Theme: Leaning In

A TEDxCapeTownSalon event aimed at engaging our TEDxCapeTownWomen community around Leaning In and what that means for women at work, at home or in our communities.


TEDxCapeTownWomen is a community based in Cape Town which uses the powerful TEDx platform towards greater exposure and inclusion of women in the innovation and entrepreneurship space that is flourishing in the City.

TEDxCapeTownWomen and its team is re-defining the model of citizen engagement by not only spreading good ideas, but building a platform for collaboration and community, a catalyst to inspire action. TEDxCapeTownWomen is about women, women’s issues, and women’s inherent potential, both locally and on a
global scale.

In 2010, Sheryl Sandberg’s talk on “Why we have too few women leaders” attributed this challenge to too many women leaning out, and the corporate sectors inability to retain female staff in a corporate space. Today women face the hard choice between professional success and personal fulfilment, or spend copious amounts of energy trying to find the perfect balance between the two.
Her talk, and subsequent book, coined the phrase Lean In, and encourages both women and men to evaluate the current systems that reinforce a scenario where women are substantially underrepresented in leadership positions, politically, socially and in the workplace.

To contextualise this debate and provide a space for dialogue around the inherent challenges preventing women from leaning in, we will host a TEDxCapeTownSalon event for the TEDxCapeTownWomen community. The conversation will not focus in on women in the workplace alone, but open up conversations about the challenges inhibiting women from taking hold of or participating fully in any opportunities that inspire and excite them.

Not only will ideas be shared about addressing the inherent gaps women and girls in Cape Town encounter, but we will also provide a platform for some personal stories of women who are leaning in, and blazing the trail for others to follow. The diverse line-up includes award-winning directors and healthcare innovators, to social workers and social entrepreneurs. Become part of the conversation by buying your ticket at Quicket, or following us on twitter @tedxctwomen in the lead up to the event.

Youngblood Beautifull Life Building
70 Bree St
Cape Town, Western Cape
South Africa

Rethabile Mashale

Rethabile Mashale is Program Director of Thope Foundation and lead consultant at Rethabile Mashale Consulting. Thope Foundation is a nonprofit organization supporting primary schools girls with tutoring, leadership skills, mentoring and life skills in an effort to intercept vulnerability and support girls to achieve their dreams. She has spent the last decade working in the non-profit sector and academia. Her professional training is in Social Work and holds a Masters Degree specializing in development studies and social transformation from the University of Cape Town. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Stellenbosch. Rethabile has worked for a number of local and international non-profit organisations in the fields of education, health, research, monitoring and evaluation and organizational development and management consulting.