Inspiring African Women Liberators to Know

African women throughout history have gone against societal norms to lead on the frontline of liberation movements - fighting for justice, equality, and freedom. Sometimes, risking their own lives and freedom to do so. Women like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a Nigerian educator and political activist, Muthoni Kirima, a Kenyan Mau Mau freedom fighter, Khadija Gbla, Sierre Leonean-born anti Female Genital Mutilation activist. These women and many others are true examples of when courage meets conviction, change is possible. 

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (Nigeria)

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a political and women’s rights activist in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Named the “Lioness of Lisabi” by the media, Ransome-Kuti was the country’s leading women’s rights activist for over four decades. 

Ransome-Kuti was born into a middle-class family in 1900, to parents who were strong believers of equal education for both boys and girls at a time when only boys were being formally educated. Her considerably progressive parents registered her as one of the first six girls to attend her state secondary school.

In 1932, she started with liberation through education with the launch of the Abeokuta Ladies Club (ALC), teaching middle-class women how to read. The group soon became more invested in political and feminist conversations. By 1944, the club opened its doors to the even more marginalised market women who were oppressed by taxation and other exploitations of colonials and the local state ruler. The ALC went through a few iterations to eventually become a national movement called the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies (FNWS) in 1953. She advocated for better representation of women in local government, fairer taxes and women’s right to vote. Ransome-Kuti was an influential force that led multiple marches of up to 10,000 women in Nigeria.

In 1960, shortly after Nigeria’s independence, women gained the right to vote. Ransome-Kuti would, however, continue her work for equality. Ransome-Kuti was happily married for over 30 years and had four children. Her son Fela Kuti, influenced by both his parents, went on to become one of Africa’s biggest musical talents. His music spoke out against the government, which often led to raids by soldiers on his property. His mother, who would frequently visit him, was assassinated in a raid in 1978. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is widely considered the mother of the nation.

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Lilian Ngoyi (South Africa)

Lilian Ngoyi was an anti-apartheid and women’s rights activist. She was the first woman elected to the executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC). Ngoyi was born in a poor urban community in Pretoria in 1911 and moved to Johannesburg in 1928 to train as a nurse. In quick succession, she married, became a mother and widowed. Working as a seamstress presented the most practical way to earn a living to fit her circumstances and where her activism began.

Ngoyi was a notable voice in the Garment Workers’ Union of South Africa, which pulled her into broader politics, especially for women. In 1950, she joined the ANC during its Defiance Campaign, which promoted acts of civil disobedience, mass boycotts, strikes and demonstrations against the apartheid regime. She was arrested for defiantly using a whites only post office. In 1952, she became a member of the ANC’s Women's League and to the power of her oratory and mobilisation of women, was elected its President a year later. 

Most historically, August 9th, 1956, Ngoyi mobilised over 20,000 women to march in Pretoria against apartheid - it remains the largest women's protest in the country’s history. The day continues to be celebrated as National Women’s Day to mark its significance and to honour the thousands who took part. Ngoyi was considered such a threat to the apartheid regime that she spent a total of 15 years under a banning order, confining her to her home and no more than one person visiting at a time.  Her isolation and house arrest made working impossible. Ngoyi died in poverty in 1980.

Lilian Ngoyi

Muthoni Kirima (Kenya)

Muthoni Kirima was a Mau Mau freedom fighter in the fight for liberation against British colonial rule. She was the first and only woman to be ranked as a Field Marshal. Born in Kikuyu County in 1931, she grew up witnessing the injustices inflicted upon her people by minority white oppressors, which fueled her to join the movement to free her people and country from the colonial despot. 

In 1953, Muthoni joined the Mau Mau guerrilla uprising. Working as a trader, she used her frequent travels as a cover to secretly deliver information and supplies to the Mau Mau fighters who hid out in the deep forests of central Kenya. After an extremely brutal experience at the hands of colonial authorities, Muthoni fled to the Mau Mau hideout to be more involved in the movement. There she vowed not to cut her hair until her people were free, growing dreadlocks, which became symbolic of her image and those of the Mau Mau.

Along with other women, she would cook and take care of the injured fighters. But her skills as a sharpshooter and astute strategic mind were quickly noticed, earning her the nickname the “Weaver Bird”. She would lead platoons in combat until the end of the uprising in 1956. Despite their selfless acts, when the war ended, the Mau Mau were ostracised from society - they were beaten and held in detention camps. Muthoni struggled to live in independent Kenya, with no money or home, she often begged for food and slept on the street. A singular act of protest forced the Nairobi Mayor to provide her a home in her county of Nyeri, where Muthoni would spend the rest of her life. 

In 1998, she finally received national recognition from President Daniel Arap Moi, who awarded her a medal for distinguished service, and in 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta awarded her the Head of State Commendation. Muthoni died on September 4th, 2023, as a national hero and global hero of resistance.

Muthoni Kirima

Leymah Gbowee (Liberia)

Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, social worker, and women’s rights advocate. She is a 2011 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the nonviolent movement that united Christian and Muslim women to help end Liberia’s fourteen-year civil war in 2003. Born in Monrovia in 1972, Gbowee’s life was upended in 1989 by the outbreak of Liberia’s first war when she was seventeen, disrupting plans for further education. As the war abated, Leymah learned of a UNICEF counselling course to support those traumatised by the war. By this point, she also became a young mother and increasingly astute to the devastation of conflict on the country and its impact on children and their future.

In 1998, Leymah began volunteering with the Lutheran Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program (THRP), which helped rehabilitate ex-child soldiers. The following year, Liberia was at war once again. She saw how the militia exploited women during times of war; no woman and no age spared from rape and abuse.

She became a leading figure in the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), founded by Nigerian activist Thelma Ekiyor. Leymah would lead women and allied men at conferences across West Africa on the atrocities of war throughout the region, advocating for peace. Following a dream, she took to the streets handing out flyers with her muslim friend that said "We are tired! We are tired of our children being killed! We are tired of being abused!! Women, wake up – you have a voice in the peace process!". With a united following of Christian and Muslim women that prayed together, she formed Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, organising nonviolent protests, sit-ins, and even blockading peace talks to pressure leaders into reaching a settlement and holding nonviolent demonstrations to end the violence.

Her movement was instrumental in securing peace and paving the way for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s election as Africa’s first female head of state. In recognition of her efforts, Gbowee was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, for their nonviolent struggle for the safety and rights of women and their full participation in peace-building work. She continues her advocacy as founder and president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, focusing on education, leadership, and reconciliation for women and youth in West Africa

Leymah Gbowee

Khadija Gbla (Sierra Leone)

Khadija Gbla is a Sierra Leonean-born, Australian-based human rights activist renowned for her advocacy against female genital mutilation (FGM) and women’s sexual health rights. As a child, Khadija and her family were forced to flee Sierra Leone’s civil war (1991-2002) to neighbouring Gambia, living as refugees. At the age of nine,  FGM was performed on her by one of the women elders in her village with an unsterile and rusty knife—a traumatic experience that left her with lifelong physical and emotional scars.

When Khadija was 13, her family resettled in Australia. While volunteering for a charity called Women’s Health Statewide,  she realised she was a survivor of FMG, it hadn’t resonated until then that what she experienced was a violent act against women and young girls. She felt a sense of urgency to create awareness and began her activism against the plightful ritual, providing community education. Khadija later founded No FGM Australia, a not-for-profit dedicated to protecting girls and supporting FGM survivors through advocacy, training, and policy work. 

In 2018, she co-founded the Desert Flower Centre Australia, the first center in the Asia-Pacific region to offer holistic, trauma-informed care and reconstructive surgery for FGM survivors. Khadija is also a cultural consultant, keynote speaker, and ambassador for organisations supporting women, refugees, and marginalised communities. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her impact, including being named among South Australia’s 50 Most Influential Women.

Khadija Gbla