Who Protects Women When the Law Fails? | Difference She Makes
Legally CluelessPlay episode
Show notes
Kindly take this short survey, your responses help shape future episodes of Difference She Makes and track how these stories are landing: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/diffshemakes
In the final episode of Difference She Makes, we sit down with South African human rights lawyer Sibongile Ndashe, founder of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), whose work sits at the intersection of feminist legal strategy, institutional reform, and continental accountability.
From challenging the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, to confronting the rise of tech-facilitated gender-based violence across Africa, Sibongile takes us deep into what it really means to push law beyond intention and into impact.
This conversation explores:
Why the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls is “nonsensical” and legally flawedThe urgent gaps in addressing tech-facilitated GBV across the continentWhat feminist leadership looks like in practice, beyond buzzwordsHow to hold compassion and accountability at the same timeWhy young women organizing, naming violence, and refusing shame give her hopeSibongile reminds us: justice is not a banner. It is a tool. And if the tool is broken, we must say so — loudly. “How can we be given something that is so legally flawed and be told to look at the glass as half full? Who cares about how full it is when the water is contaminated?”
As we close this six-part series, we invite you to reflect: Where have you seen women in leadership create accountability and dignity in your community, organization, or country? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Difference She Makes explores how African women are reshaping justice, leadership, and institutions across the continent, not as exceptions, but as architects of the future. The difference she makes ends where real change begins.
