The women history forgot to teach you.
An archive of African women who fought for equality, rights, and change.
Women Who Changed History
View all
ModernAma Ata Aidoo
Ghanaian author, playwright, and poet who spent over five decades writing some of the most important African literature in the world. Her work put African women at the centre of the story at a time when they were almost always pushed to the edges. She also served as Ghana's Minister of Education.
ContemporaryAmina J. Mohammed
Nigerian diplomat and UN Deputy Secretary-General since 2017. Formerly Nigeria's Minister of Environment. One of the chief architects of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global framework guiding international development until 2030. The highest-ranking Nigerian in the history of the United Nations.
Pre-ColonialAmina of Zazzau
16th-century warrior queen of Zazzau (modern Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria). Led 34 years of military campaigns, expanded the Hausa kingdom's territory to its largest ever extent, and built the defensive earthwork walls still called 'Amina's walls' today. The most celebrated female military leader in West African history.
ColonialCharlotte Maxeke
First Black South African woman to earn a university degree. Founded the Bantu Women's League and fought pass laws. Called the 'Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa'.
ContemporaryChimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Award-winning Nigerian novelist and feminist icon. Author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and the viral TED talk 'We Should All Be Feminists', which reached hundreds of millions of listeners after Beyoncé sampled it. One of the most influential voices on feminism, race, and African identity in the world today.
Articles & Explainers
Ten Years in Prison for the Pill That Keeps Nigerian Mothers Alive
Nigeria's Senate is debating raising the punishment for supplying abortion drugs from 3 to 10 years. The pill at the centre of that law is the same one keeping women in villages from bleeding to death after childbirth.
6,400 Miles Past the Moon and Still Not Far Enough
Christina Koch just became the first woman to travel around the Moon. The comment sections proved exactly why that milestone still matters.
What Her Cloth Said When She Could Not Speak
Across East Africa, women have been buying, wearing, and gifting printed cloths that carry messages most people cannot read. A kanga is never just a kanga. It is a letter you wear on your body.
The Voice That Crossed the Sea: Charlotte Maxeke and the Long Road Home
Before she was the Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa, she was a girl with a voice that filled concert halls in London. This is how a singer became a scholar, then a force the colonial state could not ignore.
The Secret Maps in Her Hair: How African Braids Carried Messages, Maps, and Freedom
Before there were letters or phones, African women were sending messages through braided patterns in their hair. Some of those patterns even mapped the way to freedom.
Browse by Region
26 countries, 139 women — tap a country to explore.
Explore by Cause
What did they fight for?
Across the Centuries
Key moments in African women's history
Latest Additions
Profiles from the archive
ContemporaryAdenike Oladosu
Nigerian climate activist and the first African woman to lead a Fridays for Future climate strike. Campaigns tirelessly for the drying Lake Chad basin, a slow-moving environmental disaster affecting 40 million people across four countries. Named one of the most influential climate voices of her generation.
ContemporaryCaster Semenya
South African middle-distance runner who won Olympic gold in the 800m at Rio 2016 and is a two-time World Champion. She has been forced to fight World Athletics testosterone regulations and has become a global symbol of bodily autonomy and the right of women athletes to define themselves.
ModernBlessing Okagbare
Nigerian sprinter and long jumper; Olympic and World Championships medallist. One of Africa's most decorated track and field athletes; advocate for clean sport.