‘A Better World for Mothers’: Leading African Women Contemplate the New Year

Women in African are finally rising to positions of leadership. Here are the thoughts for the coming year from four such women. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of Liberia, is "very optimistic about 2013, because we see African economies on the move." Nairobi-based urban health adviser, Jane Otai, says "I'm hoping in 2013 there will be a better world for mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. These are the women who nurture, support and lift up there families despite this incredible hardship in so many parts across Africa." Joyce Banda, the new president of Malawi, is more sanguine. She hopes "for a good rainy season, and that we might therefore recover our economy." Ruth Oniang'o, a nutrition professor in Kenya, talks about her role as an advocate for the poor, and how people like her are really making an impact on political players, who will take more action so that "there will be less and less images of emaciated, malnourished, black African children" on TV sets.