More women in govt, but far from gender equality - survey

Johannesburg – The number of women in parliament in Africa has almost doubled over the past 15 years to 24% while the number of women in cabinet has grown five times in 30 years to 22%, the McKinsey & Company Women Matter Africa report revealed on Thursday.

Africa has more women in parliament than the global average, but representation rates still need to double for the continent to achieve gender equality, the report stated. It looked at female representation in leadership across the private and public sectors and was compiled over 12 months. Data was gathered across 14 African countries, including insights from 210 leading companies and interviews with 35 African women leaders.

The report shows that 17 out of 30 African countries are above the global average of 21%. South Africa comes in at 42%. Rwanda has the highest share of women parliamentarians in the world, at 64%. Conversely in Nigeria women in parliament hold 7% of positions, and in Swaziland they hold 6%.