A Gentle “Raging Feminist”.
Mumta Hargovan is one of the most exciting new voices in medical leadership. A doctor, researcher and, in contemporary language, a key medical influencer.
“In Conversation” is a series of interviews with key opinion leaders across the world of medicine and health care in collaboration with BMJ Leader.
Link to the full text of the interview on BMJ Leader here.
Mumta Hargovan is a South African medical doctor, currently completing a masters in Public Health (specialisation in health systems and policy) at the University of Cape Town. She is a Knowledge Partner at Douglas Knowledge Partners, a strategic knowledge consultancy focused on magnifying the impact of ideas on the world.
“I am passionate about working at the intersection of social justice, public health and communications to amplify evidence-based social impact. I have a decade of experience in healthcare, research, and consulting.
My background has given me a combination of academic and practical skills in working in interdisciplinary, international teams to develop solutions to social and public health challenges. I trained and worked as a medical doctor in South Africa and gained a master’s in public health, focusing on health systems and policy at the University of Cape Town. I furthered my project management and writing skills working at a strategic knowledge consultancy, which partners with organizations to communicate ideas for impact. Additionally, I have gained skills in advocacy, training and community building in the NGO sector, focusing on advancing women’s leadership in the planetary health movement.
I am a systems thinker and enjoy connecting the dots across different sectors and disciplines. I bring an open mindset, creativity, and empathy to the teams I work with, and aim to cultivate environments that support connection, learning and growth.”
“…and we should be feeling angry about injustices in the world, whether it’s poverty, whether it’s gender inequality, racial inequality, homophobia. These are things that should make us angry and that’s why I proudly proclaim to be a raging feminist. I’m angry about the issues in the world but also, it gives me joy to be a feminist and to connect with other women to try and tackle these issues.”
Some key quotations from the interview on BMJ Leader.
“It’s saying that women should be there because we can’t be making decisions for the whole planet with only men at the decision-making table… These higher level decision-making spaces need to start transforming in terms of gender, in terms of race, in terms of inclusivity of all of all types, and it’s only when there’s that higher level buy-in and people start shifting these perceptions of who should and who shouldn’t be in a decision-making space, that we can move forward.”
“As it currently stands, the health system is the first point of contact for women who are facing in domestic violence and other types of abuse. But the health system is very poorly connected with the legal system, with the social services, and all the other financial services etc that a woman in that position needs. So, the care we are able to provide is extremely limited and it’s up to the woman to know how to navigate across these very different services.”
“… there is momentum building. It gives me great pride to see women stepping into leadership roles throughout Africa and they are often at the forefront of climate change activism wherever you look, advocating for better infrastructure for their communities in terms of agriculture, in terms of food security, they’re really at the front line of leading change. And that gives me a lot of hope.”
“…there is a new wave of Africans doing it for Africans. Africans taking ownership of our challenges and working towards the solutions and trying to cut off the toxic postcolonial reliance that we often have in terms of western aid. Where I’ve seen that is at the recent Africa Impact Summit which was really all about – how do we unlock the potential of our own people, of our own businesses. And we have the solutions, we’ve got the creativity, we’ve got the innovations…”
