female activist

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Girl power: Young women lead global protests against injustice

At this turbulent time, how does South Africa shape up when it comes to activism, and young women activists in particular?

female activist

Image via Canva

Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis in May, the #ICantBreath, #GeorgeFloyd, #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName have been among the top five topics trending on social media.

The New York Times interviewed six teenagers — Nya Collins, Jade Fuller, Kennedy Green, Emma Rose Smith, Mikayla Smith and Zee Thomas — who organised and led some of the most successful (with a huge number of attendees) #BlackLivesMatter protests.

Other publications, such as LA Times and All For Africa among others, also noted that it has been young women who have been organising and leading many of the global protests.

How does South Africa shape up?

How does South Africa shape up when it comes to activism, and young women activists in particular?

In South Africa, the #FeesMustFall #EndRapeCulture, #TotalShutDown, #OpenStellenbosch, #RhodesMustFall are some examples of movements that were organised on social media and mostly led by young women from all walks of life. 

In this country, publications, such as The Daily Maverick, have described Instagram as the digital street of #BlackLivesMatter protests.

Four young SA female activists deserving of praise: 

Fasiha Hassan

The Muslim former law student at Wits University was one of the #FeesMustFall leaders.

Hassan featured in Everything Must Fall, a film directed and produced by Rehad Desai which explored the #FeesMustFall movement at South African universities.

In 2019, Hassan won the International Student’s Peace Prize. She continues to work to find concrete solutions that will include marginalised groups, and contribute to true universal access to higher education in South Africa.

Naledi Chirwa

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At 26, Chirwa is the youngest EFF Member of Parliament. The University of Pretoria alumni was introduced to student politics in 2010 as deputy president of the SRC at Tshwane North College.

According to Youth Village, Chores rose to prominence  during the Remember Khwezi and Fees Must Fall movements that shook the country.

In 2017, she was among the 200 Mail and Guardian Young South Africans. Chirwa is driven by her love for black people, black women and South Africa.

Mbali Matandela

Matandela is a Gender and Transformation Honours and International Relations graduate.

She pursues her gender activism on various platforms such as The African Gender Institute’s Young Women’s Leadership Program and the (then) #RhodesMustFall movement. She is also an LGBTQI+ activist.

She writes about the experience of black women in South Africa and seeks to empower women through different forms of expression: written, oral and visual. She has also contributed to The Mail and Guardian.

Zulaikha Patel

South Africa got to know about Zulaikha Patel in 2013 when she led a staged protest inside the corridors of her former model C school, Pretoria Girls High.

Patel was only 13 years old when she and other Grade 8 and 9 black pupils were protesting their school’s anti-Black hair policy.

Her images circulated on social media which helped her gain support from South Africans.

In 2018, she led a silent protest to Pretoria High Court against gender-based violence and continues to support other causes against racism, women abuse amongst others.

Tradition of protest

In South Africa, women organised and led the 9 August 1956 famous protest against pass laws during the apartheid era.

Women like Helen Joseph, Sophia Williams De-Bruyne, Albertina Sisulu, Lilian Ngoyi(who led the protest) including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and many others are regarded as the faces of different types of struggles.

Around the world, women have often been at the forefront of social progress.

In the United States (US), women such as Dorothy Cotton, Jo Ann Robinson, Rosa Parks worked alongside the late Martin Luther King Jnr in the American Civil Rights Movement, including his wife, Coretta Scott King.

Even though the struggles and challenges have changed from what women were fighting for and against back then, the truth is centuries and decades later, women are still fighting for and advocating for their rights and of others.

The only difference is that this generation of revolutionaries features young and brave women who do not fear to challenge the status quo.