As we join the continent and global community in the commemoration of International Women’s Day, I want to acknowledge the strong and powerful women who came before us, who lost their lives so that we can fully live ours. I want to celebrate each and everyone of them for their courage, commitment and sacrifice for a better world. Moreover, I wish to take this auspicious moment to thank our brothers in arms, bold and spirited men who believe in a more just and fairer world, who fight, with their words and deeds for gender equity and women empowerment. It goes without saying that attaining the highest heights of our potential as a people behoves us to cooperate and collaborate. Family, there is no left wing or right wing, it takes two wings to fly.

When we reflect and ponder on what this day means to us, we must draw strength and be encouraged by our foremothers, whose resilience and boldness, catalysed systemic change and challenged the world to view women’s rights as human rights. Indeed, their efforts propelled us forward and gave us the necessary impulse to stand up for all women and girls as we address imbalances in power and gender relations, enhance the empowerment of women and girls through financial inclusion and more importantly, build a different world where we #EmbraceEquity.

Women and Girl Children of this continent continue to face great adversity, violence, child marriage, injustice, poverty, domestic, structures within society and new traditions (within Africa) which are deliberately imposed to keep them down and oppressed. Evidence shows that women in Africa are disproportionately affected by poverty, with 48.2% of women in sub-Saharan Africa living on less than $1.90 per day, compared to 42.5% of men. As we work towards building the “Africa We Want”, we must prioritise the provision of financial support, mentoring, coaching and different forms of capacity building to all women in our lives and in our communities. This will ensure that they can achieve their dreams and live a life that they have chosen for themselves, instead of one that results from their economic condition, or the limitations placed by harmful socio-cultural norms.

This year’s theme “Embrace Equity” takes cognisance that creating equal opportunities alone is not enough. It recognizes that “people start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.” Most of us are familiar with the fact that women reinvest up to 90% of their earnings in their families and communities, compared to 35% for men. We also know that women in Africa spend an average of 4.3 hours per day on unpaid care work, compared to 1.7 hours for men. We cannot solve economic inequality if we shy away from difficult conversations with which debunk old tales and myths and pave a way for a more equitable repartition of tasks and responsibilities.
To arrive at this different and better world that we envisage, we must engrain gender equity in every society’s DNA. We must embrace equity to forge harmony and unity, and to help drive success for all. We must also increase our understanding of gender-related issues and their root causes lying in the patriarchal structures of our societies, such as gender-based violence. Once you are equipped with knowledge, you are better positioned to share the word and influence people around you, as true champions for gender equality.

It is our responsibility as the first African development agency to take concrete actions that lighten the burden and daily challenges faced by women and girls. To this end, we are committed to ensuring that there is equal representation of women in all that we do, as envisaged by the African Union strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018-2028). Through the Women and Youth Financial and Economic initiative (WYFEI 2030), we will continue to contribute to the empowerment, poverty reduction and improvement of the welfare of women and youth in Africa. As AUDA-NEPAD, we need to lead by example, blaze new trails, explore innovative ways to use emerging technologies and the power of social medias to amplify the voices of all women. 

I wish you and all the valuable women in your lives a thoughtful International Women’s Day. May this day pave the way for more collective and individual actions for women empowerment. How will you #EmbraceEquity today and henceforth?
 
Thank you.