The African Development Bank Group, in partnership with the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), hosted a hybrid seminar calling for African tax systems to be redesigned so they better account for how taxation affects women and men differently.
What the Seminar Covered
Held in Abidjan and online on September 7, the seminar carried the theme "Gender and Taxation: Advancing Gender-Responsive Tax Systems in Africa," bringing together tax administrators, researchers, development partners, and gender specialists to examine how tax policy and administration can promote gender equality while also strengthening domestic resource mobilisation and inclusive economic growth.
The Data Behind the Push
According to the African Development Bank's African Economic Outlook 2026, informal employment accounts for about 86% of total employment across Africa, with women significantly more likely than men to work informally, 89.2% of employed women are in informal employment, compared with 82% of men. Separately, ATAF's African Tax Outlook found that women held only 27% of executive positions in African tax administrations as of 2022, a gap that points to underrepresentation not just among taxpayers but within the institutions designing tax policy itself.
How Tax Design Affects Women Differently
Panellists examined how specific elements of tax design and administration, including presumptive taxes, market levies, and compliance and formalisation processes, can have distinct effects on women, who make up the majority of Africa's informal workforce. Participants discussed how gender-responsive tax policy could support women's economic participation and entrepreneurship, strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, and contribute to fairer, more efficient fiscal systems across the continent, drawing on evidence, country experiences, and practical recommendations shared by representatives from Ministries of Finance, Ministries of Gender, tax administrations, civil society, and research institutions.
What Officials Said
Dr Jemimah Njuki, Director of the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department at the African Development Bank Group, said: "We can design tax systems that reflect the realities of women and men, improve the data behind our decisions, make compliance and formalization more accessible and ensure domestic resources and fiscal policy contributes rather than constrains gender equality and women's economic participation."
Caroline Mutayabarwa, Manager of ATAF's Tax Academy, framed the goal as going beyond technical adjustment: "We set out not merely to adjust administrative rules, but to build tax systems that serve every citizen fairly, which means confronting the structures that currently place an undue share of the burden on women."
Marking Five Years of AWITN
The seminar also marked five years of the ATAF Women in Tax Network (AWITN), established in March 2021 to promote women's leadership and participation in tax administration across Africa. Since its founding, AWITN has supported professional development for women in revenue authorities and helped advance broader dialogue on gender-responsive tax policy across the continent.
Part of a Broader Ongoing Programme
This gathering was the third in a series held under the Bank's Gender and Macroeconomics Programme, which aims to integrate gender considerations into macroeconomic policy and decision-making across Africa through four pillars: knowledge products, a webinar series, a platform connecting Ministries of Gender and Finance, and capacity building. It builds on the programme's launch webinar in November 2025, "From Policy to Practice: Advancing Gender-Responsive Macroeconomics in Africa," and a gender-responsive budgeting webinar held in April 2026.
The African Development Bank and ATAF reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing collaboration on gender-responsive fiscal policy and tax administration, including through knowledge sharing, policy dialogue, and the exchange of evidence and country experience, aimed at supporting more inclusive and effective fiscal systems across Africa.
FAQs
Q1. What did the AfDB-ATAF seminar focus on?
How African tax systems can be redesigned to better account for how taxation affects women and men differently, given women's disproportionate representation in the informal economy.
Q2. What key statistics were highlighted at the seminar?
89.2% of employed women in Africa work informally, compared to 82% of men, and women held only 27% of executive positions in African tax administrations as of 2022.
Q3. What is the ATAF Women in Tax Network (AWITN)?
A network established in March 2021 to promote women's leadership and participation in tax administration across Africa, marking its fifth anniversary at this seminar.
Q4. What broader initiative does this seminar fit into?
The African Development Bank's Gender and Macroeconomics Programme, which integrates gender considerations into macroeconomic policy across Africa through knowledge products, webinars, and capacity building.