Instruction and Class Guides

Women's Issues in Africa: Finding Information on the Web

Use the Web as part of a comprehensive, integrated research strategy that includes the services and resources of the library and use of bibliographic and other databases.

For an introduction to doing research on Africa using Web resources in the library and beyond, consult:

Web Resources for the Study of Africa (http://www.bu.edu/library/instruction/africa.html)

For guidance in researching women in Africa and other developing areas, consult:

Research Guide: Women in Developing Countries (http://www.bu.edu/library/guides/wid.html)

Some helpful databases:

Contemporary Women's Issues [Log-in required] A full-text database, international in scope, covering such topics as health and reproductive issues, development, human rights, arts and media, customs, family life, violence, and legal issues. Includes journal articles, newsletters, fact sheets, proceedings, and the alternative press. Available on the BU Web.

African Women's Database (http://www.africabib.org/women.html) is a bibliographic database based on the large bibliography on African women by Davis Bullwinkle. This site also has a bibliography Women Travelers, Explorers, and Missionaries to Africa, 1763-2001, as well as a general index to periodical articles.

Other useful databases are listed in Electronic Resources by Subject: Africa an annotated guide to electronic resources in the library and beyond.

What you can expect to find using the Web for research on women's issues in Africa depends on the questions you are asking and how you ask them.

Specific data and facts are usually found more easily in a reference work than in a Web search.

Examples:

What is the population of Dar es Salaam? A Google search yields over 17,000 results. The first one that actually gives you the population turns out to be a student run page from the International School at Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. In this case, turning to Africa South of the Sahara in ASL Reference will give you an authoritative census figure in much less time.

Who is the President of Mali? Searching Google again yields 143,000 results. The information is contained in the first item, a news article on the service allAfrica.com, and is confirmed by the CIA Factbook entry found further down the first page. The link for the news article goes to the current allAfrica.com page; to see the article referred to, click on the "cached" choice in the description. (This yields the startling headline "Obasanjo Disrobes Gen. Issa", but the article's text does not elucidate the wording chosen by the Standard Times of Freetown, Sierra Leone.) Again, a reference work like Africa South of the Sahara can supply accurate and up-to-date information faster.

Very broad, theoretical questions yield unpredictable results. Looking for books or journal articles is usually better.

Examples:

Attitudes toward women's education in Africa. This phrase yields 23,200 results. Some of the pages listed are quite interesting, but usually for other topics.

Information on organizations or governments is one of the handiest and most reliable resources on the Web. Many organizations have Web sites.

Example:

Forum for African Women Educationalists

Finding biographical and other information on individuals and news events is a good use of the Web.

Examples:

Winnie Mandela

Kudirat Abiola

Rape of schoolgirls in Kenya

As we have seen, using search engines opens up opportunities for serendipity (finding something of value when you are looking for something else). There are ways to make that serendipity a little more predictable.

Africa South of the Sahara: Women (http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/women.html) is an excellent compilation of Web sites dealing with women's issues. Each entry is annotated.

A section of the University of Pennsylvania's African Studies Center site (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/About_African/ww_wmen.html) provides links to pages on women's issues.

Evaluating Web Sources:

Consult the tutorial Web Resources for the Study of Africa

Citing Web Sources:

Consult the tutorial Web Resources for the Study of Africa

A Sampling of Web Sites Dealing with Women's Issues

Global and Third World Sites

GenderNet (http://www.worldbank.org/gender) The World Bank site on gender issues.

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) (http://www.icrw.org/) ICRW's mission is to improve the lives of women in poverty, advance women's equality and human rights, and contribute to the broader economic and social well-being. The Web site contains their publications, research projects, and links to other sites.

Women In Development NET Work - WIDNET (http://www.focusintl.com/widnet.htm) A list of Web sites pertaining to women arranged in three categories: Statistics, Subjects, Resources. African material is easily found in each category.

Women's Human Rights Net (http://www.whrnet.org/) Includes a section on UN human rights organizations in Africa.

Empowering Widows in Development (http://www.widowsrights.org/) contains substantial information on Africa.

Women's Net (http://www.igc.org/home/womensnet/index.html) News articles on women. Some African coverage.

Women Watch (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/) is a joint UN project to create a core Internet space on global women's issues. It was created to monitor the results of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. A section on Africa has basic information and links to national and organizational Web sites in individual countries.

African Sites

AFRICA

Femnet (http://www.femnet.or.ke/) Femnet's objectives include: To strengthen the role and contribution of African NGOs concerned with women's development

Africa Action (Position Papers, Reports and Articles)
(http://www.africaaction.org/resources/papers.php) A list of varied publications, including those on women's rights on the Web site of the Africa Policy Information Center. The site contains other useful information.

NIGERIA

The Niger Delta Women for Justice (http://www.ndwj.kabissa.org/) focuses on human rights and environmental issues in eastern Nigeria.

SOUTH AFRICA

Women's Net (South Africa) (http://womensnet.org.za) A South African site offering documents and links to other pages.

UGANDA

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) (http://www.wougnet.org/)

ECONOMICS

ABANTU (http://www.abantu.org/) Abantu's mission is to empower African people, particularly women, to participate at local, national, regional and international levels in making decisions that affect their lives enabling action for change. Includes a list of publications.
**Note: this website is currently down. For information regarding this organization however, see here.

SADC Gender Monitor (http://www.sardc.net/widsaa/sgm/1999/ie4-index.html)

UN Economic Commission for Africa. The African Centre for Women (ACW) (http://www.uneca.org/programmes_home.htm) The Centre services national, regional and subregional structures involved in the advancement of women.

UNIFEM (http://www.unifem.org/) UNIFEM promotes women's empowerment and gender equality. It works to ensure the participation of women in all levels of development planning and practice, and acts as a catalyst within the UN system, supporting efforts that link the needs and concerns of women to all critical issues on the national, regional and global agendas.

HEALTH

General health issues

Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP) (http://www.crlp.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting women's equality worldwide by guaranteeing reproductive rights as human rights.

RAINBO (http://www.rainbo.org/)is an international not-for-profit organization working on issues within the intersection between health and human rights of women

Female Genital Mutilation

"Female Circumcision and Infibulation in Africa", ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF AFRICANA BIBLIOGRAPHY. Vol. 4 (1999) (http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/ejab//4/index.html)

Female Genital Mutilation (http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm) An information packet developed by Amnesty International.

FGM Education and Networking Project (http://www.fgmnetwork.org/) Informative articles, directories, and a bibliography.

Special Issue of Africa Update (http://www.ccsu.edu/Afstudy/upd3-2.html) Three articles on FGM.

LAW

The Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW)-Kenya (http://www.covaw.or.ke/) is a membership-based non-partisan, secular, feminist network of individuals and organizations who are committed to eradicating violence against women

Women's Legal Issues in Africa (http://members.aol.com/aacdrsmall/wlppfp1.htm) A Web site created by an alumna of the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. It is maintained for the convenience of the Legal Advocacy for Women in Africa students who are a part of that program, and is open to other researchers.

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation (http://www.catwinternational.org/)

SCARED AT SCHOOL: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/safrica/) The Human Rights Watch has other reports on African women's issues.

Gretchen Walsh.
http://www.bu.edu/library/instruction/africanwomen.html

Links updated Dec.  14, 2007