Where were the women?

That’s the question we’re always left asking when we hear history. We’re taught how men fought for independence, became the first presidents, and filled the pages of history books. Their faces are on our money, in documentaries, on road signs, and cast in statues. But what about the women? Are we meant to believe we sat idle while colonialism rolled on?

History belongs to those who write it, and for centuries, the world has gone out of its way to keep women, especially Black women, from telling our own stories. Misogyny and patriarchy have kept our work undocumented, uncelebrated, and erased but the truth is we were always there. Women like Mama Julia Chikamoneka, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and countless unnamed freedom fighters led movements, kept communities alive, and fought for liberation alongside men.

When it came time to write history, we were left out. Men got books, documentaries, museum wings, and power, while women got scattered mentions and footnotes. That ends now. Rogue women African exists to document the women past and present who have built, shaped, and imagined the world we want to live in. This is a space to remember, to celebrate, and to ensure that in years to come, when African women look around at museums, money, politics, and history, they will never have to ask again: Where were the women?

Archiving African women.

Gallery

Explore the visual stories of Rogue Women Africa.