Chapter 3:

Key African Union Mandates on Gender Transformation

Gender transformative data governance is grounded in global, regional and national mandates that commit governments and institutions to advancing gender equality and inclusion through data systems. The African Union and its member states have endorsed a range of commitments from the African Union Agenda 2063 and the AU-Data Policy framework to the Maputo protocol and the African Charter on Human and People’s rights that emphasize inclusive, equitable and rights-based approaches to gender equality.

Understanding these mandates is essential because they form the foundation for holding governments and institutions accountable, ensuring that data practices not only recognize gender differences but also actively dismantle structural barriers that perpetuate inequality. This chapter provides a synopsis of the key mandates on gender inclusion.

The African Union Agenda 2063

At the 24th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, held in January 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Heads of State and Government reaffirmed that Agenda 2063 places gender equality and youth empowerment as central pillars in Africa’s transformation, to build caring, inclusive societies.43 The assembly further emphasized that no society can reach its full potential, unless it empowers women and youth and removes all obstacles to women’s full participation in all spheres of human endeavors.44

This key mandate envisions a continent where all citizens are actively engaged in decision making at every level and where no child, woman or man will be left behind or excluded, on the basis of gender, political affiliation, religion, ethnic affiliation, locality, age or other factors.45

For example, since the implementation of the AU Agenda 2063 in 2014, countries continue to demonstrate notable progress in advancing women’s rights, particularly in political participation, education and socio-economic opportunities and integration into the labor force. Steady progress towards more inclusive governance at different levels has been observed in countries such as Rwanda, Namibia, Ethiopia.46 The ultimate goal of this key mandate is involvement of women in all sectors at all levels, as well as creating an enabling environment for them to thrive. The commitments of the Agenda 2063 serve as a benchmark for integrating gender into data systems that shape policy and decision making across sectors. It serves as a point of reference for Africa’s concerted efforts to advance gender transformative data governance. African countries must therefore provide an enabling environment for women and young people to flourish and achieve their full potential.

The African Union Data Policy Framework

From a gender transformative perspective, the AU Data Policy framework stresses that the growing reliance on data, particularly for decision making, must not reinforce historical injustices or deepen structural gender inequalities. Ensuring gender responsive and inclusive data governance is key to removing systemic barriers that women and girls face. For example, predictive models used to design subsidy programs or distribute climate-resilient seeds may prioritize male landowners while overlooking women smallholder farmers, who make up the majority of the agricultural workforce. Without gender-responsive data, policies risk deepening inequalities in agricultural productivity and food security in Africa.47 The framework calls for data systems to be designed in such a way that women and girls and other underrepresented groups are visible, fairly represented and actively included in shaping Africa’s data future.

The AU Data Policy framework further urges member states to reduce risks and mitigate harm in data governance by developing and upholding ethical codes that are responsive to the African context and explicitly take into account the voices of citizens, marginalized and underrepresented people, such as women and girls.

These codes of ethics must go beyond generic standards, embedding safeguards within data systems and algorithms that reflect the lived realities and voices of women and other marginalized groups often excluded from the decision-making process. For example, existing governance frameworks, often imported from the Global North, are typically designed for contexts with different legal traditions, infrastructural capacities, and cultural dynamics, making them misaligned with African realities. This disconnect has led to issues of bias, mistrust, and underrepresentation in data-driven decision making.48

The framework further notes that certain categories of data and specific sectors may require tailored data governance approaches that address their unique challenges. However, such measures should not create silos that may render them less usable but should be in harmony with general data governance principles and this policy framework as a whole. An inclusive Africa-specific approach is urgently needed to ensure that data governance reflects women and girls’ values, realities and aspirations while protecting their rights.

The African Union Gender Policy

The gender policy seeks to close the inequality gap between men and women with a particular focus on addressing persistent gender inequalities and enhancing the understanding and recognition of women’s contributions to development. For example, the vision of the policy is to achieve an African society founded on democracy, gender equality, human rights and dignity where the equal status of women and men, girls and boys, is recognized with both sexes thriving together harmoniously, in a peaceful and secure environment characterized by equal partnership in decision-making in the development of the continent. In fact, the goal of the AU gender policy is to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa through a rights-based and evidence-driven approach that uses gender disaggregated data and performance indicators to foster gender responsive environments and practices at all levels.

While notable progress has been made in many African countries, women’s concerns often remain secondary in development agendas, with limited representation of gender equality and women’s rights initiatives across the continent.49 Persistent barriers include limited institutional capacity and insufficient political will to mainstream gender, which exclude women from decision making processes and prevent them from fully benefitting from economic growth, human rights and social development.

The Maputo Protocol

The Maputo protocol obliges African Union Member states to take concrete measures to promote and protect the rights of women ensuring their full participation in all spheres of life, including governance and decision making processes. It calls for the elimination of discrimination against women and integration of gender perspectives into all stages of development planning.

The protocol affirms that development is unattainable without women’s voices and leadership at the heart of governance structures. It urges the integration of gender considerations into government processes to ensure that women’s needs and priorities are reflected. In doing so, the protocol positions gender integration not as a peripheral issue but as a fundamental pillar of democratic governance and social justice in Africa.

43. Africa Union Agenda 2063,
44. Ibid
45. Ibid, Aspiration 6, Goal 47-52
46. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), 2024, Women’s Political Participation ~ Africa Barometer 2024
47. Nchanji, E.B., Ageyo, O.C., Puskur, R. et al. (2024), Towards gender-transformative metrics in seed system perfor- mance measurement: insights for policy and practice in Sub-Sahara Africa. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43170-024-00291-6
48. George, Patrick. (2023). Inclusive, Trustworthy Data Governance in Africa - Designing governance frameworks tai- lored for underrepresented regions.
49. Africa Union Gender Policy 2009