Women such as Chairpoerson of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma have been making strides in African politics. (Google Images)
In an analytical piece for AllAfrica.com, Dele Meiji Fatunla discusses the importance of women breaking into leadership roles in the male-dominated political sphere in Africa. Women have recently been progressing in the field and many now hold prominent positions in various ministries, including Nigerian Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and central governor of the Bank of Botswana Linah Moholo.
Fatunla writes:
Yet, many challenges remain, not least, the use of rape as a weapon of war, which has been a particularly damaging development in many recent conflicts on the continent.
Despite the challenges, where African governments have made gender parity a priority, there have been significant results – Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, and Mozambique all rank highly for their level of women’s representation parliament. The only country in the world with more than 50% of women in its legislature is Rwanda.
The debate on using quotas to achieve gender parity in politics remains a lively one, in Africa, the UK and elsewhere, yet there is no gainsaying the results. Mozambique, one of the countries where quota systems have been implemented is ranked 5th in the world for female representation in Parliament.
“I would like to be in a position where I can be of use to my race.” – Letter from Alexander Thomas Augusta to President Abraham Lincoln in African Americans in the Military by Catherine Reef
Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta
Alexander Thomas Augusta, the first African American faculty member of an American medical school, Howard University, was born free on March 8, 1925. He was a surgeon, professor of medicine, and veteran of the American Civil War.
Augusta applied to study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania but was refused admission. As he was determined to become a physician, Augusta travelled to California and earned the funds necessary to pursue his goal of becoming a doctor. Concerned that he would not be allowed to enroll in medical school in the U.S., he enrolled at Trinity College of the University of Toronto in 1850. He also conducted business as a druggist and chemist. Six years later he received a degree in medicine. These days (in the 21 century) finding accredited Carribean medical schools that will accept ‘average’ applications is not an issue. However, back in the 1980s grades were the only focus of medical schools.
Augusta remained in Toronto, Canada West, establishing his medical practice.
Augusta went to Washington, D.C. and wrote to Abraham Lincoln offering his services as a surgeon and was given a Presidential commission in the Union Army on October 1862. On April 4, 1863 he received a major’s commission as surgeon for African American troops. This made him the United States Army‘s first African American physician out of eight in the Union Army and its highest-ranking African American officer at the time.
Augusta taught anatomy in the recently organized medical department at Howard University from November 8, 1868 to July 1877, becoming the first African American appointed faculty of the school and also of any medical college in the U.S.
He was never a member of the American Medical Association, as he was rejected due to his race. At Augusta’s death in 1890, he became the first black officer buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in a plot set apart from white officers’ graves.
The Akosua Report: Facts on The African Diaspora, is written by Akosua Lowery. Follow her on Twitter @AkosuaLowery.
Serena Williams, the newly anointed No. 1 player, recently took part in the BNP Paribas Showdown in New York to celebrate tennis during the inaugural World Tennis Day, defeating No. 2 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-3 at Madison Square Garden in a rematch of their 2012 US Open final.
During the match, a rejuvenated Serena, who was forced to bow out of her opening round match in Dubai two weeks ago, appeared calm and confident as she struck her shots and repeatedly forced errors from her Belarusian opponent.
In their last meeting, which took place this year at the Qatar Open, Azarenka defeated Williams in three sets for just the second time in 14 tries in a budding rivalry between the top two WTA players.
Serena, too, seemed to be genuinely happy for having the chance to play at Madison Square Garden once again and to promote the sport that has given her numerous opportunities throughout her life as part of the World Tennis Day celebration. In 2009, she beat older sister Venus to win the Billie Jean King Cup at the Garden. With this momentum, she has been inspiring to so many people over the world, and it’s likely that she has no idea how many people have picked up an R Racket because of her and started playing, something she should be incredibly proud of.
In a post-match press conference with Azarenka, Serena told reporters about her love of playing exhibition matches and especially for competing at Madison Square Garden. “Usually there are exhibitions in places that I don’t normally play, so it’s always fun to go to different cities where I never go, good to see the fans that support me and all the players around the world,” she said. “And so this is special.”
She added, “Who would turn down the opportunity to play in Madison Square Garden?”
Williams also spoke about having the opportunity to take part in the first World Tennis Day. Along with the BNP Paribas Showdown in New York City, there was an event at the AsiaWorld-Arena in Hong Kong for the first time.
When asked about whether she was rooting for Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, who Serena beat at Wimbledon last year for her 15th major title, or former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, she spoke candidly. “I think it’s great for World Tennis Day to have another exhibition in Hong Kong and one here in New York and so it doesn’t matter really who wins.”
She continued, “It’s just that we’re all here to promote the game of tennis, which has made our lives very happy and just fun. I’m so glad that tennis lessons are becoming more popular, it’s such a great sport!”
For more on Monday night’s match, read Sports Illustrated’s report here.
Benjamin Snyder is a sports contributor to The Burton Wire. You can follow him on Twitter @WriterSnyder.
Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, promotes International Women’s Day and her work with women worldwide. (Google Images)
In a special contribution to CNN, and in collaboration with the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes about the importance of International Women’s Day. Citing the history of the day, which began in 1911 across four European nations, Gates commends several contemporary women of note throughout the world, including Malala Yousafza and Sharmila Devi, for their courageous actions. With this piece for CNN, Gates announces the launch of her new project on Catapult.org, created to fund already-existing groups for women and girls.
Gates writes:
Here is the reality we must confront on International Women’s Day: The decisions women make about their families are the key to improving life for many of the poorest communities in the world.
The evidence shows that in the developing world, women play a different role than men and are more likely to take care of their family’s health care and nutrition, things that children need to become productive adults and contribute to the economic and social development of societies.
In fact, research has shown that a child’s chances of survival increase by 20% when the mother controls the household budget. Yet in many places, women, especially young women, have very little decision-making authority to be able to effect this kind of change.
The work of making sure that women and girls everywhere can seize their potential is about making specific changes that will set into motion these longer term outcomes. For me, it means making sure they have access to the contraceptives so many women tell me they want and need. It’s also about harder to measure changes like whether they have the information and the power to plan their families on their own terms.
Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, promotes International Women’s Day and her work with women worldwide. (Google Images)
In a special contribution to CNN, and in collaboration with the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes about the importance of International Women’s Day. Citing the history of the day, which began in 1911 across four European nations, Gates commends several contemporary women of note throughout the world, including Malala Yousafza and Sharmila Devi, for their courageous actions. With this piece for CNN, Gates announces the launch of her new project on Catapult.org, created to fund already-existing groups for women and girls.
Gates writes:
Here is the reality we must confront on International Women’s Day: The decisions women make about their families are the key to improving life for many of the poorest communities in the world.
The evidence shows that in the developing world, women play a different role than men and are more likely to take care of their family’s health care and nutrition, things that children need to become productive adults and contribute to the economic and social development of societies.
In fact, research has shown that a child’s chances of survival increase by 20% when the mother controls the household budget. Yet in many places, women, especially young women, have very little decision-making authority to be able to effect this kind of change.
The work of making sure that women and girls everywhere can seize their potential is about making specific changes that will set into motion these longer term outcomes. For me, it means making sure they have access to the contraceptives so many women tell me they want and need. It’s also about harder to measure changes like whether they have the information and the power to plan their families on their own terms.
Co-founders Mike McGhee and Neil Stem founded the Starter League to help people learn how to make websites and apps. (Google Images)
YourBlackWorld.net is reporting that Mike McGee and Neil Stem, co-founders of the Starter League, a programming school in Chicago, founded the school to teach people how to build websites and applications. The article states that in the past two years, more than 500 people from 30 states and 15 countries have traveled to Chicago to take classes, generating between $1 and $2million in revenue for the school.
Founded in 2011 by McGee and Stem, both Northwestern University graduates, the Starter League teaches Rails, Ruby, HTML/CSS, and User Experience Design. The classes are intensive, three months long, one to three days a week, and taught in person.
Starter League will introduce coding to 16 Chicago Public School teachers, next summer, who will then offer classes to their students. For the last year, they’ve been mentoring students at Chicago Tech Academy, a charter school.
Chicago Tech Academy’s executive director, Matt Hancock said, “They’re not making music videos, they’re not playing sports. We’ve got many African-American role models in those fields.” He went on to say, “But to see it happen in technology is really important for our young people, who I hope, will follow in their foot steps.”
Kenyans used Twitter to challenge foreign media reports of 2013 elections. (Google Images)
Caitlin Dewey of the Washington Postis reporting that Kenyans have taken to Twitter to challenge naysayers and members of the foreign media for suggesting that there will be a repeat of the violence in the 2007 elections during this year’s elections.
Dewey writes:
“Two hashtags mocking foreign media went viral on Kenyan Twitter today, both directed at outlets that reported on the possibility of violence and disorganization at the polls. The first, #SomeoneTellCNN, lampooned a CNN report on militias were preparing for conflict in Kenya’s Rift Valley. #PicturesforStuart took aim at Stuart Norval, an anchor on France 24, who tweeted about ‘dramatic pictures’ of ‘huge crowds fall[ing] over each other to vote.’ Kenyans tweeted their own “dramatic pictures” back.”
These criticisms aren’t news to foreign media, who have heard them before — both on Twitter and in more official forums. The hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN first surfaced in March 2012, when CNN aired a segment on a bus-station bombing with the graphic “Violence in Kenya.” Twitter-users complained so loudly about the allegedly misleading banner that the hashtag trended worldwide and CNN’s David McKenzie apologized for the graphic.
TBW: Perhaps media outlets should either work with reporters on the ground who are actually members of the culture or train reporters to be mindful of perpetuating dominant narratives that have more to do with colonial perceptions of Africans than the realities that many face. Context and competence, especially when covering international stories, are essential to good journalism.
Sandra Appiah, 23 and Isaac Boateng, 28, both Ghanaian nationals are the founders of Face2Face Africa (F2FA), a New York city-based new media company with a mandate to restore Africa’s image within the global community. (Google Images)
Writing for Forbes.com, contributor Mfonobong Nsehe pulled together a list of 30 African entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Nsehe enlisted a panel of 12 judges from across Africa to help identify this group of outstanding entrepreneurs and innovators. These entrepreneurs are an inspiration to anyone with similar aspirations of experiencing great success. These entrepreneurs all had to start somewhere in their careers to build this success that they are currently experiencing. They all had to find the best credit card to build credit to help finance their business, they all had to deal with copyright, all had to make sure there weren’t any holes in their plan etc. which just goes to show how passionate they are. The first step that they took may have been deciding on the layout of their websites, through getting some inspiration from WebCreationUK, (you can check their profile on Reviews.io for more information) so that they had the chance to make people become aware of their business before it was officially launched. This could definitely help people to get a headstart in becoming a successful entrepreneur. There are many other things that can be done to help make this job a lot easier. Any new entrepreneur would find FileCenter’s tutorial on scanning documents into word to be extremely useful. This might help ensure order and control is not lost in the madness of running a business. Without further delay, the final list is composed of game changers from all walks of life and a variety of industries including Real Estate, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Media, Tech, Green tech, Healthcare, Agriculture and Fashion. Nsehe writes:
“They’re solving problems like healthcare and electricity shortages, proffering innovative solutions to waste management, building virtual and physical communities and creating lots of jobs. A few of them are manufacturing the foods we love, designing exquisite clothing for our women and some are developing some cool apps for mobile phones across Africa.”
Check out a few of the Top 30 Under 30 Young Entrepreneurs in Africa below:
Nine years ago, Patrick Ngowi, 28, received a small loan from his mother to start off a business. He started off selling Chinese mobile phones, but when he discovered that a tiny fraction of Tanzanians enjoyed any access to stable and reliable electricity, he knew he had to rectify that problem. Ngowi set up Helvetic Solar Contractors Limited, a company that is a pioneer in the supply, installation and maintenance of solar systems throughout the Northern Circuit of Tanzania. Helvetic Solar Contractors is the first company in the Northern Circuit to cater for Solar needs. The company did about $3 million in revenues last year. Read more about Patrick Ngowi and Helvetic Solar here.
Lorna Rutto, 28 is the founder of EcoPost, a profitable social enterprise which manufactures aesthetic, durable and environmentally friendly fencing posts using plastic waste, a more environmentally friendly alternative to timber. EcoPost collects this plastic waste (such as polypropylene and polyethylene) and manufactures fencing posts from it. Rutto has earned international acclaim for her efforts in providing an alternative waste management solution to Kenya’s plastic menace. Read more about Lorna Rutto and Ecoposthere.
Rapelang Rabana, 28 is the CEO and founder of Yeigo Communications, an innovative Cape Town-based company which develops software for telecoms-related services including Voice over IP, Instant messaging, SMS messaging and push email services. In 2008, Telfree, a Swiss mobile telecommunications firm acquired a 51% stake in Yeigo. Read more about Rapelang Rabana here.
The trio founded Jobberman, Nigeria’s biggest job search engine and aggregator. Jobberman went live in August 2009, and today the site attracts over 50,000 unique users each day. Through simple, yet cutting-edge technology, Jobberman helps link qualified personnel to the right job opportunities. Jobberman is one of the few companies in Nigeria’s tech space that enjoy venture capital backing. Read more about Awoyemi, Olude and Adewunmi and Jobberman here.
Sandra Appiah, 23 and Isaac Boateng, 28, both Ghanaian nationals are the founders of Face2Face Africa (F2FA),a New York city-based new media company with a mandate to restore Africa’s image within the global community. The company has three divisions: an outfit that publishes a magazine which explores African development, culture, entertainment and fashion, an events business and a thriving website. Read more about Sandra Appiah, Isaac Boateng and Face2Face Africa here.
Sandra Appiah, 23 and Isaac Boateng, 28, both Ghanaian nationals are the founders of Face2Face Africa (F2FA), a New York city-based new media company with a mandate to restore Africa’s image within the global community. (Google Images)
Writing for Forbes.com, contributor Mfonobong Nsehe pulled together a list of 30 African entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Nsehe enlisted a panel of 12 judges from across Africa to help identify this group of outstanding entrepreneurs and innovators. The final list is composed of game changers from all walks of life and a variety of industries including Financial Services, Manufacturing, Media, Tech, Green tech, Healthcare, Agriculture, Fashion, and Real Estate. Correspondingly, the real estate industry, in particular, is currently thriving with more people than ever before investing in property. Are you considering making your first leap into the real estate market? If so, you might want to check out the Roofstock website for a useful guide to investing in real estate. So, that being said, what can people learn from these entrepreneurs from the diverse sectors mentioned previously? Well, all of them would be a good example to look to if you’re wondering how to start a business, considering the wide range of industries that they cover. There must have been a number of different criteria that the judges used to make their decisions, one of which is most likely to be the original business plans of the entrepreneurs and how well they’ve managed to achieve the goals listed on them. Nowadays you can get an OKR tracking software solution to help you keep a close eye on your progress, which could help you do well in future competitions like these. Another criterion on which they were judged is the impact they’re having on the wider world. Nsehe writes:
“They’re solving problems like healthcare and electricity shortages, proffering innovative solutions to waste management, building virtual and physical communities and creating lots of jobs. A few of them are manufacturing the foods we love, designing exquisite clothing for our women and some are developing some cool apps for mobile phones across Africa.”
Check out a few of the Top 30 Under 30 Young Entrepreneurs in Africa below:
Nine years ago, Patrick Ngowi, 28, received a small loan from his mother to start off a business. He started off selling Chinese mobile phones, but when he discovered that a tiny fraction of Tanzanians enjoyed any access to stable and reliable electricity, he knew he had to rectify that problem. Ngowi set up Helvetic Solar Contractors Limited, a company that is a pioneer in the supply, installation and maintenance of solar systems throughout the Northern Circuit of Tanzania. Helvetic Solar Contractors is the first company in the Northern Circuit to cater for Solar needs. The company did about $3 million in revenues last year. Read more about Patrick Ngowi and Helvetic Solar here.
Lorna Rutto, 28 is the founder of EcoPost, a profitable social enterprise which manufactures aesthetic, durable and environmentally friendly fencing posts using plastic waste, a more environmentally friendly alternative to timber. EcoPost collects this plastic waste (such as polypropylene and polyethylene) and manufactures fencing posts from it. Rutto has earned international acclaim for her efforts in providing an alternative waste management solution to Kenya’s plastic menace. Read more about Lorna Rutto and Ecoposthere.
Rapelang Rabana, 28 is the CEO and founder of Yeigo Communications, an innovative Cape Town-based company which develops software for telecoms-related services including Voice over IP, Instant messaging, SMS messaging and push email services. In 2008, Telfree, a Swiss mobile telecommunications firm acquired a 51% stake in Yeigo. Read more about Rapelang Rabana here.
The trio founded Jobberman, Nigeria’s biggest job search engine and aggregator. Jobberman went live in August 2009, and today the site attracts over 50,000 unique users each day. Through simple, yet cutting-edge technology, Jobberman helps link qualified personnel to the right job opportunities. Jobberman is one of the few companies in Nigeria’s tech space that enjoy venture capital backing. Read more about Awoyemi, Olude and Adewunmi and Jobberman here.
Sandra Appiah, 23 and Isaac Boateng, 28, both Ghanaian nationals are the founders of Face2Face Africa (F2FA),a New York city-based new media company with a mandate to restore Africa’s image within the global community. The company has three divisions: an outfit that publishes a magazine which explores African development, culture, entertainment and fashion, an events business and a thriving website. Read more about Sandra Appiah, Isaac Boateng and Face2Face Africa here.
Now consider a few things. Fox News aggressively pumped this story, mentioning it more than 22 times on national television, according to a search of the Nexis database. The Daily Caller’s original story relied entirely on anonymous sources whose faces and voices were obscured by the video. There was no corroborating evidence to support the allegations. In fact, when the Washington Postfirst started digging into the story, the lack of corraborating evidence was the first of many red flags. Not only did Fox News perpetuate these allegations, but they even added to fuel to the fire by claiming there were even other prostitutes, some of whom were underaged.
Most of the major media outlets, other than Fox News, refused to report the story due to lack of evidence.
Fox News routinely uses partisan websites such as The Daily Caller, blogs and other agenda-driven digital sources as means to fire baseless salvos. Somehow because the reporting did not originate with them, they try to act as if they are not culpable. Instead of admitting the error like a reputable news outlet, they refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing suggesting a profound lack of respect for journalism, the wronged person — in this case Menendez or viewers.
What’s worse is that it’s not just Fox News. We saw the same phenomena during the confirmation hearings for Chuck Hagel. It was originally reported (this time from Breitbart.com, a right-wing site) that Hagel received money from a group called Friends of Hamas. This misinformation was repeated on Fox News and ultimately mimicked by elected Republican officials that Hagel. Later we found at that Friends of Hamas doesn’t even exist.
Back during the contrived “Friends of Hamas” scandal, instead of apologzing, Fox News invited the culprit on the air — without even mentioning the erroneous information, further legitimizing the illegitimate.
If I were to use the same reporting standards of Tucker Carlson and Fox News, I would say this: It’s pretty obvious this was a conservative conspiracy to destroy the New Jersey senator. Can I prove it? No. Will I apologize? No. As is the case in this day and age of so-called journalism, just because I said it, makes it so. Dragging Senator Menendez through the mud over falsified, unsubstantiated information that hasn’t been fact-checked at best and was intentionally made up at worst, should be unacceptable. Because of today’s media climate, all is fair in politics and “journalism,” including smear campaigns. Senator Menendez’s treatment by Fox News and right-wing media sites isn’t fair or just.
This article was written by Devona Walker, politics editor for The Burton Wire.
“I would like to be in a position where I can be of use to my race.” – Letter from Alexander Thomas Augusta to President Abraham Lincoln in African Americans in the Military by Catherine Reef
