Dr Babalwa Magoqwana
Nominee's Province:
Eastern Cape
Project Name/Description:
Centre for Women and Gender Studies at Nelson Mandela University
Founding director of the Centre for Women and Gender Studies at Nelson Mandela University, Dr Babalwa Magoqwana is a committed academic who wishes to help transform society so that the wellbeing of women, regardless of sexual orientation or background, is assured. She says the centre came about as a collaborative effort between students and staff who wanted to mainstream gender in research, teaching and learning. Magoqwana says these are significant areas for transforming attitudes on sex and gender in order to reflect the constitutional ideals of South Africa towards women and sexual minorities broadly. A senior lecturer at the university’s Sociology and Anthropology Department, she joined the leadership of the newly established Centre for Women and Gender Studies in 2019. “The job itself is gratifying but the content can sometimes be psychologically and emotionally draining. The establishment of a centre of this nature is based on the disregard and invisibilities of women’s contributions in society,” says Magoqwana. “To establish this sort of space requires that we constantly seek ways that will reposition women and the gender agenda at the centre of the economic, social, intellectual and political conversations.” Magoqwana says it is gratifying to see many women and queer communities get recognised, represented, and celebrated, but it is equally damaging to see the levels of violence against women and children, femicide and the murder of queer communities.
