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SU’s ‘Gender Detour Project’ receives royal nod from Meghan Markle

On 1 October, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, named Stellenbosch University (SU) as one of three universities to receive a ‘gender grant’ to fund projects at the institutions. 

Markle made the announcement at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) as part of her and Prince Harry’s official visit to Southern Africa, where they focused on projects that promote gender equality. 

UJ and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) are the other two institutions receiving the grant.

Monica du Toit, residential education coordinator for student affairs at SU, says the Association for Commonwealth Universities (ACU), for which Markle is patron, put out a call for the £1000 grant for programmes working towards gender equality earlier this year. Du Toit will receive the funds for her planned Gender Detour Project.

Du Toit explains that they have been exploring the possibility of creating experiential learning opportunities for students on campus that aren’t based on debates, panel discussions or mass meetings.

“The idea around the project is [that it is] a walking route where the cues from the environment ranging from a club, a very male space or some of the statues; just spaces for students to talk about how they experience [them].” 

She adds that when they first heard the good news last month, it wasn’t a big deal until they were told to hold back the announcement as Markle was coming to the country. 

LLB student, Gideon Basson (23), is also very involved with the project, noting that even before the nationwide events around the anti-gender-based violence movements began, they started speaking about gender in campus life. 

“We determined that the university community still has too little conversation on this pressing topic,” he adds.  

The team has started consulting with students about which important symbolic spaces in Stellenbosch to include on the route. They hope to plot out and test a route by early next year. 

The royals started their South African tour on Monday 23 September, with a visit to The Justice Desk, a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town’s Nyanga township. 

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Jessica Dewhurst (27) shares a light moment with Meghan Markle in Nyanga township (Cape Town), the royals’ first engagement during their South African tour. PHOTO: Twitter/Jessica Dewhurst

The organisation’s director, Jessica Dewhurst (27) says Prince Harry and Markle wanted to focus specifically on gender-based violence and the work they are doing. 

“One of our projects is the Mbokodo Club, [a] female empowerment project that works with 33 girls from the township of Nyanga, and what we do is teach them self-defence as well as female empowerment through different workshops.” 

According to Dewhurst this includes things like confidence building, speaking skills, campaign management, health and sexual reproductive rights.

“We really hope that people will recognise that gender-based violence is real, that there is a femicide happening in South Africa, and I think the Duke and Duchess are super supportive of our work in trying to address that,” Dewhurst notes. 

The activist says she also hopes that the Duke and Duchess’ visit puts the necessary pressure on the government to live up to the promises they made to the South African people. 

For more information about the Gender Detour Project, email Monica du Toit  mdt2@sun.ac.za.

Visit https://www.justicedesk.org/ to learn more about The Justice Desk.