The Durban University of Technology (DUT), International Education and Partnerships Directorate hosted an International Women’s Day celebration at the Hotel School Conference and Restaurant, Ritson Campus on Friday, 19 August 2022.
The hybrid event was a combination of the International Women’s Day (global holiday) celebrated annually on March 8 and the Women’s Day (South African holiday) celebrated annually on August 9.
Giving the welcome and context of the event was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at DUT, Professor Gugu Mchunu.
She explained that August being Women’s Month, women needed to be celebrated all the time, and not just in a particular month.
“The World health Organisation had announced that the year 2020 was very essential for achieving their gender equality as part of risk reduction, but also because of other global challenges that we face as women in the 21st century. When we think about our South African history, we think back and we are reminded of those 20,000 women who marched to the Union building on the 9th of August 1956.
These women were calling for free movement of black women in South African urban areas. This act of this 20,000 women, is illustrated sisterhood,” she said.
She further relayed that it is amazing that more than 60 years later, women are still exposed to struggles of being a woman.
“I’m therefore very grateful for this celebration, where we can have this conversation, which is long overdue. As women, we need to support each other. We need to be there for each other. We need to advocate for each other,” she added.
Speaking on the auspicious occasion was the special guest, Principal Officer, Consul General of the United States of America, Anne Linnee.
Prior to her posting in Durban, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Her previous overseas tours include assignments in Cape Town, Islamabad, Lahore, Shanghai and Dubai. She has also served in Washington twice, most recently in the South and Central Asia Bureau’s joint executive office and earlier in her career at the Foreign Service Institute as the Deputy Coordinator for Foreign Service Officer Orientation (A-100) during the 2008-2010 hiring surge.
She spoke on the influence of power women can have in the workplace, touching a bit on her experiences both in South Africa and her personal life.
“I have lived in Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Dubai, the United States, South Africa, Mauritania, and one thing that’s constant in every country is there are enormous challenges that women face wherever they are. Now the reality is those challenges can be dramatically different from country to country. In a country like South Africa, the way the constitution is written and the way the laws are written, it seems that it should be a place where women are protected and safe in comparison and contrast with places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, where there are very little legal frameworks to protect women,” she said.
She then explained one of the things that this demonstrates is that there are needs to a legal framework to protect women, but also a social and cultural framework so that people grow and develop in ways that they have the opportunities to succeed.
“Not everything can be done by the legal framework. It has to be made by religious institutions, educational institutions. Decisions made in the family and at home, and this can be where your life can totally change just based on the environment you are living in. I was really fortunate in the United States that I grew up in an incredibly progressive family,” she stressed.
However, Linnee did convey that one of the challenges presently is that she is one of the only female leaders at the US Embassy team throughout all of South Africa, which means August is very busy for her because there are so few female leaders.
“There are women in this room, online, throughout DUT, and I see the work being done every day. One of the things about DUT that it is so inspiring and it is why we work so closely with DUT as their commitment to entrepreneurship and recognising that it is through entrepreneurship that you can make the biggest impact in your community and the world around you. You are not only taking care of yourself, your family, but you are creating jobs for those around you,” she said.
Adding to the conversation was the keynote speaker, Dr LaNitra M Berger, an award-winning scholar, educator, and social justice advocate working towards making higher education accessible to low-income, first-generation, and minority students.
She is also the NAFSA President and Chair of Board of Directors Global Women’s Empowerment and Global Women’s issues. Her scholarly interests are in art and social activism in the African and Jewish diasporas. Her work as an educator has focused on creating and expanding education abroad opportunities for underrepresented students, particularly in international education.
Dr Berger explained that coming on such a platform like this at DUT was a wonderful idea to think about women’s issues in a global context and think about what are some of the micro things that can be done on a day-to-day basis to empower one’s self and to empower other people and other women, and especially young women who are in need of support.
“I’m so glad that we began this conversation with the discussion of those very brave women who marched on the Union buildings almost 70 years ago to make demands for equality. They were demanding for racial equality, gender equality. They were demanding the right to support their families and to make them thrive. It reminds me of that transatlantic connection between the US and South Africa that that we share, both a positive and a negative is our struggle with race and racism, and there are many women in the United States at the same time who were learning from women in South Africa and drawing inspiration from them,” she said.
She then clarified that her talk is a reflection on her own personal journey as a scholar, as an international educator, as a wife and mother of two boys. She also reflected on how she had benefited from women, mentors, teachers, colleagues, and friends throughout her life.
She said that the most significant influence on her as a woman was her mother, an engineer and a building inspector in a white male field.
She explained that this was really significant because she grew up in segregated Alabama in the 1950s.
“She was able to be successful as a professional in the conditions in segregated Alabama in the 1950s which were some of the worst in the United States. The vast differences between black and white, socially, economically and just that mental strain of being treated as though you were an animal and for people to persist and succeed in that environment really shows how strong they really are,” she said.
Dr Berger also made mention of how it is so crucial that the face of America abroad reflects the faces of America at home.
“I’ve really spent most of my time at George Mason University focusing on making sure that I open those doors to students who don’t think that these dreams are possible. So using your power, doing something with your power to benefit other people is extremely important,” she said.
She expressed that one’s ability to connect with each other across languages, cultures, to connect with everyone all the way from the United States has made it possible to share these strategies and support each other.
“In this sense, we are actually all international educators. We are creating knowledge and we are sharing knowledge across borders.
This is really something to celebrate, and it’s also an important call to action that we can commit to doing more to help women and to help girls,” she said.
DUT’s Philiswa Mncube, who is the International Students Relations Office, spoke on the DUT-International Women Empowerment Mentorship (IWEM) Initiative.
She said that with DUT’s ENVISION2030, they see DUT students who are currently enrolled, leaving out to the rest of the world, and they want them to be able to find themselves in positions where not only are they employable, but also in the situation where they are confident with situations not only as women, but to make them the global citizens.
“If you look at the leaders at DUT, you realize that DUT is indeed a space that is enabling to the women, in the society it might not be enough which is why we are saying maybe there are other spaces out there for you to explore because maybe DUT is already overly incapacitated with all the women leaders. So let’s find other people in the industry,” she said.
Praneetha Aniruth, Chairperson of the Umhlanga Women’s Association and a fierce advocator for women in technology.
She is also an entrepreneur. Partner at Carver Media, CEO of Audience Networks and Co-CEO of Switch Agency.
Their vision at the Umhlanga Women’s Association is to serve the underprivileged with sponsored feeding programmes, leverage of women in business through networking and to develop the skills of the youth through mentorship programmes.
Aniruth spoke on what empowerment means, relaying that upon googling the word, Google defines it as being in two sectors, economic and political, saying, it’s so much more and there’s so many different layers and facets to what women empowerment really is.
She gave a snapshot of her career which entails being in radio, working in corporate at Alexander Forbes and then joining her husband in business about 17 years ago.
“I saw this gap of women in technology, so I wanted to get into that sector and I went back into learning and studying and I got a credited on Google. I studied Google Ads, I got all the accreditation and that’s when I got exposed to the way the US works, and let me tell you, no one can market like the Americans,” she chuckled.
She further spoke about the two, exceptional women who had mentored her. She relayed that they spoke from the throat chakra and they spoke the truth and they used their voice.
“You’ve got to use that voice. You have got to be able to speak up and speak your truth. When I worked at SABC News we went for voice training to the voice clinic and I was able to learn how to then command respect with my voice and a lot of women don’t do that. Raise your voice. Speak your truth when it matters,” she said.
Sakhile Khoza, International Students’ Organisation (ISO) Vice-President, spoke on her role and the strength of partnerships.
“I always prided myself being a leader that my peers can talk to, they can seek counsel from and create a safe space for everyone to share their beautiful ideas without fear of judgment. I hope my peers can attest to that. Overall, I’m very happy to be a part of this journey and to have Ms Mncube and all of you wonderful ladies guide the International Students’ Organisation. It’s such a great initiative for not just young women, but men as well,” she conveyed.
Dr Lavern Samuels, Director: International Education and Partnerships, gave the closing remarks, saying that he has been blessed in life to be surrounded by strong women, a strong mother, strong grandmothers, a feisty sister, 24 female cousins and only four males.
“The success of women was seen as the success of the family. I had to find my place in the family. Amongst strong women, and I feel blessed to have had this experience, it was a learning experience that has served me well,” he said.
Dr Samuels also expressed that he has been blessed to have had powerful women as bosses, and acknowledged Professor Gawe, former Deputy Vice Chancellor and acting Vice -Chancellor, a formidable woman that he admired greatly, Prof Gwele, former Deputy Vice- Chancellor who was his boss who inspired him and supported him, and Prof Moyo. I have had amazing relationships with all of these women.
“I want to pay tribute to all the strong women in my life, grandmothers who overcame great adversity to raise and elevate a family, a mother who could influence, inspire with steely strength without losing the softness of a mother,” he said.
He further added that the aim is to also empower and mentor young women.
“I want to commit my office to the Sustainable Empowerment programme of young women through internationalisation. We want to make a difference and we invite you to join us in making a difference to push forward the empowerment of women and to elevate women to where they deserve to be, not a status we have, bestowing on them, but where they deserve to be,” he said.
Pictured: Women speakers with Dr Lavern Samuels at the event.
Waheeda Peters