Equality is not an abstract ideal, it is a daily, collective, and intergenerational construction

Dear friends,

Today, March 8, 2025, we come together once again to celebrate International Women’s Day. We do so with unwavering commitment and the certainty that the fight for women’s equality, dignity, and peace cannot afford setbacks.

For over a decade, the Women for Africa Foundation has been working alongside African women to strengthen their leadership, rights, and opportunities. And today, on March 8, we raise our voices for all of them, especially for those who suffer from the violence of war and the injustice of oblivion.

The world is going through times of great uncertainty. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Sudan, conflicts continue to drag on and worsen, leaving behind devastation and suffering, with women and girls as the main victims of violence. Their bodies remain battlefields, their rights a bargaining chip, their security an unattainable luxury. We cannot and must not normalize this.

Let us remember that indifference is complicity. We cannot remain silent in the face of the impunity with which their rights are violated. We cannot accept that the international community looks the other way while millions of women have their lives and futures stolen.

We cannot allow hard-won rights to be taken away, nor can we let the fight for equality come to a halt, especially in places where women continue to be victims of violence and discrimination.

But, dear friends, today is also a day to celebrate the power of unity and action. Equality is not an abstract ideal; it is a daily, collective, and intergenerational construction. And in Africa, women show us every day that transformation is possible when we organize, when we support each other, when we turn sisterhood into a driving force for change.

Lasting peace is only possible if women participate in its creation. The Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, adopted by the United Nations over two decades ago, reminds us of the fundamental importance of including women in peace processes. Wherever women are present in negotiations and decision-making, solutions are fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable.

In contexts like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ignoring women means perpetuating conflict. Their leadership is key to breaking cycles of violence and ensuring the reconstruction of more equitable and stable societies.

At the Women for Africa Foundation, we support and promote women’s leadership in peace processes because we know that without them, there is no future. We know that equality is the foundation upon which stability, justice, and democracy must be built—both in Africa and around the world.

Today, we reaffirm our commitment to them, to their struggles, to their rights. And we do so with the conviction that the future will be feminist—or there will be no future at all. Because women will not step back. We will not give in. And we will not allow anyone to take away what we have fought so hard to achieve.

Together, we are stronger. Unity and solidarity among women are essential to driving the changes we need and continuing to advance in the fight for our rights.

Let us keep moving forward, let us stay united, and let us continue fighting with determination and with joy—because joy is also resistance, and it fuels our struggle.

Thank you