About GLA
Justice, Power, Money, Body & Safety, Culture & Sport, Society & Digital: these are the stories that shape Africa every day. None is complete without asking: Whose voices are present, whose are missing, and what changes when we look at the story through a gender lens?
Our purpose
Gender Lens Africa is a digital newsroom built in Accra, for the whole continent.
Justice, Power, Money, Body & Safety, Culture & Sport, Society & Digital: these are the stories that shape Africa every day. None is complete without asking: Whose voices are present, whose are missing, and what changes when we look at the story through a gender lens?
Gender is not a beat we visit on occasion. It is the lens we report every story through.
We report Africa through gender, not as a niche, but as the lens that makes the story complete.
The newsroom
We cover the continent across seven beats:
Our editorial franchises carry some of our deepest work.
Her Space is our home for essays, portraits and intimate storytelling exploring the lives, work and experiences of women across the continent.
The CSW Desk connects local stories directly to the frameworks intended to advance gender equality and protect women’s rights, including the Maputo Protocol, CEDAW and the UN Commission on the Status of Women. It is where policy meets the people it was written to serve, and where commitments can be examined against reality.
Data Lens examines the numbers behind Africa's biggest gender questions. It uses data, research and evidence to reveal patterns, disparities and stories that may be missed in conventional reporting.
The Gender Lens is our signature explainer, reframing a story to show what conventional reporting missed.
Audio brings Gender Lens Africa's reporting to life through interviews, conversations, narrated stories and audio-led journalism.
Independence
Gender Lens Africa is currently self-funded and independently owned.
Our editorial decisions are independent of political parties, governments, corporations and funders.
As we grow, we will seek grant funding from journalism and gender-equality foundations, and we will list our funders transparently on this page.
Funding will not determine our editorial decisions.
How we work
At Gender Lens Africa, accuracy is our foundation.
We verify claims using primary documents, data and independent sources wherever possible. We distinguish verified facts from allegations, analysis and opinion.
We do not publish the identities of survivors of gender-based violence without explicit consent. We avoid sensationalism, stereotypes and language that places blame on survivors.
We practise trauma-aware journalism.
We prioritise the safety, dignity and agency of survivors. Interviews are conducted with informed consent, with the option to pause or stop at any time.
We avoid asking survivors to retell trauma for sensational detail, and we provide information on support services where appropriate.
Survivors are informed about how their name, image or story may be used and, where appropriate, their consent is obtained before publication.
If we get something wrong, we correct it transparently.
Minor typographical errors may be fixed without notice. Factual errors are corrected within the article, with a note at the bottom:
Correction, [date]: [what was corrected].
Where a factual error affects a published story, we correct it transparently rather than silently changing the record. In exceptional circumstances involving safety, privacy or legal concerns, we may remove or substantially alter material.
Our reporters disclose any personal or financial conflict related to a story.
The newsroom
Behind every story is a name, not an inbox.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Bridget Mensah is the founder and editor-in-chief of Gender Lens Africa. She is a journalist, communications strategist and writer with more than a decade of experience in Ghana’s media and communications industry.
She writes the weekly Her Space column for the Business and Financial Times and serves as General Secretary of the Network of Women in Broadcasting Ghana.
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