Africa: Women in Science - Global Study Finds Presence Without Power

Academia isn't strong on gender equality. Women are under-represented throughout, in the research workforce and even more so as leaders in scientific organisations. This is true… Read more »

Africa: One in Three Young Women in Africa Have Never Tested for HIV - New Study Shows Where the Gaps Lie

HIV remains one of the biggest public health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that accounts for approximately two-thirds of about 40 million people living with HIV… Read more »

Uganda: Women Working in Uganda's Pig Sector - How Challenging Prejudices Can Unlock Opportunities - Research

In some communities in Uganda, women aren't supposed to work with pigs. This stems from restrictive social and gender norms, some of which are rooted in culture and religious… Read more »

Namibia: Seeing Women Govern Encourages Support for Women in Politics - With No Apparent Backlash Among Men

Quotas designed to bring gender parity to parliaments have an overall positive impact on support for female political leadership - especially after women members of parliament take… Read more »

Nigeria: Maternity Health Services in Nigeria Are Failing Women - 4 Steps to Better Care

Nigeria faces one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates. Around 1,047 women die for every 100,000 live births, far above the African regional average of about 531 deaths… Read more »

Ghana: How Do Women Entrepreneurs Survive in Ghana's Informal Economy? We Went to a Local Market to Ask Them

The informal economy is the basis of everyday economic life across sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, as in many low- and middle-income contexts, a lot of retail trade, food… Read more »

South Africa: What Does a House Mean to You? We Asked Some Women Who Head Households in South Africa

South Africa's new democratic government inherited a 1.5 million housing backlog in 1994, which it has been struggling to close. The current national deficit stands at 2 million. Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Faith Leaders Joined the Fight Against Woman Abuse in the DR Congo. Did It Help?

Can pastors, imams and rabbis be allies to women and children and help stop gender-based violence? Read more »

Zimbabwe: Solar Power in Rural Zimbabwe Hasn't Reduced Women's Unpaid Work - Can Policy Do Better?

Zimbabwe's 2019 renewable energy policy envisions a transition to green energy in which women and men participate equally and benefit equitably. Read more »

Nigeria: Sophie Oluwole, the Trailblazing Nigerian Woman Who Redefined Philosophy

Sophie Oluwole (1935-2018) was a Nigerian scholar and the first woman to earn a PhD in philosophy in her country. She not only placed Nigeria's rich Yoruba philosophical tradition… Read more »

Africa: Women and Wealth - What Stands in Their Way and How to Overcome It

You've probably heard the saying, "The rich become richer, while the poor become poorer". It's about how uneven financial progress can be. Read more »

Ghana: Women in Ghana Can Access Safe Abortions - Why Are So Many Still Using Unsafe Methods?

Ghana's abortion law is relatively liberal. Abortion is legally permitted in the first trimester when a pregnancy endangers the mother's life or physical or mental health, or when… Read more »

South Africa: Women Farmers in South Africa Pay the Cost of Broken Irrigation Systems - the Story of One Cooperative

The South African government makes a great deal of the fact that it supports women's empowerment in agriculture. Read more »

Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone's Harsh New Laws to Protect Women and Girls Are Causing Harm in the Wrong Places

In the decades after Sierra Leone's civil war (1991-2002), there was pressure on the west African country to demonstrate progress on gender equality. Laws were passed to fight… Read more »

Africa: Women's Control Over Fertility Is Linked to Education, Money and Digital Access - Study of 16 African Countries

Many married women in sub-Saharan Africa don't have the freedom to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. Global data show that only 37% of women in the region… Read more »

Nigeria: Nigerian Women and Contraceptives - Study Finds Big Gaps Between the Haves and the Have-Nots

Nigerian women who are wealthier, more educated and urban are more likely to use modern contraceptives than poorer, less educated and rural women. This is one of the findings of a… Read more »

Kenya: Climate Change Is Hurting Kenyan Women Working in Coastal Tourism - They Explain How

I returned home to Kenya's coast after months of winter in Germany, and the heat felt extreme. Temperatures rose past 35°C by midday under the blazing sun of Kilifi, a tourism… Read more »

Africa: Global Demand for Shea Butter Is Growing - but It's Not All Good News for the Women Who Collect the Nuts

Shea butter has become a highly sought-after ingredient in cosmetics and food manufacturing worldwide. Since the early 2000s its use as a substitute for cocoa butter has driven a… Read more »

East Africa: Tanzania's President Raised Hopes for Women's Political Representation

President Samia Suluhu Hassan's historic rise as Tanzania's first woman head of state broke a decades-old tradition of male dominance. In keeping with political precedent, she also… Read more »

Ethiopia: Ethiopian Women and Safety - Why Some Switch Their Ethnic Identity When They Start Working

For many women in Ethiopia, getting their first formal job doesn't just change their income; it can change how they describe who they are in everyday public interactions. Read more »

Kenya: Two Kenyan Women Rebuild Libraries in a Quietly Powerful New Documentary

Two Kenyan women - Wanjiru Koinange and Angela Wachuka - set out in 2017 to do something both ordinary and radical: rebuild neglected libraries in Nairobi. Read more »

South Africa: South Africa Declared Gender-Based Violence a National Disaster. but How Will Frontline Workers Be Kept Safe?

Social workers are often the first to arrive at scenes of gender-based violence and femicide. They often enter unsafe homes without backup or protective equipment. As one told me: Read more »

Africa: Women's Voices At the G20 - Action Urged On Economic Empowerment, Care Work, Health, Climate Justice and Forced Labour

The G20 group of the world's 20 most powerful economies and the African and European Unions has a group dedicated to women empowerment - the Women 20 (W20). Set up in 2015 to… Read more »

Africa: African Land Policy Reforms Have Been Good for Women and Communities - but Review of 18 Countries Shows Major Gaps

Land tenure is the relationship, defined in law and customs, that people as individuals or groups have with land. It involves a bundle of rights to land, such as the right to use,… Read more »

Sudan: 'I Have to Talk About It So That the World Can Know What Happened to Women and Girls in Sudan' - Rape and Terror Sparks Mass Migration

I was in Khartoum when the conflict started. Armed soldiers of Arabs came to our house and they wanted to loot groundnuts, but my mother resisted opening the door. Immediately, one… Read more »