South Sudan: Stuck in Transition, Struggling for Progress
Globally and not least on the African continent, women continue to face numerous obstacles from continued marginalization and discrimination in the workplace, absence from leadership and decision making and lagging behind in terms of economic and other social indicators. This notwithstanding, the African women’s movement has been and continues to be a formidable force in the story of the continent’s transformation. Women’s rights and feminist activists have made momentous contributions to the development of the continent with respect to gender equality in the public policy arena, governance, education, peace, and security at local, national, regional, and continental levels. They have also been at the forefront of bringing to light gendered violence and harm to the bodily integrity of women. Many of these efforts, narratives, and experiences, however, remain undocumented, yet their transformative activism and leadership could otherwise serve as evidence-based case studies in advancing women’s rights, freedom, and growth in Africa. The main objective of this project, therefore, is to provide a platform for Leading feminists from across the African continent to reflect on and share their leadership journey or involvement in the process of change or response to a situation that led to change within the African women’s rights and feminist activist space. These individual narrations will offer a perspective on a situation and experience that will likely have included the participation of many others. Given the evident absence of systematic documentation of these narratives, the intention of this project is to highlight and document the journeys of African women who have been at the forefront of significant change on our continent that has yet to be narrated.
