She’s ratcheted up quite a few firsts. But Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala really has topped the charts by becoming the first woman, and first African, to head the World Trade Organisation. Fellow Nigerian economist Monica Orisadare puts the remarkable achievement in context, and explains why Okonjo-Iweala’s achievements matter for women – in Nigeria, across the continent and globally. Drawing from her own experience in academia, she charts the
difficult road faced by women seeking high office, and what awaits them when they get there.
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Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images
Monica Orisadare, Obafemi Awolowo University
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's appointment as the first woman and the first African director general of the World Trade Organisation is a win for women globally.
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Business + Economy
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Richard Wilk, Indiana University; Beatriz Barros, Indiana University
Billionaires have carbon footprints hundreds of times higher than the average American. Two scholars tried to put a number on it.
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Okechukwu Marcellus Ikeanyibe, University of Nigeria
Nigeria's attempt at privatising its power infrastructure hasn't been without challenges but they are not insurmountable.
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Politics + Society
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Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen, Technical University of Mombasa
Women's motivations for joining terrorist networks belie Kenyan media accounts of naive girls manipulated through romantic notions of Jihadi brides or wives.
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Carolina Are, City, University of London
Facebook's choice of profits over the people is difficult to reconcile with its commitment to free speech.
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Energy + Environment
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Gordon Walker, Lancaster University
But it's time to make this a right to low carbon energy.
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Lucca Henrion, University of Michigan; Duo Zhang, University of Michigan; Victor C. Li, University of Michigan; Volker Sick, University of Michigan
Researchers are developing ways to lock captured CO2 into cement. It could help rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure and deal with climate change at the same time.
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Health + Medicine
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Conor Heffernan, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts
Greek statues, the Napoleonic wars and the advent of photography all played a role.
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Tom Solomon, University of Liverpool
Roald Dahl's daughter Olivia died of measles aged seven.
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