perceived relevant to work, career, or professional development (Wladkowski & Mirick, 2019). One of the most important factors that enable young females break the glass ceiling and advance their career in academia is the help of mentors (Hill & Wheat, 2017). Though finding effective mentorship is extremely challenging, a lack of mentorship, however, may negatively influence promotion, productivity, and retention at work. Women, especially, find a lack of mentorship a key factor that inhibits their career advancement and one element contributing to the significant gender gaps existing in academia (Abramson, Naifeh, Stevenson, & Li, 2019). We emphasise here again that the lack of females in senior management positions poses a challenge for the identification of mentors to help young female academics progress in their careers (Farkas, Bonifacino, Turner, Tilstra, & Corbelli, 2019). Young female academics are entreated to seek good mentorship and commit to working hard.

Self-reflection and Bouncing Back Among Women in Academia Reflexivity and learning from life’s events are key strategies for women in academia to employ to enhance their career development (Aziato, 2015; Boateng, 2018). Generally, all faculty are expected to “hit the ground running upon appointment and keep running until they get to the top”. The myriad of challenges that confront women and the differences in the use of coping skills and available support systems make it imperative for women to learn from their life experiences so they can strategise for academic progression (Oberhauser & Caretta, 2019). Unforeseen situations associated with cultural relocation and acculturation, terminal illness, overt and covert forms of racism, sexism, and classism can impede career progression (Sang, 2018). Within the African context, unforeseen changes in family support systems resulting from mortalities can retard academic progression (Aziato, 2015). It is paramount for women to identify life events that have the potential to negatively impact their lives and take steps to establish equilibrium. Multiple negative life events can occur concurrently in life, and therefore, female academics should develop multiple coping skills to employ in such stressful life events. Some strategies women can adopt to cope in the academic environment include encouraging diversity in their scholarship that weaves motherhood

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and research and collaborating with each other (Isgro & Castañeda, 2015; Sang, 2018; Breeze and Taylor, 2020). Dedication, commitment, effective time management, networking and communication, family support, determination, and resilience are factors that contribute significantly to bouncing back from disruptive life events (Oberhauser & Caretta, 2019). It is paramount for female academics to remain resilient to ensure they do not give up easily in a patriarchal academic environment. We reiterate that advancing to a professorial rank in academia cannot be obtained on a silver platter; hence, there should be self-motivation and exertion of the needed energy in a strategic and sustained manner to get to the top (Aziato, 2015).

Recommendations African universities can promote female leadership as a strategy to increase the visibility of women academics. This can be achieved when universities set targets for women’s inclusions to progressively bridge the gender gap. It is paramount that specific policies and strategies are implemented to support women in academia in achieving both professional and administrative positions so that they can contribute to high-level decisions within the academic environment.

Conclusion The Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved if African leaders commit to policy directions and legislation that will address “the power and politics of knowledge”, change the mindset of society about women, and transform society through researches that can impact the lives of the masses in society. These will help empower women and girls, and give them equal opportunities to take up leadership positions at all levels of decision-making. It is emphasised that women are key players in every society, and their active engagement and development can best achieve the SDGs.

References Abramson, E.  L., Naifeh, M.  M., Stevenson, M.  D., & Li, S.-T.  T. (2019). Scholarly collaboration, mentorship, and friendship: A new model for success in academic medicine. Academic Pediatrics, 19(8), 860–864. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.acap.2019.07.010.

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Mitchell, R., Rose, P., & Asare, S. (2018). Research in African universities to inform the sustainable development goal for education: Visibility, gaps, and future priorities. Paper presented at the CEID Annual Conference 2018. Higher Education and International Development, University of Cambridge. Nica, E. (2013). The importance of leadership development within higher education. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 5(2), 189–194. Norman, L. (2014). A crisis of confidence: Women coaches’ responses to their engagement in resistance. Sport, Education, and Society, 19(5), 532–551. Oberhauser, A. M., & Caretta, M. A. (2019). A space for feminist mentoring: the role of Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) specialty group in higher education. Gender, Place & Culture, 26(12), 1664–1682. O’Malley, B. (2019). SDGs ‘not attainable without the contribution of HE’, UN told. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190719135507840 Panigrahi, M.  R. (2013). Perception of secondary school stakeholders towards women representation in educational leadership in the Harari region of Ethiopia. Perception, 2(1), 03. Prozesky, H., & Mouton, J. (2019). A gender perspective on career challenges experienced by African scientists. South African Journal of Science, 115. https:// doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2019/5515. Sabharwal, N. S., Henderson, E. F., & Joseph, R. S. (2020). Hidden social exclusion in Indian academia: Gender, caste, and conference participation. Gender and Education, 32(1), 27–42. Sadiq, H., Barnes, K.  I., Price, M., Gumedze, F., & Morrell, R.  G. (2018). Academic promotions at a South African university: Questions of bias, politics, and transformation. Higher Education, 78(3), 423–442. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10734-018-0350-2. Sang, K. J. (2018). Gender, ethnicity and feminism: An intersectional analysis of the lived experiences feminist academic women in UK higher education. Journal of Gender Studies, 27(2), 192–206. Shakirova, S. (2019 ). Where women predominate in universities but few lead. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190315083034424 Sharmam, Y. (2019). Scant progress on women becoming university leaders. https:// www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190717144930693 Takami, L.  M. (2018). Dr. Becky Petitt works toward diversity and inclusion. Women in Higher Education, 27(4), 1–2. Tazuh, M. M., & Tosam, J. (2016). Being a woman in African culture: How culture shapes and defines the status of women. Philosophy in Culture: A Cross-­ Cultural Perspective, 241–266. Tiedeu, B. A., Para-Mallam, O. J., & Nyambi, D. (2019). Driving gender equity in African scientific institutions. The Lancet, 393(10171), 504–506. https:// doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(19)30284-3.

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UN Women. (2019). Progress on the sustainable development goals: The gender snapshot. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2019/ 0 9 / p r o g r e s s - o n - t h e - s u s t a i n a b l e - d e v e l o p m e n t - g o a l s - t h e - g e n d e rsnapshot-2019 Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2012). Slaying the seven-headed dragon: The quest for gender change in academia. Gender, Work & Organization, 19(1), 71–92. Williams, L. G. (2017). Decelerating factors that impact on the career progression of women academics at Stellenbosch University. Stellenbosch, South Africa: Stellenbosch University. Winslow, S. (2010). Gender inequality and time allocations among academic faculty. Gender & Society, 24(6), 769–793. Wladkowski, S. P., & Mirick, R. G. (2019). Mentorship in doctoral education for pregnant and newly parenting doctoral students. Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, 12(3), 299–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/2637911 2.2019.1654394. Yousaf, R., & Schmiede, R. (2017). Barriers to women’s representation in academic excellence and positions of power. Asian Journal of German and European Studies, 2(1), 2. Zvobgo, E. F. (2015). Effectiveness of gender policies in the promotion of women leaders in universities: A case of Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, 27(1). ISSN 1013-3445. Lydia Aziato  is the Dean of School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana. She has been a nurse since 1997. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and Psychology, an MPhil in Nursing, a specialty certificate in Oncology Nursing and a PhD in Nursing. She has published widely both locally and internationally. Her research interests are pain, cancer, women’s health, and surgical nursing. She has advanced skills in qualitative research. Merri Iddrisu  is a nurse with over 17 years’ clinical experience. She is a faculty member at the Adult Health Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana. Her research interest includes women’s health, cancers, medical and surgical emergencies. Her passion is in qualitative research. Priscilla Y.  A. Attafuah  is a lecturer with the Community Health Nursing Department of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. A registered general nurse by profession, she has been in academia for the past seven years. She is married with three children and has experienced first-hand the challenges of women in academia.

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Joyce B. P. Pwavra  is a young faculty member of the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana. She is a self-motivated person who is very optimistic about life. She loves nursing very much and strives to contribute immensely to the growth of the profession locally and internationally. Lillian A. Ohene  is a registered nurse with specialty training in paediatric nursing. She holds a PhD in Nursing. Currently, a faculty of Community Health Nursing Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Legon, and a Faculty Counsellor, Sigma Theta Thau Chi Omicron Chapter Ghana branch.

CHAPTER 11

Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Through Tourism in Africa: Towards Agenda 2030

Ewoenam Afua Afenyo-Agbe and Ogechi Adeola

Abstract  The importance of women in achieving development goals is well established in global policy and practice. However, there is a dearth of knowledge on the utilisation of tourism to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5—gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls—especially within the African context. It is against this backdrop that this chapter explores the gender dimension of tourism as a development option in Africa. Specifically, the chapter explores the theme, gender equality and women’s empowerment through tourism in Africa by highlighting the tourism and gender dynamics in Africa. Strategies for

E. A. Afenyo-Agbe (*) Department of Hospitality and Tourism, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] O. Adeola Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_11

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promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment through tourism in Africa are also discussed. Keywords  Tourism • Gender equality • Women’s empowerment • Sustainable Development Goals • Africa

Introduction Increasingly, changes in the socio-economic conditions globally are challenging the traditional gendered restrictions placed on women, forcing many of them to take up work outside the home to contribute to the household income (Lansky, Ghosh, Meda, & Rani, 2017). According to UN Women (2019), when women are economically disadvantaged, the effect is not limited to them but extends to their families and communities. The socio-cultural restrictions that women face with regard to access to education, property rights, governance, finance and social networks have mainly limited their employment to the informal sector (Amu, 2005). Further, women are confronted with discriminatory labour market issues, which result in gender wage gaps and unequal access to jobs (UN Women, 2018). Nevertheless, when women are empowered, they are in a position to effectively deal with these challenges that confront them (UN Women, 2020). This view underlines the United Nations’ new global development agenda—Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, this agenda recognises that ‘gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress across all the 17 goals and 162 targets’ (UN General Assembly, 2015). In Africa, women are the most affected by poverty, making them the ‘poorest of the poor’ (McFerson, 2010). Besides, they are still being oppressed by traditions and socio-cultural norms (Kalabamu, 2006; Nukpezah & Blankson, 2017). According to UNWTO (2015), the tourism sector has the potential to create several income-generating opportunities through which women can be empowered. This means that tourism can contribute to gender equality and empowerment of women in Africa. Currently, women make up about 54 per cent of the global tourism workforce. Until the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism represented about 10.3 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP)

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and accounted for about 330 million direct and indirect jobs (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2020). The 2018 Global Report on Women in Tourism identifies five thematic areas in which tourism can aid in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. These areas are as follows: • Tourism providing decent work for women • Women’s tourism businesses leading to women’s economic empowerment • Tourism education and training to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the sector • Women as leaders in the tourism sector and being represented and influential in decision-making spaces • Tourism empowering women to work collectively for justice and gender equality Africa, as a continent, has attracted its share of tourism in terms of volume and value over the years. International arrivals to the continent have steadily increased from 2.7 million arrivals in 1967 to about 67 million in 2018 (UNWTO, 2019b). Further, there is evidence of tourism spurring on the establishment of a large number of tourism-related small- and mediumsized tourism enterprises, which have contributed significantly to the livelihoods of many in Africa. Hence, for the over 413 million poor people living on the continent, tourism may represent a great opportunity for making economic and social progress in terms of enhanced businesses, income generation, improved livelihoods, gender equality and women’s empowerment (Boakye, Otibo, & Frempong, 2013; The World Bank, 2015). The questions that arise, which this chapter seeks to find answers to, are: (1) How supportive is tourism to women in Africa? (2) How does it (tourism) aid in addressing the issues of gender inequality and women disempowerment in Africa? (3) What strategies can Africa consider with regard to tourism as it works towards the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women? These questions are pertinent as the world marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Women Conference of 1995, which set the gender equality agenda and with ten years remaining to fulfil Agenda 2030 of the UN SDGs. Given that scholars (e.g. Ferguson, 2011; Turker & Boonabaana, 2012) have bemoaned the lack of gender perspective to the tourism-development discourse, this chapter seeks to fill that

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gap by offering a gender perspective to tourism’s potential as a development option. The main text of the chapter is divided into three sections. Section “Tourism, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Nexus” reviews the literature on the intersections of tourism, gender equality and women’s empowerment. The next section presents empirical evidence of the relationship between tourism, gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa. And the last section discusses strategies that can be employed towards the attainment of SDG 5  in Africa bearing in mind tourism and Agenda 2030.

Tourism, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Nexus The contribution of the tourism industry to social and economic life has not gone unnoticed in the literature (Darmayasa, Kusuma, Sapta, & Agung, 2018; Ezeuduji, 2015; Scholtz & Slabbert, 2016). Tourism has the potential to go beyond employment generation to contribute to achieving gender equality and women empowerment (Mrema, 2015). This has necessitated the focus of tourism-related studies on gender (Duffy, Kline, Mowatt, & Chancellor, 2015; Ferguson, & Alarcon, 2015). Interestingly, several international organisations such as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World Bank have consistently emphasised the role of tourism in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment (Ferguson & Alarco, 2015). The World Tourism Organisation (2019a), in its global report on women in tourism, stated that the majority of the tourism workforce worldwide are females. However, women earn less than men in the tourism industry. The report highlighted that the tourism industry provides women with the greatest opportunity for leadership roles as 23 per cent of ministers in the tourism industry are females. The economic contribution of women in the tourism industry and the number of females who are actively involved in the tourism industry provide an avenue to pursue and achieve UN SDG 5, which is geared towards ensuring gender equality and women empowerment. As stated earlier, the tourism industry provides an avenue for women to earn a living and also an opportunity to occupy leadership positions so that women are represented in the tourism industry. However, the question as to whether

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women’s representation in the industry signifies gender equality still remains. From the report of the World Tourism Organisation (2019a, 2019b), women are represented but still earn less than their male counterparts. This is still a subject that requires urgent attention. Until women and men have equal representation in leadership positions, and women also earn as much as their male counterparts, gender equality remains a discourse in the tourism industry. The World Tourism Organisation (2019a, 2019b) also recognises the dangers of gender inequality to women’s economic empowerment and participation in the tourism industry and, therefore, suggested that women should be empowered through technological innovation, as technology is an important factor for women’s empowerment in the tourism industry. Also, it opined that training opportunities for stimulating entrepreneurship should be provided for women to enhance their tourism opportunities.

Tourism, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the African Context Most of the tourism interventions on the continent have adopted a pro-­ poor or community-based approach to generate benefits and opportunities for all, including the vulnerable and underprivileged. Overall, there is both positive and negative evidence for and against tourism on the issue of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the formal and informal sectors of tourism in Africa. In many instances, evidence suggests that tourism generates varied benefits and opportunities for women to engage in decent work and gain economic independence and empowerment. For example, Moswete and Lacey (2015), in their study of women’s empowerment through cultural tourism in Botswana, found that tourism created varied income-generating opportunities for women, most of whom were either single parents or breadwinners. The women felt empowered; they had a sense of self-sufficiency, created from their income-generating activities. From this income, they were able to provide for the needs of their households. Similar observations were made in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, by Nzame (2008), Tucker and Boonabaana (2012) in Uganda, and Afenyo (2018) in Ghana. For these women, tourism has enabled them to attain financial independence, a sense of purpose and leadership of their household.

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Tourism’s potential to empower women to work collectively and to be influential in their own space is exemplified by the cases of self-help and cooperative groups established by women in various tourism settings in Africa (Boonabaana, 2014; Scheyvens, 2000). These groups served a myriad of purposes. Tourism-related work outside the home gives women the chance to interact and network with others. Boonabaana (2014) reported how such interactions and networking activities led to some women cultural groups in Uganda forming informal lending and borrowing institutions to enable their members to pool resources for self-help. Properties were also acquired through these networks. A similar women self-help cooperative group was also formed in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Beyond the financial assistance they offered their members, they had their members trained in basic business and soft skills. Some members of the group got the confidence to return to school to learn how to read and write (Scheyvens, 1999). These efforts can be channelled into negotiating for justice and equality where gaps exist. Yet women’s tourism engagement is highly restricted and full of bias. It has been acknowledged that society’s gendered roles and responsibilities shaped women’s engagement in tourism-related economic activities (e.g. Garcia-Ramon, Canoves, & Valdovinos, 1995). Significant patterns that emerged from the gender-related studies are that females were more likely to engage in home-based tourism-related activities which reflected their traditional roles as homemakers, while the males engaged in vigorous, out-of-home tourism-related activities as the breadwinners of the homes (Garcia-Ramon, Canoves, & Valdovinos, 1995). Some males are quite unaccepting of the changing role and status that tourism has provided women and have placed restrictions on their wives’ and female family members’ choice of tourism work. Women who tried to challenge the status quo and engaged in perceived male activities were labelled as rebels and stubborn (Tucker & Boonabaana, 2012). In terms of bias, Scheyvens (2000), in a review of women empowerment through ecotourism in Third World countries, noted that in Mahenye, Zimbabwe, out of 15 positions in a local lodge, only three were filled by women. At the Chilo Lodge also, out of 38 positions, women only occupied 4. In some instances, male-­ dominated clubs were more likely to get support from ecotourism funds than their female counterparts. There is also a bias in the formal tourism sector in terms of the pay and positions (e.g. Adebayo, 2015) and the sexual objectification of women in tourism work (e.g. Kibicho, 2016; Vettori & Nicolaides, 2016).

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In the past two years, action towards the achievement of gender equality and women empowerment through tourism in Africa has intensified. In November 2019, for instance, the UNWTO in collaboration with the government of Ghana with support from IE University, the World Bank, UN Women and the German Development Agency organised the first regional congress on women’s empowerment in the tourism sector in Africa. The event, which was hosted in Ghana, brought together a diverse audience within the tourism space to deliberate on women equality and empowerment issues, with a special focus on entrepreneurship, technology, education and leadership. This was followed up with the ‘Freetown Forum’ in Sierra Leone, organised by the World Bank Group’s We-Fi (Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative), in collaboration with the UNWTO and the Ministry of Tourism & Cultural Affairs, Sierra Leone, held in the same month. This programme sought to set the ‘agenda for action on women’s empowerment in tourism’. The areas the Forum addressed were employment, entrepreneurship, leadership, policy and decision-making, education and training, community and civil society, and research for better policies. Besides, most countries across the continent have ministries or government agencies that have oversight responsibility for gender issues. The activities of international organisations, including the World Bank, MasterCard Foundation and the US State Department-­ led Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, are lending support to the socio-­ economic development and advancement of women in Africa.

The Way Forward: Towards the Achievement of Agenda 2030 Building on the momentum set by the UN Women 2018 report ‘Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development’ (UN Women, 2018), the Global Report on Women in Tourism, the UNWTO regional congress on women’s empowerment in the tourism sector and the Freetown Forum, this chapter recommends the following. First of all, the current scholarship on tourism and development in Africa is largely gender-neutral and skewed towards the southern and eastern sub-regions of the continent. Hence, there is the need for more and periodic tourism-related gender-sensitive research and sex-disaggregated data on both the formal and informal tourism sectors across all the

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sub-regions of the continent. This will aid in the documentation of progress towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. Secondly, from a policy perspective, governments across Africa need to develop specific gender-aware tourism policy frameworks to address the peculiar needs and challenges of women’s engagement in tourism. The framework should ultimately aim at creating a growth and empowerment-­ oriented environment for women in the tourism space. The focus of these policies should not be narrowed down to only economic empowerment. While it is important to have deliberate policies geared at supporting women/female tourism entrepreneurship and other income-generating activities, attention must be paid to empowering women socially, psychologically and politically as well. Also, policies should be context specific. It will be erroneous to assume that women’s challenges are the same regardless of their geographical location. The unique issues posed by urban-rural dynamics should reflect in policies and actions designed to support women’s empowerment and gender equality drives. Thirdly, it will be prudent on the part of financial institutions to design special financial products and packages for women-owned tourism-related micro- and small-scale businesses with lower collateral demands. This will help fill the gap created by the economically disadvantaged position of women that limits their ability to raise or access adequate funds to engage in tourism business in Africa. In addition, microcredit accumulation avenues like the village and saving loan (VSLA) model should be actively promoted. This is because they have been found to provide greater opportunity for promoting financial inclusion and literacy for women. Through these channels women will help to manage their business cash flow, build capital base for their businesses, access financial services and build social networks, solidarity and trust. Fourthly, collaborative learning networks or self-help groups are crucial to women’s entrepreneurial process in tourism (e.g. Kimbu, Ngoasong, Adeola, & Afenyo-Agbe, 2019) and can play a vital role in their empowerment. Collaborative learning networks encourage collective action and make it possible for members to share and access otherwise scarce resources, knowledge, information, experience and support mobilised by the group (Woolcock, 2010). For socio-cultural and economically disadvantaged vulnerable groups like women in Africa, collaborative learning networks can be an effective capacity-building avenue for securing financial resources for business.

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Again, in a patriarchal context like Africa, male support is relevant for women’s engagement in tourism, particularly in areas where there are still socio-cultural restrictions on women. As identified by Moswete and Lacey (2015), male support can be harnessed to provide mentoring, credit and emotional support to these women. Through such endeavour, the male narratives about women’s economic engagements and empowerment may change. Furthermore, the role of training and education in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment cannot be underestimated. Periodic training and education should be organised to augment the skill set and knowledge of women. The focus should also be on emboldening women with soft skills as well as knowledge on appropriate technology and the digitalisation of tourism. Women, particularly in rural areas, need to be supported in the quest to bridge the digital divide. Gender-specific support centres to help address the needs of women in tourism should be created. Although, there may be gender units or agencies at country levels, their focus on achieving economic empowerment through tourism may be mere rhetoric. These new gender support centres will be expected to offer both business advisory and general support for women in tourism in terms of business registration, book-keeping, enterprise development, financing, legal advice, mentoring and coaching. Finally, gender policies can be utilised to address the gender pay gap challenge in the tourism sector. Minimum wage and equal-pay regulations should be captured in the policies, with the appropriate legal backing.

Conclusion There is great potential in pursuing tourism development to achieve SDG 5 of gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa. Whilst it is acknowledged that practices such as early marriages, gender-based crime and violence and issues relating to women’s property rights, education, health care, technology and internet pose clear challenges to the attainment of SDG 5  in Africa, gender equality and women’s empowerment drive should be considered as a process—to be achieved by taking one step at a time. Milestones achieved, no matter how small, should be celebrated and turned into lessons for advancing the cause.

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References Adebayo, I. N. (2015). Gender inequality in the hospitality industry: Issues and challenges. A case study of selected hotels in Ondo State, Nigeria. Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports, 9, 40–45. Afenyo, E. A. (2018). Residents’ experiences with tourism as a livelihood strategy in Wli, Ghana. Doctoral dissertation, University of Cape Coast. Amu, N. J. (2005). The role of women in Ghana’s economy. Retrieved from http:// library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/02990.pdf Boakye, K. A., Otibo, F., & Frempong, F. (2013). Assessing Ghana’s contemporary tourism development experience. Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective, 8(1), 133–154. Boonabaana, B. (2014). Negotiating gender and tourism work: Women’s lived experiences in Uganda. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 14(1–2), 27–36. Darmayasa, I. K., Kusuma, G. A. T., Sapta, I. K. S., & Agung, A. A. P. (2018). The effect of tourism economics towards life satisfaction and its impact on public’s intentions to participate in the development of new tourist destinations. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations, 6(3), 71–94. Duffy, L. N., Kline, C. S., Mowatt, R. A., & Chancellor, H. C. (2015). Women in tourism: Shifting gender ideology in the DR. Annals of Tourism Research, 52, 72–86. Ezeuduji, I. O. (2015). Strategic event-based rural tourism development for sub-­ Saharan Africa. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(3), 212–228. Ferguson, L. (2011). Promoting gender equality and empowering women? Tourism and the third Millennium Development Goal. Current Issues in Tourism, 14(3), 235–249. Ferguson, L., & Alarcon, D. M. (2015). Gender and sustainable tourism: reflections on theory and practice. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(3), 401–416. García-Ramón, M. D., Canoves, G., & Valdovinos, N. (1995). Farm tourism, gender and the environment in Spain. Annals of Tourism Research, 22(2), 267–282. Kalabamu, F. (2006). Patriarchy and women’s land rights in Botswana. Land Use Policy, 23, 237–246. Kibicho, W. (2016). Sex tourism in Africa: Kenya’s booming industry. Routledge. Kimbu, A.  N., Ngoasong, M.  Z., Adeola, O., & Afenyo-Agbe, E. (2019). Collaborative networks for sustainable human capital management in women’s tourism entrepreneurship: The role of tourism policy. Tourism Planning & Development, 16(2), 161–178. Lansky, M., Ghosh, J., Meda, D., & Rani, U. (2017). Women, gender, work: Social choices and inequalities (Vol. 2). Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Office. McFerson, H. M. (2010). Poverty among women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review of selected issues. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 11(4), 50–72.

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Moswete, N., & Lacey, G. (2015). “Women cannot lead”: Empowering women through cultural tourism in Botswana. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(4), 600–617. Mrema, A. A. (2015). Tourism and women empowerment in Monduli District, Arusha-Tanzania. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 4(2), 1–14. Nukpezah, J.  A., & Blankson, C. (2017). Microfinance intervention in poverty reduction: A study of women farmer-entrepreneurs in rural Ghana. Journal of African Business, 18(4), 457–475. Scheyvens, R. (1999). The potential for ecotourism to facilitate the empowerment of local communities in Southern Africa: A summary report using selected case studies (pp. 4–7). Wellington, New Zealand: Massey University. Scheyvens, R. (2000). Promoting women’s empowerment through involvement in ecotourism: Experiences from the third world. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8(3), 232–249. Scholtz, M., & Slabbert, E. (2016). The relevance of the tangible and intangible social impacts of tourism on selected South African communities. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 14(2), 107–128. The World Bank. (2011). Africa region tourism strategy: Transformation through tourism  – Harnessing tourism for growth and improved livelihoods. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/12841 The World Bank (2015). World Bank Group forum highlights the economic power of tourism. Retrieved from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/ feature/2015/12/11/world-bank-group-forum-highlights-the-economicpower-of-tourism Tucker, H., & Boonabaana, B. (2012). A critical analysis of tourism, gender and poverty reduction. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(3), 437–455. UN General Assembly. (2015, October 21). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://www.refworld. org/docid/57b6e3e44.html UN Women. (2018). Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen. org/en/digital-librar y/publications/2018/2/gender-equality-inthe-2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development-2018 UN Women. (2020). Women and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-andthe-sdgs United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). (2020). International tourism growth continues to outpace the global economy. Retrieved from https:// www.unwto.org/international-tourism-growth-continues-to-outpacethe-economy

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Vettori, A. S., & Nicolaides, A. (2016). Sexual harassment at the workplace in the hospitality industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 5(2), 1–15. Woolcock, M. (2010). The rise and routinization of social capital, 1988–2008. Annual Review of Political Science, 13, 469–487. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2019a). Global report on women in tourism  – Second Edition. UNWTO, Madrid. https://doi.org/10.18111/ 9789284420384 World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2019b). International tourism highlights, 2019 Edition. UNWTO, Madrid. https://doi.org/10.18111/ 9789284421152 World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). (2020). Economic impact report. https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact Ewoenam Afua Afenyo-Agbe  is a lecturer at the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Her research areas are community-based tourism, gender and tourism, tourism entrepreneurship, ecotourism, tourism development, and tourism management. Ogechi Adeola  is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria, and the Founder of Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative. Her multi-dimensional research focuses on the advancement of knowledge across the intersection of marketing, tourism, entrepreneurship, and gender in sub-Saharan Africa.

CHAPTER 12

Financial Inclusion as a Tool for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa: Achieving UN’s 2030 SDG

Benjamin Mwanzia Mulili

Abstract  Financial inclusion ensures adequate and inclusive access of formal financial services to all members of the society. At the basic level, it implies that a person operates an account at a formal financial institution which enables the person to save and borrow money as well as access insurance services all of which have economic benefits. Appropriately utilised, the concept can reduce poverty for the financially disadvantaged since it allows them to save money for education, health, mortgages, and business among many other activities. Financial inclusion also empowers women by making them financially stable; such women are better placed to gain wealth, survive economic shocks, and manage their finances better

B. M. Mulili (*) Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_12

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even when environmental conditions change. This chapter reviews the literature on the state of financial inclusion in Africa and provides appropriate recommendations for different stakeholders. Keywords  Financial inclusion • Women • Economic growth • Africa

Introduction Ozili (2018) defines financial inclusion as the process of ensuring equal access to basic financial services in the formal financial sector for all individuals irrespective of their gender, economic status, nationality, or any other criteria. Financial inclusion aims to bring the poor and excluded people into the formal economy by providing sustainable financial services to them (Klapper, El-Zoghbi, & Hess, 2016). This ensures that the poor, low-income earners, and physically challenged use affordable and accessible formal financial services such as bank accounts to save and borrow money which they use for a wide variety of activities, thereby reducing their levels of poverty while increasing their rates of economic growth. The concept has attracted the attention of world leaders, key international organisations, scholars, and other policymakers due to a number of reasons. Firstly, financial inclusion is one of the major strategies used by the United Nations (UN) to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Demirguc-Kunt, Klapper, & Singer, 2017; Klapper et al., 2016). For instance, SDG 1 advocates the eradication of poverty by 2030 through, among others, ensuring that all men and women have equal rights to economic resources and ownership of property. Similarly, SDG 5 requires countries to undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, including access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance, and natural resources under national laws. The aim of SDG 8 is to ensure full and productive employment and decent work for all women and children, and equal pay for work of equal value, while SDG 10 seeks to empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all segments of people, irrespective of their age, gender, disability, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and economic or other statuses. These SDGs indicate that the overall vision of eradicating poverty in all forms by 2030 is enhanced by having an elaborate financial system that includes all categories of people especially

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women who have been marginalised in many African communities. In the same vein, the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (2016) recognises financial inclusion as a major pillar of global economic development. Financial inclusion enables a person to save and borrow money as well as access insurance services to mitigate against potential business risks. At a micro level, better management of finances enables individuals to take advantage of the different services offered by financial institutions, meaning they can take mortgages and loans. The individuals can also use their savings or loans to access better health services, education, and to invest in agriculture or business among many other activities (Klapper et al., 2016). That way, their standards of living improve as they engage in these economic activities. However, financial inclusion is meaningful when people access, use, and benefit from financial services. This implies that bank accounts and insurance services should be accessible to all categories of people, and they should be used as often as possible and in ways that benefit the account holders. At a macro level, governments that include a large portion of their citizens into a financial system can reduce costs and leakages when transferring wages, pensions, and funds to the elderly, handicapped, or any other groups of people. Financial inclusion can, therefore, be associated with social inclusion (Bold, Porteous, & Rotman, 2012), poverty reduction (Neaime & Gaysset, 2018), and socio-economic transformation (Sarma & Pais, 2011). As a result of these benefits, countries in Africa and other parts of the world are making efforts to achieve some level of financial inclusion (Genesis Analytics, 2018). Nevertheless, the idea of financial inclusion has been criticised in several ways. Firstly, financial institutions tend to be concentrated in urban areas, although this challenge is being overcome by the emergence of mobile banking that enables people in rural areas to access financial services. Mobile banking is not only convenient, but it is also relatively cheaper than face-to-face banking since fewer intermediaries are involved; it also eliminates the physical distances that people would need to travel to access financial institutions or to transact with other people. Unfortunately, mobile banking has its challenges too. For instance, some people lack mobile phones, and some areas may not be connected to a network provider. Besides, low levels of education, income, and employment among some African women hinder their use of mobile banking (Hilbert, 2011). Secondly, financial inclusion is only one of the contributors to economic development, although its contribution is still debatable. Thirdly, bank loans can put the borrowers under some stress in the process of repaying

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them. This means that some women may not enjoy the benefits of financial inclusion as it may not lead them to meaningful financial gains.

Financial Inclusion of Women in Africa The African continent, particularly the sub-Saharan part, has lots of opportunities, but it also has many challenges that include low levels of financial literacy, pervasive poverty, poor infrastructure, political upheavals, underinvestment, and an under-developed banking system that excludes some segments (Sy et al., 2019). Addressing these challenges will bring the continent closer to achieving the SDGs. Excluding women removes nearly a half or more than half of a country’s population from the financial system, and this has many negative repercussions. Salignac, Muir, and Wong (2016) explain that exclusion can be voluntary where some individuals choose not to use financial services because they do not need them or they consider them to be too expensive. In other cases, some people exclude themselves for religious reasons, while others may have strong informal sector links. Exclusion can also be forced on individuals who fail to meet the conditions set by particular financial institutions, such as the amount of money or the documents required to open and operate a bank account. In other cases, the financial institution may be too far away for the individuals to access conveniently. Oyelami, Saibu, and Adekunle (2017) found the financial systems of many African countries to be under-­ developed, thereby excluding a large number of the poor, young people, and women. Women in Africa should participate in all forms of economic activities in line with SDG 8 that prohibits any forms of discrimination in employment and income. Economic activities can be in the formal and informal sector, and women should have equal access to both sectors. However, this is hindered by gender discrimination which is still entrenched in many African countries. Efobi, Tanankem, and Asongu (2018) compared Africa to other regions of the world and concluded that the continent had the lowest level of women participation in the formal economic sector. African women who participate in subsistence farming are prone to droughts, pressing family needs or other calamities that destroy both crop and livestock hence the need for insurance in order to increase crop yields, reduce food insecurity, and withstand the related economic shocks. Financial exclusion partially explains why a large number of African women are some of the poorest people in the world (Hazel, 2010).

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Women who fail to get into the formal economic sector tend to venture into the informal sector where incomes can be erratic and sometimes very low. According to Oyelami, Saibu, and Adekunle (2017), financial systems hardly favour people who are unemployed or who have irregular and insecure incomes; some banks disqualify them based on their erratic and low incomes. For instance, 37% of the adult Nigerian population was unbanked by 2018 (Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, 2018). Yet these people need a financial system, and that is why they turn to informal mechanisms such as rotating saving schemes, family and friends, moneylenders, and home banking (Adeola & Olaniyi, 2017). These strategies are beneficial, but they can be insufficient, unreliable, and expensive due to the interests charged on the loans. Financial exclusion of women is one of the factors leading to income inequality, low financial investment, and slow economic growth in many African countries (Oyelami, Saibu, & Adekunle, 2017). African countries must include women if they are to achieve the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Increased inclusion of women in the formal economic sector leads to wealth creation, poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, more consumer choices, economic empowerment, human development, and higher levels of innovation (Demirguc-­ Kunt et al., 2017). It also enables women to run their businesses and gain more financial resources which they use for emergencies, food, water, child welfare, school fees, and other personal or family expenses. Supplementing the incomes of men increases the total family incomes and eases the financial burden that some men often carry. Financially included women tend to have certain levels of financial independence and autonomy in decision making. Several challenges have to be overcome in the process of achieving financial inclusion of women in Africa. One challenge relates to banks whose business models lock out low-income groups, making it impossible for such people to open and operate bank accounts. Further, Gammage et al. (2017) identify other factors that contribute to financial exclusion of women in Africa to be traditionally restrictive gender norms, limited mobility, legal constraints, low educational levels, lack of personal resources that can be used as collateral for loans, and limited sources of information. Besides, Africa is a continent of diversity, and financial inclusion differs from country to country depending on factors such as per capita income, governance structures, and regulatory frameworks (Allen et  al., 2016). This implies that the leadership of any country greatly influences the

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extent of financial inclusion for women. Good leadership enforces conducive regulatory frameworks and increases per capita incomes for both men and women. Where possible, governments should provide low-cost capital for women entrepreneurs.

Progress Made in Africa The level of financial inclusion in Africa has been shown to be low given that over 60% of the population is still unbanked (EY, 2020; Sy et al., 2019). However, some level of progress has been made over the years especially in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, and Rwanda. The Sy et al. (2019) ranks sub-Saharan Africa as the global leader in mobile money transfer services with East Africa, particularly Kenya, taking the lead. In Nigeria, concerted efforts by the private sector, especially fintechs, and the public sector have managed to reduce the percentage of financially excluded adults from 41.6% in 2016 to 36.8% in 2018 (Green, 2020). Fintechs in Africa, particularly those in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, grew at an annual rate of 24% between 2009 and 2019 (EY, 2020). The Nigerian fintechs have successfully managed to branch out from payments into wealth management, lending, peer-to-­ peer transfers, insurance, and micro-investment, thereby reducing the level of financial exclusion. Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (2019) projects a 95% inclusion rate by 2024, Demirguc-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, Ansar, and Hess (2018) note that the divide in bank account holders between adult men and women rose from 7% in 2011 to 24% in 2017. Fintechs in Nigeria have tried to bridge this gap by bringing their services to the unbanked, or by directly or indirectly targeting women. One notable example is Access Bank’s Better Mama, Better Pikin which offers micro-savings and health and life insurance to expectant women where a monthly contribution of US$3 entitles a contributor to a yearly medical insurance cover of US$125 (Genesis Analytics, 2018). A second example is the partnership between Stellar, an NGO, and Oradian, a fintech service provider, which facilitates the transfer of money among women in rural areas (Lemmon & Allen, 2016). According to Sy et al. (2019), Kenya is one of the most successful cases in regard to the use of mobile money. This can be attributed to M-Pesa (M for mobile, Pesa means money in Kiswahili), an electronic money transfer service provided by Safaricom to facilitate the sending and receiving of money, saving of money on mobile phones, payment for goods and

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services, and accessing loans, among many other activities. The idea has expanded to other countries such as Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique, Ghana, Albania, Romania, and India. Owing to its convenience, an increasing number of banks use it to transact with their customers. M-Pesa allows its users to access a wide range of financial services from their homes, workplaces, or anywhere without having to visit a bank physically. Increased access to mobile money has lifted an estimated 2% of Kenyan households, particularly those headed by females, out of extreme poverty; it has also moved more than 185,000 women out of subsistence farming into business occupations (Suri & Jack, 2016). Saving money in M-Pesa has enabled Kenyan women to keep their money away from their husbands, and to purchase more costly items, help their families, expand their businesses, educate their children, and spend more on health care and improved nutrition (Ndiaye, 2014). Using M-Pesa reduces or even eliminates transport costs of sending money to other people. Fintechs in South Africa, such as Selpal, Flash, Nomanini, Zande, Spoon Money, Ukheshe, Zapper, and SnapScan have enhanced financial inclusion by making it easier for informal traders to make payments, and for suppliers and customers to interact (Disrupt Africa, 2020). These firms have positively impacted the lower end of the market in economically sustainable ways. Moreover, the South African fintech industry has many venture capitalists, accelerators, and incubators; all these have raised the level of financial inclusion. The examples of Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa indicate that some level of financial inclusion for women has been achieved in Africa.

Recommendations for Africa Based on the foregoing discussion, the following recommendations are deemed suitable for Africa. Firstly, policymakers should take steps to include groups of people, such as women and the youth, who have been excluded or underserved by the existing financial systems (Zins & Weil, 2016). These steps include ensuring affordable interest rates and bank transaction charges, reducing the costs and documents required to open bank accounts, requiring banks to develop products that suit the low-­ income earners, and communicating the benefits of using formal financial services to various groups. Development finance institutions and commercial banks can supplement the efforts of governments in getting more capital into the hands of women. Further, legal, cultural, and social

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constraints that limit or prevent women from inheriting property, owning land or other assets, and participating in decision making should be addressed in order to provide a level playing ground for men and women. Women should also be free to pursue different economic activities locally and internationally, and gender stereotyping should be eliminated. More comprehensive sources of information will assist women to explore different opportunities that arise locally, nationally, and even internationally. Secondly, governments in Africa should promote financial literacy as they emphasise its associated benefits. This can be done at various levels of learning in a country’s educational system; it can also be done by different government departments, non-governmental organisations, banks, non-­ bank financial institutions, and other stakeholder groups. Girls should be exposed to quality education from an early age to understand how financial institutions work and the challenges associated with entrepreneurship. Government payments should be digitised gradually to ensure that everyone has an account. African governments should take steps to have more women in the formal labour force, perhaps balancing men and women in various positions. Thirdly, financial institutions should innovate profitable ways of achieving financial inclusion. These include teaming up with mobile network providers to create financial services that suit the needs of different categories of people. For instance, mobile network operators in Kenya, such as Safaricom and Airtel, often team up with different banks to provide customers with loans, saving schemes, and insurance services among other products. Further, banks should recognise women as a special segment that can be served profitably. Banks can develop special products for the low-income earners or even for women. Fourthly, governments in Africa should promote the creation of stable jobs that enable people to access financial services. Besides, they can encourage all employers irrespective of the type of work involved to make payments through bank accounts to include more people. Moreover, women can be encouraged to take jobs or invest in businesses that have higher returns as opposed to engaging in micro activities.

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Conclusion This chapter reviewed extant literature on financial inclusion of women in Africa and its role in achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The merits of including women in the financial system have been emphasised. Based on the benefits associated with financial inclusion of women, this chapter strongly recommends that African countries should take active steps to include women into their financial systems.

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Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. Sy, A., Maino, R., Massara, A., Perez- Saiz, H., & Sharma, P. (2019). FinTech in sub-Saharan African countries: A game changer? Departmental Paper No. 19/04. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund (IMF). Zins, A., & Weil, L. (2016). The determinants of financial inclusion in Africa. Review of Development Finance, 6(1), 46–57. Benjamin Mwanzia Mulili  (DBA) is a senior lecturer at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa’s School of Business. His research interests are in corporate strategy, customer care, green marketing, and sports marketing.

CHAPTER 13

The Digital Gender Divide and Women’s Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Achieving the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

Ogechi Adeola Abstract  Despite the effectiveness of digital technologies to provide ‘leapfrog’ opportunities for women and thus enhance their economic and political empowerment, the digital gender divide persists in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Less-than-full participation of women in the digital revolution can slow down economic growth and undermine the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This chapter focuses on the root causes of the digital gender divide and its implications for gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda of the SDGs. Policymakers and other SSA stakeholders will find recommendations on ways to bridge the gender gap by adopting targeted,

O. Adeola (*) Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_13

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sustainable, gender-sensitive policies and frameworks amidst a fast-­ changing global landscape. Keywords  Digital gender divide • Gender equality • Women’s empowerment • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) • Sub-­ Saharan Africa

Introduction The Internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity. (Barack Obama, President, United States, 2009–2017)

Access to technology plays an important role in empowering women, creating economic opportunities and increasing productivity. The United Nations acknowledged the crucial role technology plays in unlocking the full potential of women in the society when it included SDG 5, focused on gender equality, among its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One target of SDG 5 is to “enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women” (UN Women, n.d.). In 2019, the African Union (AU) declared 2010–2020 the African Women’s Decade, applying a “top-down and bottom-up approach which is inclusive of grassroots participation” aimed at accelerating the development of the African woman (African Union, 2018). The declaration included a call to African countries to acknowledge the role of information and communications technologies (ICT), as expressed by Tijjani, Anaeto and Emerhirhi, in “empowering the women, such as offering entrepreneurial opportunity, breaking isolation, providing linkages to inputs and markets, assisting small and medium-sized businesses, reducing poverty and illiteracy and improving income and savings of rural women” (2017, p. 1). The Internet, mobile phones and digital financial services provide new avenues for the economic empowerment of women. Despite the significant increase in mobile phone ownership and Internet usage among women, the gender gap persists in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), accounting for a 15 per cent gender gap in mobile ownership and a 42 per cent gender gap in mobile Internet usage (Rowntree & GSMA Contributors, 2019).

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Gender equality has been described as a fundamental human right (UN, n.d.); the keystone for a prosperous modern economy, sustainable and inclusive growth, and essential for ensuring that both men and women are prepared to contribute fully for the betterment of the larger society. Significant efforts have been invested in designing policy directives that drive gender equality on various fronts; for example, in the form of a reduction in the gender gap in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) labour market participation rates. In contemporary times, the gender gap has extended to the digital gender divide. According to official statistics in 2018, the digital gender divide is wide, not only in SSA, but across the world, including the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Asia. Mobile ownership and Internet usage rates are shown in Table 13.1. The gender gap (that is, how much less likely it is for a female than a male to own a mobile phone and also use the Internet), is quantified in the table. Empirical studies show that women trailing behind in the digital revolution slows economic growth and will undermine implementation of the UN agenda for sustainable development (Braunstein, Bouhia, & Seguino, 2020; Kerras, Sánchez-Navarro, López-Becerra, & de-Miguel Gómez, 2020; Matthew, Adeniji, Osabohien, Olawande, & Atolagbe, 2020). It has also been shown that digital technologies (the Internet, mobile phones, digital platforms and digital financial services) provide ‘leapfrog’

Table 13.1  The gender gap in mobile ownership and mobile Internet usage for male and female in 2018 Region

Mobile ownership (%)

Mobile Internet usage (%)

Rate of ownership Gender gap Rate of usage Gender gap South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Middle East and North Africa Europe and Central Asia East Asia and Pacific Latin America and the Caribbean

65 69 80 90 93 86

Source: Rowntree & GSMA Contributors (2019)

28 15 9 −2 1 1

27 29 44 60 64 66

58 41 20 4 4 2

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opportunities and enhance women’s empowerment (Evans, 2019; Musa, 2019; Parveen & Gouda, 2020). Bridging the gender divide will increase income, provide employment opportunities and give women in SSA countries access to education. The benefits can enhance the lives of the women and their families, and thus promote the well-being of society. It is, therefore, imperative to address the digital gender divide in the region. To strengthen the evidence base for policymaking in this direction, this chapter explores the UN’s 2030 SDGs vis-à-vis the digital gender divide and its root causes, and provides recommendations on policy directions for consideration. While it is acknowledged that various African countries may have in place several policy actions underway to narrow the digital gender gap, more needs to be done, considering the worrying signs of a broadening digital gender divide and its negative effects.

UN’s 2030 SDGs and Gender Divide Conversations and efforts to confront women’s precarious circumstances go as far back as the 1975 UN Conference on Women in Mexico and the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in New York. The 1995 Beijing Conference produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, key milestones in the dialogue on women’s empowerment. (See Chap. 1 for more information about the Beijing event.) The 2000–2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) promoted gender equality and empowerment of women. In 2015, the SDGs replaced the MDGs, offering strategies for tackling gender inequality problems facing the globe. Certain SDGs, particularly 1–5, have specific gender ramifications, with SDG 5 focusing entirely on achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls. SDG 5, a response to the various criticisms of the MDGs, is a strategy to propel gender-focused programmes and an important linkage between gender and poverty reduction, water, food, security, energy, employment, education, health and economic welfare. Male-dominated activities and gender-sensitive fields, such as ICT, present key limitations for sustainable opportunities and career development for women in SSA. By identifying these barriers and addressing necessary actions to be taken, this chapter emphasises that the success of Agenda 2030 (the realisation of the 17 SDGs before or by 2030) and advocacy for women’s rights and gender equality as a by-product of digital access are predicated on the partnership and collaboration of various SSA

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stakeholders. These stakeholders include government agencies at various levels, companies, civil society organisations and higher education institutions.

The Root Causes of the Digital Gender Divide The digital gender divide refers to gender differences in resources and capabilities, to effectively access and utilise ICT within and between socio-­ economic groups, sectors, countries and regions. In SSA, a number of hurdles to access contribute to the digital gender divide: non-affordability, inadequate education, lack of technological literacy, inherent biases and socio-cultural norms that encourage gender-based digital exclusion. Intel and Dalberg (2012) asserted that affordability prevents users from using the Internet, a reality that disproportionately affects more women and girls than men, in Africa. Enhanced and more affordable access to digital tools and services is thus crucial, in addition to policy interventions that address structural biases. Similarly, women are significantly more likely than men to be indifferent to Internet usage (Fallows, 2005). Intel and Dalberg (2012) found that in developing countries, 25 per cent of women are not interested in using the Internet. Indifference may be traced to illiteracy. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, in 2018, 59 per cent of adult females (aged 15 years and above) were literate, compared to 73 per cent of adult males in SSA, indicating a wide gender gap (World Bank, 2018). This gap could extend to digital illiteracy, or worse, technophobia, which often appears in girls in formal education because they are less confident in the use of ICT (OECD, 2018). Socio-cultural factors play an important role in explaining the digital gender divide in SSA.  As one study aptly describes it: “Active female Internet users are three times more likely to have families who are ‘very supportive’ of their Internet use, whereas female non-users are six times more likely to be exposed to family opposition” (OECD, 2018, p. 23). The Pew Research Center found that socio-cultural hurdles include negative social perception, cyberstalking and online harassment, even outright prohibition (2014). Socio-cultural biases prevent women from successfully competing against men for senior roles in digital companies (Seetharaman, 2017). According to the 2014 GSMA Connected Women

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Survey, the percentage of African women holding senior positions in the mobile communications industry is 9 per cent (GSMA & ATKearny, 2015). Market-related factors such as the paucity of investment and installation infrastructures affect women disproportionally (UN Statistics, 2016). Girls are more likely to be out of school than boys, working in agriculture, where they are often unpaid (Putnick & Bornstein, 2016). A large percentage of non-agricultural employment is informal, low-paid work, where women are more likely to be employed as contributing family workers than their male counterparts. These constraints jointly contribute to confining women to technology-poor environments. According to Internet World Stats, in the first quarter of 2020, Africa had an Internet penetration rate of 39.3 per cent compared to the world average of 58.8 per cent (2020). Low Internet penetration on the continent has a correspondingly low usage by women. An increase in Internet access would increase overall usage and the participation of women in the digital age.

Recommendations for Sub-Saharan Africa Bridging the digital gender divide will require proactive thinking, planning and action. Girls and women traditionally lack access to ICT—a major contributor to the digital divide. Given that the use of ICT promotes the empowerment of women, governments in sub-Saharan Africa must put in place clear strategies to achieve SDG 5. As expected, many SSA countries have different gender equality initiatives underway, but more can still be done. Specific recommendations are made below. Education and Training  The educational sector is a good starting point to increase digital literacy. Ensuring compulsory education is important for halting the widening digital gender gap in SSA. Success can be achieved in increasing the number of girls and women studying ICT and using digital tools. Compulsory schooling, particularly learning basic digital skills for global relevance, ensures that women and girls obtain the skills and competencies necessary for participation in labour markets. Courses like Programming, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber-security, Internet of Things (IoT), among other new technology-oriented ones, can be introduced early on a basic-to-intermediate level, particularly in secondary school, with the female gender encouraged to take an interest in learning. In East Africa, for instance, Kenya, particularly, I Am the Code

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initiative was launched for the purpose of bringing together governments, businesses and investors to assist young women by teaching them how to code. Hence, they become more digitally literate. I Am the Code initiative also made provision for digital hubs, which are located across East Africa. These hubs can operate in collaboration with schools, libraries and community centres, encouraging women to become more confident and increase their curiosity about the digital world (Heaphy, 2017). With education, African women will have the right foundation to start new businesses, create digital tools and online content, find good jobs and have better access to health care and financial services. Additionally, SSA must rethink, organise and coordinate the delivery of life skills to meet changing market needs, not only in the formal education system but via lifelong learning. Flexible online education should be encouraged, particularly for adult female learners, to improve digital literacy. Stereotypes and Barriers  To narrow the digital gender divide, the structural factors that reinforce gender bias (at home, in the workplace and in the community) must be addressed, and this will help remove the stereotypes about technology being mainly for the male gender. Gender-specific expectations about vocations and careers are critical barriers to digital gender equality in SSA. Removing barriers to adult education, whether digital or face-to-face, will create avenues for women in SSA to upgrade their skills. Considering that most of the skills desired in digital-intensive sectors are predominantly masculine, it is appropriate to equip female workers with more management, communications and numerical skills in order to narrow the gender gap. Currently, software development and programming seem to be a male-dominated realm; women are fewer in the software world, play smaller roles and are less connected to the network of developers than their male counterparts (OECD, 2018). Policy actions should target gender biases in curricula and parental preferences in the choice of career and encourage technology-oriented courses, in the light of the ubiquitous digital world. Women in the Workplace  Digital platforms are among the most important means of increasing participation of women in labour markets. Ensuring that women benefit from the work opportunities provided by digital technologies should be predicated on efforts to ensure that flexibility is not at

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the expense of desirable job features (e.g. remuneration, job security and social protection). For example, unpaid childcare and domestic chores can block women’s participation in digital labour markets. Policy thinking and actions should be directed towards addressing peculiar challenges working women face, challenging gender stereotypes and promoting childcare services provision. These continued efforts will help to address norms and attitudes around childcare and domestic chores and enable greater female participation in digital labour markets and encourage digital training in SSA. Innovation and Partnership  A gender divide in the composition of inventors and innovation teams signals socio-cultural biases. An innovative environment that is open to women is open to important female perspectives related to the viability and usability of an invention, product or application. More involvement of women in inventive and patenting activities directly increases the economic security of women, and contributes to the economic growth and well-being of society. Targeted training provided for women will contribute to the innovative use of digital technologies. Collaborative Networks Building partnerships and collaborations with universities, companies, non-profits and innovation incubators could help close the digital gender gap. For instance, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UN Women, in collaboration with the African Union Commission, launched an initiative, the African Girls Can CODE Initiative (AGCCI), aimed at equipping girls and young women in Africa with digital literacy skills (ITU News, 2018). Also, Intel and its partners committed to reduce the Internet gender gap existent in Africa. Particularly, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are benefitting from this initiative. By the end of 2016, Intel and its partners had trained more than 1.3 million women and girls in Africa (Intel Corporation, 2017). Technology will also help to give a voice to African girls and women, as they can have a platform to be vocal about issues concerning them and lead change on common causes, including gender equality and empowerment. Interventions in Rural Areas  Rural women must not be left behind. ICT policy interventions can increase economic capabilities amongst the poor

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(Diga, Nwaiwu, & Plantinga, 2013). The rural areas should not be neglected in the quest to bridge the digital divide; targeted programmes and policies must be directed at the empowerment of rural women through the use of ICT. For instance, in agriculture, access to the Internet for information on market prices will enhance sales. Also, general information on farming techniques, harvesting and access to buyers will be added advantage. However, with limited access to good road network, inadequate power supply, lack of credit facilities and other development inputs, the impact of ICT will be minimal. Infrastructural development provides the needed impetus to the development of ICT. Therefore, SSA governments must complement ICT capabilities with the necessary infrastructure that will empower women and ensure gender equality. Policies, Strategies and Plans for Increased Access  Governments in SSA must put in place policies, strategies and plans aimed at increasing Internet penetration and data availability and at reducing data cost to encourage overall usage of digital technologies. The role of mobile network operators and Internet service providers in enabling access cannot be overemphasised. Cooperation will be needed by various stakeholders to ensure adequate access. Policymakers should strive for universal access and connectivity to reach the unconnected population in SSA by 2030. Citizens, in their quest for empowerment, should regard Internet access as a critical part of their fundamental rights, guaranteed by the government. With improved Internet access, girls and women in Africa will have more access to technology, and this would increase digital literacy. Governments should consider declaring ICT a national priority and an essential sector, and should be encouraged to continue putting aside intervention funds, with a guaranteed percentage dedicated to improving girls’ and women’s access to and use of digital tools/ICT and empowering women in the sector. The intervention funds must be administered appropriately with identified credible organisations, nonprofits and financial institutions as partners, administrators and fund managers. They should be given mid- and long-term goals for digital gender inclusion leading up to 2030.

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Measurement and Monitoring Policy recommendations and action plans for SSA countries will require proper implementation, monitoring and evaluation. There must be concerted efforts to bridge the digital gender gap and ensure equal access to technology in SSA through the implementation of the right policies. For effective monitoring and evaluation of progress made, data collection and analysis must be carried out regularly, with indicators on digital trends disaggregated by gender.

Conclusion Closing the digital gender divide requires putting in place targeted gender-­ sensitive policies and frameworks. Progress in bridging the gender divide in SSA is non-linear; it can take a while. It, therefore, remains imperative to assess outcomes and initiate needed reforms on a continuous basis.

References African Union. (2018). The African Women’s decade. Theme: Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE). https://www.chr. up.ac.za/images/researchunits/wru/documents_/the_african_womens_ decade.pdf Braunstein, E., Bouhia, R., & Seguino, S. (2020). Social reproduction, gender equality and economic growth. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 44(1), 129–156. Diga, K., Nwaiwu, F., & Plantinga, P. (2013). ICT policy and poverty reduction in Africa. Info-The Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, 15(5), 114–127. Evans, O. (2019). Information and communication technologies and economic development in Africa in the short and long run. International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 18(2), 127–146. Fallows, D. (2005). How women and men use the internet, pew internet and American life project. Retrieved from www.pewinternet.org/2005/12/28/ how-women-and-men-use-the-internet/ GSMA and ATKearny. (2015). Accelerating the digital economy: Gender diversity in the telecommunications sector. Retrieved from https://www.gsma.com/ mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Accelerating-thedigital-economy-Gender-diversity-in-the-telecommunications-sector.pdf Heaphy, E. (2017). Reducing the digital divide in East Africa. Spotlight on digital literacy and innovation. Retrieved from https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/english/reducing-divide-digital-literacy-innovators-east-africa/

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Intel and Dalberg. (2012). Women and the Web. Bridging the Internet and creating new global opportunities in low and middle income countries. Intel Corporation and Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Retrieved from https://www. intel.la/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/pdf/women-andthe-web.pdf Internet World Stats. (2020). Usage and population statistics. Retrieved from internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm ITU News. (2018). ITU’s approach to bridging the digital gender divide. https:// news.itu.int/itus-approach-bridge-gender-divide/ Kerras, H., Sánchez-Navarro, J. L., López-Becerra, E. I., & de-Miguel Gómez, M. D. (2020). The impact of the gender digital divide on sustainable development: Comparative analysis between the European Union and the Maghreb. Sustainability, 12(8), 3347. Matthew, O., Adeniji, A., Osabohien, R., Olawande, T., & Atolagbe, T. (2020). Gender inequality, maternal mortality and inclusive growth in Nigeria. Social Indicators Research, 147(3), 763–780. Musa, B. A. (2019). Digital revolution and the empowerment of women in the African movie industry: Vistas from Nollywood and Riverwood. In Nollywood in glocal perspective (pp. 231–248). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). (2018). Bridging the digital gender divide: Include, upskill, innovate. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/internet/bridging-the-digital-gender-divide.pdf Parveen, B., & Gouda, N.  K. (2020). Multimodality and ICT in empowering Muslim Women: An evaluation of government of India schemes. Studies in Indian Place Names, 40(48), 292–301. Pew Research Center. (2014). Online harassment. Retrieved from http://assets. pewresearch.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/14/2014/10/PI_ OnlineHarassment_72815.pdf Putnick, D. L., & Bornstein, M. H. (2016). Girls’ and boys’ labor and household chores in low-and middle-income countries. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 81(1), 104. Rowntree, O., & GSMA Contributors. (2019). GSMA women connected: The mobile gender gap report. Retrieved from https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/GSMA-The-MobileGender-Gap-Report-2019.pdf Seetharaman, D. (2017). Facebook’s female engineers claim gender bias. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-female-engineers-claim-genderbias-1493737116 Tijjani, A. R., Anaeto, F. C., & Emerhirhi, E. (2017). Analysis of the roles of information and communications technologies in rural women farmers’ empowerment in Rivers State, Nigeria. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ libphilprac/1498/

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UN. (n.d.). Gender equality. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/sections/ issues-depth/gender-equality/ UN Statistics. (2016). Table 7: Population by age, sex and urban/rural residence: Latest available Year, 2007–2016. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/ unsd/demographic-social/products/dyb/index.cshtml UN Women. (n.d.). SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/womenand-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality World Bank. (2018). Literacy statistics. Retrieved from https://data.worldbank. org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.MA.ZS?locations=ZG Ogechi Adeola  is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria, and the Founder of Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative. Her multi-dimensional research focuses on the advancement of knowledge across the intersection of marketing, tourism, entrepreneurship, and gender in sub-Saharan Africa.

CHAPTER 14

Positioning African Women for the United Nation’s 2030 Goals: A Way Forward Ogechi Adeola

Abstract  This chapter highlights the contributions of the authors in the book who have discussed the challenges, opportunities, and successes associated with the empowerment of African women. Suggestions are offered to effectively position the African women to meet the UN’s 2030 SDGs. The chapter concludes with key recommendations on how to position African women to achieve the United Nation’s 2030 goals. Keywords  Empowering African Women • UN SDG2030 Agenda • Gender equality • COVID-19 global pandemic • African girls and Women

Introduction Eradicating gender inequality to improve the lives of African women is a goal that can be achieved with the persistent pursuit of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Africa Union’s “Agenda 2063”. The Beijing Declaration of 1995, SDG Goal 5, and Aspiration 6 O. Adeola (*) Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1_14

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of African Union’s Agenda 2063 have provided the foundation and framework for achieving gender equality. The titles of the chapters in this book and a capsule summary of the contributing authors’ recommendations are presented in Table  14.1. In addition to the recommendations made by these authors, this chapter provides frameworks for strategies that can be instituted to achieve the socially inclusive Africa we desire.

Summary of Insights from the Book Table 14.1 presents the summary of recommendations from the chapters in the book on how to position African Women for the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

SDGs and African Women in 2030: Suggestions and Recommendations Effective Leadership and Support  Africa’s attainment of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require effective leadership from all national, regional, and local governmental agencies and institutions. Although the political, socio-economic, cultural, and environmental contexts of African countries may appear similar, the circumstances in each country are quite distinct. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the percentage of seats held by females in national parliament in 2020 is 23 percent (Sachs et al., 2020). Though Africa ranks slightly higher than some other regions, each country still needs to improve on the ratio of women representation in the national parliament, and other key establishments. Indeed, effective leadership at national and sub-national levels is important in Africa, where the political will for the design and implementation of policies and programmes relating to gender equality and the empowerment of women is too often met with apathy or acrimony. For the sake of their nations’ futures, leadership at all levels must take ownership of the SDG and Agenda 2063 goals and commit to policies and programmes that assure gender equality. A necessary step is to include women at all leadership levels, a move that will give voice and support to women empowerment programmes and motivate young girls to aspire to leadership positions. Develop Multilevel Participation  While political and public leaders have substantial roles to play, they cannot achieve the SDG 2030 goals alone; private and third sectors must become active participants in promoting gender equality and women empowerment. This is evident in the fact

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Table 14.1  Practical recommendations from the book’s authors Authors

Chapter title

Recommendations

Chapter 2: Yvonne Uchechukwu Carver

Sustainability of Women’s Empowerment Initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards Achieving the UN’s 2030 Goals

Chapter 3: Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku

Gender Parity Gaps and Poverty: Empowering African Women for No Poverty and Zero Hunger Human Rights as Inalienable Rights: An Assessment of the Realities of African Women

Demographic dividend and transition, self-actualisation, access to energy, access to healthcare, affirmative or positive action, and stakeholder collaboration are required to achieve empowerment of African women Targeted initiatives that promote women’s access to resources and capital, access to financial education, and a refocus on agriculture. Funds to support women’s education and entrepreneurship. Platforms to fight for women’s rights and against cultural traditions that infringe on those rights. Investments in digital advocacy and programmes to keep girls in school. Increased citizen participation in activism will compel all stakeholders, particularly African women, to raise their voices at all times, in opposition to any form of violence against them. This movement should be encouraged and sustained to become a force to reckon with, in the drive for empowerment and repositioning of African women. Local forums should be created under the auspices of traditional heads to sensitise people on the issue of violence against women. Changing sub-Saharan African healthcare structure. Improved Information Technology (IT). Provision of healthcare facilities, training of healthcare providers, and effective healthcare actions. Strict laws to punish perpetrators of sexual assault. Identify new roles religious organisations can play in the quest for quality education of African girls and women.

Chapter 4: Abolaji Adewale Obileye, Joan Mbagwu, Isaiah Adisa

Chapter 5: Abolaji Adewale Obileye, Oluchi Enapeh

Is Violence Against Women Systemic in Africa? An Enquiry to Change the Status Quo

Chapter 6: Chioma Dilichukwu Ifeanyichukwu

Towards a Healthy Life for the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Women

Chapter 7: Ebes Aziegbe-Esho, Friday Osemenshan Anetor

Religious Organisations and Quality Education for African Women: The Case of Nigeria

(continued)

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Table 14.1  (continued) Authors

Chapter title

Chapter 8: Yetunde African Women’s Anibaba, Godbless Participation in Business Akaighe and Politics: Challenges and Recommendations

Recommendations

Social and economic empowerment, greater access to education, and policy enactment to support women participation in business and politics. A more gender-inclusive culture advocated in business and political terrains. Chapter 9: Patience Realizing the 2030 Agenda Eliminate extreme poverty and Aku Bruce, for Sustainable inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. Nathaniel Boso Development in Sub-­ Revisit socio-cultural institutional Saharan Africa: The Role structures on the continent, injecting a of Entrepreneurial modernisation process that facilitates Activities of Women and entrepreneurial activities of women Disadvantaged Groups and other disadvantaged groups. Chapter 10: Lydia African Women in Provide young female academics with Aziato, Merri Academia Breaking the tools for mentorships, work-life Iddrisu, Priscilla Glass Ceiling: Towards balance, and self-reflection to Y. A. Attafuah, Attainment of the encourage bounce back from adverse Joyce B. P. Pwavra, Sustainable Development life’s events. Policy directions and Lillian A. Ohene Goals legislation in African universities that ensure opportunities for leadership positions for women at every level of decision-making, to reduce the gender inequalities/gap, are recommended. Chapter 11: Promoting Gender Periodic tourism-related gender-­ Ewoenam Afua Equality and Women’s sensitive research. Gender-sensitive Afenyo-Agbe, Empowerment Through tourism policy frameworks. Innovative Ogechi Adeola Tourism in Africa: Towards financial products for women-owned Agenda 2030 tourism-related micro- and small-scale businesses. Collaborative learning networks or self-help groups. Creation of gender-specific support centres. Chapter 12: Financial Inclusion as a Financial inclusion to be achieved by Benjamin Mwanzia Tool for Women’s including the interests of women and Mulili Economic Empowerment youth in formulating financial policies, in Africa: Achieving UN’s promoting financial literacy, creating 2030 SDG stable jobs, and initiating profitable pathways of achieving financial goals. Chapter 13: Ogechi The Digital Gender Divide Close the digital divide by putting in Adeola and Women’s place articulate and targeted gender-­ Empowerment in sensitive policies and frameworks given Sub-Saharan Africa: the fast-changing global context. Achieving the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

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that the advanced technologies and management systems required to attain most of the SDGs reside in the private sector. Opportunities to participate abound through women-friendly human resource policies in recruitment, training, staff welfare, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. According to a recent research of the African Capacity Building Foundation According to recent research of the African Capacity Building Foundation, private sector participation is critical to SDG implementation, particularly as key participants in the development discourse (ACBF, 2019). The onus falls on Africa’s national governments to invite and motivate participation from all sectors to collaborate in an investment in developing human capital and build capacity for the implementation of economically and socially beneficial programmes. Establish Laws and Institutions  Laws and institutions that align with and promote gender equality and women empowerment are long overdue. Laws must be passed and enforced to criminalise domestic violence, child marriage, and other harmful practices against girls and women. National and local agencies should monitor the implementation of SDGs and Agenda 2063 goals and be given legal backing—laws that validate their enforcement powers. It is said that human rights are women’s rights, and those rights require legal protection, especially in African countries, where girls and women are disadvantaged in almost all aspects of life. In some African countries, for example, female children have fewer inheritance rights than male children. They often lack access to education and health. They are also generally victims of discriminatory practices rooted in cultural and religious beliefs. Legal backing is required to abolish these malevolent practices, mete out justice, and exact punishments when necessary. However, it is not only laws that are geared towards the eradicating harmful practices that are required. Laws should also include provisions that legitimise work-life balance and women’s access to employment and leadership positions in government, business, and private sectors. Build Capacity The implementation of SDGs will require human and institutional capacity; African countries appear limited in either capacities (ACBF, 2019). If people, especially leaders, are going to design, plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate initiatives that assure women

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empowerment projects, they need technical and managerial training to enhance their project management skills. Africans in the diaspora who already have the requisite human capacities can partner with agencies to provide their services. Governments can collaborate with and provide resources for local, national, and international educational institutions to provide training and development, even to those at the grassroots levels. Staff of government agencies responsible for projects directly related to SDGs should be the primary beneficiaries of this training. Because issues of gender inequality are particularly vulnerable to local contexts, capacity building should incorporate knowledge of local systems, structures, and social/ cultural influences. Build Strategic Partnerships  Strategic partnerships within and from outside the continent are needed to address all facets of SDG achievement; no African government can do that on its own. Such strategic partnerships should be driven primarily by Africans rather than expatriates, who will, in most cases, lack the local knowledge to function effectively. Random partnerships are less likely to succeed than partnerships born out of collaborative capacity-building agreements made with private- and third-sector links (e.g., businesses, the civil society, faith organisations, and non-­ governmental organisations [NGOs]). The utility of these partnerships lies in the strength of their network and their adeptness at reaching and navigating local grassroots partners. Financing  Because financing is sine qua non to achieving the SDGs, Africa’s approach to financing has to change. Financing of SDGs must go beyond voluntary assistance from rich countries to developing countries, and Africa must strive to be less reliant on foreign development partners. Research shows a dichotomy between what African countries identify as their priorities and what their global development partners identify as priorities for Africa (ACBF, 2019). Historical accounts also confirm that receiving financial support from foreign sources sometimes shifts project ownership from Africa to these sources. SDGs are long-term goals even though they have a shorter time horizon than Agenda 2063. Repayment terms should, ideally, match the timeline associated with the attainment of the goals.

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As the world currently continues to suffer the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a recession is inevitable in many countries. This is likely to adversely affect external funding for women empowerment programmes in Africa. However, the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic and its long-term effects on the economy suggest that African governments must not rely solely on foreign sources. Regional financial institutions within the continent may prove to be more viable sources. Provision of Infrastructure  Energy, transportation, water, education, and health facilities are basic requirements for achieving the SDGs. For example, in 2017, only 44.4 percent of the population in SSA had access to electricity (Sachs et  al., 2020). While lack of infrastructure affects all, it affects young girls disproportionately due to African societies’ traditional cultural beliefs and norms. Research has linked the lack of education of young girls to lack of access to adequate infrastructure. Young girls in some African countries must trek long distances to fetch water for their families or attend school, often on untarred roads and difficult terrains. A consequence of inadequate infrastructure is an increase in the cost and effectiveness of programme delivery. Infrastructure can be creatively provided when conventional methods are not available. Electricity to power lights and water pumps can be provided using cheaper solar energy. Information technology harnessed via satellite can provide affordable access to education and healthcare. The provision of infrastructure must go beyond urban communities to rural areas, where gender inequalities are usually more prevalent. Innovative Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)  ICT holds tremendous promise in fostering implementation of the SDGs. Apart from its obvious use for enabling communication, disseminating information to the masses, and enhancing cheaper and easier access to education and health, ICT can be used to build capacity and skills of Africans given its capacity to generate, analyse, and disseminate big data, thereby enabling collaboration among partnerships. Urban populations’ access to connectivity infrastructures is more readily available than in rural areas. Skills for creating applications and assuring maintenance are also

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greatly lacking in many rural areas. African countries must realise that poor implementation of SDG initiatives using ICT will increase, rather than reduce, the digital divide when the result is to “intensify the inequalities they seek to fight against” (UNESCO, 2019, p. 3). While investments in ICT can boost communication and implementation of SDG-related programmes, the investments should complement investments in human capital, capacity, and infrastructure. ICT is a tool and not an end in itself. Girls and women traditionally lack access to ICT—a major contributor to the digital divide. Closing that divide will require putting in place targeted gender-sensitive policies and frameworks. Tourism and Economic Empowerment for Women  Tourism generates a ripple effect that finds its way into all other sectors of the economy, promoting local economic development and the social inclusion of women (Kimbu & Tichaawa, 2018). Women, especially young females, can be empowered through tourism, an industry that consists mostly of smalland medium-sized enterprises that require less capital, an advantage for women who typically have limited access to capital. Education and training in running a successful small business would increase the participation of women as entrepreneurs or job seekers. Few educational institutions offer tourism-specific courses designed for women, a reality that could be turned around with the advent of local or regional training centres. Africa’s tourism industry has recently reported cases of sexual harassment in many communities. Two actions must be taken to eradicate this blight on the continent: (1) enact and enforce laws that criminalise sexual harassment, and (2) educate women and girls on their human rights to safety, peace and justice, and a decent work environment. Digital Engagement and Advocacy  One of the ways of informing the public about their human rights is through digital advocacy. With over 3.8 billion users across the globe, social media is creating a world of its own. Engaging the strength of social media to advocate for a gender-sensitive society is likely to result in a positive outcome. Digital advocacy can also be used as an instrument of social change by advocating for government policies that will be geared towards women empowerment, girl-child education, and the participation of the private sector in women’s social inclusion. Digital platforms can be created by governments, NGOs, and private

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organisations to address issues related to the abuse of women, gender discrimination, and promotion of women empowerment programmes. Education and Health for the Girl Child  The girl child in Africa generally does not have equal access to education. The enrolment rate in all tiers of education for females is worse than that of their male counterparts. For instance, in 2018, the ratio of female-to-male mean years of education received in SSA was 68.3 percent (Sachs et al., 2020), ranking lowest compared to other world regions. Many female children drop out of school because of child poverty and are frequently victims of dangerous cultural practices such as genital mutilation. Unlike the boy child, the girl child is faced with early marriage and its consequences, which include increased risks of sexually transmitted diseases, cervical cancer, death during childbirth, and obstetric fistulas (Nour, 2006). Sachs et al. (2020) reports that in 2017, the maternal mortality rate stood at 51.4 percent per 100,000 live births in SSA.  It is necessary for governments to conduct extensive grassroots media campaigns that educate parents on the need for girl-child education and protection from dangerous, life-endangering practices. Financial incentives would encourage poor parents to send their daughters to school. Apart from the provision of general education, girl children, especially in rural areas, need access to health facilities and programmes that promote healthy and hygienic practices. Policy Direction to Reduce Vulnerability of Women to Climate Change and Natural Disasters  Climate-related disasters and their immediate and long-­ term effects on women need to be documented with the aim of protecting this vulnerable population. African countries, as it was shown in a 2014 report by the World Health Organization, are too often unprepared to shelter and care for their people during natural disasters (WHO, 2014). Women are among the most vulnerable victims of these weather events and in greatest need of assistance, as they seek birthing shelters, infant/ child care protection, food and clean water for their families, and help care for elderly family members. A plan to mitigate the effects of displacement, disease, unemployment, and infrastructure damage would reduce these female vulnerabilities. UN SDGs that address this goal include SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG 13: Climate Action.

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Climate change policies are needed to assure the stability of Africa’s economy and social/cultural traditions and values. The initiatives will incorporate gender-sensitive approaches to disaster management and address gender-differentiated vulnerabilities, particularly in rural areas. Research is needed to identify and assess the usefulness of adaptive interventions acceptable to both women and men. Research findings will provide a foundation for projects designed to establish vulnerability-reduction initiatives with specific strategies in place for targeting women’s needs. Research and Data  In implementing the suggestions elaborated in this chapter, and indeed the entire book, the importance of timely, accurate, and reliable data cannot be overstated as a requirement for effective monitoring and evaluation. African countries will need to devise means of collecting and analysing credible local data on various aspects of the state of young girls and women and on the effectiveness or weaknesses of women empowerment programmes. It would be useful, for example, to disaggregate data based on gender. Reliance on big global agencies to provide local data should be avoided; the capacity of local research institutions within Africa should be elevated, giving those organisations preferential status.

Concluding Remarks Females, women and girls, make up over 50 percent of Africa’s population (World Bank, 2018). To effectively position these African women to achieve the UN SDG 2030 Agenda, African nations must proactively address gender inequality issues through deliberate gender-aware frameworks, policies, procedures, and practices. African women who attain leadership positions should champion women empowerment and gender equality initiatives, but this fight must not be left solely to women. Most leadership positions are occupied by men, who must be persuaded of the value of solving gender-based societal challenges, if not for the sake of the economy then for their sisters, wives, and daughters striving for a better life. Leaders in the third sector, such as faith leaders and educators, can be of tremendous help in impressing upon their constituencies the benefits to be derived from the implementation of the SDGs, especially because many gender-discriminatory practices are based on religious and cultural beliefs. Working towards achieving the SDGs demands the strategic collaboration of governments, civil society, entrepreneurs, academics, scientists, and

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other stakeholders. Despite the adverse impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on most world economies in 2020, creating an equal-opportunity world for African girls and women is possible. It is a task that must be done. The Africa We Want is achievable.

References ACBF. (2019). Capacity imperatives for the SDGs: In line with African Union’s Agenda 2063. Retrieved from https://www.africaportal.org/publications/ capacity-imperatives-sdgs-line-african-unions-agenda-2063/ African Union. (2020). Flagship projects of Agenda 2063. Retrieved from https:// au.int/en/agenda2063 Kimbu, A.  N., & Tichaawa, T.  M. (2018). Sustainable development goals and socio-economic development through tourism in Central Africa: Myth or reality. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 23(3), 780–796. Nour, N. M. (2006). Health consequences of child marriage in Africa. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 12(11), 1644–1649. Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Woelm, F. (2020). The Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19. Sustainable Development Report 2020. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. UNESCO. (2019). ICT for sustainable development: Recommendations for public policies that guarantee rights. Policy Papers UNESCO. Retrieved from https:// www.cetic.br/media/docs/publicacoes/8/15452220190716-ict-for-sustainable-development.pdf World Bank. (2018). Population, female (% of total population) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP. TOTL.FE.ZS?locations=ZG World Health Organization. (2014). The health of the people: What works: The African Regional Health Report 2014. World Health Organization. Ogechi Adeola  is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria, and the Founder of Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative. Her multi-dimensional research focuses on the advancement of knowledge across the intersection of marketing, tourism, entrepreneurship, and gender in sub-Saharan Africa.

Index

A Abuja declaration, 14 Abuse, 86 Academic progression, 109 Access to Resources and Capital, 34–35 Account holders, 135 Acculturation, 113 Action for Health, Education and Development (AHEAD), 20 Activism, 55 Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 45 Adolescent girls, 62 Advanced technologies and management, 161 Affiliated, 74 African Capacity Building Foundation, 161 African communities, 135 African continent, 109 African girls and women, 75 African nations, 52 African universities, 110 African women, 24

Africa’s population, 166 Agency of Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), 109 Alakija, Folorunsho, 45 Aspiration 6 of African Union’s Agenda 2063, 158 Assessing quality education, 75 Assisted reproductions/artificial insemination, 66 Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), 109 B Bank accounts, 135 Barriers, 110 Beijing Declaration and Platform, 13 The Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (1985), 7 Beijing in September 1995, 3–4 Bi-directional relationship, 27 Bola Shagaya, Hajia, 99 Bolmus Group International, 99 Bottom-up participatory approach, 8

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 O. Adeola (ed.), Empowering African Women for Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59102-1

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170 

INDEX

Breadwinners, 125 Breaking isolation, 146 Build capacity, 161 Build strategic partnerships, 162 C Cancer, 62 Cape Town, 55 Cardiovascular diseases, 62 Career advancement, 113 Cervical cancer, 65 Chad marry, 53 Childbearing, 63 Child labour, 15 Child marriage, 54, 161 Christian missionaries, 76 Chronic pain, 55 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), 20, 149 Classism, 113 Collaborative learning networks, 128 Community organisers, 89 Compartmentalisation, 76 Controlling behaviours, 54 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW 1979), 7 Copenhagen, 3 Corporate organisations, 86 COVID-19 global pandemic, 167 COVID-19 pandemic, 122 Criminalise domestic violence, 161 Cultural boundaries, 111 Cultural complexity, 103 Cultural norms, 90 Cultural orientation, 108 Cultural relocation, 113 Culture, 92 Cyberstalking, 149

D Dakar declaration, 14 Depression, 55 Developed nations, 52 Development challenges, 98 Development experts, 109 Diabetes, 62 Dialogue, 100 Diaspora, 162 Digital advocacy, 57 Digital engagement and advocacy, 164–165 Digital financial services, 146 Digital gender, 147 Digital labour markets, 152 Digital platforms, 164 Digital technologies, 147 Discrimination, 77 Disempowered, 41 Disruptive life, 114 Domestic chores, 152 Donations, 79 Dos Santos, Isabel, 45 Drive gender equality, 147 E East Asia and the Pacific, 147 Echelons, 110 Economic activities, 140 Economically disadvantaged, 128 Economic and social progress, 123 Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Travel Certificate, 92 Economic development, 13 Economic empowerment, 91, 137 Economic opportunity indices, 99 Economic participation, 86 Ecotourism, 126 Education and health for the girl child, 165

 INDEX 

Education and training of women, 4 Elder abuse, 54 Elderly, 135 Embryo freezing, 67 Emergence, 88 Emotional abuse, 54 Emotional sensitivity, 88 Empirical evidence, 124 Employment generation, 124 Enrolment rates, 75 Entrepreneurial, 99 Entrepreneurial opportunity, 146 Entrepreneurial ventures, 99 Environmental contexts, 158 Environmental sustainability, 137 Epochal moment, 40 Equitably, 62 Eradicated, 77 Establish laws and institutions, 161 Europe and Central Asia, 147 Evans, Lucinda, 45 Excessive bleedings, 62 Executive-level positions, 108 F Family expenses, 137 Female caregivers, 63 Female child trafficking, 64 Female genital, 40 Female labour force participation rate, 31 Female secondary education, 33 Fertility rates, 65 Financial capital, 102 Financial education, 33 Financial inclusion, 137 Financial investment, 137 Financial literacy, 140 Financial resources, 79 Financing, 162–163 Food security, 98

171

Forced sexual intercourse, 64 Formal financial, 134 Fostering a gender-inclusive culture, 92 Free and compulsory education policy, 92 Fundamental human right, 147 G Gender-based digital exclusion, 149 Gender-based violence, 41 Gender-discriminatory practices, 166 Gender equality, 2 Gender inequality and women disempowerment, 123 Gender Inequality Index (GII), 25 Gender Inequality Index (GII) across regions, 25 Gender Inequality Index (GII) trends, 26 Gender parity gaps, 26 Gender ramifications, 148 Gender-related issues, 40 Gender roles, 110 Gender-sensitive, 148 Gender violence, 13 Gender wage gaps, 122 Geographical location, 128 Georgieva, Kristalina, 46 Girl child, 4, 79 Girls, 79 Girls rights violation, 44 Glass ceiling, 110–111 Global account, 52 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 100 Global Gender Gap Report (GGGR), 87 Globally, 122 Global North, 41 Global Report, 123 Global South, 41

172 

INDEX

Global tourism workforce, 122 Goals formalised, 6 Grassroots media, 165 Gurib-Fakim, Ameenah, 45

Intersecting inequalities and social exclusion, 98 Intimate partners, 55 Iterations, 12

H Handicapped, 135 Harmful practices, 8 Harsh reality, 62 Health care system, 66 High blood pressure, 62 Higher education institutions, 149 HIV antiretroviral medicines, 66 Household income, 122 Human development, 137 Human dignity, 2 Human rights, 41 Human rights of women, 4

K Kenya, 138

I Illiteracy, 102 Inalienability, 40 Inclusive growth, 147 Income-generating, 122 Income-generating activities, 125 Industrialized markets, 103 Inequality, 104 Informal sector, 122 Information and communications technologies (ICTs), 146 Infringements, 40 Innovative use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), 163–164 Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, 4 Institutional regulators, 75 Institutional roadblocks, 98 International arrivals, 123 International Development Association (IDA), 16

L Landmark, 7 Latin America and the Caribbean, 147 Leadership positions, 86 Leapfrog, 147 Legal backing, 161 Legitimise work-life balance, 161 Levels, 162 Liberia, 55 Linear input-output, 75 Livelihoods, 123 Lokissim, Rose, 53 Low-cost capital, 138 M Malala Fund for Girls’ Education, 42 Male dominance, 111 Male-dominated, 148 Marginalisation, 25 Mass exodus, 78 Maternal deaths, 62 Maternal mortality, 40 Medical bill, 66 Mexico City, 3 A micro level, 135 Middle East, 147 Minimum wage and equal- pay, 129 Mobile banking, 135 Mobile phones, 135, 146 Modern secularism, 76 Mohammed, Amina, 45 Motherhood, 63

 INDEX 

M-Pesa, 138 Mulatto, 53 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), 25 Mutilation, 40 Myanmar, 7 N National Assembly or State House of Assembly, 87 National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), 66 Ndhlukula, Devine, 99 New Zealand, 13 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 67 1994 Rwandan genocide, 54 Njeri Rionge, 99 Non-affordability, 149 North Africa, 147 Not-for-profit organisations, 80 Nurturing, 63 O Obstetric fistulas, 165 Obstructed labour, 62 Okolo, S. (Prof.), 18 Online harassment, 149 Opportunities and career development, 148 Out-of-school rates, 74 Ownership of property, 134 P Pakistan, 108 Parents, 79 Patriarchal, 129 Pervasive poverty, 136 Physical disability, 55 Physical violence, 54

173

Policy enactment to support women participation, 91 Policymaking, 148 Political empowerment, 42, 87 Political limitations, 111 Politically, 128 Political positions, 87 Political upheavals, 136 Politics, 87 Polygamy, 63 Poonoosamy, Radha, 53 Poor obstetric care services, 62 Poor sanitation, 63 Postcolonial, 110 Poverty and marginalization, 98 Poverty line, 25 Poverty of deprivation, 26 Power and politics of knowledge, 114 Precarious state, 54 Pregnancy lane, 63 Pregnancy outcomes, 55 Prevailing, 109 Proactive thinking, 150 Professional help, 64 Professorial rank, 110 Property rights, 129 Protection of women, 15 Providing linkages, 146 Provision of infrastructure, 163 Psychologically, 128 Public prosecutors, 57 Q Quality healthcare, 98 R Rape, 67 Rapid improvement, 99 Rationalization, 101 Refocus on empowering women in agriculture, 33

174 

INDEX

Regional Economic Communities (RECs), 20 Rehabilitation, 66 Religious organisations, 81 Research and data, 166 Retrogressing, 41 Rural areas, 80

South African Airways, 99 South Asia, 147 South-East Nigeria, 20 Stigmatised, 64 Sub-national, 158 Suffered violence, 86 Suffragettes Movement, 13

S Safaricom, 138 Sahel Region, 21 Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD), 21 Sahle-Work Zewde, 45 Sambo, Sibongile, 99 Scholarship, 79 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), 79 SECURICO, 99 Self-governing, 13 Senior management positions, 113 Sex-disaggregated data, 127 Sexual abuse, 64 Sexual harassment, 109 Sexual violence, 54 Shaarawi, Huda, 53 Sierra Leone, 55 Slow economic growth, 137 Small- and medium-sized tourism, 123 Social development, 14 Social inclusion, 5 Socially inclusive, 158 Socialisation, 110 Social perception, 149 Socio-cultural environment, 100 Socio-cultural institutional, 101 Socio-cultural norms, 122 Sociopolitical-cum-economic, 15

T Technological literacy, 149 Technology-poor environments, 150 Terminal illness, 113 Third-world countries, 126 Tourism, 127 Tourism and economic empowerment for women, 164 Tourism development, 129 Tourism engagement, 126 Tourism industry, 124 Tourism-related studies, 124 Tourism sector, 126 Tourism’s potential, 124 Trafficking and early marriages, 15 Trafficking, sexual harassment, 54 Trajectory of poverty, 25 U Under-patronisation, 62 Underpin African, 110 Under-represented, 88 UNESCO Gender Parity Index (GPI), 75 UNICEF report, 89 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 24 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), 74 United Nations (UN), 13

 INDEX 

United Nations (UN) Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 109 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), 124 Unity Bank, 99 Unpaid childcare, 152 Unsafe abortions, 62, 65 Upbringing, 108 V Village and saving loan (VSLA), 128 Violence against women (VAW), 4, 52 Vulnerable, 64 W Wealth creation, 137 Women and armed conflict, 4 Women and health, 4 Women and poverty, 4 Women and the economy, 4 Women and the environment, 4 Women and the media, 4

175

Women entrepreneurs, 99 Womenfolk, 54 Women in power and decision-­making, 4 Women in tourism, 129 Women post-Beijing, 25 Women scientists, 109 Women’s empowerment in Africa, 129 Women’s precarious, 148 Women’s under-representation in politics and business, 86 Workplaces, 111, 139 World Bank, 16 The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index, 86 Y Yangon, 7 Young female academics, 112 Z Zimbabwe, 99