State Threats in Sub-Saharan Africa Through a Gender Lens

This paper delivers a critical and timely analysis of how external state actors weaponise gender and intersectional dynamics to destabilise societies and undermine security in sub-Saharan Africa through a range of different country-context examples.

Drawing on extensive research and interviews, and AI-powered discursive analysis, the authors reveal that gender-blindness in state threat analysis is a major vulnerability. The paper demonstrates how actors – especially Russia – use gendered information operations, lawfare and paramilitary violence to project influence, sow confusion and erode social solidarity. By connecting global geopolitics to everyday issues of family, sexuality and morality, these interventions amplify polarisation and enable authoritarian norms to take root.

In a series of outputs for this project, this paper complements Gender-Responsive Approaches to Countering State Threats: A Policy Brief in offering key recommendations for defence and security professionals.

Key Recommendations

• Integrate gender analysis: Defence and security strategies must adopt a gender-responsive approach to better understand and counter state threats, ensuring nuanced assessments of agency, functionality and impact.
• Counter information operations: Develop targeted responses to gendered disinformation campaigns, focusing on both content and the social ecology that shapes message resonance.
• Monitor legislative influence: Track and challenge the export of anti-gender and anti-rights legislative templates, which are used to restrict civil liberties and marginalise minority groups.
• Address paramilitary violence: Recognise and respond to the gendered dimensions of paramilitary violence, including sexual and identity-based abuse, which exacerbate instability and dependence on external actors.
• Strengthen local agency: Support local actors and civil society in resisting externally driven moral panics and regressive social norms, promoting inclusive development and democratic resilience.

This paper is essential reading for those seeking to understand and mitigate the evolving tactics of hostile state actors in Africa, and for building more robust, gender-responsive security and policy responses.