Justine Masika Bihamba
In a recent op-ed in the Guardian, Justine Masika Bihamba, activist and founder of Synergie des Femmes, highlights the role of Congolese women leading the fight against sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She also emphasizes that Congo needs more women in positions of political power.
She argues that she and the women in her country do not see themselves in the “rape capital of the world” but in a nation of “sisterhood and solidarity.” She writes that Congolese women have taken their future into their own hands and are risking their lives every day to build peace and end sexual violence. Bihamba adds that while Congolese women may have few resources, they have an enormous amount of know-how and to achieve peace in Congo, they need to be taken seriously. “Only 8% of parliament is female,” she writes. “We have been almost completely left out of peace-building efforts – apart from the occasional inclusion of one or two women to take notes while men speak.”
Click here to read the full op-ed in the Guardian.