Tweet It is most often agreed that poverty, exacerbated by a lack of education, tends to lie behind a widespread belief in witchcraft. However, the reasons people seek scapegoats for their misfortunes is more complex than so. First of all, let’s establish that witch accusations are widespread around Africa. And not only accusations but also [...]
Tweet On April 11th, I’m in Stockholm as one of four keynote speakers at the launch of Africa is a Great Country, a photography exhibition by Jens Assur, taking place at Liljevalchs. I’ll be speaking alongside Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Richard Dowden and Hans Rosling and my speech is titled “Images of African women“. Africa is a Great Country is about seeing [...]
Tweet When I was seventeen, I got a job as a telephone salesperson of ink cartridges. The worst thing about the job was that I was so good at it. I was promoted and was eventually earning a serious lot of money. I don’t know what made me a successful ink cartridge seller but I [...]
Tweet One of the most popular articles in 2012 was “Why women still can’t have it all“, by Anne-Marie Slaughter in The Atlantic. It received the most facebook likes any Atlantic article has ever received and everyone from Michelle Obama to Gloria Steinem weighed in on the matter. Whether or not women can have it [...]
TweetI can’t believe I fell for your schemes, I’m smarter than that/So dumb and naive to believe that with me you’re a changed man/Foolish of me to compete when you cheat with those women /It took me some time, but now I moved on/Cause I realized I got/Me, myself and I/That’s all I got in [...]
TweetWhen people ask me what I do, and I respond that I’m a blogger, and that I blog about topics that primarily concern African women, quite often they proceed to either tell me about an humanitarian or developmental cause they are involved with or have read about. Sometimes they ask me how my blog reaches [...]
TweetThis is a transcript of a speech I delivered at the Southbank Centre in July. I call it a POWA panel because I was in the company of some of the continent’s most powerful voices and inspirations – Angelique Kidjo, Lebo Mashile, Theo Sowa and our moderator Jessica Horn. Below is also a clip of [...]
TweetI submitted the below post to the Huffington Post editors before the racist and sexist cover image of Michelle Obama as a nude slave appeared in one of Spain’s biggest newspapers, El Mundo’s, supplement. This morning an interview with Gabby Douglas went live revealing that her teammates called her a slave. Unfortunately, the constant tending [...]
Tweet ‘Blackfeminism is not white feminism in blackface‘ – Audre Lorde As a young girl I could not get my head round the society I lived in, where Nigerian men seemed to have many more privileges than women just for being men, a reality I later discovered applied in different ways to other societies as [...]
TweetAlthough Africa hosts 40% of the world’s biodiversity, 20% of forest reserves and over 50% of the energy potential in the world, what I’ll be referring to as “geocolonialism” is impeding the progress of a flourishing and sustainable environment in Africa and worldwide. This week has seen the much awaited Rio+20 take place, the largest [...]
TweetFrom May 22 – 24, the OpenForum 2012 in Cape Town will provide an unprecedented opportunity for activists, academics, businesspeople and policy-makers to take a critical look at the factors that will influence the African democracy and governance agenda over the next decade, debate the paradox of unequal growth and turn innovative ideas into action [...]
Tweet Beyonce was crowned most beautiful woman in the world by People Magazine this week and that resurfaced the skin colour topic with many debating whether the light skinned Beyonce is an accurate representation of “Black Beauty”. The skin colour conversation is important, crucial even, for similar reasons that I think we should upkeep the hair [...]
TweetI don’t tend to get surprised about racist acts, at least not when it’s so stereotypical as this whole tragic ordeal with the Swedish culture minister eating a cake of what is supposed to be a mutilated African woman. As a mixed race person I’ve experienced racism from the places where it possibly chafes the [...]
TweetUpon hearing the term African feminist, many African men and women will say, we as Africans don’t need feminism, we just need to return to our roots to see that there was harmony between the genders. The first problem with such a statement is that Africa is not that simple. African pasts are complex and [...]
TweetThe WOW – Women of the World festival returns to the UK’s largest arts centre, Southbank Centre, on Thursday 8th of March coinciding with International Women’s Day. Throughout history, many women’s achievements have gone unnoticed or unsung. I created WOW – Women of the World Festival to celebrate the formidable power of women to make [...]
Tweet Occasionally I worry I’ll hurt my mum with some of the stuff that I write about white people, or that my dad will be offended by my criticism of African men. Then I visit them in Lagos and I’m reminded of how, and why, my concerns are completely unnecessary. They expected, and are pleased, [...]
TweetI’m taking part in an event titled Mobilising Young African Women in the UK. It will be an afternoon of interactive workshops and panel discussions on December 3rd at the Africa Centre Why should you attend this event? Are you fed up with the negative images of Africa especially of women and want to promote [...]
TweetIt’s the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women today and in recognition of this dedicated day (and the 16 consecutive international activist days), I am sharing quotes from one of the best speeches on women’s liberation and the African freedom struggle by one of the most extraordinary leaders of modern history, former Burkinabe president, Thomas [...]
TweetToday marks the one year anniversary of the AWD. The idea of a Women’s Decade was hatched in 1975 at the First World conference on women, but it took years of efforts to dig the path that in 2008 manifested as the proposal for an African Women’s Decade (AWD) by ministers of gender and women affairs in [...]
Tweet Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached – Simone Weil When I think of London my thoughts float lightly because I feel detachment. Scandinavia is an abandoned home. Whenever I spend a long time (one week +) there, I’m reminded of why I moved [...]
Tweet Cross-post from my two part interview with Kathryn & Miriam from the much recommended Live Unchained project blog www.liveunchained.com @liveunchained —— For Minna Salami feminism sparked a revolution within, meaning the end of many illusions. Namely, the illusion that anything would be handed to us in terms of respect and empowerment in a world that [...]
TweetAs my feminist consciousness has developed the more I’ve become aware, both explicitly and implicitly, that there is a popular notion that feminism is un-African. Every time I write a post about feminism in an African context, I get at least one response about how feminism is this flawed, white supremacist ideology. The internet is rife [...]
TweetAfter commenting unfavourably on Rihanna in an article in The Guardian as well as in this post some months ago I didn’t think I would be praising her any time soon. But I am feeling her new song ‘Man Down’ and the accompanying video. The actual song makes me feel like dirty dancing with a pleasant [...]
TweetI attended the UN Women: The Opportunity of a Generation parliamentary event at the House of Commons today. Given the speakers; UN Under Secretary General (UN Women), Michelle Bachelet, Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Harriet Harman, my expectation was to leave with a plethora [...]
TweetToday marks the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). It’s striking that the centenary should fall on the same year in which women world-over find themselves at the forefront of significant political and social events. For example, 2011 has seen the launch of UN Women headed by former Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet. Also, Brazil’s [...]
TweetToday marks the start of International Women’s Month, and this year is also the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on the 8th of March. The reasoning behind all of these events is to celebrate and acknowledge women’s history and achievements that are overlooked and devalued in history books. Take for example, we all know [...]
TweetI get many emails especially from young women asking about feminism, and who inspired my feminism. In another post I quoted the poet Jessica Horn about her mothers influence on her feminism. And personally, her words resonate. I was raised by a woman that I have come to recognise as a revolutionary mother, who used the [...]
Tweetin·spi·ra·tion Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity. Thursday 03/02/11: Experienced lack of stimulation of the mind resulting in a low level of feeling towards activity = leth·ar·gy I’ve been feeling sluggish this week, and particularly yesterday. I tackled work assignments in the morning, went to an interesting [...]
TweetThe year is 2011. I’m at home in Lagos, Nigeria. I feel excited about the year to come. I always feel excited about a new year, there is always a chance for more of everything, that’s what I like about it. I’m thinking about 2010, the people I met, what I learnt, what I (still) [...]
Tweet For many years I’ve kept this secret, but I’m now ready to get out of the closet and reveal that I am straight. Yes, heterosexual. I know, I know, it’s controversial for a woman to be straight nowadays, but I’ll try to cope with the discerning looks from passersby when I walk hand in [...]
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