Africa needs new impetus in its journey towards gender parity. Making progress on any single indicator of gender inequality is likely to require systematic action on a range of indicators by governments, companies, communities, and individual men and women.
A new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report prepared with McKinsey & Company, Africa, The power of parity: Advancing women’s equality in Africa finds that accelerating progress towards parity could boost African economies by the equivalent of 10 percent of their collective GDP by 2025.
The report was launched Tuesday at the 2019 Global Gender Summit co-hosted by the African Development Bank and Rwanda under the theme: “Unpacking constraints to gender equality.”
“Gender equality is not a western agenda, it is not somebody else agenda; it’s a global agenda for growth for inclusive growth for economic development, for society to thrive,” said Vanessa Moungar, Bank Director for Women, Gender, and Civil Society.
The report examines the potential boost to African economic growth as a result of accelerating progress toward gender equality.
“With foresight and a commitment to act, African countries can reinvigorate progress towards parity, triggering a breakthrough in women’s empowerment. But all stakeholders—governments, companies, and the social sector—need to work together to drive results,” Lohini Moodley, a McKinsey Partner in Addis Ababa, said.
Mayowa Kuyoro, an Associate Partner at McKinsey, said that it is of concern that at the current pace of change it will take more than 140 years to achieve gender parity. “It will not happen in my lifetime, and that makes me really sad,” she added.
Fatmata Lovetta Sesay from UN Women said, “this report is a cornerstone in our evidence-based advocacy efforts.”
