Cape Town - Women and child activist Lucinda Evans dedicated her listing on the BBC Top 100 Women list to “every Khoisan woman who thought they would never be recognised”.
Evans, from Lavender Hill, was recently recognised and listed among 100 women from around the globe for their work in earth, knowledge, leadership, creativity, sport and identity categories.
Evans, listed in the identity category, said she was caught in a whirlwind when she learnt about the nomination.
“I had received an email one evening, but only read the first two lines before falling asleep, I was so tired. The next morning I started getting calls about it and I was still confused. It wasn't until later in the day that I had a chance to read through the email and process that I was listed for this accolade,” she said.
The BBC Top 100 Women team drew up a shortlist based on names gathered and suggested by the BBC’s network of World Service languages teams.
According to the BBC website, they were looking for candidates who made headlines or influenced important stories over the past year, as well as those who had inspiring stories to tell.
The pool of names was then assessed against this year’s theme - “the Female Future” - and measured for regional representation.
Evans said it was a humbling honour for her to be recognised as part of the list.
“I am the only South African on the list and thought I was nominated by the One Billion Rising South Africa campaign. It turns out that the BBC had done its own research and had only tried to contact me through the movement.
“To have this accolade in a country facing a crisis against women
and children is really a humbling honour. This just goes to show that we really do have lavender in the hills and the BBC has recognised that,” Evans said.
In the email announcing her listing, BBC 100 Women said: “The list is at the centre of the award-winning BBC 100 Women season, and features inspirational and ground-breaking women from all around the world.
“Your dedication in creating and running Philisa Abafazi Bethu, as well as your continuous activism and advocacy for the safety, sexual and reproductive health rights, and human rights of at risk women and girls in South Africa, are very worthy of featuring on the list.”
The BBC 100 Women season is now in its seventh year and has seen previous listed globally prominent women including make-up entrepreneur Bobbi Brown, Amina Mohammed, Julia Gillard, Hilary Swank, Chelsea Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, Isabel Allende, Simone Biles, supermodel Alek Wek, Alicia Keys, Olympic champion boxer Nicola Adams and tennis champion Sania Mirza.