10 Critical demands to unleash Young African Women’s creativity

We are Anti-Romanticizing creativity and Innovation

Africa doesn’t lack innovation or creativity. African women have proved it. Creativity for survival, creativity in advocacy and resistance. Women as active producers for liberatory possibilities have not gone unnoticed. Yet, what underpins the creative and innovative endeavors are deep inequalities, hierarchies of differences and politics of exclusion. Young African women have said enough is enough. The care economy has fallen short of support. It has failed a generation of young women forced to pour their labor into securing food and leading households. The compromise was clear: creative versus basic needs. Young African women are threatened by erasure from narratives, spaces, digital and creative revolutions.

10 Demands #UnleashingPotential

We have come together, listened, and acted.

During her tenure of office as African Union Special Envoy on Youth, Ms.Aya Chebbi convened 5 regional consultations, North to West, South to East. Joined by civil organisation and grassroot movements, 1500 young women and men outlined their contextual challenges resulting in the African Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto. The Manifesto sets out 10 demands for the Generation Equality Forum with a clear message: Enough is enough. The demands on the right to digital freedoms and economic justice, among others, can untie the patriarchal bonds challenging women’s liberation. When the Young women and men showed up, they reiterated their commitment for collective action to achieve gender equality. What remains of critical urgency is the timeframe by which the 10 demands will be met. Support the demands. Sign the manifesto.

Against the Erasure of Women’s voices from creative economies

Young African women choose creativity as a route for survival. This emerged not just through the demands of the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto, but also in the work of 25 pioneer young African women featured in the first feminist publication of the African Union in October 2020. The publication and blog Sauti صوتي provided a platform to widen the reach of the 25 women’s impact on their communities. Their stories depict aspirations for leadership—to innovate and to live with dignity. This Africa is where the future is young and female, and it is this belief driving the mission and vision of Nala.

 

SOURCE: 10 Critical demands to unleash Young African Women’s creativity

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