Khadija Bawa

Profile

I was born to two shopkeepers in a small farming community called Porterville in the Western Cape. From a very young age, I could see that my community was divided along the lines of race and class. It is this lens that has shaped my view of the world.

After attending Habiba Primary School in Rylands and going on to matriculate at Sans Souci Girls’ High School, I enrolled at Stellenbosch University for my BA (law) undergraduate degree. Once again, I was situated in a very divided and systemically skewed environment. Stellenbosch as a town and an institution remains vividly tied to its Apartheid legacy. Conscious efforts by me and other young students educated ourselves in the history and curriculum of Black Consciousness and activism. Through #OpenStellenbosch and other student movements I gained access to the language of social justice, power and activism. Today I am a philosopher, activist and gender justice lawyer. I have worked as a Senior Researcher at the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) based in Khayelitsha.

During my time at the SJC I focused on various projects, most of which highlighted the precariousness of safety and security where the State has abandoned its responsibility towards poor Black and Brown communities. I have also worked as a teaching assistant and co-lecturer of Critical Social Theory at the Stellenbosch University Philosophy Department. I have worked as a researcher at the South African Property Chair. Before joining the WLC team I clerked at the South African Constitutional Court for Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, Justice Steven Majiedt and Acting Justice Van Zyl.

I hold a BA (Law), Honours (Philosophy), Masters in Philosophy (Cum Laude) and LLB all from Stellenbosch University.