Make-up Activism as a Political Tool
Badili Africa uses make-up activism as a political tool to engage young women in a space that sums up politics as a dirty business. In a continent where politics is primarily a male, physically intimidating and violent domain, Badili seeks to change this narrative, to “feminize” political spaces by merging make-up artistry and beauty with civic dialogues for political awareness and involvement with governance and democratic processes in Africa.
Glam sessions are used as an entry point to the political spa sessions to attract especially young women who would otherwise not be caught near a politically oriented conversation.
We aim to develop a culture of civic participation that is impactful, interesting but fun, through a principle that appeals to both women and society in general: beauty.
Badili coined the term “political spas” to connote safe feminine spaces where young women can digest heavy policy and legislative agenda at a salon level. During the spa sessions, we link policy and legislation issues like cost of livelihood, underdevelopment (of informal settlements for example,) access to family planning, insecurity, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment, poor sanitation, lecturers strike etc. to governance in a manner that is not “traditional” and that speaks to our target audience in a language that they understand.
