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Virtual Engagement Session | Confronting Gender-Based Challenges in the Workplace: Spotlight on Sub-Saharan Africa
Background
Women around the world face numerous challenges that hinder their hiring, advancement, and retention in the workplace — from sexual harassment and pay disparities to implicit bias and inequitable hiring practices. While there has been meaningful progress in many areas, significant barriers continue limiting women’s opportunities and impact their experiences at work.
The Vance Center addresses these barriers through our broad efforts to strengthen the legal profession, initiatives like Women in the Profession and the Advancing Women in the Workplace mentorship program, and pro bono projects that protect and advance women’s rights. We are committed to a holistic approach to addressing gender biases in laws, organizational structures, and individual opinions.
In November 2024, the Vance Center, Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI) and the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) produced a joint report, “Mapping Legal Protections against Workplace Sexual Harassment in Africa.” The first-of-its-kind report analyzed existing legislative protections addressing sexual harassment in 22 jurisdictions across Africa and offered recommendations for a regional approach to comprehensive sexual harassment legislative frameworks.
In this session, we spoke with two partners, including one of the report’s co-authors, about their work confronting gender-based challenges in the workplace across sub-Saharan Africa and how to chart the path forward.
Our Speakers
- Adaobi Egboka, Africa Program Director, Vance Center
- Pavel Matthews, Principal Legal Counsel, Absa Group, and Alumnae Mentor with the Vance Center’s Advancing Women in the Workplace initiative
- Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme, Founder, Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI)
Key Takeaways
Across the region, there are major gaps between laws, implementation, and reality. Furaha-Joy offered an overview of the joint report and highlighted three major needs: 1) Creating an adequate definition of sexual harassment, 2) Strengthening reporting mechanisms, and 3) Enforcing consequences for those who fail to take complaints seriously. While many countries do have some laws related to sexual harassment, all of them fall short on implementation, and the laws can in some instances exacerbate problems. In Tanzania, for example, she noted that laws related to sexual harassment fall under criminal, rather than civil, procedures. This makes it harder for victims of sexual harassment to pursue justice because the burden of proof is higher and the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to address these cases in an appropriate manner without causing further harm or trauma to the victim. Ultimately, despite the existence of these laws, this system leads to widespread impunity for perpetrators of sexual harassment.
Lawyers have the expertise to navigate and interpret the legal frameworks designed to protect women, as well as the challenges these laws can present. Even in places where there are explicit laws against discrimination, gender-based violence, and other injustices on the books, women continue to face harm. Legal professionals have a critical role to play in addressing this issue, regardless of their area of practice. Awareness-raising sessions, webinars, and other convenings can guide lawyers to better understand their role and explore how they can use their knowledge and skills to contribute to advancing gender justice.
Organizations and companies have a responsibility to address and prevent these issues within the workplace. Across the public and private sectors, traditional structures and management practices have often created barriers for women. Without intentional efforts to create change, these harmful systems will continue replicating, and women will be forced to navigate them again and again. These challenges can seem deeply entrenched, but they are not insurmountable. Pavel offered examples of efforts by her employer to create a more equitable work environment and provided actionable steps for other organizations to ensure progress and accountability on their commitments. She pointed to the important role of data and suggested that companies use a tracking matrix to hold themselves accountable, because “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” In addition to monthly progress reports, her company prioritizes investing in women employees, regularly reviews and refreshes policies, integrates men into gender equity efforts, and supports non-profit organizations working on gender-based violence, among other actions.
Strong networks create strong movements. The speakers agreed that it is essential for organizations engaged in this space to proactively connect with partners and peers. The complex work of advancing gender equity requires an intersectional approach that includes creating spaces for practitioners and institutions to share best practices, learn from one another, and coordinate on efforts already underway.
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About Our Work
The Vance Center’s mission is to advance global justice by engaging lawyers across borders to support civil society and an ethically active and diverse legal profession. We coordinate initiatives to address gender-based challenges in the workplace and provide critical support to civil society organizations working on a range of issues related to women’s rights, from gender-based violence to reproductive health to the causes and consequences of women’s incarceration through our Women in Prison project.
To stay up to date on these efforts, subscribe to our monthly newsletter or our quarterly pro bono roundup.
Your support for the Vance Center will help us continue expanding this vital global network for women lawyers. Our ability to maintain long-standing initiatives like Women in the Profession and Advancing Women in the Workplace programs, and to continue providing legal services to women’s rights organizations, free of cost, is possible only thanks to our community of supporters.