Dawn Cavanagh

Dawn Cavanagh is a South African activist, writer, and feminist that helped found feminist initiatives such as the Forum for the Empowerment of Women,[1] and Coalition of African Lesbians in 2004.[2]

Dawn Cavanagh
Born23 March 1962
EducationFairvale Senior Secondary School

University of Natal

University of South Africa
Known forActivist

Early life and education

Dawn Cavanagh was born on 23 March 1962. She attended Fairvale Senior Secondary School in Wentworth, KwaZulu-Natal, and graduated from the University of Natal with a Bachelor of Science degree in social work in 1982. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work from the University of South Africa in 1996 and studied for a master's degree in development studies from the University of Natal.[3]

Career

Cavanagh is active in South Africa in the fields of equal access to healthcare, HIV/AIDS activism, women's rights, sexual rights, and reproductive rights.[4]She works on social justice projects and development in local communities and in regional and international spaces.[5]

She has worked for the Forum for the Empowerment of Women,[1] the first black lesbian rights organization in South Africa. She has also worked for Oxfam,[6] as well as the Civil Rights Defenders, Akina Mama wa Afrika and the Women's Leadership Centre in Namibia.[7][8][9]

She helped to found the Coalition of African Lesbians in 2004[2] and became its director in 2010. In 2014 Cavanagh set up the Masakhane programme (Zulu for "Come, let's get stronger together") with the German LSVD to provide better networking and empowerment to lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in sub-Saharan Africa.[10][11]

Cavanagh has also worked with and been promoted by AWID.[12][13][14]

Publications
  • Losing the Beijing Agenda in the Sea of 'New Solutions' to HIV and AIDS" (2005), in Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity.[15]
  • The OTHER REFLECT: Five Years of Building a Community Foundation with LGBTIQ people in Southern Africa External Review (2019) (with Hope Chigudu)[16]

References
  1. Association for Women’s Rights in Development website
  2. "10 vozes femininas poderosas na luta por direitos iguais pelo mundo". CLAUDIA (in Brazilian Portuguese). 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  3. "Patricia Dawn Cavanagh - UN-NGLS". United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service.
  4. "Celebrating queer voices". City Press. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. "South African women's rights activists - FamousFix.com list". FamousFix.com. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  6. Oxfam Library website
  7. Defenders' Days 2022 Agenda (PDF). Civil Rights Defenders. October 2022. p. 8.
  8. "Re-orienting and strengthening the journey of feminist and transformational leadership at the African Women's Leadership Institute". Akina Mama wa Afrika. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  9. "Lesbian empowerment programme - Women's Leadership Centre". www.wlc-namibia.org. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  10. More than anything: The contribution of religious communities and human rights organisations to sustainable development (PDF). Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. February 2016.
  11. "Wie Lesben weltweit sichtbar werden. Vorbild Masakhane Projekt". LSVD (in German). Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  12. "Ongoing Dilemmas: Religion, Fundamentalisms and Human Rights panel session - 12th AWID Forum". AWID. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  13. "The Right To Autonomy Over Our Bodies And Loves: The Resolution On Human Rights, Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity Furthers Dialogue". Sexuality Policy Watch. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  14. Marler, Isabel (26 September 2016). "12 Activists Who Will Make You Hopeful For Feminist Futures". WUNRN. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  15. Cavanagh, Dawn (2005). "Losing the Beijing Agenda in the Sea of 'New Solutions' to HIV and AIDS". Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity (64): 17–20. ISSN 1013-0950.
  16. The Other Foundation website
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