Zainab Olaitan
Post-Doctoral Fellow
She/Her
PhD (Pretoria); MA (Pretoria); BSocSci(Cape Town), BSc (Lagos)
Political Studies
International Relations
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Brief Biography
Dr. Zainab Monisola Olaitan is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for International and Defence Policy. Her research focuses on Afrofeminist thought, gender and representation, and the women, peace and security agenda in Africa. She holds a PhD and MA from the University of Pretoria, a BSocSci (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Cape Town, and a BSc (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Lagos. She is a Research Associate at the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) at the University of Johannesburg. Dr. Olaitan is the author ofWomen’s Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers (2024) and the lead editor of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the Caribbean: Linking the Two Regions (2025), both published by Palgrave Macmillan. She is a 2022 Margaret McNamara Education Grants (MMEG) recipient in recognition of her impactful research on women, a 2021-2023 University of Pretoria Doctoral Research Scholarship recipient, a 2019 Mastercard Foundation Scholar and 2018 Mandela Rhodes Scholar.
Teaching
POLS 261 International Politics (Fall 2025)
POLS 485 Seminar in Women and Politics (Winter 2026)
For detailed information about political studies courses and instructors, please refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate pages.
Selected Publications
Z Olaitan, C Isike Adonis and Abbey | 13 | 2019 |
Analysis of Women's Participation in Peace-building in West Africa: The Case of Sierra Leone Z Olaitan University of Pretoria | 8 | 2020 |
Women’s Participation in Peace Processes in Nigeria; Challenges and Prospects. ZM Olaitan | 8 | 2018 |
ZM Olaitan PQDT-Global | 7 | 2023 |
Feminist Rethinking of the Representation of African Women in Peacebuilding: A Theoretical Analysis Z Olaitan African Journal of Gender, Society & Development 12 (1), 185 | 6 | 2023 |
The representation of women in African-led peace support operations ZM Olaitan Journal of International Peacekeeping 26 (4), 394-411 | 5 | 2023 |
Gender quotas as a mechanism for engendering political transformation in Africa ZM Olaitan, C Isike The African Review 1 (aop), 1-21 | 4 | 2024 |
The relevance of African indigenous knowledge systems for development in Africa ZM Olaitan Policy Brief. Ottawa: Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN… | 4 | 2024 |
Using digital technology to address gender-based violence in South Africa ZM Olaitan African women in the fourth industrial revolution, 226-240 | 4 | 2024 |
The 4IR and the humanities in South Africa: Perspectives on innovation, power and potentialities B Ndzendze, A Singh, S Timm, C Meyers, MJ Malatji, MJ Malatji, ... AOSIS | 4 | 2024 |
A modern history of statelessness and the socio-political question Z Olaitan Cambridge Review of International Affairs 36 (1), 131-135 | 4 | 2023 |
Cyberspace Xenophobia in South Africa EM Isike, Z Olaitan, C Isike Conflict and concord: The ambivalence of African migrant/host relations in… | 4 | 2022 |
Women’s Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers ZM Olaitan Springer Nature | 3 | 2024 |
WOMEN OF ENDSARS: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN PROTESTS IN NIGERIA ZM Olaitan The International Journal on Law and Politics, 25-49 | 3 | 2024 |
ZM Olaitan Harmful Practices and Human Rights: An International Perspective, 309-339 | 1 | 2025 |
Women’s Political Representation in South Africa and Botswana ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 123-141 | 1 | 2024 |
A gendered analysis of the wave of coups and terrorism in the Sahel Z Olaitan Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies 4 (2), 88-112 | 1 | 2024 |
The Role of Gender Budgeting in Mainstreaming Women in Peacebuilding in Africa ZM Olaitan Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Africa: Access and Future Measures, 85-96 | 1 | 2024 |
Beyond Reaction:(Re)-Imagining African Agency in the Decolonization of Knowledge ZM Olaitan, SO Oloruntoba Decolonizing African Studies Pedagogies: Knowledge Production, Epistemic… | 1 | 2023 |
Gender participation and agricultural development projects in Nigeria ZM Olaitan African Journal of Gender, Society & Development 12 (3), 31 | 1 | 2023 |
Enlightenment Ideas and Colonialism ZM Olaitan Africa’s Radicalisms and Conservatisms, 310 | 1 | 2023 |
ZM Olaitan Silencing the Guns, Volume 2: Reviewing the Agenda and Reassessing Prospects… | 2025 | |
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women: A Descriptive Analysis ZM Olaitan, F Adegalu Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the… | 2025 | |
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the Caribbean ZM OLAITAN, TA Ojo, S Maxwell Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the… | 2025 | |
ZM Olaitan, MB Taiwo African Solutions Journal 6 (1), 1 - 23 | 2025 | |
ZM Olaitan Politikon, 1-18 | 2025 | |
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the Caribbean ZM Olaitan, TA Ojo, S Maxwell | 2025 | |
Theorising the Impact of Women’s Political Representation ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 75-95 | 2024 | |
Gender-Based Violence and Femicide as Substantive Women’s Representation ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 143-161 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 163-212 | 2024 | |
Gender Quotas and Descriptive Women’s Representation: Global and Continental Context ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 39-74 | 2024 | |
Women’s Political Representation and Its Different Forms ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 15-38 | 2024 | |
Substantive Representation of Women in African Politics: Issues and Debates ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 97-122 | 2024 | |
Special focus: implementation of decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights F Viljoen, F Adegalu, ZM Olaitan African Human Rights Law Journal 24 (2), 772-780 | 2024 | |
EndSARS Protest and Political Participation of Youths in Nigeria ZM Olaitan Development and Regional Stability in Africa: Unlocking Potential, 83-106 | 2024 | |
Gender Pay Gap and Pension Fund for Women in South Africa TA Ojo, ZM Olaitan Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Africa: Access and Future Measures, 63-72 | 2024 | |
Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Africa: Access and Future Measures TA Ojo Springer | 2024 | |
African Women in the Fourth Industrial Revolution TA Ojo, B Ndzendze TAYLOR FRANCIS Limited | 2024 | |
Embracing African Indigenous Knowledge System as an Approach to Re-centering Africa ZM Olaitan, SO Oloruntoba AIKRN Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Sarah Wolff, 2021, Secular Power Europe and Islam; Identity and Foreign Policy Z Olaitan Cambridge Review of International Affairs 34 (5) | 2022 | |
Journal of African Union Studies (JoAUS) S Leone, Z Olaitan, C Isike | ||
African Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the African Start-Up Ecosystem: Partnership for Impact. ZM Olaitan, SO Oloruntoba | ||
Women’s Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers ZM Olaitan Springer Nature |