I have been a social justice and feminist activist for close to 30 years. I’ve had the great fortune of doing full-time feminist work over the last few years, much of which has been dedicated to working on sexual and gender-based violence.

Former director of Gender Equity at the University of the Witwatersrand, Crystal Dicks now works as an independent gender and development practitioner. Since she started working independently earlier this year, she has advised on over 20 projects on the prevention of gender and sexual harassment, which she feels strongly about. 

She conducts research on gender-based violence, policy briefs, reviews and development. She also provides training and creates awareness and other capacity-building initiatives on gender, feminism, feminist theory and sexual and gender-based violence.

Dicks notes that being a feminist in a deeply patriarchal society is not without its own challenges. “As a woman and an activist you sadly learn to live with the constant come-ons and the put-downs, but experiencing the violence, the abuse, the gaslighting, the mansplaining, the disrespect and deceit within the movements and institutions we chose to work in, is nauseating,” she explains.

She notes that one obstacle to attaining gender equity is insincere people “who stand on public and political platforms declaring their commitment to gender equality and social transformation”. Yet she is encouraged by the desire to work towards attaining an alternate world in which gender is not used as a policing tool for disempowering some while unfairly uplifting others.

Her desire to create this alternative world for future generations is informed by her eight-year-old girl, whom she hopes will live in a better world. She says that motherhood is not as rosy as it is made it out to be: “The greatest obstacle I have encountered thus far has probably been being a single mother to a child while keeping my work going.”

The greatest reward from her work comes from survivors. “Those I have helped and supported, those I have cried with and have felt the joy of being heard. These are womxn with whom I have shared the joy of being believed and have come to experience safer and more inclusive spaces.” Dicks has an idea for an activist cookbook on her radar.

— Welcome Lishivha

Twitter: @CrystalDicks