UWC runs webinars on women’s empowerment

The University of the Western Cape is running webinars on women's empowerment during Women's Month.

This Women’s Month, various faculties of the University of Western Cape are hosting webinars on women’s empowerment.

Since the national lockdown, the university has closed its doors and has been operating through online courses.

The university’s Gender Equality Unit, hosted a webinar last week on women empowerment. Dr Mary Hames, director of the unit, said: “We held a panel consisting of seven women who all spoke and honoured the women who studied at the university and fought for equal rights and made contributions to the greater community. I myself spoke about women who made contributions to housing policies that benefit women today.” 

The unit’s next webinar, on Wednesday September 30, will discuss gender-based violence in higher education.

The community and health sciences faculty will host a session tomorrow from 1pm till 2pm, discussing the impact of Covid-19 on mental health. 

Professor Anthea Rhode, dean of the faculty, said: “We have been hosting these webinars during lockdown, but with August being Women’s Month, I decided to dedicate sessions where we will have women from different faculties discussing various issues.” 

Each speaker has 15 minutes to give their presentations.

“The lectures are pre-prepared, but students with questions can send them via email or the chat option available while watching the webinar. Our faculty will be discussing how Covid-19 has impacted our work and areas of expertise,” Professor Rhode said.

The faculty of community and health sciences will host a webinar every Thursday from 1pm till 2pm.