Young people in Africa concerned about rights of women and children

Seven in 10 South Africans say they are “very concerned” about gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide in the country.

This was revealed in a survey released this week by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation.

The 2022 African Youth Survey found that 81% of South Africans registered concern about GBV in the country. 

The African Youth Survey was first conducted in 2019 and explores how young people in Africa view themselves and the world around them.

The survey is conducted in 15 African countries — Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, SA, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia — by global polling firm PSB Insights.

Research was conducted through more than 4,500 face-to-face interviews with youths aged 18 to 24, 40% of whom were students.

At the end of SA’s Women’s Month, the findings are that most youths are concerned about the violence towards women and children in their countries, and a huge number have themselves been victims.

The survey found that 81% of young Africans across the continent voice strong concerns about GBV and femicide, with concern in Kenya the highest at 93%, followed by Zambia with 91%.

In Africa, nearly eight in 10, or 79%, of youths report that there are still not enough protections for women’s rights.

Young people in Angola were the most concerned about whether enough protections were in place with regard to women’s rights, followed by Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda and Sudan.

According to the African Youth Survey, nearly half, or 47%, of the continent’s youth report that they have experienced discrimination on the basis of their identity or the characteristics that define them.

The majority of those interviewed in Gabon (75%), felt this way, followed by Angola with 64%.

The most frequent sources of discrimination are race or ethnicity (13%), language (13%), age (11%), social standing (11%), gender or sex (10%) and religious beliefs (10%).

The research found that young women are more likely to have experienced gender-based discrimination (11%) than men (8%).

The youths consider equality under the law to be the most important democratic value, but many say their countries still have a way to go to ensure everyone is treated the same. When asked, 52% agreed that in their country everyone is equal before the law, while 46% disagreed with this statement.

Youth across the continent have very different views about how much equality they enjoy in their country, with eight-in-10 Rwandan youths saying everyone is equal under the law compared to just one-in-three, or 32%, of Ugandan youths saying the same.

The most likely to agree that everyone is equal before the law in their country were young adults in Rwanda (80%), Malawi (69%) and Ghana (67%).

The most likely to disagree were those in Uganda (67%), Congo-Brazzaville (62%) and Angola with 58%.

Women’s Month is a celebration of the important role women play in society and a tribute to the more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 in protest against the extension of the pass laws and segregation.

Police statistics on femicide in SA indicate that 13,815 women older than 18 were murdered between 2015 and 2020. 

According to the survey, there is still a great difference between the genders in terms of success in the workplace.   

In 2021, Stats SA found that women accounted for 43.4% of the total employment, with only 33.1% of managers being women.

Ivor Ichikowitz, chair of the Ichikowitz Foundation and the commissioners of the annual African Youth Survey, said: “Africa’s next generation of change makers are sounding the alarm to their leaders in fighting scourges of poverty, gender-based violence and femicide as a priority to brokering lasting change and development for their countries.

“They make clear the case that the celebration of women, importantly also key drivers of our economy, should not be demarcated by only a one-month period of time,” he said.

“We risk our own futures by not protecting them, nor in denying them the resources to excel on equal footing and in doing so, benefiting themselves, their communities, and their countries of origin.

“Our leaders and our private sector must heed the calls of our young people in providing a sustainable foundation for women’s share of voice in every facet of our decision-making.

“While there is work to be done, we are pleased that our survey, the bellwether for Africa’s future society, reflects such an impetus for change, empowering women of all ages and demographics and thus giving them the power to stand alone.”

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