Opportunities for African Women in 2024

The year 2024 came with a lot of excitement and opportunities for women. The 2024 International Women’s Day was celebrated under the theme ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress.’

This theme echoed in all corridors of power, encouraging women to get involved in all aspects of decision-making.

For Africa, in particular, we saw women challenging the status quo and making themselves available for political participation.

In April 2024, the Democratic Republic of Congo made history by electing Judith Suminwa as the nation’s first female prime minister; subsequently, she was ranked the most powerful woman in Africa in 2024 after her appointment.

Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, contested the Commonwealth Secretary-General position and won with an overwhelming victory. Becoming the first African woman to achieve this feat.

Namibia decided to do the needful by electing its first female president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, with an overwhelming victory. Ghana for the first time has elected a female first vice president, Prof. Jane Nana Opoku Agyemang.

Major-General Anita Asmah of the Ghana Armed Forces was appointed as the UN’s first African woman Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

Women’s political participation continues to be a major hindrance to the development of the continent.
The number of women in African parliaments has increased by just one percentage point, from 25% in 2021 to 26% in 2024.

This means that African countries will achieve gender parity in their parliaments in 2100. Women in top executive positions increased to 13% in 2024.

Women constitute just 25% of local councilors, the core unit of decentralization. This representation falls short of 26% of parliamentary representation. Forty-one of the 54 African states have implemented some form of quota at the national or local levels to support women’s representation. Rwanda leads Africa in women’s political participation with 61% of women in parliament, while Nigeria has only 4%.

Patriarchy continues to be a major stumbling block hindering women’s political participation.
With just 5 years to 2030, Africa is still far away from achieving the SDG on women’s political participation.

2024 will go down as a year where African women made some significant achievements in the corridors of power. However, there is still room for improvement, calling for more women to participate in the year 2025.

Mary Alorh is Director of Administration at DefSEC Analytics Africa Ltd. and is an expert in Gender, Youth, and Peace & Security initiatives in West Africa.