2.2 Trends in Legal, Policy and Institutional Reform

2.2.1 Legal Reforms

Most East African countries adopted legislative reform during the Decade that promotes women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, such as the right to equal remuneration for work of equal value. South Sudan’s Civil Service Act of 2011 guarantees women and men in public and civil service equal rights in recruitment, promotion and remuneration and prohibits discrimination.570 The country also passed the Labour Act in 2017, which guarantees equal pay for equal work.571 The 2011 Employment Regulations of Uganda guarantee equal rights to and protect women and men in employment.572 In Rwanda, Law No 66/2018 of 2018 guarantees equal rights to employment and remuneration for equal work for men and women.

Some East African countries have also implemented laws to protect women in the workplace. In 2019, Mauritius adopted the Workers’ Rights Act. This prohibits discrimination in employment based on, among others, gender, sex, sexual, marital or family status, and pregnancy, that has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation.573 In 2018, Rwanda passed Law No. 66/2018, which protects against workplace discrimination and prohibits sexual harassment. The Labour Act of 2017 in South Sudan guarantees protection against discrimination based on sex and prohibits sexual harassment. Moreover, the Act requires an employer with 20 employees or more to issue a policy statement on sexual harassment.574 In Tanzania, the Anti Sexual Harassment and Anti Gender Discrimination Regulation of 2013 was established, enforcing employers to follow anti-sexual harassment procedures.575 Uganda adopted the Sexual Harassment Regulations in 2012, which mandate employers to have a sexual harassment policy in place and a committee to address reported cases.576

Other legislative reforms adopted during the Decade include measures to combat poverty and increase women’s access to funding. In 2016, Mauritius adopted the Social Integration and Empowerment Act, which aims to combat absolute poverty by setting up programmes and schemes for persons living in absolute poverty to support and help them integrate into mainstream society and improve their quality of life in a sustainable manner.577 In Tanzania, an amendment to the Local Government Authorities Financial Act of 2018 requires these entities to set aside funds to provide “interestfree loans to registered groups of Women, Youth and Persons Living with Disabilities.”578

Three countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda) implemented GRB legislation during the Decade. In 2016, Ethiopia institutionalised GRB through Proclamation No. 970/2016.579 Furthermore, Proclamation 1097/2018 requires all government institutions to address women’s issues in laws, policies and development programmes and projects.580 Rwanda adopted Organic Law N° 12/2013/OL on State Finances and Property to enforce GRB in 2013. This requires all budget agencies to submit a gender budget statement annually to engender planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting processes.581 Uganda’s Public Finance Management Act 2015 mandates all sectors, ministries, departments, agencies and local governments to plan and budget in “a gender and equity responsive manner.”582

Six East African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles and South Sudan) adopted legislation providing paid maternity and paternity leave during the Decade. In 2019, Ethiopia passed Labour Proclamation 1156/2019, which gives mothers 120 days of paid leave and fathers three days of paid leave.583 South Sudan’s Labour Act of 2017, Section 64, gives women 90 days of paid maternity leave and fathers 14 days of paternity leave.584 Kenya’s 2012 Employment Act entitles mothers to three months of maternity leave with full pay and fathers to 14 days of paternity leave with full pay.585 Other countries have taken steps to improve conditions for working mothers. In Tanzania, an amendment to the Employment and Labour Relations Act No. 6 in 2017 increased the number of “breastfeeding hours for employed mothers.”586 In 2019, Kenya amended the Employment Act to guarantee parents who adopt a child full paid leave. Under this Act, women are entitled to three consecutive months of pre-adoption leave with full pay from the child’s date of placement, and male employees two weeks of leave with full pay.587

2.2.2. Policy and Institutional Reforms

During the AWD, East African countries implemented policy and institutional reforms to improve women’s economic empowerment and strengthen women’s employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. National employment policies and strategies focus on improving employment opportunities in general or in specific sectors. The 2014 National Employment Policy of Comoros mainly promotes full employment and decent work in the country. It includes operational strategies to support the promotion of youth and women’s employment.588 The Ethiopian Industrial Strategic Plan 2013–2025 aims to create more job opportunities for women by focusing on women-dominated and labour-intensive sectors, such as textile and garment industries. The plan aims to allocate 30% of skilled jobs and 60% of low-skilled jobs to women by 2020.589 The Rwanda Private Sector Development Strategy 2013–2018 aims to increase economic opportunities for men and women and applies a “gender lens” in each intervention.590 It seeks to understand the barriers and challenges specifically faced by female employees and entrepreneurs and how to overcome them.591

Other countries, such as Djibouti and Ethiopia, include objectives to promote and improve women’s access to employment opportunities in their national social protection plans. The Social Protection Strategy 2018–2022 of Djibouti seeks to improve young people and women’s access to job creation opportunities, through training, financial assistance and support to projects.592 It also gives priority to the objective of combating exclusion and eliminating the inequity women in the informal sector face, paying particular attention to maternity insurance.593

To address the challenges in accessing financial resources, some countries, such as Tanzania and Uganda, have sought to reduce the exclusion of women through policy reform. For example, the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2017– 2022 of Uganda creates linkages between village savings and loans associations and the financial sector to reduce women and rural communities’ exclusion and promote their inclusion.594 Similarly, Tanzania’s Financial Inclusion Framework II 2018–2022 promotes the inclusion and participation of women in the economy.595

Several countries have implemented policy reforms to eradicate poverty, most commonly through national strategic plans or national development plans. For example, Somalia’s National Development Plan 2020–2024 aims to reduce poverty and inequality through inclusive employment, particularly for vulnerable groups such as women.596 In Djibouti, the government has focused its mission to eradicate poverty on job creation for women and youth and has emphasised this goal in its National Strategic Plan 2011–2015 and Djibouti’s Vision 2035.597 Notably, in 2016, Mauritius introduced the Marshall Plan Against Poverty, which seeks to address the root causes of poverty and proposes a community-based approach to service delivery.598 The Plan promotes gender equality and more significant opportunities for women and young people in all areas, such as employment and social protection.599

To combat poverty, in 2010 the Government of Mauritius also established the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment to create an inclusive and more equitable society free from extreme and chronic poverty.600

Many East African countries have implemented institutional reforms to facilitate access to financial resources such as credit and loans for women. The Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme, established in 2015, offers affordable credit to women in groups for enterprise development. Initially focused on women aged 18–65, this was subsequently amended to include women over 65.601 Under the Revitalised Agreement of 2018, the Government of South Sudan commits to setting up a Women Enterprise Development Fund to assist women with obtaining subsidised credit for womenbased enterprises.602 The Uwezo Fund, established in 2014 by the Government of Kenya, empowers women, youth and persons with disability financially through the provision of interest-free loans and start-up capital of up to US$5,682 for small businesses.603 Figure 5 East Africa: Firms with female participation in ownership (% of firms)

Eritrea 4.2%

Sudan 8.2%

Mauritius 16.9%

South Sudan 21.9%

Djibouti 22.3%

Tanzania 24.7%

Uganda 26.6%

Ethiopia 36.2%

Madagascar 41.6%

Rwanda 42.7%

Kenya 47.5%

No data available for Somalia, Seychelles, and Comoros. Source: World Bank, Gender Statistics DataBank.