Feminism in Africa
Gender, Knowledge and Resistance

Fatou Sow (Author), Matthew B. Smith (Translated by)

9781509567737, Polity Press

Hardback, published 29 May 2026

186 pages
21.8 x 14.2 x 2 cm, 0.34 kg

"Professor Fatou Sow is a towering figure in feminist analysis and global women's human rights advocacy. Her expert analysis of Feminism in Africa is a must-read in these times of backlash against women's rights. It affirms both the universality of feminist claims, and the importance of context and history in interpreting them. The book's exploration of the impact of fundamentalisms, of cultural debates and of identity politics on African women's struggles for equality is especially powerful. Professor Sow's striking 'refusal to accept an identity formed through oppression and domination' when violations of women's dignity are justified in the name of identity is an important rejoinder to fashionable cultural particularist arguments."
Karima Bennoune, University of Michigan Law School

Raising feminist concerns about the struggles of African women amid debates surrounding the socio-cultural, economic and political future of Africa remains an immense challenge. Fatou Sow, the renowned Senegalese feminist activist and academic, illustrates here her own journey through a continuously developing global discourse. Her fundamental aim is to demonstrate the emergence and development of women's and feminist studies in Africa, highlighting its achievements, failures and, most importantly, its complexity.

She argues that it is crucial to examine the influence of the patriarchy in light of Africa's historical matriarchal systems, which form the basis of the continent's social structures. Feminist research must also evaluate how gender intersects with age, class, ethnicity, caste, race and religious disparities, among other inequalities prevalent on the continent. As an African feminist, rooted in her African context and cultures, Sow is compelled to analyze conflicting realities, transformations and contradictions, as well as the complex contributions that are specific to different times and places. African cultures are not just relics of struggles against a colonial West, a West defined by domination. These cultures are primarily memories and living spaces that are deconstructed and reinvented daily, at every moment, with each generation, marked by triumphs and defeats.

Foreword – Mame-Fatou Niang
Introduction

FIRST PART
AFRICAN FEMINISMS: CHARTING FEMINIST MOVEMENTS, DOING FEMINIST RESEARCH
I. Political Mobilisation of Women in West Africa
II. The Appropriation of Gender Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa
III. Feminist Movements in Africa

SECOND PART
AFRICAN WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS: FACING RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
IV. Female Genital Mutilation and Human Rights in Africa
V. Who Owns Women's Bodies?
VI. Religion and Politics in Sub-Saharan African Secular States

CONCLUSION
AFRICAN FEMINISM NOW
VII. The Representation of Women and Claims to Citizens’ Rights in Africa: Beyond a Political Debate
VIII. What Secularism Means for African Women's Rights and Citizenship

Bibliographical References
Notes

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]