See Their Brilliance: Daring African Women

Facing a colonial government tax hike in eastern Nigeria in the 1920s, men grumbled quietly. But when it became public knowledge in 1929 that British-backed authorities planned to extend the same taxes to women, resistance emerged. Thousands of women across Nigeria’s eastern region stormed courts, markets, the palaces of local chiefs and the residences of colonial officers. The rebelling women sang, danced and waved palm leaves to show their defiance.

Colonial authorities relented and withdrew their new tax policy. The Aba Women's Riots, which resulted in the deaths of 51 women and one male protestor, became a threshold for anti-colonial activism, which culminated in Nigeria obtaining full independence in 1960.

When the War of Independence between Portugal and Mozambique began in 1964, women were excluded from the military. By 1966, though, it became apparent that women were both needed and capable of advancing the Mozambican cause. They even began joining men on the front lines of combat. These female soldiers received training in conventional warfare, guerilla warfare, military hardware and military intelligence. Mozambique ultimately triumphed, much to the credit of its heroines.

South African men had died, their bodies buried in mines, their limbs broken with chains; those who lived saw their futures obstructed and their everyday movements controlled by passes. That pass, a controversial document of the apartheid regime, determined the permissible locations for Black South African men. In 1956, when the government proposed extending the pass to women, they faced a powerful backlash.

On Aug. 9, 1956, more than 20,000 women of all races and colors marched to the Union Building in Pretoria. Years later, the government would set aside August 9 as South Africa’s National Women’s Day, in honor of that historic march. Additionally, the march — which included white South African women moving in solidarity with Black women — became a signal that white and Black South Africans could work together as one.

In Zimbabwe, home to the world’s second-largest population of elephants, Africa’s first all-female cadre of armed rangers is currently thriving. On a continent where relatively few rangers are females, this unit’s success seems as surprising as its emergence. Akashinga, as they are called, is a Shona phrase that translates as the “brave ones.” Formed in 2017, the elite female group — armed with AK-47s and trained in both combat and nonviolent conflict resolution — patrols the Phundundu Wildlife Park in the Zambezi Valley, one of Zimbabwe’s elephant strongholds.

Many of the women, whose ages typically range from 20-40, are survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence, or they are single mothers; they are women with powerful motivations to build new lives. Each has a sense of purpose as well as empathy when dealing with animal poachers, who may be driven by poverty. The Akashinga know their duty is dangerous, but there is also the satisfaction of apprehending traffickers and poachers — an achievement that defies common gender and cultural biases.

Nigerian Iroro Tanshi’s bright eyes never stop searching for caves where bats roost. Tanshi's curiosity has led her to discover, and now fight to protect, Nigeria’s colony of short-tailed roundleaf bats, one of the world’s rarest bat species. Previously believed extinct, this species was unseen in the wild for several decades prior to Tanshi's discovery. Tanshi is now implementing wildlife and anti-poaching campaigns to protect these rare bats from wildfires and local hunters. She has also sparked the interest of young people through her school outreach programs. In 2021, Tanshi — who now lectures at the University of Benin — received both a Ph.D. in biology from Texas Tech University and the Whitley Award for grassroots conservation.

The Niger Delta, rich in biodiversity and essential to local livelihoods, has been devastated by decades of pollution from the oil industry. Efforts to restore the delta to its original state have been unsuccessful. Recently, though, a group of local women have begun restoring damaged mangrove forests. One of the delta's most affected locations now has 250 persons dedicated to reviving the region's biodiversity and viability as a place to live.

When, in October 2019, Vera Daves became Angola’s Finance Minister at the age of 34, she took on one of the toughest jobs in Africa. Angola had seen four consecutive years of recession. And when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a falling price for oil — by far the nation's largest export — Daves’ task became even tougher. A trained economist, she set her sights on trimming the national budget, diversifying the economy and introducing tax and duty reforms.

Few people took Francisca Oteng-Mensah seriously when she announced her candidacy in Ghana’s 2016 parliamentary elections: She was just 22 and a second-year college student. She had turned 23 when she became Ghana’s youngest member of parliament, defeating an incumbent in power since 2004. Oteng-Mensah has made the empowerment of girls her top policy priority. After her first term she easily retained her seat, an indication of a high approval rating.

In 2021, Namibian President Hage Geingob appointed 23-year-old lawyer Emma Theofilus as Deputy Information and Technology Minister. Theofilus had previously served a short stint with the legal ministry, building a promising reputation as a civil rights activist. Her appointment placed her at the center of Namibia’s publicity and image rebranding, as the country seeks both internal unity and global visibility. Theofilus has made international headlines as an inspiration to young people (particularly girls) on a continent ruled by some of the world's oldest leaders.

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By age 36, Nere Teriba was overseeing Nigeria’s first-ever gold refinery. She proved the value of her work when she presented a refined gold bar to the government. Nigeria, which is Africa's largest economy, has been seeking to increase its involvement with precious metals. Meanwhile, Teriba has also played a major role in the “Kano Gold Durbar” initiative, which involves skilled local artisans turning raw gold into jewelry, ornaments and other valuable products.

There can be genius in the ordinary. That’s what Bilikiss Adebiyi proved when she started her waste recycling enterprise in 2012. Adebiyi grew up in the sprawling megacity of Lagos, where waste is a standout nuisance. Seeking to turn waste into wealth, she founded Wecyclers, which has devised strategies to make waste profitable in Lagos’ poorest neighborhoods. Her endeavor has become a sensation — garnering awards, media attention and partnerships.

In 2019, Wecyclers partnered with the NGO Cleanup Initiative and some schools in Lagos to permit poor parents to pay school fees with plastic bottles. This policy gives parents a huge added incentive to round up plastics in a city where 450,000 megatons of such waste is discarded annually into nearby bodies of water. Adebiyi’s success with Wecyclers has inspired similar models across Nigeria and beyond.

Working from her living room at age 20, when she was still an undergraduate, Lagos native Tara Fela-Durotoye launched her cosmetics company House of Tara. It has since become one of Africa’s most iconic beauty hubs. Fela-Durotoye saw a gap in an international cosmetics market that often overlooked Africa. By filling this gap, she turned a one-room business into an enterprise with 24 makeup studios and over 15,000 beauty representatives.

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