Melene Rossouw

Last updated

Melene Rossouw is a South African lawyer and women's rights activist. [1] [2] In 2020, she was listed as one of the 100 most influential young Africans by Africa Youth Awards. [3]

Early life

Rossouw is from Bellville South. She lived in a dwelling in her aunt's backyard for the first nine years of her life before her mother Deserie earned enough to get them an apartment. Rossouw was athletic growing up, participating in competitions in Pretoria. [4] She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws with a specialty in Public and Constitutional Law, both from the University of the Western Cape. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Jordan</span> American politician, lawyer, and educator (1936–1996)

Barbara Charline Jordan was an American lawyer, educator, and politician. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives, and one of the first two African Americans elected to the U.S. House from the former Confederacy since 1901, alongside Andrew Young of Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Scotland</span> British Dominican barrister and Labour life peer (born 1955)

Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal,, is a British diplomat, barrister and politician, serving as the sixth secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations. She was elected at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and took office on 1 April 2016. She is the first woman to hold the post. She was elevated to the House of Lords in 1997 and, as a British Labour Party politician, served in ministerial positions within the UK Government, most notably as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland. She is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graça Machel</span> Mozambican humanitarian activist and politician

Graça Machel is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998–2013). Machel is an international advocate for women's and children's rights and was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for her humanitarian work. She is the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries, South Africa and Mozambique.

Basetsana Julia "Bassie" Kumalo is a South African television personality, beauty pageant titleholder, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Her career began in 1990 when she was crowned Miss Soweto and Miss Black South Africa at the age of 16. She was crowned Miss South Africa in 1994 and in the same year became the first runner-up in Miss World.

Kelly Elaine Hoppen is a South African-born British interior designer, author, and proprietor of Kelly Hoppen Interiors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oby Ezekwesili</span> Nigerian accountant and politician

Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili is an economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist. She is a former vice president for the World Bank's Africa region, co-founder and founding director of Transparency International, co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement and has served twice as Federal Minister in Nigeria. She is also the founder of #FixPolitics Initiative, a research-based citizen-led initiative, the School of Politics Policy and Governance (SPPG), and Human Capital Africa.

Sophie Tendai Chandauka MBE is a Zimbabwe-born corporate finance lawyer, entrepreneur and Head of Americas Risk Management and Intelligence at Meta. Previously, Chandauka was Global COO of Shared Services and Banking Operations at Morgan Stanley based in New York and prior to this, she was CAO of the Legal and Compliance Division of Morgan Stanley in EMEA, based in London. Before joining Morgan Stanley, she was the Head of Group Treasury (Legal) at Virgin Money in London. She began her career as a corporate finance lawyer and Senior Associate at Baker McKenzie in London. Apart from her professional achievements, she is recognised in the United Kingdom for her community work as an advocate for education, equality, diversity and inclusion and also as a mentor for young entrepreneurs and aspiring lawyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Musisi</span> Ugandan lawyer, administrator and academic

Jennifer Semakula Musisi is a Ugandan lawyer and public administrator. She is the first City Leader in Residence at Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at the Ash Center of the Harvard Kennedy School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. She was appointed to this position in January 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afua Hirsch</span> British writer and broadcaster (born 1981)

Afua Hirsch is a British writer and broadcaster. She has worked as a journalist for The Guardian newspaper, and was the Social Affairs and Education Editor for Sky News from 2014 until 2017. She is the author of the 2018 book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, receiving a Jerwood Award while writing it.

Monica Geingos is a Namibian entrepreneur and lawyer who served as First Lady of Namibia from 2015 until her husband's death in 2024. She has been a board member and director within many of the country's large companies. She had also chaired the Presidential Economic Advisory Council. She was the President of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zuriel Oduwole</span> American education activist

Zuriel Elise Oduwole is an American education advocate and film maker best known for her works on the advocacy for the education of girls in Africa. Her advocacy has since made her in the summer of 2013 at the age of 10, the youngest person to be profiled by Forbes. In November 2014, at age 12, Zuriel became the world's youngest filmmaker to have a self-produced and self-edited work screened, after her film showed in two movie chains, and then went on to show in Ghana, England, South Africa, and Japan.

Margaret Henrietta Augusta Casely-Hayford CBE is a British lawyer, businesswoman and public figure who is active in the voluntary sector. She is Chancellor of Coventry University, chairs the board of trustees of Shakespeare's Globe, and was formerly chair of ActionAid UK and company secretary and head of legal services for leading retailers the John Lewis Partnership. She is in the forefront of working to create diversity on boards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg</span> Kenyan political scientist (born 1978)

Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg is an Executive in Residence at Schmidt Futures. Before that she was Director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). Wanjiru is also the Founder and past Executive Director of Akili Dada, a leadership incubator for African girls and young women and a former Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco.

Salimatou Fatty is a Gambian educator and gender advocate. She is the Founder of the Salimatou Foundation for Education, a charitable foundation in The Gambia that advocate for accessible and affordable quality education for all. She is a Global Youth Advocate at Global Partnership for Education. In 2017, she was named in the 100 list of the most influential young Africans for her efforts in promoting education for young girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aya Chebbi</span> Tunisian diplomat

Aya Chebbi, is a Tunisian diplomat, and a pan-African and feminist activist. She became the first appointed African Union Envoy on Youth in November 2018. Appointed by the chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki in November 2018, as the youngest senior official in the history of the African Union and youngest diplomat in the chairperson's cabinet. She supports the Chairperson in addressing his thematic priority of working with and for young people and advocate to Silencing the Guns by 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Nakate</span> Ugandan climate activist (born 1996)

Vanessa Nakate is an Ugandan climate justice activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryana Iskander</span> Egyptian-born American social entrepreneur and lawyer (born 1975)

Maryana Iskander is an Egyptian-born American social entrepreneur and lawyer. In 2022, she became the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Wikimedia Foundation, succeeding Katherine Maher. Prior to her position, Iskander was the CEO of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and a former chief operating officer of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Theofelus</span> Namibian politician

Emma Inamutila Theofelus is a Namibian politician, currently serving as a Minister of Information, Communication and Technology as of 9 February 2024. Theofelus was 23 years old at the time of her appointment in March 2020 and is the current youngest woman government minister in both Africa and Namibia.

Linda Mabhena-Olagunju is a South African entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is the founder of DLO Energy Resources Group (Pty) Ltd, an independent power producer (IPP). Mabhena-Olagunju currently serves as the company's chief executive officer.

Precious Gondwe is a Botswana based lawyer and businesswoman. She was named in the Top 30 Most Influential Female Lawyers in Africa wherein she represented the Republic of Botswana as a lawyer and a Law firm founder in Africa.

References

  1. "Cape lawyer Melene Rossouw to fly SA flag in Tokyo as outstanding young person of the world nominee". Weekend Argus. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2024 via IOL.
  2. "5 feminist lessons from Melene Rossouw and Phoebe Robinson". ONE. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  3. ayadmin (3 November 2020). "2020 100 Most Influential Young Africans List Announced". Africa Youth Awards. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  4. "Melene Rossouw: From Backyard Dweller to Lawyer to International Award Winner". Coloured South Africa. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  5. "Biography of Melene Rossouw" (PDF). University of Cape Town. Retrieved 2 September 2021.