AERC Insight_Issue 08_May 2024

Gender mainstreaming is at the heart of the African Economic Research Consortiums (AERC) activities. Despite progress made in recent years, gender inequalities persist in various domains within the consortium. Gender mainstreaming at AERC begins by acknowledging that women encounter barriers when pursuing and maintaining careers in economics. These obstacles can manifest as conflicts between domestic duties, professional aspirations, and financial constraints. At AERC, we are dedicated to providing equal opportunities for women to prevent them from being disproportionately affected compared to men. There is a growing willingness within the organisation to mainstream concerns about academic gendered impacts in our research and training programmes, as evidenced notably by the adoption of policies that are geared towards womens empowerment. Gender is the main theme of this newsletter and gender mainstreaming is clearly essential for securing social justice for women. As these efforts to mainstream gender get traction at AERC, it is important to assess ways that existing provisions on gender help or hinder the achievement of gender equality. In this newsletter, we endeavour to define some of the metrics against which to gauge whether some of our policies are meeting gender equality objectives. The stories published here will enable us to identify and suggest ways to design gender-responsive measures for inclusion in future programmes. This issue of the AERC INSIGHT also encapsulates events, including workshops, conferences, and seminars, which provide you with a taste of AERCs outputs. On events, we feature the AERC Biannual Research Workshop and Celebration of International Womens Day (IWD). There is also a section on programme activities and human resource news. I look forward to connecting with you each quarter. Please read this AERC INSIGHT and share it with your friends. I welcome any feedback, comments and questions that you may have about the information provided therein and suggestions of topics you would like to see in future newsletters.