Africa now produces a higher share of women STEM* graduates than any other region in the world, but they continue to face sharp barriers in career advancement and access to financing, according to a new McKinsey report on gender parity.
- •The study shows that 47% of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates from African universities are women, surpassing Europe’s 42%, Asia’s 41%, and North America’s 39%.
- •However, African women hold less than 20% of executive technology roles and receive just 1% of all start-up funding raised on the continent.
- •The report also finds that while sub-Saharan Africa performs better than most regions in female participation in tech, women account for about 30% of tech roles compared with a global average of 28%.
Less than one-fifth of publicly listed African companies with C-suite tech positions have a woman in that role, and only 3% of firms with annual revenues above US$1 billion are led by women in technology.
South Africa and Nigeria have the highest concentration of female tech executives, while countries such as Egypt, Tanzania, and Namibia record single-digit representation. The majority of women in tech leadership are clustered in financial services, consumer goods, and energy sectors.
Despite women founding roughly 26% of Africa’s businesses, double the share in Europe, only one in ten tech start-ups has a female chief executive and about one in five has a woman co-founder.
In 2024, women-led ventures raised just US$21 million of the US$2.2 billion invested in African start-ups. While nearly half of women complete STEM education, their share drops to about 23–30% in tech jobs and to only 12% in leadership roles.
Where are the Gaps?
The report identifies three critical “leak points” in women’s career paths: the transition from education to employment, barriers to progression within organizations, and limited access to capital for entrepreneurs.
This can be attributed to institutional barriers such as gender stereotypes about technical competence, limited mentorship networks, and policies that fail to accommodate caregiving responsibilities. About 12% of women surveyed reported leaving the tech workforce prematurely, often citing career stagnation, workplace environment, and family duties.
The report recommends that African companies address gender disparities by partnering with universities to align STEM curricula with industry needs, offering internships and mentorship programs, conducting pay equity audits, and expanding access to financing for women-led ventures.
While the continent has made progress by closing the 68.4% of its overall gender gap in 2025 according to the Global Gender Gap Index, McKinsey estimates that full parity in Africa remains more than a century away. The report concludes that achieving gender balance in technology is essential not only for inclusion but also for the continent’s long-term digital transformation and economic growth.
*Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics