Africa Archives – Women's eNews

Celebrating Diversity on Africa Day: What Green Building Means for African Communities

By Jane Afrane ● Commentary ● May 25, 2018

While climate change is a global problem, African countries are likely to feel the effects most acutely and women are the most vulnerable of all, as a result of their dependence on the natural resources that are threatened by climate change.

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Greater Recognition of Africa’s Invisible Female Entrepreneurs Needed

By Laura McPherson ● Commentary ● May 4, 2017

Recently Google and Forbes both recognized African female entrepreneurs, highlighting the continent’s entrepreneurial energy. This publicity is a welcome alternative to Westerners’ dominant image of Africans as dependent people in misery.

French Team’s Post-FGM Holistic Services Include Surgery

By Léa Bouchoucha ● Politics ● March 28, 2016

This clinical team is known for its surgeries to repair the clitoris. But its services for survivors of FGM are much more. “We treat the whole mutilation with its emotional, social and psychologic impact,” says a pioneering surgeon.

Ivory Coast Teen Struggles to Support Cousin in Forced Marriage

By Awa Soumahoro & Por Alison Bowen ● Teen Voices ● March 16, 2016

No matter how much money or awareness Awa Soumahoro raises, she can’t prevent her 19-year-old cousin from being forced into marriage.

In France, FGM is Reason to Fear Homelands, Seek Asylum

By Léa Bouchoucha ● Crime & Law ● March 7, 2016

The country is a magnet for female immigrants from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Guinea and Ethiopia. Thousands of women from these countries have fled FGM and help define what it means to be a refugee in Europe.

Girls Bolt to Safe House to Avoid FGM

By Barbra Emily & Mercy Wanja ● Health & Science ● October 7, 2015

For writer Barbra Emily, not seeing her family is a small price to pay for escaping female genital mutilation, a practice undergone by 27 percent of women in Kenya, the World Health Organization reports.

Girls in Kenya Destigmatize Periods for Peers

By Joyce Wanjiru ● Teen Voices ● September 2, 2015

Studies report that girls in Kenya miss 3.5 million learning days per month because of a lack of available menstruation products. Here, Daraja Academy student Joyce Wanjiru writes about a friend who inspired her to help all girls in Kenya, one sanitary towel at time.