At the Seventh Africa Gender Statistics Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, leaders from 40 countries called for urgent action to strengthen gender data systems as it is important to have statistics that reveal the lived realities of women and girls. These statistics provide invaluable information to design programs and policies that aim to reduce inequality, therein advancing women’s and girls’ rights. During the week, the Forum presented the Africa Gender Index 2023, revealing persistent inequalities across the region. Nonetheless, data collection in the region has a long way to go with 15 countries only having 52% of key indicators ensure sex-disaggregated data. This gap in data collection hinders progress on issues like health, representation, and violence prevention. As a result, the African continent has a long way go to reach its full capacity in collecting gender-disaggregated data.
Compiled from: “Africa unites to advance the rights and empowerment of women and girls through critical sound gender data,” United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, June 30, 2025.