Zainab Olaitan
Post-Doctoral Fellow
She/Her
PhD (Pretoria University); MA (Pretoria University); BSocSci (Cape Town University), BSc (Lagos University)
Political Studies
International Relations
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Robert Sutherland Hall, 409
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 | 2019 | |
Z Olaitan University of Pretoria | 2020 | |
ZM Olaitan | 2018 | |
ZM Olaitan PQDT-Global | 2023 | |
Z Olaitan African Journal of Gender, Society & Development 12 (1), 185 | 2023 | |
ZM Olaitan Journal of International Peacekeeping 26 (4), 394-411 | 2023 | |
ZM Olaitan, C Isike The African Review 1 (aop), 1-21 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Policy Brief. Ottawa: Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN… | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan African women in the fourth industrial revolution, 226-240 | 2024 | |
B Ndzendze, A Singh, S Timm, C Meyers, MJ Malatji, MJ Malatji, ... AOSIS | 2024 | |
Z Olaitan Cambridge Review of International Affairs 36 (1), 131-135 | 2023 | |
EM Isike, Z Olaitan, C Isike Conflict and concord: The ambivalence of African migrant/host relations in… | 2022 | |
ZM Olaitan Springer Nature | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan The International Journal on Law and Politics, 25-49 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Harmful Practices and Human Rights: An International Perspective, 309-339 | 2025 | |
ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 123-141 | 2024 | |
Z Olaitan Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies 4 (2), 88-112 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Africa: Access and Future Measures, 85-96 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan, SO Oloruntoba Decolonizing African Studies Pedagogies: Knowledge Production, Epistemic… | 2023 | |
ZM Olaitan African Journal of Gender, Society & Development 12 (3), 31 | 2023 | |
ZM Olaitan Africa’s Radicalisms and Conservatisms, 310 | 2023 | |
ZM Olaitan Silencing the Guns, Volume 2: Reviewing the Agenda and Reassessing Prospects… | 2025 | |
ZM Olaitan, F Adegalu Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the… | 2025 | |
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 | |
ZM Olaitan, TA Ojo, S Maxwell | 2025 | |
ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 75-95 | 2024 | |
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 | |
ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 39-74 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 15-38 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Women's Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers, 97-122 | 2024 | |
F Viljoen, F Adegalu, ZM Olaitan African Human Rights Law Journal 24 (2), 772-780 | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan Development and Regional Stability in Africa: Unlocking Potential, 83-106 | 2024 | |
TA Ojo, ZM Olaitan Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Africa: Access and Future Measures, 63-72 | 2024 | |
TA Ojo Springer | 2024 | |
TA Ojo, B Ndzendze TAYLOR FRANCIS Limited | 2024 | |
ZM Olaitan, SO Oloruntoba AIKRN Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Z Olaitan Cambridge Review of International Affairs 34 (5) | 2022 | |
S Leone, Z Olaitan, C Isike | ||
ZM Olaitan, SO Oloruntoba | ||
ZM Olaitan Springer Nature |