The women history forgot to teach you.
An archive of African women who fought for equality, rights, and change.
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ContemporaryGrace Mary Mugasa
Ugandan politician and the first woman to serve as Mayor of Hoima, who guided the oil-rich municipality through its elevation to city status and later became a State Minister while championing gender equality and clean urban environments.
ContemporaryOumou Sangaré
Malian Wassoulou singer known as the Songbird of Wassoulou who has used her voice since the late 1980s to challenge forced marriage, polygamy and the silencing of women, while building an international career that includes a Grammy and a sample on Beyoncé’s Lion King project.
IndependenceAndrée Blouin
A Pan-African organizer from the Central African Republic who turned the death of her small son, denied malaria medicine reserved for Europeans, into a fight that helped free Guinea and put her at Patrice Lumumba's side in Congo.
ContemporaryAngélique Kidjo
Beninese singer who refused to perform propaganda for a dictatorship, fled to Paris in 1983, and became a five-time Grammy winner, UNICEF ambassador, and the first Black African artist honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
IndependenceBibi Titi Mohammed
The Dar es Salaam singer who talked thousands of women into joining Tanganyika's independence movement, helped found a nation, then was erased from its story after a treason trial, until historians restored her name.
Articles & Explainers
Raising Children at the Crossroads: How Gender, Culture, and Power Meet in African Homes
The lessons that shape girls into future wives and boys into men who expect service do not come from one place. They are built at the intersection of gender, culture, class, religion, and history. Understanding that crossroads is how we raise people instead of roles.
When Men Go to War, Women Suffer: The Rwanda Genocide and What Was Done to Women
In 100 days in 1994, between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped in Rwanda. This is the story of why it happened, what the world did about it, and how Rwandan women rebuilt an entire country from the ruins.
Ten Years in Prison for the Pill That Keeps Nigerian Mothers Alive
Nigeria's Senate is debating raising the punishment for supplying abortion drugs from 3 to 10 years. The pill at the centre of that law is the same one keeping women in villages from bleeding to death after childbirth.
6,400 Miles Past the Moon and Still Not Far Enough
Christina Koch just became the first woman to travel around the Moon. The comment sections proved exactly why that milestone still matters.
What Her Cloth Said When She Could Not Speak
Across East Africa, women have been buying, wearing, and gifting printed cloths that carry messages most people cannot read. A kanga is never just a kanga. It is a letter you wear on your body.
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Key moments in African women's history
