SUZANNE BELLING
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Pictured: Wendy Kahn addressing the World Jewish Congress.
“I have honestly never felt undermined as a woman at the Board and have been privileged to work with many extraordinary elected and professional women,” she told Jewish Report.
Inspiring role models for her include Marlene Bethlehem and Mary Kluk (past and present presidents) and her professional staff comprises over 50 per cent women.
“We are the envy of other Diaspora communities in terms of the female representation of our leadership body.”
Before her appointment, Kahn was steeped in the Jewish community, having attended Yeshiva College, was active in Mizrachi, where she ran the He’atid leadership programme, at the helm of the organisation for 14 years till it became the SA-Israel Forum.
He’atid was responsible for taking South African leaders to Israel and other relevant countries to acquire leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
Previously Kahn was an elected member of the Board and served for five years, including as vice-chairman of the Gauteng Council.
She studied at Wits and obtained a post-graduate diploma in management at the university’s business school.
“I am the black sheep of the family – the only one not having gone into the medical field.”
Her father, Professor Barry Schoub, was CEO of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and is currently chairman of the National Health Laboratory Services.
Her career started at Eskom. “I am in no way responsible for the load shedding! Eskom became my real university where I managed middle management leadership development for five wonderful years.”
Kahn attributes coping with a high-powered job to a supportive family infrastructure. Her children, Michaela (20), David (17) and Rachel (11) are “up to date on the issues and the activities in which we are involved.
“In 2016, I don’t believe that a mother or father in fulltime high-powered jobs should be facing different challenges.”
She describes her husband, Lance, as “amazingly supportive and long-suffering”.
Looking back at the start of her SAJBD career, she said: “When I inherited my office at the SAJBD, it was freezing cold and there was no electricity. I walked in, felt the glare of 100 men looking down at me. My first task was to remove the photographs and introduce bright South African art into my office.”
She brought colour to the logos and the work of the Board, “cherishing the many different facets of our community and embracing the diversity of our country”.
A typical day in her life is getting up at 05:00, checking her Twitter feed and being at boot camp half an hour later.
“What I love about my job is that every day is different and unpredictable. I only truly know what my day will be when I get to my office at 07:30. We may have an anti-Semitism incident erupting in the media, resulting in the need for statements. On these days everything else gets shifted.
“Other days see us attending government meetings, workshops or civil society interactions. My personal favourites are the projects we run, such as the Youth Day outing to Soweto with members of our schools, or the xenophobia campaigns we were involved in where our community made a great contribution.”
She has developed and led many campaigns, including the Jewish Xenophobia Relief Programme; ensuring patient care during the 2010 public sector strike; representing South Africa in the international Jewish response to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva; co-ordinating the 2011 counteraction to the Russell Tribunal for Palestine, sending a message that this was nothing more than a kangaroo court and responding to the “anti-social” media, as well as campaigns to encourage the Jewish community to participate in South Africa’s democratic processes.
Regarding Women’s Day, Kahn says: “We have such powerful women leaders in our country, such as Advocate Thuli Madonsela and Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Our representation of women in all facets of society, including parliament and government, is impressive on a global level.”
Kahn, however, is concerned about the level of violence against women in this country. “It is something we must always stand up against.”
