Rashida Manjoo

Rashida Manjoo is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town and a social activist involved in the eradication of violence against women and gender-based violence. Manjoo was the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women from June 2009 to July 2015.

Early life Manjoo grew up in Durban, South Africa. She learned of injustices towards women from a young age, raised by her grandmother and mother in times of poverty in Apartheid South Africa. Manjoo’s parent's importance on education was expressed upon Manjoo and her five sister, This guided her into civil society positions, advocating for improved human rights standards. Manjoo grew of age in South Africa in a system that did not consider women equal, but inferior. She started working as a women’s liberation campaigner in anti-apartheid groups across South Africa. She previously served as the Parliamentary Commissioner on South Africa's Commission on Gender Equality, and the Des Lee Distinguished Visiting Professor at Webster University. Manjoo also established and taught social context training for judges and lawyers.

Social work Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Manjoo and many other feminist activists added focus to the intersectional perspective, by including race and gender in the discussion of inequality and discrimination.

The different coalitions for women would reflect the desires and demands of the women in South Africa, especially in reaction to the treatment of women during the apartheid. During the time of apartheid and the following transition period towards democracy, there was rampant state-sponsored violence against women and other minority groups such as student protesters. The Women’s Charter and other groups focused their efforts on increasing awareness of the violence towards women and generating support for those women.

Manjoo’s work for human rights for women led to her involvement in regional and international discussions on justice for women, including work on the Protocol on Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the African Court on Human Rights, and the Rome Treaty (International Criminal Court). Manjoo worked internationally with these groups to recognize how violence against women is manifested and translated those manifestations into categories of crime under international criminal law.

Through the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice and the Coalition on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Manjoo worked to link women’s local knowledge and presence in global initiatives to support women, and to illuminate the existence of gendered violence and strengthen international criminal law to prevent and prosecute.

Manjoo worked as a human rights lawyer throughout her career, including for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to create shadow reports— which are disclosed reports that can be submitted by Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) to articulate and advocate for certain needs of citizens which are currently being unsupported or mismanaged by national governments. Manjoo spent time with CEDAW and other activists, drafting a submission on violence against women in both local and global communities, in theory, and practice. Manjoo subsequently served for five years as Parliamentary Commissioner in the Commission on Gender Equality to hold governments accountable to national constitutions; again, using various independent organizations (including NGOs) to regulate the accountability of national governments.

During Manjoo’s career advocating for activism against oppression and discrimination, Manjoo dedicated efforts to educate students across the globe. Manjoo has continually provided thematic mandates on a variety of issues regarding violence against women.

These thematic mandates include:

violence against women and girls with disabilities gender-motivated killings of women and their role in the continuum of violence pathways to incarceration and their resulting consequences reparations for women who have been victims of violence the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination in violence the state’s responsibility to due diligence and the elimination of violence against women.

The thematic mandates exposed the gap in international criminal law between human rights standards and the treatment and violence against women.

Most notably, Manjoo gained national media coverage when, after a 16-day investigation of the UK, Manjoo expressed that the UK had a more visible presence of sexism and sexist portrayals of women, claiming that the British media was to blame for its responsibility in the “negative and over-sexualized portrayals of women” and the “marketization of their bodies.” Many people were upset by this characterization of the UK and criticized Manjoo for her opinions, deeming them an unfair interpretation and representation of the UK In 2014, Manjoo submitted a report on violence and sex crimes in India believing the violence to be widespread and systematic. Referencing her many discussions with women and experts in India as evidence of deep-rooted physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of women occurring in the private sphere and accepted by the State. Officials from India denied that violence against women is systematic, and criticized Manjoo’s statements for being simplistic and an over generalization. Manjoo called for a global treaty to end violence against women in 2014, citing the "absence of a legally binding agreement at the international level represents one of the obstacles to the promotion and protection of women’s rights and gender equality."

She was succeeded by Dr. Dubravka Šimonović in July 2015. International Human Rights Award - American Bar Association (2014)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Addendum : Mission to India: comments by the State on the report of the Special Rapporteur (2014) Trafficking of Women: Norms, Realities, and Challenges (2014) The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission- A Model for Gender Justice (2012)

Gender-based Violence and Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Areas (2011)

The Recognition of Muslim Personal Laws in South Africa: Implications of Women’s Human Rights (2007) What’s in a Name? The Identity and Reform of Customary Law in South Africa’s Constitutional Dispensation (2006)

Gender Rights Within the Framework of Traditional or Group Cultural Norms and Rights (2005)