19 Facts About Molara Ogundipe

Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, known as Molara Ogundipe and Omolara Leslie, was a Nigerian poet, critic, editor, feminist and activist.

Molara Ogundipe contributed the piece "Not Spinning on the Axis of Maleness" to the 1984 anthology Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology, edited by Robin Morgan.

Molara Ogundipe is most celebrated for coining the term STIWA or Social Transformation in Africa Including Women.

Abiodun Omolara Ogundipe was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a family of educators and clergy.

Molara Ogundipe attended Queen's School, Ede, and went on to become the first woman to obtain a first-class BA Honours degree in English at University College Ibadan, then a college of the University of London.

Molara Ogundipe later earned a doctorate in Narratology from Leiden University, one of the oldest universities in Europe.

Molara Ogundipe taught English Studies, Writing, Comparative Literature and Gender from the perspectives of cultural studies and development at universities in several continents, and was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Molara Ogundipe rose to prominence early in her career in the midst of a male-dominated artistic field concerned about the problems afflicting African men and women.

Molara Ogundipe criticized the plight of African women as due to the impact of imposed colonial and neo-colonial structures that often place African males at the height of social stratification.

Molara Ogundipe was the Founder and Director of the Foundation for International Education and Mentoring, which is dedicated to teaching young women the doctrine and virtues of feminist theories and gender equality.

Molara Ogundipe lived and worked in West Africa, where she set up writing centres at universities, in addition to her work on literature, gender and film, in contribution to her commitment to inter-generational education and mentoring.

Molara Ogundipe died at the age of 78 at her home in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, Nigeria, in June 2019.

Molara Ogundipe is survived by her two daughters: Dr Rachel Titilayo Leslie, a scholar of religion in Africa who writes on the significance of African legacies for global culture, and Dr Isis Imotara Leslie, PhD, a political theorist who has taught at several US universities.

Molara Ogundipe's grandchildren are Askia Tristan Folajimi Leslie, who graduated in Computer Engineering and Coding from the University of California, Berkeley, and Joshua Alessandro Victoriano, who was recently ordained a deacon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia.

Molara Ogundipe was in the leadership of feminist and gender studies in Africa since graduating in 1963 from the University of London.

Molara Ogundipe wrote for numerous academic and general publications, and published books of non-fiction as well as a collection of poetry.

Molara Ogundipe's work is included in anthologies of women's writing: her piece "Not spinning on the axis of Maleness" is in the 1984 anthology Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology, edited by Robin Morgan, and poems by her are in the 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

Molara Ogundipe argued for an African-centred feminism that she termed "Stiwanism" in her book Recreating Ourselves.

Molara Ogundipe was known as a writer whose works capture most vividly the complexities of African life.