As Africa continues to rise, so do African women. With the upward economic, social and political trajectory of the continent, a new breed of African women continues to emerge. So much so, that the African Union christened the years 2010 to 2020 as the “African Women’s Decade”.
For the first time in history, the African Union voted an African woman to its helm. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa‘s Minister of Home Affairs and a medical doctor, will lead and usher the 54-nation organization into a new era of possibilities for the continent. In her keynote address honoring her as the first female chair of the African Union, Dlamini-Zuma said: “African women make up over fifty percent of the continent, and let’s not forget that they produce the other fifty percent–men.”
Additionally, this year Africa welcomed its second female head of State and Malawi‘s first female president, Her Excellency President Joyce Banda. In August, Forbes published its 2012 annual list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women and of the 100 women selected, 11 were Black, of whom 3 were Africans: Presidents Joyce Banda and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Nigerian Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. To solidify the African Union’s “African Women’s Decade” theme, Nigerian oil tycoon, fashion designer and philanthropist Folorunsho Alakija became the first woman on Forbes’ annual ranking of the 40 richest Africans, with a net worth estimated at $600 million.
African women are unconflicted about themselves, who they are and the role they play, not only within their families but in their countries and the world at large. These are African women changing the face of the continent, hopping on planes from one to another of its major cities – Lagos, Dakar, Nairobi, Accra – cutting big deals and preferring to see Africa’s much storied deficits as HUGE investment opportunities.
Read more: Forbes
