| Intro | South African activist who works for rural women’s rights |
| Is | Activist |
| From | South Africa |
| Type | Activism |
| Gender | female |
| Birth |
24 November 1946 |
| Age | 74 years |
| Star sign | Sagittarius |
Sizani Ngubane is a South African activist who works for rural women’s rights. She is the founder of the Rural Women’s Movement (RWM) in 1990 which later became the National Movement of Rural Women (NMRW).
Biography
Ngubane was born in KwaMpumuza, near Pietermaritzburg. As a young girl, Ngubane witnessed her mother experiencing domestic violence from her male relatives and her own husband. In 1965, her mother had been kicked off of her own land by her brothers in law and went to a traditional leader to request land where she was denied because she had no sons. Ngubane said, “I grew up knowing I had to be part of the solution.”
In 1990, Ngubane launched the Rural Women’s Movement (RWM).
From 1999 on, she began to research how women were treated in rural KwaZulu Natal and she found that many were treated “as subordinates to men.” She also began fighting against the Traditional Courts Bill which she felt would give traditional, male leaders unchecked power that could “significantly undermine women’s rights.” The Bill died in 2014.
In 2011, Ngubane addressed the United Nations on issues facing rural women.
In 2020 she was nominated for the Martin Ennals Award together with Yemeni lawyer Huda Al-Sarari and Norma Librada Ledezma. Huda Al-Sarari became the 2020 laureate