Conclusion

Abstract

The book’s contributors have addressed a number of issues targeted in the new global development agenda, including climate change and gender, women’s land ownership and agricultural productivity, maternal health and education, discrimination in the labour market and informal work, bargaining power and decision-making, and women’s political empowerment. Cross-cutting issues pertaining to harmful practices that may hinder the progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment were addressed across these topics. This book’s findings acknowledge that women play an important role in Africa’s development. Although this conclusion is in line with evidence in the previous literature, it is interesting that the findings across the chapters have been linked to various targets among the 17 goals of the global development agenda. Because gender is a cross-cutting issue, the findings demonstrate the need for effective policies that go beyond Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women.