Abstract: This special issue explores the complex relationship between women and political power in Africa. The contributors probe the various ways elite African women access and wield political authority in history, shedding light on both the public admiration and criticisms faced by powerful, political women. The contributors analyze the historical actions of women who gain influence from their husbands’ political power beyond the roles theorized as “wifeism” or “femocrats.” By examining the lives of prominent women in Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda through a historical and feminist lens, the authors provide a nuanced understanding of the informal yet significant impact of politically powerful women within the orbit of prominent male politicians. They contextualize and historicize the roles of these women as they shape national political culture in Africa throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.