The AUC Women, Gender and Development Division (WGDD) launched the AU Strategy for Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment for the period 2017-2027. Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is a critical success factor for realising Agenda 2063.The new AU strategy for achieving gender equality is transformational in its outcomes with the aim of challenging the big ticket constraints on gender equality and women’s empowerment and leap frogging the AU into seizing the new global momentum for this Agenda. The new strategy builds on the lessons learnt from the 2009 Gender Policy. It has 4 Pillars: Maximising outcomes, opportunities and Tech E dividends Dignity, Security and Resilience Effective laws, policies & institutions Leadership, voice and visibility

The main purpose of the Policy was to establish a clear vision and make commitments to guide the process of gender mainstreaming and women empowerment to influence policies, procedures and practices, which will accelerate the achievement of gender equality, gender justice, non-discrimination and fundamental human rights in Africa. The Policy contains specific references to women, peace and security and it has 7 objectives: Advocate for the promotion of a gender responsive environment and practices and the enforcement of human rights and GEWE commitments; Initiate, accelerate gender mainstreaming in Institutions, legal and strategic frameworks, policies, programmes, human resources, performance management systems, resource allocation, decision-making at all levels; Promote the development of guidelines and enforcement of standards against SGBV and gender insensitive language and actions in the workplace; Develop a AU Gender Management System and promote its adoption by other AU Organs, the RECs and MS; Address gender-based barriers to the free movement of persons and goods across borders throughout the Continent; Promote equitable access for women and men to and control over resources, knowledge, information, land, business ownership, services as education and training, healthcare, credit, legal rights; Facilitate the implementation of remedial measures to address existing inequalities in access to and control over factors of production including land.

In 2004 the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) was adopted to accelerate gender equality at all levels and reaffirm AU’s commitment to accelerate and expand efforts to promote and protect all human rights for women. It calls for the need to: Accelerate the implementation of gender specific economic, social, and legal measures aimed at combating the HIV/AIDS; Promote effective participation and representation of women in peace process including the prevention, resolution, management of conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa as stipulated in UN Resolution 1325 (2000); Launch campaigns for i) systematic prohibition of the recruitment of child soldiers and abuse of girl children as wives and sex slaves; ii) against gender based violence and trafficking in women and girls; Reinforce legal mechanisms to protect women at the national level and end impunity of crimes committed against women; Expand and Promote the gender parity principle; Promote the implementation of legislation to guarantee women’s land, property and inheritance rights including their rights to housing; Take measures to ensure the education of girls and literacy of women, especially in the rural area; Sign, ratify, and domesticate the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; Commit to report annually on progress made in terms of gender mainstreaming and to champion all issues raised in the Declaration.

In 2003, African Heads of States adopted the legally binding Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as “the Maputo Protocol.” In 2018, 39 States have signed and ratified the protocol. The Protocol: Calls for the the rights of women to be promoted, realized and protected to enjoy fully all their human rights; Includes progressive provisions on harmful traditional practices, e.g. child marriage and female genital mutilation, reproductive health and rights, political participation, economic empowerment, violence against women; Affirm that African states shall combat all forms of discrimination against women and shall: Include in their national constitutions and legislative instruments the principle of equality between women and men and ensure its application; Enact and implement appropriate legislative or regulatory measures, including those prohibiting all forms of discrimination, including harmful practices; Integrate a gender perspective in policy, legislation, development plans, programmes and activities and in all spheres of life; Take corrective and positive action in areas where discrimination against women in law and in f act exists; Support local, national, regional and continental initiatives to eradicate all forms of discrimination against women; Modify the social and cultural patterns through education, communication strategies to achieve the elimination of harmful cultural and traditional practices and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes, or on stereotyped roles for women and men.

In July 2002 at the Inaugural Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Durban, South Africa, the African Heads of States unanimously adopted a Decision on the gender parity, which brought the 50-50 policy in the Statutes of the African Union. The Decision was implemented during the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Maputo, Mozambique, 2003 through the election of five female and five male Commissioners in the African Union Commission.

The Constitutive Act of the African Union was adopted in 2000 at the Lome Summit (Togo) and entered into force in 2001. Article 4 (I) states that one of the governing principles of the AU is to promote gender equality. Article 4 Principles “The Union shall function in accordance with the following principles: (a) sovereign equality and interdependence among Member States of the Union; (b) respect of borders existing on achievement of independence; (c) participation of the African peoples in the activities of the Union; (d) establishment of a common defence policy for the African Continent; (e) Peaceful resolution of conflicts among Member States of the Union through such appropriate means as may be decided upon by the Assembly; (f) prohibition of the use of force or threat to use force among Member States of the Union; (g) non-interference by any Member State in the internal affairs of another; (h) the right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity; (i) peaceful co-existence of Member States and their right to live in peace and security; (j) the right of Member States to request intervention from the Union in order to restore peace and security; (k) promotion of self-reliance within the framework of the Union; (l) promotion of gender equality; (m) respect for democratic principles, human rights, the rule of law and good governance; (n) promotion of social justice to ensure balanced economic development; (o) respect for the sanctity of human life, condemnation and rejection of impunity and political assassination, acts of terrorism and subversive activities; (p) condemnation and rejection of unconstitutional changes of governments.”