This year’s lecture, titled “When Hen’s Begin to Crow: Preparing Women to Govern”, seeks to reflect on the history, training and challenges faced by Africa’s first women parliamentarians in the early years of democracy.
Inspired by the works of Professor Sylvia Tamale and Dr Brigalia Bam in documenting the entry of women into parliaments in Uganda and South Africa, the lecture will explore how women leaders defied patriarchal beliefs that sought to exclude them from governance.
It will further interrogate the experiences of the pioneering women tasked with imagining and shaping democratic governance structures in contexts that had not originally been geared for their participation.
“The lecture goes beyond the numbers of women who entered parliament to focus on the groundwork done to prepare them to challenge entrenched power relations and to govern differently,” said Director for the Centre for Women and Gender Studies, Professor Babalwa Magoqwana.
“It is also a moment to critically engage the legacies of the first women parliamentarians, 30 years into South Africa’s democracy.”
Key questions to be discussed include:
• How the Women’s Development Foundation supported and trained women for the public service serve in parliament and local government during South Africa’s transition to democracy
• What models of gendered governance could serve as alternatives in state-citizen relations in Africa today
• The intergenerational connections and disconnections that define the young and old generation in the quest to imagine a more humane society.
The lecture will feature the following panel of distinguished African scholar-activists and leaders:
• Former South African Ambassador to Sweden and previous Cabinet Minister, Ms Brigitte Mabandla
• President of COSATU and the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC), Ms Zingiswa Losi
• Feminist consultant and former Director of the University of Cape Town’s African Gender Institute, Dr Yaliwe Clarke
• Constitutional law researcher and Public Law lecturer at Nelson Mandela University, Ms Glancina Mokone.
Event Details:
• Date: 29 August 2025
• Time: 14:00 – 17:00
• Venue: Nelson Mandela University, North Campus Conference Centre, Summerstrand.