Rugby Africa made the announcement to celebrate International Women's Day, which falls on March 8 every year. 

It has also been used as part of the Rugby Africa #EachForEqual campaign, which featured female players, referees, managers and Board members. 

The men's and women's tournaments will run alongside each other, with the women's matches set to be played as a curtain-raiser for the men's contests when possible. 

"This is a logic step to implement our vision for a gender equal sport," said Khaled Babbou, Rugby Africa President.

"We are dedicated to take leadership in women's rugby and look forward to developing grassroots sports as well as the flagship competitions towards a gender equal game. 

"In a next step we need to look at creating tournaments in the various regions to organically develop and grow team participation. 

"Women in rugby is one of our key strategic priorities and in the week leading to International Women's Day we have celebrated achievements of women in African Rugby to put the enormous potential we have in the spotlight." 

The women's Rugby Africa Cup was launched in a new format last year and won by South Africa, who subsequently qualified for the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. 

Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa and Uganda are set to contest this year's event, with matches taking place in each participating country from May 30 to July 3. 

Rugby Africa have been aiming to develop women's rugby and recently announced the appointment of Maha Zaoui as women's rugby manager.

She will now lead the strategic and operational development of women's rugby, with goals to increase participation levels and to accelerate the development of the high-performance game.

"Rugby Africa is at the forefront in accelerating the development of women in rugby within its region," said World Rugby women's general manager Katie Sadleir.

"Since the launch of the global strategy for development of women's rugby, we have seen transformational change on and off the field of play worldwide. 

"Women's rugby continues to grow with more than 2.7 million women and girls playing rugby at all levels, accounting for more than a quarter of players globally.

"Rugby Africa play a key role in the continued success for developing women in rugby. 

"Off the field the Board of Rugby Africa has made fundamental changes which show its commitment in providing equal opportunities for women in rugby. 

"On the field, by aligning the Rugby Africa Cup to host men's and women's matches at the same time this will have a positive impact in raising the profile of the women's 15s game in Africa."