Aïssata Kane, also fondly known as “Yaye Kadia” (Mother Kadia), was a feminist with a lifelong committment in advocating for African and especially Mauritanian women’s rights.
In her career as a politician, she was appointed Minister of Family Protection and Social Affairs in 1975, the first time a woman held such a position and in which Aïssata fervently worked to improve the status of women in her country.
“I didn’t plan to be a singer, singing planned to be in me.” - Dorothy Masuka (interview with Mail & Guardian)
Fadila M. was a Soulaliyate tribal activist from Azrou, the Ifrane region of Morocco. She fought against a specific form of land discrimination directed against tribal women.
As part of the Soulaliyate Women’s Land-Use Rights Movement, she worked towards overhauling the framework legislation relating to the management of community property through the 2019 adoption of three projects of laws guaranteeing the equality of women and men.
“I want to tell all Tunisians: We have to unite to say no to censorship and opinion trials.” - Lina Ben Mhenni (2013 interview)
Binta Sarr was an activist for social, economic, cultural and political justice, and a hydraulic engineer in Senegal. After 13 years in civil service, she left this path to work with rural and marginalized women.
Out of this engagement grew the Association for the Advancement of Senegalese Women (APROFES), a grassroots movement and organization Binta founded in 1987. One of her main approaches was leadership training, relating not only to economic activities but also to women's rights and access to positions of decision-making.
Carol Thomas was a trailblazer for women’s sexual and reproductive rights in South Africa. A gifted gynecologist and founder of the WomenSpace, she practiced and advocated for non-traditional ways of delivering healthcare to women, offering services that were high quality, empathetic and accessible.
“She entered into not only the joy of pregnancies and new babies, but the anxieties of infertility and premature deliveries and female cancers, the heartbreak of miscarriages and stillbirths.” Helen Moffett
“But when was the master
ever seduced from power?
When was a system ever broken
by acceptance?
when will the BOSS hand you power with love?
At Jo’Burg, at Cancun or the U.N?
– Molara Ogundipe
Throughout history against oppression, those on the frontline always know that the struggle might take their lives. For a body that persistently refuses to be invisibilized, refuses to be at the very least passive in the face of oppression, is stolen, just like the land.
Nadine was a role model to many for her work supporting women and the most vulnerable in her community. She was committed to helping the poor and homeless in particular.
Though her death was reported as an accident, the Ramaroson family, led by her father, André Ramaroson led an investigation that pointed to evidence that she had been murdered. She is reported to have died in a fatal accident occurred between Soanierano - Ivongo and Ste Marie - a story that has been refuted by her family.
Zita was a women’s rights activist who defended the rights of rural women in Greater Kivu.
She was the first Executive Director of UWAKI - a well known women’s organisation. Through her work with Women's Network for Rights and Peace (RFDP), and the Women's Caucus of South Kivu for Peace, she committed her life to helping to restore peace in the Eastern DRC. She spoke out strongly against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.