VCU news

By Mike Porter

Roseida Shabodien, head of South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality and wife of South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, spoke to a class of Virginia Commonwealth University anthropology graduate students on Nov. 22.

Shabodien’s lecture focused on gender equality, culture and religion in South Africa. Following the lecture, she answered questions from students.   

“The lecture provided students in the gender and culture class with an incredible opportunity to hear directly from someone who has been in the throes of the struggle of apartheid and is active in the South Africa that has emerged,” said Christopher Brooks, Ph.D., professor and coordinator of anthropology in the School of World Studies. “She has a unique perspective on women from an equality standpoint.”

Shabodien, a practicing Muslim, became active in the anti-apartheid movement in the late 1980’s and worked to bring attention to racial and religious discrimination and women’s rights in South Africa.