movement. Under Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063, the AU calls for an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth.87 Over the AWD, the AU developed programmes and policies related to supporting youth, particularly young women. These include the African Youth Charter, the African Youth Decade Plan of Action, and the Malabo Decision on Youth Empowerment. The appointment of Aya Chebbi as the Youth Envoy to advocate for African youth interests in AU decision-making bodies in 2018 demonstrated the AU’s commitment to supporting the youth in Africa. It also highlighted the importance of young women’s leadership and recognised their strength and contribution to the continent’s development.
9.1. Building The Young Women’s Movement in Africa and the use of Technology The rise of the young women’s movement is connected to the larger women’s movement in Africa. As the African women’s rights movement grew, the inclusion and the voices of young women were lacking. Young women’s activism rose from an issue-based strategy focus. They have organised around single issues, such as femicide, VAW, and rape, mobilising around specific incidents of oppression, violence, or inequality. In West Africa, young women’s activism is commonly organisation-led, led by young women within an institution. Across the continent, young women’s movements formed, often overcoming challenges. In Southern Africa, young women began challenging the status quo, raising political awareness among their peers, building their capacity, and promoting their participation at all levels in the women’s rights agenda. In East Africa, the youth movement was male dominated, which presented young women with particular challenges when seeking to question the patriarchy and have their voices heard. Thus, young women have organised in bold and creative ways to raise issues important to them, challenge inequalities and assume their place in the discourse. Despite these challenges, the young women’s movement continued to grow and organise differently. They use social media to mobilise, discuss taboo topics, such as sex and sexuality and put an intersectional approach that links LGBTQ rights to sex workers’ rights, climate justice issues, and sexual violence reproductive justice movements. Technically savvy, young women use technology and social media in creative ways to connect and interact and build effective movements that challenge inequalities and influence change. Digital activism, particularly the effective use of social media tools, has been instrumental in documenting citizens’ stories of violence and enabling young women to challenge the law. An effective strategy to raise organise and affect change has been the use of hashtags. For example, in Kenya, in 2014, young women used Facebook to organise a peaceful protest after a video of a woman being stripped naked on public transport went viral. Using the hashtag #MyDressMyChoice, the movement challenged how men treated women in public and brought about a policy change. In South Africa, young female students organised around the #EndRapeCampaign at different universities, encompassing issues including not only gender and sexuality but also race, sexual orientation and disability.
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