FEMNET was established by Eddah Gachukia, Njoki Wainaina, and Norah Olembo in 1984 to co-ordinate African preparations for the Third World Conference on Women held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1985.

[2]: 10, 46  The inaugural chair was Gachukia, who worked with Olembo, Wainaina, Sara Hlupekile Longwe, Pamela Kola, Mama Koite Doumbia to recruit women to plan the NGO Forum for the conference.

[3] FEMNET ran its first gender-training workshop in 1990 in Kenya, working with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Malawi, where FEMNET has worked with UNFPA and UNICEF, has been another country where great progress has been made in training and sensitizing political leader, agencies, and other organizations.

[4] In July 2008, FEMNET coordinated the official launch in Nairobi of the United Nations' Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign in Africa.