Dear UWC Community,

International Women’s Day invites us to reflect critically on the conditions that continue to shape inequality in our society. At the University of the Western Cape, we understand that gender justice is grounded in the lived realities of our students, our staff and the communities we serve. Four, of many, celebratory examples among us illustrate this understanding.

Prof Desiree Lewis

Prof Tamara Shefer

Dr Fikile Vilakazi-Alberts

Prof Marion Keim

Prof Marla Trindade

Last year, our Department of Women and Gender Studies (WGS) marked its 30th anniversary. What is distinctive about WGS is not only what it studies, but also how it works: collaboratively, reflexively, and in dialogue with activists, artists, NGOs, and scholars across South Africa and beyond. The department currently houses two five-year Andrew W. Mellon-funded projects that exemplify this approach.

Critical Food Studies, led by Prof Desiree Lewis, interrogates how access to food, its representation and its control are deeply entangled with questions of culture, citizenship and inequality. New Imaginaries for an Intersectional Feminist, Queer Project on Gender and Sexual Justice, led by Prof Tamara Shefer, challenges dominant framings of sexuality and gender to move beyond the “tired polemics” of violence and disease towards more generative, decolonial and intersectional understandings.

The Gender Equity Unit (GEU) is another example at UWC of a focus in which women, leadership and activism have featured prominently. Founded by Dr Rhoda Kadalie in 1993, the GEU is currently focused on strengthening Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) programmes on campus through the 100 days challenge to end GBVF in higher education.

As we mark International Women's Day, we join South African voices that continue to honour the life of Dr Diana Ferrus, a stalwart of the women's movement who made a meaningful contribution through poetry to ensure that the remains of Sarah Bartmaan were brought back to South Africa, from internationally colonised spaces, as a symbol of freedom for women's rights against colonial and apartheid oppression.

“The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is, Give to Gain, a global invitation to acknowledge the politics and practice of reciprocal generosity so that opportunities, voice and power multiply for women and gender-diverse people,” said Dr Fikile Vilakazi-Alberts, Director of the GEU.

“We encourage all women and allies in our campuses to give time to gain more knowledge about what is currently happening in the international women's conversations by attending the Commission for the Status of Women 2026 events found at this link: CSW70 Side Event Schedule | UN Women – Headquarters, and share the information widely with all women students and staff and allies. By doing so, we will be able to gain knowledge and activism in international women's politics and organising to enhance our local collective engagements.”

Dr Vilakazi-Alberts is also the first coordinator of QueerDubs, initiated in 2025, to provide a platform for UWC staff to engage in and support queer activism on campus. QueerDubs, an initiative of the Rectorate, focuses on the intersectionalities between activism, community, teaching and research.

In a similar spirit of advancing socially engaged scholarship, Prof Marion Keim’s appointment as the UNESCO Chair in Sport, Development, Peace and Olympic Education represents a historic milestone for the continent.

Hosted at UWC, this is the first UNESCO Chair in sport in Africa, advancing research, mentorship, policy dialogue and partnerships that use sport as a vehicle for peace, leadership development and social inclusion, with particular attention given to women and girls in sport.

Equally significant is the recognition of Prof Marla Trindade, Director of the Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics and holder of the SARChI Research Chair in Microbial Genomics, who was elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

Membership of the Academy is among the highest honours for scholars in the country, recognising exceptional scientific achievement and contributions to society. Prof Trindade’s pioneering work in microbial genomics and biotechnology continues to advance research with applications in human health, environmental sustainability and industry.

The aims of International Women’s Day — to advance equality, amplify voices and accelerate progress — align closely with our scholarly and social commitments as UWC.

Today, I encourage you to recognise that gender justice is integral to the broader project of building a responsive, inclusive and socially just university. Not only through our teaching, but also through our scholarship, we see how activism can sometimes have the social impact that transforms lives.

Kind Regards,
Professor Robert John Balfour
Rector and Vice-Chancellor
University of the Western Cape