African Women Who Fought for Rule of Law
8 women in the archive worked for rule of law. They came from different countries and different centuries, but each of them saw a wrong that others accepted and set out to change it. Read their stories to see how the same cause looked from very different lives.
8 women in the archive
ContemporaryAsha-Rose Migiro
Tanzanian lawyer and diplomat who became the first African woman to serve as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, after breaking a 45-year barrier as her country's first female foreign minister.
ModernAyo Obe
Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist; former President of the Civil Liberties Organisation. Advocate for rule of law, democracy, and civil liberties; prominent voice in Nigerian civil society.
ContemporaryFatou Bensouda
Gambian lawyer who served as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2012 to 2021, making her one of the most powerful legal figures in the world. She prosecuted war criminals, challenged powerful governments, and showed that African women belong in the highest rooms of international justice.
ContemporaryHauwa Ibrahim
Nigerian human rights lawyer who defended women sentenced to death by stoning under Sharia law, at great personal risk. The first woman to argue before Sharia courts in northern Nigeria. Awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2005.
ColonialHelen Suzman
South African MP who was for 13 years the sole parliamentary voice against apartheid. Twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; visited political prisoners including Mandela.
ModernKudirat Abiola
Pro-democracy activist who led the campaign for her husband's release and for the restoration of the annulled 1993 election. Assassinated in Lagos in 1996.
ContemporaryMame Madior Boye
Career magistrate who broke Senegal's highest glass ceiling in 2001 as the country's first female Prime Minister, then carried her jurist's discipline to the African Union as envoy for the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
IndependenceVera Chirwa
Malawian lawyer and human rights activist. Co-founded the Malawi Congress Party; imprisoned for over a decade under Banda; later UN Special Rapporteur on prisons.