Women across developing countries have over the years been demonstrating strong leadership in positioning their countries on the path of democracy, good governance, peace and security, infrastructural development, as well as economic growth and prosperity. It is fascinating that women are today breaking “glass ceilings” to rise to the topmost echelon of power in developing countries with a long history of female subjugation, civil conflicts, insecurity and military despotism.

By Aili Mari Tripp

When I went to Uganda in 1992, I was interested in understanding why the country had so many women in top government positions and why it had the highest rates of representation of women in parliament in Africa at the time. During my research, I realized that a key reason was war. Uganda had just emerged from years of major conflict. Relations between women and men had begun to change, and as a result, women started to mobilize for their rights.

Biodun Christine Olujimi, Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate was born to a Photographer father and Seamstress mother on the 25th of December, 1958. She hails from Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State Nigeria.

10 years ago today, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia’s new president, becoming Africa’s first female elected head of state. The election of Africa’s “Iron Lady” marked the beginning of the nation’s success story, in the wake of fourteen years of brutal civil conflict. (2006) Sirleaf was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with two other African women recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”