Ishtar Lakhani

Ishtar Lakhani (born 1985) is a feminist activist from South Africa, whose work focuses on issues of social justice, in particular the rights of sex workers. In 2020 she was added by the BBC on their 100 Women list.

Ishtar Lakhani
CitizenshipSouth Africa
OccupationActivist
AwardsBBC's 100 Women

Biography

Lakhani was born in 1985.[1] She attended the University of the Witwatersrand and earned an MA in Anthropology from there.[2] Since graduation her career has ranged from coordinating a radical feminist advocacy network for survivors of sexual violence - the One in Nine Campaign[3] - to sandwich making at Love and Revolution, the activist bookshop that she founded.[4]

From 2014 to 2019 she was the human rights manager of the Sex Education and Advocacy Working Group (SWEAT), an organization based in South Africa.[5][6] She also works alongside HIV organisations assisting with strategy development.[6] Creativity is key to her brand of activism and in 2020 she was working in Australia to develop an experience which demonstrated what life in 1920s Australia was like, as part of a programme highlighting women's rights.[7] She also developed a pop-up "Ask a Sex Worker Booth" as a public engagement activity to shift public perceptions of sex workers.[8]

During 2020, Lakhani worked on the Free the Vaccine campaign, which was co-ordinated by the Centre for Artistic Activism and Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM).[9] This campaign aims to ensure that a COVID19 vaccine is reasonably priced, available to all and free at the point of delivery.[9]

Awards

Lakhani was on the list of the BBC's 100 most influential women of 2019, an award listing which is published annually.[10]

References
  1. Huisman, Biénne (2020-09-03). "Maverick Citizen Friday Activist: Ishtar Lakhani: An activist working to create the world of our dreams". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  2. "Ishtar Lakhani BIO". JustLabs. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  3. Mason, Corinne L. (2018-01-29). Routledge Handbook of Queer Development Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-52951-6.
  4. "Ishtar Lakhani". The Center for Artistic Activism. 2020-05-09. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  5. "Ishtar Lakhani". Namati. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  6. "South African human rights activist on BBC influential list". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  7. "The Human Rights Defender: Ishtar Lakhani". Free the Vaccine for COVID-19. 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  8. "The fight for "fun"damental rights for sex workers in South Africa". OpenGlobalRights. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  9. "BBC 100 Women 2020: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  10. "How Nigerians Aisha Yesufu, Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim enta BBC 100 Women list". BBC News Pidgin. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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