Meet the five strongest feminist groups in Africa

African feminist movements are diverse. But we can, and must, learn from decades of transformational organising on the continent.

Sister Namibia (Namibia)

The feminist group, formerly known as the Sister Namibia Collective, is nonpartisan and a non-governmental organization in Namibia. This group was formed on the eve of Namibia’s independence from South Africa in 1989.

Sister Namibia advocates for women’s rights by engaging in activities to enhance gender equality in a world free from violence, discrimination, and oppression. Another function is to produce its magazine alongside educational programs, research, activism, media engagement, and cultural activities in support of women’s rights.

 Pepper Dem Ministries (Ghana)

This feminist group is a strong group of charming young women in Ghana and their male counterparts who have placed gender on everybody’s agenda in the nation. In 2016, a group of like-minded women started it as a Facebook page “who were already in the business of probing into the structures operating in the Ghanaian society that somehow leave both genders imbalanced and incompatible to work in unison to advance society.”

This popular Ghanaian group gets its name from the fact that it tackles issues which are mostly uncomfortable and unpopular to talk about in their socio-cultural space.

This group has placed gender on Ghana’s map through a number of public discourses and gatherings.

Akina Mama wa Afrika [AMwA] (Uganda)

This international and pan-African non-governmental organisation is headquartered in Uganda’s capital but was started in 1985 in the United Kingdom by a small community organisation for African women.

The organization is a “training centre” and “advocacy engine” for the women’s movement in Africa. They host African Women’s Leadership Institutes (AWLI) designed by women leaders from Africa and women activists aged 25-45 from across the continent. Their themes of focuses are gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive rights, anti-poverty efforts and peacebuilding.

AMwA, conducted a regional conference in 2014 with other women’s organisations in Kampala on the theme “Strengthening African Women’s Voices in the Post-2015 Processes”. Other feminist organisations like the African Women’s Development Fund and the Sigrid Rausing Trust supports Akina Mama wa Afrika.

The Uganda women’s network [UWONET] (Uganda)

This group was created after the 1993 East African Women’s Conference, held in Kampala, Uganda, in preparation for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.

It is a non-governmental body in Uganda. They operate in East Africa and an umbrella group of national women’s NGO.

UWONET seeks to advance public policy regarding women’s rights. This connects “collective action” among members to achieve gender Equality in the Country. UWONET has improved women’s economic output and helped women win land rights in the 1998 Land act

Egyptian Feminist Movement (Egypt)

This movement in 6 March 1923 had its first meeting at activist Huda Sha’arawi’s home who served as its first president until her death on December 12, 1947.

The movement objective was social freedom as symbolized by the publicized gesture by Sha’rawi and her associate, Saiza Nabrawi, who removed their veils as they stepped off a train at Cairo’s main railway station in 1923.

The movement have been active in the area of education where their demands were met in 1925 when the Egyptian government made primary education compulsory for girls as well as boys. Because of its work, in 1935 women admitted to the national university for the first time. The group later in 2011, reformed as a non-profit, non-governmental organization under the same name but with a different aim and team.