Sex and gender transformation in Africa

Zak Yacoob

doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/a0188

Abstract

On 6 and 7 October 2016, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) hosted the 2016 Annual Young Scientist Conference in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology; the South African Young Academy of Science; Gender in Science, Innovation, Technology and Engineering (GenderInSITE); and the South African Chapter of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. The conference explored and discussed human rights in Africa in many of its dimensions to celebrate 2016 as the 'African Year of Human Rights with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women'.

Highlights

A fundamental premise of universal human rights thinking today is that discrimination based on morally irrelevant considerations or immutable human characteristics of race, sex, religion, age, disability and the like cannot be justified and are unacceptable
A highlight of the event was a roundtable session on ‘Transformation towards sex and gender equality in Africa: Where are we?’ The roundtable was facilitated by Justice Richard Goldstone, retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, who chaired a panel of four people: Prof
The ultimate object is the achievement of equality of all of us as human beings regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity

Summary

Introduction

A fundamental premise of universal human rights thinking today is that discrimination based on morally irrelevant considerations or immutable human characteristics of race, sex, religion, age, disability and the like cannot be justified and are unacceptable. AUTHOR: Zak Yacoob1 AFFILIATION: 1Retired Judge of the Constitutional Court, Johannesburg, South Africa CORRESPONDENCE TO: Zak Yacoob EMAIL: zak.yacoob@gmail.com KEYWORDS: human rights; Constitution; equality; gender identity; sexual orientation HOW TO CITE: Yacoob Z. A highlight of the event was a roundtable session on ‘Transformation towards sex and gender equality in Africa: Where are we?’ The roundtable was facilitated by Justice Richard Goldstone, retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, who chaired a panel of four people: Prof.

Results

Conclusion