Digital and AI transformation in higher education cannot happen without a gender perspective. This isn't a cause for women alone — fuller, more balanced participation builds systems that work better for everyone, driving stronger innovation, productivity and social cohesion. This issue of CLOUD follows that practice as it takes shape across Africa's universities. Through the Women Leading Change in Africa project, women are expanding AI literacy, building peer-learning networks, and carrying new skills from the classroom into research and policy discussions. Their journey, from access to practice, from participation to leadership, is the more inclusive, gender-responsive higher education this issue sets out to trace.