Women's Month: Top inspiring KZN women
Women's Month not only acknowledges women that came before us - struggle stalwarts, activists, and advocates for equal rights - but those who continue to inspire us today. Newswatch sat down with the front runners of industries in business, engineering, sports and in local governance, speaking about women leadership, and what drives them to defy the odds.
East Coast Radio general manager, Boni Mchunu is a multi-faceted woman - a business executive, wife and mother, and an athlete.
Mchunu says women have the unique ability to encapsulate many roles. She says this, among other traits, is what sets women apart from their male counterparts.
"We need to allow ourselves to tap into this God-given talent of being versatile. For instance, women are nurturers by nature. They take time to understand the [the structures] within the workplace," Mchunu says.
Prior to being at the helm of KZN's top radio station, Mchunu held key management roles at two KZN corporates. She says there's been changes in the number of women in key leadership positions in recent years.
International hockey athlete, Cindy Hack is the first person to have played 50 indoor hockey tests for South Africa.
She participated in the 2009 Indoor World Cup and again in the 2015 world tournament - as captain. She says training to compete at national levels - particularly as a mother - requires time and commitment.
"You need extra time management, especially with two little girls. It's very early mornings, late evenings and weekends away from my girls. So, it's important to manage your time to be able to keep the high level of training," Hack says.
Hack says growing up, the love for the sport ran in her family - with her dad and brother having played; her father professionally.
Dr. Alaika Kassim - a lecturer in Bio-resources Engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal - says her academic journey towards obtaining a doctorate in agricultural engineering was a natural one.
"I had the passion and I really enjoyed experimentation, academics and research. Without question, it was a natural progression for me to pursue a PhD," she says.
She is the first female agricultural engineer to be appointed in the department.
Kassim is the chairperson for the KZN branch of the South African Institute of Agricultural Engineers which helps develop students in becoming professional engineers.
She is encouraging women to enter fields in Science.
Being the first woman to occupy the Mayor's Office, eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede says women in politics should lobby their parties to adopt the 50/50 policy - which sees equal representation for both men and women.
Mayor Gumede says the office - under her leadership - has spent time in ensuring they lay a solid foundation for the metro.
"We want to achieve the things that were enlisted in our elections manifesto and my inauguration speech. We have created systems, adopted policies such as the radical economic transformation framework that will see more women benefiting from municipal big contracts," she says.
Gumede says one of the challenges of leading the city is finding balance between being Council chair and leading African women on climate change through the C40 Cities program.
"I have other responsibilities of ensuring that ANC eThekwini is united and is kept alive with impactful party programs. On top of that - I am a mother and grandmother. I have learnt to juggle these responsibilities - I am not perfect but through God, it is possible," she says.