Agenda Feminist Media Project, Human Sciences Research Council, and Oxfam invitation to a Dialogue

Date: 06 June 2013

Time: 10:45 – 13:30

Presenters:  Adv Thuli Madonsela, Public Protector
                   Prof Amanda Gouws, CGE
                   Prof Jane Rarieya, HSRC
                   Fatima Shabodien, ActionAID
                   Joy Watson, Parliament of RSA

DOWNLOAD SEMINAR PRESENTATION BELOW:

DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO THE AUDIO:

• An audio recording is available for those who were unable to attend
  (large file, 162 MB, WMA format)

We are almost 20 years into democracy. It is therefore also timely to critically examine women’s achievements in entering leadership positions within the public and private sectors, and the impact women’s leadership has had in transforming institutions and their efficacy. This dialogue will engage some of the following questions:

• What are some of the institutional challenges and obstacles encountered by women in entering and advancing within these previously male-dominated terrains? What interventions are required to address the apparent slow pace of gender transformation in the workplace highlighted in the Employment Equity Commission’s recently released 2012 Annual Report?
• What role can quota systems play in this regard? Moving beyond the numbers, what additional interventions are required to transform the institutional culture within the workplace to ensure this is an enabling environment for women to progress?
• What is the transformative outcome of women’s leadership, and does this promote a feminist agenda for change? What happens once women have assumed positions of leadership, and what constitutes feminist practice in this regard?
• Can women provide effective gendered leadership that considers the primacy of the most vulnerable as the means to facilitate social justice and transformation?
• How do we ensure that women in leadership remain connected and accountable to an expectant constituency, and adequately represent the voice and issues of the most marginalised women in society?
• How do women leaders and grassroots supporters build a women’s movement? How do we combine top down and bottom up approaches to mobilization?

Kindly RSVP by 31 May 2013

This seminar may be attended via video conference in Pretoria, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal. Details are indicated below.

Cape Town : HSRC, 12th Floor, Plein Park Building (Opposite Revenue Office), Plein Street, Cape Town. Contact Jean Witten, Tel (021) 4668004, Fax (021) 461 0299, or JWitten@hsrc.ac.za

Durban :  First floor HSRC board room, 750 Francois Road, Ntuthuko Junction, Pods 5 and 6, Cato Manor, Contact Ridhwaan Khan, Tel (031) 242 5400, cell: 083 788 2786 or RKhan@hsrc.ac.za,

Pretoria : HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Arlene Grossberg, Tel: (012) 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za

Agenda Offices:  Shireen Ragunan, Agenda, Tel (031) 3047001 or admin@agenda.org.za