7 Inspiring Women Pioneers and Activists

Serlina Boyd

What started off as a home project with her young daughter Faith during the lockdown of 2020, Serlina Boyd launched the UK’s first Black children’s Magazine called Cocoa Girl, then Cocoa Boy. She has gone from strength to strength and continues to create fantastic opportunities for Black children to contribute to the magazine as young journalists, artists etc.

Manal Al – Sharif

The ‘driving’ force behind the campaign #Women2Drive, Manal dared to challenge the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. She released a video of herself driving and inspired many Saudi women to do the same. This wasn’t without consequences as she was arrested twice.

Helen Keller

Having been left deaf and blind due to a fever as a young child, Helen Keller became a disability rights activist. She was the first Deafblind graduate of Radcliffe College (now Harvard University) in 1904 and, for over 40 years until her death in 1968, she worked for the American Foundation for the Blind. Helen advocated for specialist schools for the blind to be set up and for reading materials to be available in braille.

Fadumo Dayib

During childhood in Somalia, Fadumo Dayib and her family had to flee the civil war. She had not been able to attend school in Somalia and, did not learn to read and write until age 14. The family settled in Finland but, Fadumo never forgot about her country. After gaining three master’s degrees, Fadumo went on to work with the United Nations and set up hospitals across Somalia. In 2016, as a politician, she was the first woman to run for President of Somalia.

Jaha Dukureh

As a survivor of FGM and being forced into marriage twice as a child, Jaha Dukureh has shown courage and bravery to speak out about violence against women and girls. She has made it her mission to end FGM and child marriage. As the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for Africa, not only is she working with governments and organisations to eradicate FGM and child marriage, Jaha recognises how crucial it is for communities themselves to bring about change. “ Change has to be led by people with the lived experience that can stand up and say, we are against this for this reason because we know what it feels like and we have been through it.”