The 2019 Global Gender Summit, kicked off yesterday in Kigali, Rwanda, with a strong call for concerted efforts to close the gender gap in Africa. Global Gender Summit, a biennial event organized by the multilateral development banks (MDBs), creates a platform for political leaders, development institutions, private sector, civil society, and academia to work together to strengthen women empowerment. The theme of the current summit is ‘Unpacking constraints to gender equality.’
Opening the Summit, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, remarked that gender equality as “real common sense” and cited Rwanda and Ethiopia as shining examples with more than 50 % of women parliamentarians. Addressing the opening Plenary of the Summit, President Zewde of Ethiopia, said that currently women hold key ministerial roles in defence and national security for the first time in Ethiopia.She added that though here is a momentum , a lot of ground has to be covered yet.
Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat pointed out that gender parity was high on the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and AU constantly urged heads of states to erase the political, economic, and social discrimination against women. African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina remarked that leaders have to address the challenges like under-representation and lack of empowerment of women. Women are the best investment any society can make,’ he added. Mr. Adesina also quoted, a study by consulting firm McKinsey Equal that full participation of women can add an additional 28 trillion U.S. dollars, or 26 percent, to global annual GDP by 2025.
According to official statistics, the continent has a $42 billion financing gap between men and women while women farmers face a financing gap of close to $16 billion. The African Development Bank has recently launched the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) to mobilize $3 billion of new lending by banks and financial institutions for women in Africa. AFAWA also received support of $251 million package from G7 leaders.
