Centre for Women and Gender Studies- NMU

The Centre for Women and Gender Studies is committed to advancing African feminist scholarship through teaching, research, public engagement and critical dialogue. At the heart of this work is a multidisciplinary team whose work and commitment continue to shape the Centre’s contribution within the University and beyond.

CWGS is made up of people with different stories, experiences and passions, all contributing to the work of the Centre in their own way.

Meet the faces of CWGS.

The Centre for Women and Gender Studies and the SARChI Chair in African Feminist Imagination invite you to the next instalment of our Feminist Focus on Violence series, featuring clinical psychologist and author Dr Zimbini Ogle.

Drawing on her book, Under Siege: Gender, Violence and Betrayal, Dr Ogle will reflect on the structural realities of gender-based violence, inviting critical engagement with the social, political and institutional conditions that sustain it. The conversation will also consider what it means to respond to violence through feminist scholarship, practice and collective action.

Joining the discussion are Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola and Kwezilomso Mbandazayo, whose work and activism continues to shape critical conversations on gender, power and African feminist thought.

We look forward to welcoming students, staff, researchers and members of the public to what promises to be a timely and thought-provoking conversation. Join us on the 30 July at 13:00. The event will be held at the Chancellor’s Room, Indoor Sports Centre
Nelson Mandela University South Campus.

To RSVP or make an enquiry, email [email protected].

Stay connected with the Centre for Women and Gender Studies.✉️

Throughout the year, CWGS hosts public lectures, seminars, conferences and dialogues that bring together scholars, activists, artists, students and communities to engage with critical questions on African feminisms, gender justice and social transformation.

If you’d like to receive invitations to our upcoming events, join the CWGS mailing list. Send us your email address via DM or complete the Google Form in our bio to stay connected.

Last year on this day, the Centre for Women and Gender Studies welcomed scholars, researchers, students and activists from across the continent for the 6th African Feminisms (AFEMS) Conference at Nelson Mandela University, convened by the Chair in African Feminist Imagination.

Across three days, the conference created space for rigorous engagement with African feminist scholarship, bringing together diverse voices under the theme “A Conspiracy of Women:
Institutions, Humour and Imagination,” the gathering explored how African feminist thinkers, creatives, and communities are unsettling norms, reimagining power, and making space for joy, humour, and resistance, through experimentation and imagination.

As we look back on AFEMS 2025, we celebrate the conversations, collaborations and intellectual exchanges that continue to shape African feminist thought and practice.

This Friday, the 26th of June, the Kulture Korner Dialogue Series brings together conversations on heritage, identity, politics, leadership, and belonging at the historic St Peter’s Rainbow Village in South End.

Among the featured dialogues is Bodies, Power and Politics: Gendered Identities in South African Political Life, presented by Professor Babalwa Magoqwana.

Students are encouraged to attend and be part of a programme that combines critical dialogue, artistic expression, and community engagement in one of Gqeberha’s most significant heritage spaces. Event will take place from 16:00 to 17:00

Attendance is free. Seats are limited and attendance is by RSVP.

The Education Working Group of the Beijing +30 African Women’s Movement invites you to a live webinar on Decolonising Education in Africa.

Convened in the spirit of the Day of the African Child and the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, this conversation will reflect on education as a site of memory, justice, transformation and liberation.

We will be joined by:

Ms Staff Sithole
CEO, TechnoGirl Trust

Professor Babalwa Magoqwana
Founding Director, Centre for Women and Gender Studies, Nelson Mandela University

Ms Nancy Hakizimana
PhD Candidate, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Dr Nadira Omarjee
Researcher, Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Date: 25 June 2026
Time: 17:00 SAST
Platform: Online

Join us as we reflect on the future of African education, and the urgent work of reclaiming knowledge, history and imagination.
Registration link in bio.