Interview with Shireen Ragunana, AGENDA’s financial Administrator and Office Manager

More than a decade after attaining independence, South African women continue to face challenges related to issues of equality, dignity and justice. Cases of rape, harmful traditional practices, sexual abuse and exploitation, harassment and trafficking remain high. Shireen Ragunana, the Financial Administrator/Office Manager for Agenda Feminist Media, a media organisation in South Africa, says poverty and the subordinate position of women despite a forward looking gender friendly constitution are the main challenges facing women in the country. “It still remains a struggle for South African women to occupy male dominated positions mainly because of uncoordinated efforts by organisations seeking to end gender inequality in the country,” says Ragunana. Rugunana says her organisation is a feminist organisation that is committed to ending unequal power relations based on patriarchy, race, and class. “We respond to these issues by publishing quarterly journals and through community radio programmes. Our goal is to give women a forum, a voice, and skills to articulate their needs and interests towards transforming unequal gender relations in Africa,” explains Ragunana. Agenda Feminist Media produces a quarterly journal to facilitate dialogue and debates between academic gender researchers, activists within the women’s movement and other segments of civil society. The journal is recognised as part of African women’s long-term struggle against unequal power relations. The Community Radio Programmes provide pre-production radio news programmes on gender. It is written in English and translated into local languages.