Who: Zohra Ebrahim
What: "The Position of Women in Post-Apartheid South Africa: An Assessment of Gains and Losses" 
When: Friday, April 29th, 1:00 p.m.
Where: Student Center Room 205

Zohra Ebrahim is the current chair of South Africa’s first housing regulatory authority and is the deputy chair of the Desmund Tutu HIV Foundation. In addition, she chairs a listed company (South Africa’s equivalent of a Fortune 500). An important anti-apartheid activist in South Africa during the transition to majority rule, Ebrahim rose to become the national civics coordinator of the United Democratic Front or UDF (the main internal anti-apartheid movement). Her leadership at company and organizational level is rooted in years of community involvement and institution building. Since the end of apartheid, she has been involved in development work, particularly in the field of affordable housing and human settlements. She also has great insight into Black economic  empowerment and its impact in a post-democratic South Africa.

Few women in South Africa have attained Ebrahim’s profile in the community, business and political fields. The social housing company she chaired, SOHCO, was awarded the Govan Mbeki Award for excellence in both the provincial and national categories in 2008 and 2009 as well as the SA Housing Foundation award in 2010.  Among other awards she has received are the Lebone Women Achievers (Medium Business 1997) and she was elected as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 1998. She is a Fellow of the SA Institute of People Management and a member of the Institute of Directors (SA).  She was selected as a Fellow of the African Leadership initiative (ALI), which is part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, in 2009.  She has spoken at and chaired many events ranging from civic meetings to international conferences.

Brought to you by the College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Gender and Women's Studeis and the Department of Sociology.