Despite growing advocacy for gender equality, African women continue to face significant obstacles in entering politics and achieving parliamentary representation. Cultural norms, financial constraints, and systemic discrimination often hinder their political ambitions. While some countries, like South Africa and Senegal, have set positive examples with high proportions of women in parliament, progress across the continent remains uneven. The experiences of three women interviewed highlight these struggles, with one emphasizing the stigma of defying traditional gender roles, another recounting threats and intimidation, and a third discussing the difficulty of navigating queerness in political settings.