SHE AI Africa
Advocating for African women's equitable ownership of the AI ecosystem.
- Equity
- Inclusion
- Protection
- Accountability
- Data Justice
- Representation
AI is changing Africa
Who gets to shape what comes next?
AI is already influencing access to credit, healthcare, employment, public services, information and economic opportunity across Africa.
But the women most affected by these systems are too often missing from the rooms where they are designed, funded and governed.
A market trader can be denied a digital loan by an algorithm that cannot see her economic activity.
A researcher can contribute data to an AI system without recognition, compensation or ownership.
A woman can be screened out of employment by a system trained on biased data.
A girl can be exposed to harmful content by an algorithm designed without her safety in mind.
SHE AI Africa exists to change the rules.
We advocate for policies, funding structures and governance systems that put African women on the side of ownership – not merely access, participation or protection.
The Numbers Are Already Telling the Story
$42B
financing gap facing women entrepreneurs across Africa.
African women entrepreneurs face an estimated US$42 billion financing gap compared with men.
Source: African Development Bank / AFAWA
32%
mobile internet adoption gender gap in Sub-Saharan Africa.
GSMA reported that the gender gap in mobile internet adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa stood at 32% in 2023.
Source: GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024
31.4%
of researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa are women.
Women remain underrepresented in the research systems that generate the knowledge shaping technology and innovation.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2026
<1%
of African startup funding in 2025 went to women-only founding teams.
Africa: The Big Deal's 2025 data shows women-only founding teams received less than 1% of total startup funding, while male-only teams accounted for 91%.
Source: Africa: The Big Deal
$2.5B
funding gap between women-founded and male-founded African startups over five years.
BCG reports a US$2.5 billion funding gap compared with male-founded startups over the previous five years.
Source: BCG
Our Vision
An Africa where every woman has a fair share of what AI produces, is protected from the harm it can cause, and has a real say in how it is built and governed.
Whether she is a technology founder in Lagos, a farmer in rural Mali, a researcher in Accra, a market trader in Kampala or a young woman navigating an increasingly automated world – she belongs in the AI future.
Our Mission
To change the policies, funding decisions, and governance rules that determine who benefits from AI in Africa.
So that African women, across every background and context, move from being the last to benefit to being among the first. We do this through evidence, coalitions, and direct engagement with the people and institutions that hold the power to make that change.
Six Pillars. One Agenda: Ownership.
Equity
Who gets the benefits?
Advocating for fair access to capital, investment, intellectual property and economic opportunity.
Inclusion
Who can actually use AI?
Pushing for AI systems designed for women across rural, urban, low-bandwidth, low-literacy, disability and linguistic contexts.
Protection
Who is protected when AI causes harm?
Advocating for enforceable safeguards against AI-enabled gender-based violence, discrimination, surveillance and exploitation.
Accountability
What happens when systems get it wrong?
Pushing for transparency, independent audits, explainability, redress and consequences.
Data Justice
Who owns the data that makes AI possible?
Advancing consent, data sovereignty, attribution and benefit-sharing for African women and communities.
Representation
Who is in the room?
Advocating for African women to have meaningful decision-making power in AI governance, standards, regulation and investment.
From Advocacy to Structural Change
SHE AI Africa is building an advocacy ecosystem designed to move from evidence to policy, and from policy to implementation. These four strategic objectives operationalise SHE AI Africa's six advocacy pillars.
01
Build the Evidence Base
Research, baseline data, public registries and evidence briefs that make the ownership gap measurable.
02
Change Policy & Governance
Engagement with governments, regulators and continental institutions to translate evidence into policy instruments.
03
Fix How Capital & IP Flow
Advocating for fairer investment structures, equity retention, gender-disaggregated funding data and recognition of women's intellectual property.
04
Build the Coalition
Connecting women-led ventures, researchers, civil society, policymakers, investors and allies around a shared advocacy agenda.
We Are Already Building
15 Days of Action on AI Systems & Women's Rights
15 days. One demand. What we built.
In March 2026, SHE AI Africa launched a pan-African civil society campaign examining how AI systems are reshaping African women's rights.
15
Daily thematic posts
16,234
Instagram views
10,269
LinkedIn impressions
30+
Participants at the closing webinar
2
Knowledge partners
6
Campaign advocates
15 Themes. 15 Governance Demands.
From credit scoring and platform work to healthcare, elections, facial recognition, deepfakes, hiring algorithms, language exclusion and national AI policy, the campaign translated emerging AI risks into concrete governance questions.
The campaign culminated in five institutional safeguards:
- 01Gender impact assessments before AI deployment in public services.
- 02Transparency and explainability for automated decisions affecting individuals.
- 03Independent audits for AI in employment, loans and justice.
- 04Fast and accessible redress for AI-related rights violations.
- 05Minimum 40% women's representation in AI governance bodies.
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