by Jaimee A. Swift The Origins of the Collaboration In June 2020, I received an email from Jessica Horn – a prominent Pan-African feminist activist, author, and founding member of the African Feminist Forum (AFF), who was then the Director of Programmes at the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF). She wanted to connect and collaborate…
Category: Profiles
Somewhere We Can Talk: A Profile of the Young Feminist Collective
by Maame Akua Kyerewaa-Marfo and Maame Adwoa Amoa-Marfo Introduction: Who We Are Conversations hold transformative power. Indeed, African theorists have always made a strong case for recognising conversation as part of a legitimate indigenous knowledge system and theorising reflective conversations (Nekura 2025; Osei-Tutu 2021). The Accra-based Young Feminist Collective (YFC) emerged from a common need…
The Uganda Feminist Forum: Single Sticks that Formed an Unbreakable Bundle
by Sarah Mukasa Background The genesis of the Uganda Feminist Forum (UFF) – first convened in January 2008 – can be traced back to 2005 when several national and global factors impacted the women’s movement in the country. These factors both shaped the main trajectory of the movement and brought to a head underlying philosophical…
The Nawi Afrifem Collective: Bringing a Pan-African Feminist Voice to Macro-Level Economic Narratives in Africa
by Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey Introduction – Nawi Challenging Neoliberal Development in Africa The African continent is a hotbed of macroeconomic policy experiments and changes.These shifts are not occurring by default but are linked to the continent’s experiences with colonialism, coloniality, and imperialism. The legacies have shaped its interaction with the West and other countries in…
WoMin – the Journey from Research Initiative to an African Ecofeminist Alliance
by Margaret Mapondera and Samantha Hargreaves Introduction—the political background to and rationale for WoMin’s existence Oil was identified about five years ago in Nwoya district [Uganda]. They have started to install infrastructure and the [extraction site] is under tight security. Since people discovered the oil, there has been land grabbing…so now people are buying up…
Global Rights – Gender on Extractive Agendas
By Abiodun Baiyewu This Profile focuses on Global Rights’ work on natural resource governance. Global Rights is a non-governmental organisation based in Nigeria that works on a spectrum of issues, including equitable resource governance, human security and access to remedies, women’s rights, and security and human rights programmes.The organisation’s programmes address governance failures that exacerbate…
Profile: ‘Keep Your Eyes off My Thighs’: A Feminist Analysis of Uganda’s ‘Miniskirt Law’
Introduction On February 6, 2014, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Pornography Act (APA) into law. This single stroke of the presidential pen signalled a redeployment of women’s bodies as a battlefield for cultural-moral struggles, and an eruption of new frontiers in sexual political tensions in the country. Plans to draft the law date back…
“I’m not a feisty bitch, I’m a feminist!” Feminism in AWAKE! Women of Africa
By Ntokozo Yingwana Introduction Although being an African, a sex worker and a feminist are often considered to be incongruent identities, in certain embodiments they intersect and inform each other. This Profile highlights what feminism can learn from analysing sex workers’ rights activism among a group of Cape Town-based sex worker feminists called AWAKE! Women…
Women Organising in Ghana: The Network for Women’s Rights (NETRIGHT) and NGO Networking for Policy Intervention
By Akua Biritwum Introduction Ghanaian women’s agitations for economic justice have been a marked feature of their activism since pre-independence nationalist struggles, including the trade blockades of 1917 and 1918. Market traders mobilised resources for party activities and took part in disruptive civil acts that undermined the colonial economy and contributed to making political change…
Female in Nigeria: Profile
By Ayodele Olofintuade Introduction In June 2015, the Abuja-based Warmate Bookclub, inspired by Chimamanda Adichie’s feminist pamphlet, We Should All Be Feminists, started the hashtag #BeingFemaleinNigeria (Edoro, 2015). This not only focused on everyday sexism but also addressed norms, cultural beliefs and practices as well as government policies that have led to the oppression of…