Why the Conflict in Congo Is an African Feminist Struggle

The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo represents more than an isolated humanitarian crisis; it reveals a continental feminist struggle where Congolese women, far from passive victims, lead resistance against the same extractive capitalism that exploits women across Africa. 

Today, we remember the Congolese massacred in Kishishe, the bodies abandoned in the streets of Goma, the child who, having lost their parents, wanders without knowing where to go, and our sisters—victims of rape and humiliation—deprived of medical care and psychosocial support. We also think of the women and children burned alive in Goma’s central prison when the Rwandan army entered the city. The horror imposed is of unmatched cruelty. Decades after the first aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo, murders, rapes, and abuses continue, worsening humanitarian crises. Several million people have been displaced since the start of this aggression. 

This statement from the National Network for Survivors of Sexual Violence in DRC in February 2025 is a rallying cry—one that echoes the enduring struggle for justice in a nation facing continued invasion, violence, and dispossession. While it is Congolese men, women, and children who bear the brunt of this conflict, the entire world ‘benefits’ from the instability imposed on the DRC. 

Thirteen years ago, major news outlets cited a 2011 United Nations human rights report declaring the DRC ‘the worst place in the world to be a woman,’ often accompanied by the statistic that, ‘Every hour, 48 women are raped in the DRC.’ This media coverage framed Congolese women as passive victims of a region once labelled the ‘Heart of Darkness’, ignoring the historical, political, and systemic forces fuelling this violence. This media coverage, largely produced by Western journalists and international non-governmental organizations, failed to recognize that this violence is a direct continuation of colonial exploitation, capitalist plunder, and land dispossession. The one-dimensional representations of conflict minerals and war rapes obscured the complex gender dynamics that occurs in mining communities at large in Congo and the African continent. The ongoing conflict in Congo is fundamentally a continental African feminist issue. Whether in the diamond mines of Zimbabwe, the gold fields of Ghana, or the iron ore sites of Sierra Leone, women are at the forefront of artisanal and small-scale mining. Across the continent, women’s labour is exploited in ways that systematically erode their economic security, bodily autonomy, reproductive health and traditional knowledge. By understanding the history, context and consequences of the crisis in Congo—and by situating the struggles of Congolese women within a broader pan-African framework—we can more clearly see the urgent need for policies that centre African women’s sovereignty over land, resources, and economic agency. 

The DRC is often described as paradoxically rich and poor: a country with untapped mineral reserves worth an estimated $24 trillion, yet one where 73.5 per cent of the population survives on less than $2.15 per day, according to the World Bank. As global demand for lithium, cobalt, and coltan grows, fuelling smartphones, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and military weaponry, the violent extractivist economy in the DRC intensifies. However, its impacts are not evenly distributed: Congolese women endure the worst of this crisis, facing systemic sexual violence, economic marginalization, and exclusion from land and resource rights. 

The ongoing conflict in the Congo is fundamentally a continental African feminist issue because it systematically undermines women’s economic security, bodily autonomy, and traditional knowledge. By situating this struggle within a broader pan-African context, we can better understand the urgent need for policies that centre African women’s sovereignty over land, resources, and economic agency...