Countries reported that women’s participation in the formal economy has increased at all levels and that both women and men are benefiting from capacity building programmes and support to set up business in almost all of the responding countries. Countries have implemented gender responsive employment policies, non-discriminatory labour laws, and affirmative action policies.

However, women are still poorly represented in economic decision-making, including the formulation of fiscal, commercial and other economic policies. They remain confined to low paying jobs; are more likely to be among the working poor and without any protection; and persistency of customary and traditional norms limit their effective access, control and utilization of productive resources.

Increased attention is being given to engendering national budgets and ensuring public resources support to gender equality and women’s empowerment in many African countries. However, these efforts call for scaling up technical and analytical expertise and recommitting to achieve gender equality and equity.