Global Gender Summit 2019 – Africa may take over a century to achieve gender equality

The 2019 Global Gender Summit, the first to be held on the continent, kicked off on Monday, November 25 in Rwanda's capital, Kigali with a strong call to surge ahead on gender issues and move from commitment to action.

A new report released at the Global Gender Summit 2019 gives a gloomy view on Africa's gender equality efforts. Despite severe efforts given by some countries on the African continent towards gender equality, the gap between women and men in both common society and work still remains high.

The report released by a global consulting firm, McKinsey at the Global Gender Summit 2019 reveals that it would take over 140 years for Africa to reach gender equality. The progress towards gender parity has stalled.

"We want to see sustained and coordinated action to reverse this," Mayowa Kuyoro, an Associate Partner at McKinsey Africa said. Even through research it has been observed that maternal mortality rates are high on the continent, which confines the growth of women in the society. Even the education between boys and girls is still unequal.

According to McKinsey's report, Africa could add USD 316 billion to their GDP growth by 2025 if all the nations match the progress towards gender parity with their best efforts. Among all the African countries, Rwanda ranks first in the progress the East African country has so far made in empowering women in varied sectors including politics, businesses etc.