The 8^th of March, signified the start of what is commonly referred as the “Women’s Month” as the world commemorated International Women's Day. The 2021 commemorations were held under the theme, "Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 World", to reflect the determination of the international community to support gender equality and the empowerment of women, through their participation and representation at the level of all decision-making bodies.

The African Union recognises that gender equality is a fundamental human right and an integral part of regional integration, economic growth and social development of the continent. Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 calls for “An Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children.” Agenda 2063 therefore requires that we live in a more inclusive society where all the citizens are actively involved in decision making in all aspects and where no child, woman or man is left behind or excluded, on the basis of gender, political affiliation, religion, ethnic affiliation, locality, age or other factors. Article 3 of the Protocol on Amendments of the Constitutive Act of the African Union recognises the critical role of women in promoting inclusive development and calls for the AU “to ensure the effective participation of women in decision-making, particularly in the political, economic and socio-cultural areas”. Across Africa, modest progress has been notably made in some African Union (AU) Member States. The AU has also maintained Gender Parity at its topmost decision-making level, and efforts are made underway for the gender parity principle to percolate other AU organs and institutions.

The African Union has made Gender equality and the Empowerment of women one of its priorities. This has been translated into political commitments at the level of Heads of State and Government, with particularly the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the AU Gender Parity Project 2025, and the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women 2018-2028. Equality and the Empowerment of women are seen as factors for the development of African women, as an opportunity to get them out of their deplorable conditions, made up of violence, exclusion and prejudice. However, these wrongs exist and persist in most African countries and women and girls continue to be the primary victims of the conflicts and crises afflicting the Continent.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the persistence of the difficult conditions of African women and has revealed both gaps and opportunities to engage more women in leading the decision-making process in the response, and recovery and re-set efforts in Africa. However, discrimination, social norms and cultural values, and gender stereotypes have limited women’s full participation. The absence of intersectional approaches that integrate women’s leadership into addressing the pandemic has thus weakened national responses. Victoria Maloka, the AU Commission Acting Director for Women, Gender and Youth says the African Union Guidelines on Gender Responsive Responses to COVID-19 therefore articulate proactive measures that promote the empowerment of women and girls and allow them to have equal active participation in decision-making during the fight against the pandemic.

The pandemic has not only led to the loss of income and economic gains made by women in the recent past, and the effects of the closure of educational institutions disrupting educational opportunities for girls all over the continent who in turn fell victim to harmful traditional practices, but has at the same time accentuated Gender-based violence (GBV), to such an extent that it has been described as a shadow pandemic. To break this silence and put an end to these acts of violence, H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa and immediate former Chairperson of the African Union, proposed in 2020, the adoption of an African Convention on Violence against Women and Girls and a Conference of men to specifically address this issue. The current Chairperson of the African Union, H.E. Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has similarly made a commitment to pursue this action.

The African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat on International Women’s Day, underscored the imperative for Member States that have adopted Plans of Action on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, to effectively implement them and that those that do not have one to adopt it swiftly. “All measures, Declarations, Conventions adopted in favour of women, at the Continental and international level, should not be considered by them as a facility or a favour granted to women. They deserve them. However, these measures can only be effective if women themselves show bold courage, work individually and collectively, to win their rights and affirm their duties”, he stated adding, “deep respect for all these African women, pillars of our societies, patient and resilient, hardworking at heart, these women on whose shoulders rests all the weight of the family, but who are, alas, often kept aloof from major decisions that concern the family or the society”.

Several activities we held during the month including a Policy Dialogue on Women in Leadership, aimed at acknowledging the innovative contributions of women and girl across different sectors, as they combat COVID-19 and address GEWE challenges; as well as to solicit multi-stakeholder commitment to strategic priority actions. An intergenerational dialogue was also held bringing together senior women leaders and young African women to build on ongoing youth and gender advocacy campaign on “Reimagining an Africa Without Child Marriage” to put a focus on ending child marriage. The month also saw the Common African Position (CAP) that seeks to advance women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life as well as the elimination of violence for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Africa, tabled at the 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65). The CAP had been adopted in February 2021 by the Ministers in charge of Gender and Women’s Affairs. The CAP is part of the strategy to ensure the continent and aspirations of African women and girls are well articulated at the global discourse at the United Nations.