RTI International to host conference on ending gender inequalities in South Africa

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC—October 4, 2018—RTI International will host the “Ending Gender Inequalities: Evidence to Impact” conference on October 8 – 9, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference will bring together world-renowned gender experts to share the impact of innovative current research aimed at eliminating gender inequality around the world. South African journalist, radio personality, and best-selling author Redi Tlhabi will serve as the conference emcee. 

The conference will include dynamic keynote speakers, engaging symposiums, panel sessions, and networking opportunities with partners from the UN Women, Open Society, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, FHI 360, the National Institutes of Health, the South Africa Medical Research Council, the Health Sciences Research Council and other African organizations. The conference is designed to share what currently has impact in the field and to facilitate future collaborations.

“We all have a responsibility to bring about greater change to end gender inequality across all realms in life” noted conference chair Wendee Wechsberg, PhD, director of RTI’s Global Gender Center and director of the Substance Use, Gender, and Applied Research Division. “This conference will allow us to gather our experiences, our research and our stories, and help us find new and effective ways to bring societal and structural change to eliminate these inequalities.”

Keynote speakers will include Glenda Gray, an internationally known South African pioneer in HIV research who was recognized as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017, and Agnes Mantaine Pareyio, a woman rights activist who helped end the practice of female genital mutilation and look for alternative life passages in Kenya. She was the first woman elected Deputy Mayor of her Maasai locality and named United Nations Person of the Year in 2005. Also from South Africa, Grizelda Grootboom, a human trafficking survivor and author of the memoir Exit! And from the US, Nabila El-Bassel, Professor of Social Work at the Columbia University will present a global perspective on refugee women.

Attendees will also learn from panel discussions like “Time’s Up! Beyond Me Too” and symposiums on such key topics as keeping girls in school, reaching boys and men on gender equality, reproductive health care, and women’s access to HIV treatment. Local musical artists and poets will share their talent and survivors will share their stories. This one of a kind conference will also have on hand counseling and a safe room.

“Ending Gender Inequalities” will be held at the Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel in Johannesburg. A full list of symposium speakers, panelists, and other special guests as well as information on attending the conference are available here.