The Global Impact we Overlook
The International Day of Women and Girls of African Descent exists because history has been selective with its attention. It has recorded discovery while ignoring context. It has celebrated progress while overlooking whose hands were doing the work. This day provides a necessary interruption. A deliberate space to name what should never have been left out.
Across disciplines, borders, and generations, the women and girls of Africa have been engaged in knowledge-making that is precise, context-aware, and deeply practical. Their contributions are not defined by exception. They are ongoing. They have shaped systems of health, technology, agriculture, and education. All too often, their work goes unrecognised.
It is time that we stop pretending that science, innovation, and leadership are the domain of the Global North.
The reality is that women across the African continent are not waiting to be included. They are already leading, teaching, questioning and solving, anchored in the realities of their communities and contributing to wider global knowledge. Their work responds to immediate needs: how to make healthcare more accessible, how to develop sustainable farming practices, how to protect biodiversity in fragile ecosystems. Their efforts are framed by impact, not accolades. In fields like health, chemistry, engineering, and environmental science, they are shaping futures in ways that are grounded and methodical.
Dr. Rose Gana Fomban Leke has worked extensively in parasitology, transforming malaria research in Cameroon. Her research and advocacy have informed and shaped global strategies, particularly in relation to malaria in pregnancy. Â But her influence extends beyond her scientific contributions. She has spent decades mentoring and building institutions, making space for young African scientists to carry out meaningful work without having to leave their own contexts.
Dr. Tebello Nyokong, a chemist born in Lesotho and raised under apartheid South Africa, has developed innovative approaches to cancer treatment through photodynamic therapy, developing less toxic, more affordable treatment options. Her work began in a system stacked against her, from racial segregation in education to gender bias in academia. Today she stands as one of the continent’s most decorated scientists, but she continues to teach, mentor, and push for resources where they are most needed.
Dr. Tolullah Oni, a physician and researcher born in Nigeria and based in South Africa, focuses on the structures that shape health long before someone enters a clinic. She explores the connections between city design, food access, and air quality. Her work creates pathways for policy grounded in lived experience, not imported models.
Dr. Nashwa Abo Alhassan Eassa, born in Sudan, is a physicist specialising in nanotechnology. She leads research at Al-Neelain University in Khartoum and spearheads solar‑driven water purification projects that focus on environmental protection. Her work spans physics, materials science, and public health in the Sudanese context, demonstrating how advanced scientific research can be locally grounded without losing its international relevance.
Dr. Rabia Salihu Sa’id, a physicist from Nigeria, has worked to understand climate variability and its effects on the environment. She is also known for her commitment to science education, particularly for girls in northern Nigeria. Her career reflects a deep belief in the value of combining scientific inquiry with public engagement, education, and advocacy.
These are not isolated achievements. They are part of a broader landscape, one where many women work without platforms or professional titles, but with deep technical skill. Midwives logging health data in remote clinics. Teachers constructing science lessons from repurposed materials. Women farmers adapting seed choices to unpredictable seasons. Girls building radios from discarded parts, learning circuitry through their own experimentation. Lab technicians working through power cuts and shortages. Community health workers collecting data with nothing more than a clipboard and a deep understanding of the people they serve.
This is not science on the margins. This is science that holds communities together. And it continues to be overlooked because it doesn’t match the dominant narratives of prestige and polish.
It is time to take seriously what has been made possible through the persistence, labour, and attention of these women and girls.
Acknowledging this day is only a beginning. Without sustained follow-through, it risks becoming just another well-meaning gesture. There is a need to confront the structures that continue to limit access: funding that favours institutions in the Global North, academic publishing that privileges certain geographies and voices, research networks that are shaped by who is already inside. These patterns are not theoretical or abstract. They determine whose work is funded, cited, and taken seriously. They shape what counts as knowledge.
What’s needed is a shift in how systems respond to expertise. Funders, institutions, and decision-makers must pay attention not only to outcomes but to process. They must examine who sets the terms, who receives support, and who is consistently being overlooked and left out of the conversation.
The women of Africa are not waiting to be recognised. Their questions and research already shape vital responses to the challenges we face in public health, climate disruption, sustainable agriculture, and digital inclusion. The work is already happening. What remains is the task of recognition, resourcing, and respect.