Women leading the way

TALI FEINBERG

POLITICS AND LAW

The most pressing need for leadership, courage and wisdom is in politics, and we can be proud of the women who have blazed a trail in this arena. If we see the future by standing on the shoulders of giants, then women like Helen Suzman, Ruth First and Helen Joseph can motivate to fight for what is right.

Leading the opposition at the height of apartheid, Suzman became known for her strong public criticism of the governing National Party’s policies, capital punishment, the banning of the Communist Party, and gender discrimination. She visited Robben Island to inspect prisoners’ living conditions and was a Member of Parliament for 36 years.

Ruth First was a journalist, academic and activist who paid with her life – killed by a letter bomb sent to her in exile by the South African Secret Police. She had also been held in solitary confinement for over 100 days and was one of the 156 activists who were arrested and charged alongside Nelson Mandela in the Treason Trial. Her extensive career as a journalist, author, academic and activist leaves a powerful legacy.

Helen Joseph was a founder member of the Congress of Democrats (COD and national secretary of Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW). She was also one of the main organisers of the Women’s March on August 9, 1956. Arrested on a charge of high treason in December 1956, she survived several assassination attempts, including bullets shot through her bedroom window late at night and a bomb wired to her front gate.

Glynnis Breytenbach resisted the National Prosecuting Authority over the withdrawal of charges against Richard Mdluli, and was taken to court for it. She is currently a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance.

Gill Marcus joined the ANC in London, returning to South Africa in 1990 to become deputy finance minister in the first democratic government. She was appointed as deputy governor and then governor of the Reserve Bank.

It is also heartening to see young politicos making waves overseas, like Elizabeth Jaff, who played an integral role in the Obama administration and recently stood for election as the Democratic National Convention chairperson.

High Court Judge Sharise Weiner was a founding member of Lawyers for Human Rights and a shortlisted candidate for the post of public protector, following Thuli Madonsela. 

HUMANITARIAN

South African Jewish women are leaders in humanitarian work, quietly and conscientiously improving the lives of their fellow South Africans. Helen Liebermann was recently awarded the highest award that France can bestow on a foreign citizen in recognition of her lifelong commitment to the eradication of poverty, injustice and human misery through her organisation Ikamva Labantu. She says that her work “is part of who I am as a Jewish woman – it is an expression of my Judaism. Rather than prayer, I’d like to live it.”

Many others have followed in her footsteps. Physiotherapist Marilyn Bassin has volunteered with poverty-stricken terminally ill children for the last 20 years, aiming at alleviate suffering and bring dignity to the dying.

Diminutive and feisty, Ina Perlman was the founder of Operation Hunger, a non-profit organisation aiming to eradicate hunger in South African rural areas in the 1980s. Perlman would beg for leftovers at large grocery stores, pack the goods into her Volkswagen Kombi van and travel all over the country.

By 1991, the organisation was providing food to about 1,8 million people and engaging an additional 200 000 people in income-generating projects.

Now, the younger generation are picking up the mantle, including Gina Flash, founder of the Mensch Network, which brings together “Jewish change-makers” and offers support for those making a difference.

One member is Lauren Gillis, who founded Relate, a 100 per cent not-for-profit social enterprise that sells handmade bracelets to raise funds for health, education, social upliftment and environmental conservation and creates earning opportunities.

Another is Marlene Silbert, who founded the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, which brings together teenagers from different backgrounds for intensive workshops, tutoring programmes and community service projects.

We see many Jewish women in the NGO sector, such as Nikki Stein, an attorney at SECTION27, who is currently working on the right to basic education and the obligations of the government arising from that right; and Marilyn May, who started Atlantic Hope in her own home, creating a place of safety for orphaned babies.

Andy Bolnick is the founder of Ikhayalami, which focuses on the development and implementation of affordable technical solutions for informal settlement upgrading, and Kira Schlesinger started the Teacher Development Initiative, which works with English teachers in under-resourced schools to improve their skills. 

HEALTHCARE

With doctors sometimes giving up on South Africa, those who choose to stay and succeed, remain an inspiration, like Dr Candice Sher Locketz, who recently qualified as a specialist anatomical pathologist; and Dr Rebecca Hodes, who is the new director of the Aids and Society Research Unit (ASRU) at UCT. She is also the principal investigator of the Mzantsi Wakho study, focusing on the lived experiences of HIV-positive teenagers.

They can draw inspiration from Professor Selma Browde, a senior radiation oncologist at the University of the Witwatersrand and an anti-apartheid activist; and Dr Mary Gordon, who for many years was South Africa’s best-known female doctor. In the final phase of her life she worked as a doctor at Baragwanath Hospital and at the age of 70 she registered as a specialist in physical medicine and took up a post at Tara Hospital. She continued practising medicine until her death at the age of 80.  

ARTS

Irma Stern put South Africa on the map for sought-after works depicting Africa’s places and people; while Nadine Gordimer conveyed the injustice of apartheid through literature, winning a Nobel Prize.

Galia Gluckman produces large-scale multi-faceted artworks and in 2016, her work was purchased for the presidential residence in Cape Town. Other successful artists include Francine Greenblatt, Aileen Lipkin, Orly Rabinowitz, Claire Greenspan, Janice Rabie and Claudia Gurwitz.

In literature, novelist Rose Zwi and poets Helen Segal and Riva Rubin, made their mark, while Joanne Fedler is a bestselling author who has just launched her own publishing house. 

STAGE

On the stage, prima ballerina Phyllis Spira danced for the Royal Ballet in Britain before returning to South Africa and spending 28 years as prima ballerina. In 1984 she was named the first (and currently only) South African Prima Ballerina Assoluta. In 2003, she was named a member of the Order of the Disa for her contribution to ballet and the development of ballet in disadvantaged communities.

Aviva Pelham’s musical career has spanned over 40 years with performances in opera, operetta, musicals, concert and cabaret. She is the director of numerous shows for fundraising and the arts, and has sung for Queen Elizabeth and Nelson Mandela.

She teaches talented youngsters from previously disadvantaged communities, sharing a platform to give them experience and to launch their careers. Beverley Chiat is a respected opera performer, and Fay Singer is known for her work in Klezmer music.

Actress, playwright, artist and director Sue Pam-Grant is one of South Africa’s most loved faces, after achieving fame on the South African TV series Suburban Bliss and writing the smash-hit production Curl Up and Dye. She is currently a multi-media artist who has had numerous successful exhibitions.

Actress and singer Caely-Jo Levy is bringing Yiddish music and performance to audiences both locally and internationally, especially the younger generation. When Levy was invited to sing at the Cape Town Yiddish Song Festival, she noticed there was no-one her age in the audience.

“Since then I have felt a deep need and a sense of responsibility as a young Jewish artist to help conserve these songs and share some of the history and culture that goes with this exquisite language, with my generation,” she says.

Mila De Biaggi is a singer, dancer and actress who graduated from the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and has performed in international and local productions of Singing in the Rain, Cats, Dirty Dancing and Sunset Boulevard. 

MEDIA

Doyenne of the magazine industry Jane Raphaely had a difficult childhood and after moving from the UK to South Africa, she became the founding editor of Fair Lady, launched her own company Associated Media Publishing and went on to shape the women’s magazine industry in this country. Going full circle, the young Cara-Lee Herr is the current fashion editor of Fair Lady.

Nadia Bilchik is president of Greater Impact Communication and an internationally renowned television personality, communication and professional development training expert, author and keynote speaker. She is currently the editorial producer for CNN’s Weekend Morning programme.

In the Middle East, television, radio and print journalist and war correspondent Paula Slier, heads up her own company, Newshound, and she is often first on the scene in Israel and surrounds.

Award-winning reporter and author Mandy Wiener specialises in investigative reporting and legal matters, covering both the corruption trial of former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi and the Brett Kebble murder trial. Her book “Killing Kebble” was a local publishing phenomenon, selling in excess of 100 000 copies. 

BUSINESS

Joan Joffe is South Africa’s “first lady of ICT”, blazing a trail in the IT and telecoms industry in this country. In 1977 she launched Joffe Associates, the first company in South Africa to import, sell and service the IBM PC.

She took the company national, and sold it 10 years later. She is a founding member of broad-based women’s empowerment group, Nozala Investments, and has served on the boards of several other organisations.

Reeva Forman single-handedly developed a leading cosmetics empire and was the first women president of the Johannesburg Junior Chamber of Commerce. She is a well-known speaker on management, marketing, motivation, self-development, human relations and success, and has lead over 20 tours to Israel. 

SPORT

Champion golfer Rita Easton won the South African Women’s Golf title seven times and was inducted into the Southern Africa Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.

Marlene Bethlehem played tennis at Wimbledon and the French Championships from 1959 to 1962. In 1961 she reached the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles. In 1962 she won the Wimbledon Plate as well as the Dutch Open doubles.

Sarah Poewe, whose mother is Jewish, has competed internationally for both South Africa and Germany as a breaststroke swimmer. At the age of 14, she made her international debut at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships and at 17 she competed for the South African swimming team at the 2000 Olympic Games, and finished in fourth place in the women’s 100 m breaststroke.

These women are just an example of the many who are succeeding in their fields, making a difference and leading the way forward, both in South Africa and internationally. There are certainly many more!