21st Century Afropolitan

The role of women in African society is a hotly debated issue and has been so since the turn of the 20 th century. This debate is often carried out in reductionist terms by people from various sides of the debating position. While Western Institutions and policy think tanks and opinion shapers like the Brookings Institute often appear to champion the need to and the importance of empowering African women, it is often done with neoimperialist tones and with the broader goal of depicting Africa as the dark continent and Africans as culturally in the dark ages. It must be said that it is not just think tanks that do this, but Western leaders as well in their so-called culture wars. Recently, French president Emmanuel Macron said Africa is held back by civilizational problems instead of the reality of the many factors, including French stranglehold on Africa’s resources since the colonial and slavery days that continue to leave Arica poor. On the other side of this