Women’s Day in Africa: Insights on Gender Equality & Empowerment in 2024

We took the opportunity of International Women’s Day on 8th March to survey members of SagaPoll, the pan-African online community, about issues faced by young women across the continent. 

In a matter of a day, over 15,000 respondents of both genders from 36 countries shared their personal opinion. Here are some of the key highlights on current women’s issues in Africa.

Women’s day in Africa: gender-based violence, a growing issue

While over 70% of respondents express their intention to honour the women in their lives on Women’s Day, some statistic show that women on the continent are still facing urgent problems.
In this year’s survey, almost a quarter of respondents (22%) find that gender-based violence is the biggest challenge faced by women in their country. This is up from 19% in the 2022 survey.

The lack of employment opportunities, which was the top concern two years ago, is now the second most important issue for 17%. It is followed by Gender Equality (14%), Child Marriage (12%) and Access to Education (12%).

Differing concerns across countries

If gender-based violence is not the biggest concern in countries like Côte d’Ivoire or Mali, it is perceived as much more critical in Kenya and South Africa with respectively 39% and 52% of respondents finding it to be the greatest issue for young women.

Conversely, the lack of opportunities for young women is the biggest issue in Angola (38%). Most Mozambicans (31%) and Zimbabweans (29%) scored child marriage has the most pressing issue. In Mali, people are most concerned by the access to education for young women. 

Did you know?

There is also a Pan-African Women’s Day. It is celebrated on 31 July and is dedicated specifically to celebrate women across the continent. It was established in 1974 by the Pan-African Women’s Organization (PAWO), now part of the African Union. 

Leveraging online surveys in Africa to take the pulse of citizens

To conclude, this is just one quick example of how one can leverage the possibilities of our online panel in Africa. You can get fast answers to all the questions you might have about African consumption or sentiment. 

For more information on our solutions to conduct online data collection in Africa, please send an email to contact@sagaciresearch.com. Alternatively, contact us using the form below.

Methodology

SagaPoll daily questions, the pan-African online panel covering all 54 markets

Questions:

• From the following list, which do you think is the greatest issue affecting young women in your country today?
• Will you celebrate the women in your life today?

Sample: male and female adults above 18 years old.

Base: 15,846 respondents in 2024 / 10,606 in 2022. Minimum base considered per country.

Period: 8 March 2024 / 22 Feb 2022