‘Women are lions in dresses’

It is a popular belief that women embody a force and hope for change in Africa, and in the world more widely. In a message on International Women’s Day, Dr Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, suggested that it is women who hold the key to a better world:

When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier and better fed; their income, savings and reinvestment go up. And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries.