In Africa, one had to wait until 1971 to see the first doctorate in mathematics defended by a woman in an African university. Moreover, until 2006, there was only 11% of women among African mathematicians with a doctorate. These are the statistics established by the commission on the History of Mathematics in Africa of the African Mathematical Union (AMU).

AMU was created in 1976 at the first Pan-African Confererence of Mathematicians in Morocco. AMU has five commissions, among them, the commission on the History of Mathematics in Africa (AMUCHMA) and the commission on Women in Mathematics in Africa (AMUCWMA).

Since 2009, AMUCWMA in collaboration with the International Centre for Pure and Applied Mathematics (CIMPA) has initiated some activities to promote Mathematics and African Women Mathematicians. First, a mailing-list containing more than 300 women mathematicians was set up. Also a series of five workshops on African Women mathematicians to be held in different regions of Africa was planed, following the one organized in Maputo (Mozambique) in 2008. The objective of these workshops is to bring together women from various regions of the continent to a Mathematics workshops where there will be platform for presenting their research, discussing the situation and status of women in Mathematics in Africa.

The first one took place at University of Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, 26th -27th October 2012. The activities of this workshop included mathematical lectures for a large public, talks of young participants on their research topic and a Round Table on the situation of African women mathematicians. At the Round Table it was suggested to organize women mathematicians in Africa by the creation of an association of women mathematicians in Africa.

This was the main objective of the second workshop, which was held at the African Institute for Mathematical Science (AIMS) in Cape Town, South Africa, 17th -19th July 2013. The workshop included lectures, network activities, talks by participants on their research topics, poster session by AIMS students and a Round Table. During the Round Table discussion, the African Women in Mathematics Association (AWMA) constitution was adopted. The aim of AWMA is to promote women in Mathematics in Africa and promote Mathematics among young girls and women in Africa.

Now AWMA needs to grow up and work with associations with similar goals like EWM.