Political power: women’s Agency in Africa

Abstract

The African Center for Gender (ACG) introduces the AGDI Policy Brief Series with an aim to take stock of gender equality in women’s agency in Africa and highlight challenges lying ahead and where available offer prioritized policy recommendations to accelerate progress toward gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly in political sphere. The AGDI is based on two components. First, a quantitative snapshot of 44 indicators that capture gender disparities in social, economic and political arenas is captured by the Gender Status Index (GSI). Second, a qualitative self-evaluation of governments’ performance in their implementation of more than 30 treaties, declarations, and resolutions affecting women’s rights and women’s empowerment in social, economic and political arenas is represented by the African Women’s Progress Scoreboard (AWPS). This Policy Brief focuses on Political Power which spans over 30 per cent of the indicators in GSI and 4 out of 32 indicators in AWPS. This Brief draws on the results from the AGDI Country Reports for the Phase 2 of the AGDI.