On International Women’s Day, Let’s Remember the Male Ally

Each year on International Women's Day, we as a society, have an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made in gender equality. It is a day to empower, celebrate female wins, and to brainstorm on how we can continue to further the goal of leveling the playing field for women.?

As a woman engineer and later as a corporate executive, I built my career in government research and then in the medical device sector.? Every career opportunity ever afforded to me was provided by a man. Without enlightened and confident men, women cannot progress easily.

While there has been significant progress in female empowerment, East African nations remain behind. Girls in Kenya , Tanzania, and Uganda are more at-risk of dropping out of school, more likely to encounter sexual violence, and are increasingly subjected to early marriage and female-genital mutilation. Young girls in these East African communities lack knowledge about their own health and rights, which when combined with higher dropout rates for girls, makes them assuredly more likely to remain in poverty without choices for their livelihoods.

Asante Africa Foundation is actively working to change this reality through our interconnected programs designed to empower youth, particularly girls, to be the nexus of change in their communities. However, it is important to note that while we must continue to empower girls to reach their full potential, we cannot forget the male ally. Without educating young men on how and why they should support their female counterparts, many women in these patriarchal communities will fail to find their voice completely and thus, their economic advancement will also be stalled indefinitely.?

Advancing gender equality is not only a social and a moral issue: it is also an economic issue. According to the Havard Business Review, in a study conducted by McKinsey, a “full potential” scenario in which women participate in the economy identically to men would result in 26% increase (roughly $28 trillion dollars) would be added to the annual global GDP as compared to the current system. Women must be given the tools for personal and economic empowerment, but young boys must also be taught how to support them and why it is advantageous to do so. After 15 years of program implementation in East Africa, Asante Africa Foundation has found that the most pressing economic issues facing women are lack of financial and digital literacy, both problems we are working to solve through our Accelerated Learning Program and our Wezesha Vijana Program. As such, both of these issues are agnostic to gender, but are crucial for female empowerment, so women have autonomy over their own lives and futures.?

Our programs at Asante Africa Foundation are youth-led with a general breakdown of 70% girls and 30% boys. Our community-based organization consistently highlights and prioritizes the idea of active boy inclusion, not just passive sideline participation. The more involved young boys can be in empowering the girls in their communities, both genders are more likely to thrive adding to the wealth of the community and an equal playing field for all.?

So on this International Women’s Day, let us all empower our females, but let us also remember the male ally, an important partner for gender equality.

Erna Grasz is the CEO of Asante Africa Foundation . She can be reached at [email protected].

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