See Jane Do Everyday Women Doing Extraordinary Things
“Talking out in the face of a challenge or a threat brings power. And I knew this was the power to change the world. I think my power is speaking out and speaking out for the rest of the women in my community who don’t have a voice.”
Chi Yvonne Leina is a Cameroonian journalist, community leader, and digital media change agent dedicated to shining a light on the unheard voices of ordinary women in Africa and transforming their fate.
After years of discrimination working as a woman in traditional print and broadcast media in Cameroon, Chi Yvonne Leina broke with the status quo and began to use her journalism experience to expose negative cultural practices, such as the inhumane treatment of widows and breast ironing which affects 3-4 million girls in Africa.
After making international headlines on the little-known practice of breast ironing, she went on to launch a campaign to eradicate the practice. Through a combination of public awareness campaigns, grassroots organizing and digital media she was successful in reaching 20,000 women and girls who have sworn to end the practice.
Today she has founded an organization called Gender Danger and she is collaborating with Cameroons National Ministry of Gender to expand her campaign nationwide. Her vision has grown to include a founding a media center to train women and young girls to use digital media and citizen journalism to educate and transform society.
