Kigali, 25 November 2019-President of the Republic of Rwanda HE Paul Kagame has underlined that the fight for gender equality is really common sense. The President was speaking at the 2019 Global Gender Summit opening ceremony that took place on Monday 25 November 2019.

‘The fight for gender equality is really common sense. Women are our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. Whenever women gain, everybody gains and nobody loses. President Kagame said.’ Said President Kagame

The President went on adding that everyone should be involved especially men. ’’I think that it is past time for men to become much more conscious of gender, so that women can afford to enjoy the same freedom to just get on with business that men take for granted.’

The African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said that the challenges are not just about gender rather the under-representation and lack of empowerment of women hence calling for investing into them.

“A smarter world must invest in women and girls. Let’s be smart, and let’s be wise. Women are the best investment any society can make,’ he added.The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat said that the African Union’s Agenda 2063 was deliberate about gender parity.“What we are telling our heads of states is to take the bull by the horns…This discrimination is political, economic, and social; it is politically incorrect, unjustifiable socially…not to take (gender) into account is a real waste.”In Africa, 70% of women are excluded financially. The continent has a $42 billion financing gap between men and women. And women, who are the majority of farmers, face a financing gap of close to $16 billion.The 2019 Global Gender Summit is attended by HE Sahle-Work Zewde, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the first ladies of Rwanda and Kenya as well as representatives of the heads of state of Gabon, Mali, Senegal, Chad and the King of Morocco. Also in attendance were ministers of genders from Niger, Somalia, Senegal, South Sudan, Tunisia, and Libya. The Global Gender Summit is organized by the African Development Bank with other multilateral development bank partners. The biennial event brings together leaders from government, development institutions, private sector, civil society and academia.

The Summit run from 25^th to 27th of November under the theme: ‘Unpacking constraints to gender equality.’ It was the first time that a summit of this kind takes place in Africa and was the 4th edition after previous Global Gender Summits having taken in Istanbul, Turkey (2012), Manila in 2014 and in the United States, Washington DC in 2016.