International Women’s Day: Choosing to challenge half the story on women and girls

Dr Maureen Miruka, Country Director of CARE Kenya.

In the words of Malala Yousafzai, a female feminist activist and the youngest Nobel Prize from Pakistan, “I raise up my voice not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”

Inequitable gender norms and patriarchal systems continue to disadvantage women and girls across developing countries in Africa. These lead to a range of inequalities, from Gender Based Violence to the undervaluing of domestic and care work, to women’s exclusion from leadership positions.