Strathmore Study Lays Bare Gender Inequality in African AI Industry

Strathmore Study Lays Bare Gender Inequality in African AI Industry

A recent study by the Centre of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Kenya’s Strathmore University looking into the representation of women in AI in Africa has found that women only constitute 29% of the continent’s AI workforce.

The gender disparity seems to be slightly higher relative to the global average which according to CIPIT stood at 78% men to 22% women in 2018.

The study titled, The Artificial Intelligence Labour Gender Gap In Africa, was conducted between last July and January this year. CIPIT research fellow Dr Angeline Wairegi said in an email in April that the study is based on data gathered from 160 companies across 21 countries, namely Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Algeria, Libya, Benin, and Mauritius.

CIPIT explained that the project mapped the gender composition of AI projects and companies originating in countries across Africa to capture the diversity struggles particular to AI startups, examine what those struggles exemplify in an African context, and determine the mechanisms that can be put in place to curb them.

For the purposes of the study, CIPIT defined African AI companies as those:

- Building application with machine learning and deep learning algorithms 

- Located in Africa

- Operating at the time of data collection

- With at least two employees

Gender breakdown by Industry

CIPIT

The study also analysed gender makeup of management across various departments. Findings show women only make up 14% of founders, 13% of CEOs, 29% of CFOs, 38% of COOs, and 40% of directors, respectively.

“This study provides an analysis into the causes of this gender gap and their unique situatedness in Africa noting that, in part, there needs to be greater care into what AI is borrowed from the Global North and whether in borrowing tech we are not also borrowing added layers of gender inequality to an already unequal system. The study also considers that an analysis of AI gender inequality in Africa requires a tripartite discussion nuanced with this study forming one part, the inclusion of women in the design of AI,” CIPIT stated on its website.

Gender parity in AI has been a growing topic in the industry because of concerns around gender bias in AI products. CIPIT stated that it wants to investigate the issue of gender bias in African AI systems and products in order to determine whether similar biases are present, as well as how African developers are looking to minimise such biases. Dr Wairegi said CIPIT hopes to submit the paper to a journal of choice in the next month or two.