“Inequality can be done away with only by establishing a new society, where men and women will enjoy equal rights…Thus, the status of women will improve only with the elimination of the system that exploits them”
– Thomas Sankara, former President of Burkina Faso (March 8, 1987)
Sankara was a humanist, feminist and his tenure was one of the most progressive ever displayed by any leader of Africa. He believed in making Burkina Faso a self-sufficient country, not dependent on debt or foreign aid, and this was made clear in his speech, ‘The Revolution Cannot Triumph Without the Emancipation of Women’.
He was assassinated in a coup-d’état on 15 October 1987, less than 8 months later.
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