Celebrating Women: Meet Five Women Trying to Change the World - Minority Africa
Toluwani Omotesho
March 13, 2024
Hi! Especially to all the women, I hope you had an amazing International Women’s Day celebration this year. And while the official day might have passed, it’s never really too late to celebrate women, is it?
So, in the spirit of International Women’s Day, we’re keeping the momentum going by celebrating five remarkable women working tirelessly to break barriers, create positive change, and inspire inclusion💜.
Jaha Dukureh is a Gambian women’s rights activist and the UN Women Ambassador for Africa, who survived female genital mutilation as an infant and forced child marriage at 15.
These experiences played crucial roles in shaping her to be a leading advocate for women’s rights.
She founded the NGO Safe Hands for Girls, which supports FGM survivors and also campaigns for an end to child marriage in Africa. And so far, her efforts have led to the banning of FGM in Gambia.
A survey last year revealed that 75% of LGBTQ startup founders hide their gender orientation and identity due to discrimination. Arlan Hamilton, an African-American lesbian, also faced this problem, so she decided to create a solution with Backstage Capital.
Backstage Capital, founded in 2015, aims to level the playing field and promote inclusion in the tech industry by investing in underrepresented founders, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. So far, Backstage Capital has invested over $12 million in more than 150 companies.
Dow is a prominent lawyer, writer, member of the parliament, and human rights activist who has had an unforgettable impact on Botswana’s legal landscape. She opened the first all-woman law firm in Botswana and became the country’s first female High Court Judge in 1997. Growing up in a patriarchal society under strict traditional values and being one of the few women enrolled in her law program helped her realize the extent of gender inequality in society, even within the law.
In a career-defining moment in 1990, Dow successfully challenged Botswana’s discriminatory nationality laws, which previously prevented women married to non-Botswana citizens from passing citizenship to their children.
Presently, as the Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dow remains committed to creating an inclusive society and advocates for equal rights and opportunities.
Gordon is the first deaf graduate of American University’s law school and the first black female attorney in the United States. Despite facing several challenges from a young age due to her deafness, she has always been committed to advocating for disability rights, now particularly evident throughout her career. She is currently a prominent voice for the rights of individuals with disabilities, working with government and private agencies to promote inclusivity and accessibility.
Angelica Ross is famous for her roles on TV shows like Pose and American Horror Story, but she’s more than just an actress. She’s also a tech entrepreneur and a passionate advocate for transgender rights.
In 2014, she founded TransTech Social Enterprise in Chicago, which provides education and job placement assistance for trans people in the tech industry. Through her efforts with TransTech and advocacy work, Ross continues to be a driving force in advancing transgender rights worldwide.
Did you know that the world’s first computer programmer was a woman? In the 1800s, Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, making her a pioneer in computer science before computers as we know them today existed.
Mainstream breastfeeding discourse has nothing to do with women. And everything to do with patriarchy
I introduced formula milk to my second son’s diet when he was five months old. I did this because I had a very busy schedule that kept me away from him for many hours during the day.  While I was thrilled that supplementing breast milk with formula kept my son full and happy throughout the day, I was constantly bombarded with questions from people I knew and even strangers.
Why are you not breastfeeding exclusively? Isn’t it too early to introduce the boy to formula? Do you even know what is in the formula?
Many of these people considered it appropriate to probe me in this manner. It left me feeling like a failure and with an ongoing question on my mind: why does society interrogate and scrutinize the actions of mothers and women generally, in a way that it does not do to fathers? When I had both my children, I looked forward to breastfeeding them and experiencing the joy and fulfillment that the experience brings.
This joy and fulfillment also comes with soreness, cracked nipples and sometimes bleeding with every suck the baby takes. I did not have enough milk, which made the situation even worse. I remember shutting  my eyes and clenching my fist as I took in the pain because, as I was told by more experienced moms who came to visit me, “It will get better.”
And it did.
“I came out to myself,” What visibility means to lesbians across Africa
Collette: “I feel the sadness that comes with namelessness.”
When danger surrounds using your name and your face, you have no other choice than to make yourself invisible. As much as I have grown accustomed to that question – can your name be used for this? As though the name is a danger in itself – I feel the sadness that comes with namelessness.
It is quite sad that we have to be asked for our names to be connected with our words and voice; I watch my back every day of my life. I try to live my life but it is scary. I have been a victim of a homophobic attack by the police. My friends and I were pepper-sprayed for no reason.
In my profession, as a chef, I have been told not to put “my gay hands’’ in their food. My partner and I were supposed to cook for a funeral. We had been contacted by a member of the deceased’s family and negotiation had reached an advanced stage only for a senior member of the family to breeze in and torpedo our hope of getting a job. I went home crying.
From a WhatsApp platform to physical sessions, this Nigerian initiative is helping women affected by conflict navigate their trauma
In 2015, amid the Boko Haram insurgency, Hassana Danyerwa, the founder and creative director of FeelNHeal, was battling a traumatic experience that stayed with her for years. During that time, she had nightmares and would spend the night crying, wallowing in pain, but the next day, she’d wear a big smile and refuse to let her family and friends see she was hurting.
“I was always trying to be in the midst of friends or get myself busy with work or studies to distract myself from my reality,” Hassana tells Minority Africa. “I couldn’t ask for help because I didn’t even think anyone could help me, and I didn’t want people to start feeling sorry for me or make my struggles a topic of discussion.”
In 2019, it dawned on her that she needed to find a way to heal, so she started telling people about what she’d been through on her WhatsApp status. After years of keeping it to herself, it was difficult to do, but she felt healing would be far from her as long as she failed to open up. “There are people who read and judge, but the most incredible thing is that there are more people who relate to the stories I share and even share their own experiences with me,” she says.
France makes abortion a constitutional right
France has become the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution.
Parliamentarians voted to revise the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to abort. The overwhelming 780-72 vote saw a standing ovation in the parliament in Versailles when the result was announced.
President Emmanuel Macron described the move as “French pride” that had sent a “universal message”. However anti-abortion groups have strongly criticised the change, as has the Vatican.
Abortion has been legal in France since 1975, but polls show around 85% of the public supported amending the constitution to protect the right to end a pregnancy. And while several other countries include reproductive rights in their constitutions – France is the first to explicitly state that an abortion will be guaranteed.
It becomes the 25th amendment to modern France’s founding document, and the first since 2008. Following the vote, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was lit up in celebration, with the message: “My Body My Choice”.
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