Listening to Bineta Diop on Women, Power, and Policy

Meeting Bineta Diop at the Harvard Africa Development Conference was a gift.

She spoke about women’s leadership in a way that did not separate community realities from institutional decisions. Listening to her, it was clear that the work happening on the ground and the policies shaping outcomes are part of the same process, even though systems often treat them as if they are unrelated.

That difference shows up in how decisions get made.

Women are leading, organizing, and sustaining communities in ways that are visible when you are close to the work, and that leadership directly influences stability, peace, and progress. As that work moves into policy conversations, it does not always carry the same level of influence. It can be acknowledged without shaping decisions, or referenced without affecting how resources and priorities are set.

Her work through the African Union and as Co-Convener of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) has focused on shaping conversations, influencing policy, and pushing against that reality. Across that work, she has continued to challenge how often women driving policy, peace, and progress across Africa and the diaspora are doing the work, but are not fully amplified in the spaces where decisions are made.

Listening to her made that gap easier to recognize in real time.

The issue is not whether insight exists. It does. The issue is what happens as that insight moves across spaces. It can lose detail, be simplified, or become disconnected from the conditions that gave it meaning. When that happens, decisions are made without a full understanding of what people are actually navigating in practice.

That shows up in outcomes, even when the intention behind those decisions is strong.

The focus on intergenerational leadership added another layer. It was not framed as future work, but as part of the work itself. Creating space for the next generation of women is tied to whether progress continues or the same gaps repeat.

Being in a space led by women working at that level made that connection clear. The work is active, and the impact is visible. What matters is how that work moves into the decisions that follow.

Conversations like this shape how priorities are set and how policy takes form. What carries forward, and what does not, continues to define outcomes.

This is where my work sits. It starts in conversation, listening to how people describe what they are navigating and tracking what comes up consistently across those conversations. Over time, patterns form that point to how systems are functioning, not just how they are designed. The work is in carrying those patterns into decision-making spaces in a way that holds their meaning and can inform how choices are made.

Grateful to the co-chairs and students who built this conference and created space for this level of conversation.

Learn more about the work of the African Women Leaders Network, here.

Learn more about the African Union, here.