Women in Africa

The culture, evolution, and history of women who were born in, live in, and are from the continent of Africa reflect the evolution and history of the African continent itself.

Numerous short studies regarding women's history in African nations have been conducted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} Many studies focus on the historic roles and status of women in specific countries and regions, such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria^[7] Lesotho,^[8] and sub-Saharan Africa.^[9][10] Recently, scholars have begun to focus on the evolution of women's status throughout the history of Africa using less common sources, such as songs from Malawi, weaving techniques in Sokoto, and historical linguistics.^[11]

The status of women in Africa is varied across nations and regions. For example, Rwanda is the only country in the world where women hold more than half the seats in parliament — 51.9% as of July 2019,^[12][13] but Morocco only has one female minister in its cabinet.^[13] Significant efforts towards gender equality have been made through the creation of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, which encourages member states to end discrimination and violence against women.^[14] With the exception of Morocco and Burundi, all African states have adopted this charter.^[15] However, despite these strides towards equality, women still face various issues related to gender inequality, such as disproportionate levels of poverty and education, poor health and nutrition, lack of political power, limited workforce participation, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, and child marriage.^[16][17][18]