Introduction: Women’s Activism for Gender Equity in Africa

This special joint issue of the Journal of International Women’s Studies (JIWS) and WAGADU focuses on women’s activism and women’s movements in different countries and cultures throughout Africa and the African Diaspora. The project represents a collaboration between two online, open-access journals that address gender and women’s issues within a transnational and cross-cultural context. The essays, which are distributed between the two journals, use interdisciplinary feminist and activist approaches to reveal the different forms of personal and communal actions being undertaken by African women today in cultural, social, economic, and political arenas. In showing the diversity of African women’s activism; the underlying issues around which activism develops; and the impact of women’s activism on individuals, communities, and nations, this dual project has relevance for women and men throughout the world