[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

By Prof Flavia Senkubuge, medical doctor and University of Pretoria’s Acting Vice-Principal for Student Life

In order to ‘Innovate, Demonstrate, Elevate, Advance and Sustain (IDEAS), to bring communities forward for sustainable and equitable development’ – in line with the theme for 2023’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science – we need to loudly, boldly and unapologetically speak the names of our pioneering mothers and grandmothers, not only to learn, but to acknowledge, recognise and loudly celebrate their paving of our way. 

Because of these women and many others like them, thousands and thousands of other women have now entered the science field and are contributing daily towards achieving the global promise to create sustainable and equitable development in science, leaving no one behind. 

Physicist and chemist Dr. Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. In spite of all her achievements, she was never elected to the French Academy of Sciences because she was a woman.

Dr. Mae Carol Jemison is an engineer, medical doctor, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. She experienced racial and gender discrimination throughout her school and working career.

Social, environmental, and political activist Prof. Wangari Muta founded the Green Belt Movement, which aims to counter deforestation. The first female professor in her home country of Kenya, she was also the first African female recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She fought against and overcame societal prejudice because of her gender.

Interested in partnering with us? 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Charlotte Makgomo Maxeke was South Africa’s first black woman graduate. She obtained a B.Sc. degree from Wilberforce University, Ohio, and wrote extensively about women’s rights. She later co-founded the Bantu Women’s League (the first women’s organisation in South Africa) in 1918.

Prof. Fatima Meer was a political leader, academic, publisher, author, human rights activist, and gender activist who worked tirelessly to improve race relations and promote justice and reconciliation. She was the first woman of colour to be appointed as a lecturer at a designated-white South African university.

Dr. Phyllis Priscilla “Nogqaza” Ntantala-Jordan was born at Gqubeni, along the bends of the Nqabarha River, eDutywa. She was an intellectual, author, academic, and activist. In an article published in the journal Sechaba in 1984, she noted: “It is one of the ironies of history that the most pervasive and total oppression, the oppression of women, has been to a large extent neglected by scholars.”

It is said that if you educate a woman, you educate the entire home, as well as the entire community. In South Africa, we have to earnestly build on the legacy and foundation that have been laid by dynamic women across different spheres of society. These bold leaders moved the needle forward, and, as we stand at this current time in our political and economic history, we have a responsibility to rise up and be the changemakers.

The Standard Bank Top Women awards entries are still open! Enter today here:

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]