Satang Nabaneh


Satang Nabaneh is a Gambian legal scholar, feminist activist, social justice advocate, and human rights practitioner. She is the Director of Programs and Research Professor of Law at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center in the United States. Her work focuses on constitutional law, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health rights in Africa.
In 2024, she was named one of the "10 African Scholars to Watch" by The Africa Report alongside Toyin Ajao, Naminata Diabate, and Simukai Chigudu for her contributions to feminist legal theory and public policy.

Education

Nabaneh was born in the Gambia and earned her Bachelor of Laws from the University of The Gambia in 2012. She completed her Master of Laws in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa and her Doctor of Laws at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Career

Nabaneh is a legal scholar and educator whose work spans international human rights law, comparative constitutional law, feminist legal theory and sexual and reproductive health and rights issues. She has served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Human Rights in Pretoria and currently holds a joint appointment at the University of Dayton's Human Rights Center and School of Law.
She is the founder of Law Hub Gambia, a civic education and legal research platform, and co-founder of Think Young Women, an organization focused on empowering young women through leadership and advocacy.

Research and advocacy

Nabaneh's research addresses the intersections of law, gender, and health in African legal systems. She has written extensively on sexual and reproductive rights, conscientious objection in abortion care, and gendered dimensions of constitutional reform.
In 2024, she delivered a keynote lecture on "Gendered Politics of Autocratization in Africa" at the University of Bergen's Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism and LawTransform.
In May of the same year, Nabaneh was quoted in Time magazine expressing concern that repealing The Gambia's ban on female genital mutilation could undermine regional efforts to protect women's rights.
Nabaneh has been quoted as saying, "I sometimes joke that I never really had a normal childhood. When other kids were outside playing, I was sitting at conferences with presidents. It was exciting but also made me realize from very early on that I carried a responsibility to my community, to my country, to Africa."

Selected publications

Sexual Harassment, Law and Human Rights in Africa, co-editor. The Gambia in Transition: Towards a New Constitutional Order, co-editor. Choice and Conscience: Lessons from South Africa for a Global Debate, editor.