Gender and Leadership in the Tanzanian Liberation Struggle: The Case of Bibi Titi Mohamed

This paper explores concepts of leadership, as they intersect with gender, specifically looking at the case of Bibi Titi Mohamed who was one of the few women in a position of power in the national struggle for independence in Tanzania in the mid-twentieth century. Using an African feminist historiographical framework, this paper highlight Mohamed's strategies for negotiating sexism, misogyny, and gender based inequalities to forge pathways for women in political leadership. I conclude by discussing the need for approaches to African liberation histories that challenge normative masculinist narratives that erase or undercut women's important contributions.