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.

Wale Fatade

Commissioning Editor: Nigeria

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

Okonjo-Iweala in the WTO top job: breaking the glass ceiling is a win for all women

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.

Business + Economy

Private planes, mansions and superyachts: What gives billionaires like Musk and Abramovich such a massive carbon footprint

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.

Nigeria’s post-privatisation energy sector is a mess: here are some solutions

Okechukwu Marcellus Ikeanyibe, University of Nigeria

Nigeria's attempt at privatising its power infrastructure hasn't been without challenges but they are not insurmountable.

Politics + Society

Why we did it: the Kenyan women and girls who joined Al-Shabaab

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.

Facebook’s free speech myth is dead – and regulators should take notice

Carolina Are, City, University of London

Facebook's choice of profits over the people is difficult to reconcile with its commitment to free speech.

Energy + Environment

Texas blackouts show us why energy should be considered a universal right

Gordon Walker, Lancaster University

But it's time to make this a right to low carbon energy.

Bendable concrete and other CO2-infused cement mixes could dramatically cut global emissions

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.

Health + Medicine

When men started to obsess over six-packs

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.

How Roald Dahl became a passionate vaccine advocate

Tom Solomon, University of Liverpool

Roald Dahl's daughter Olivia died of measles aged seven.