Nigeria: Surviving Breast Cancer - Nigerian Women Share Their Stories

"I believe I will still beat it again." These are the words of a Nigerian woman, Didi, who feared a recurrence of her cancer - but saw herself as a survivor. Read more »

Africa: Women Football Players in Africa Have Overcome Enormous Barriers - New Book Tells the Story

Women's Football in Africa, the first in-depth book on the subject, traces the history of women's soccer from initially being banned through to today's growing numbers of fans and… Read more »

South Africa: Searching for a Female Partner for the World's 'Loneliest' Plant

"Surely this is the most solitary organism in the world," wrote palaeontologist Richard Fortey in his book about the evolution of life. Read more »

Africa: Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Is Linked to Increasing Obesity Rates in Women

Obesity and excess weight gain, traditionally perceived as health issues predominantly affecting high-income countries, are now increasingly prevalent in low and middle-income… Read more »

Africa: Female Giraffes Drove the Evolution of Long Giraffe Necks in Order to Feed On the Most Nutritious Leaves, New Research Suggests

Everything in biology ultimately boils down to food and sex. To survive as an individual you need food. To survive as a species you need sex. Read more »

Uganda: Men Still Dominate Uganda's Party Politics - Women's Participation Is Mostly Cosmetic

Electoral gender quotas in Uganda - first introduced in 1989 - have increased women's numbers in Uganda's parliament to 34%. Today there are 189 women out of 557 members of… Read more »

Tanzania: Tanzania's Political Parties Have Few Women in Leadership and Candidate Lists - Some Solutions

Tanzania, in keeping with global political trends, reserves 30% of seats in parliament for women. These so-called special seats were introduced with multiparty politics in 1992, in… Read more »

Africa: Female Genital Mutilation Is On the Rise in Africa - Disturbing New Trends Are Driving Up the Numbers

Thirteen-year-old Salamatu Jalloh had her whole future to look forward to. But in January 2023, her lifeless body was found wrapped in a pink and blue shroud on an earthen floor in… Read more »

Ghana: Margaret Busby - How a Pioneering Ghanaian Publisher Put African Women's Writing On the Map

Published in 1992, Daughters of Africa is a groundbreaking volume of writing by women of African descent. It was followed by an expanded second edition, New Daughters of Africa, in… Read more »

South Africa: Persisting Inequality Has Made Many Young South Africans Question the Choices Made By Nelson Mandela - Podcast

Some young South Africans have begun to question Nelson Mandela's legacy, and the choices made in the transition to democracy after the end of apartheid in 1994. Some have even… Read more »

Africa: Sex Differences Don't Disappear As a Country's Equality Develops - Sometimes They Become Stronger

The more gender equal a society is, the more similar men and women will be, adopting more similar interests, personality traits and behavioural patterns. Or so many people seem to… Read more »

South Africa: Climate Change Makes Life Harder - in South Africa It's Likely to Bring Heatwaves, Water Stress and Gender-Based Violence

South Africa is feeling the impacts of global warming. Heat is frequent and more intense. Human-induced climate change made the severe 2015-2017 drought three to six times more… Read more »

Africa: How to End Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa - Fight Inequality, Gender Imbalances and Climate Change

A greater part of Africa's population can't afford a healthy diet than any other regional population. Food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa is caused by climate change, high levels… Read more »

Africa: Young, Black Woman Scientist Discovered Pivotal Leprosy Treatment in 1920s But Someone Took the Credit

Hansen's disease, also called leprosy, is treatable today - and that's partly thanks to a curious tree and the work of a pioneering young scientist in the 1920s. Centuries prior to… Read more »

Malawi: Have You Ever Suffered Intimate Partner Abuse? We Asked Girls in Malawi and 40 Percent Said Yes

Intimate partner violence starts early. Read more »

Rwanda: Rwandan Genocide, 30 Years On - Omitting Women's Memories Encourages Incomplete Understanding of Violence

The eruption of violence that Rwanda experienced beginning on the evening of April 6, 1994, continues to haunt the central African nation 30 years on - it has also changed the… Read more »

Kenya: Kenya's Wildlife Conservancies Make Old Men Rich, While Making Women and Young People Poorer

Kenya once had an exceptional abundance and diversity of wildlife. But as the country's population boomed, wildlife lost space to people, buildings, roads and agriculture. Read more »

Gambia: The Gambia May Allow Female Genital Mutilation Again - Another Sign of a Global Trend Eroding Women's Rights

The Gambia's ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) since 2015 is under threat. Proposed changes before parliament could permit medicalised female genital cutting and allow it for… Read more »

Africa: Financial Abuse From an Intimate Partner? Three Ways You Can Protect Yourself

Financial abuse occurs when one person takes control over another person's ability to acquire, use and maintain financial resources. An example is being denied access to your own… Read more »

South Africa: Women Battle When Trying to Take Climate Change Cases to Court - South Africa and Nigeria Study Shows Why

Across domestic courts in Africa, climate cases have been decided in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, with some cases pending in Uganda. However, climate litigation is still fairly… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa - Women Play a Key Role in Early Childhood Learning and Care - but They Need Help Accessing University

In South Africa, the early childhood development sector is dominated by women who build creches from the ground up. These women offer services to communities that go far beyond… Read more »

South Africa: Pregnant Women in South Africa Should Be Offered Social Grants - It'll Save the State Money in the Long Run

A baby's first 1,000 days, from the time of conception until their second birthday, is a crucial window of opportunity to optimise their potential - through healthy nutrition for… Read more »

Africa: Women in South Africa's Armed Struggle - New Book Records History At First Hand

South Africa's young democracy was a culmination of years of sweat, blood and revolution against the apartheid regime. In the early 1960s, after decades of "non-violence" as a… Read more »

Africa: 'It Needs to Be Talked About Earlier' - Some Children Get Periods At 8, Years Before Menstruation Is Taught At School

Managing menstruation in public can be challenging at the best of times, but imagine being eight years old and having to deal with your period at school. You might need to change… Read more »

Kenya: Kenya's Sex Workers Have Solutions to Their Problems, but International NGOs Aren't Hearing Them

In Kenya, rights organisations run by sex workers have gone into numerous partnerships with international organisations over the past decade. In recent research, I set out to… Read more »