Mpho Maema is a human rights lawyer with eight years of experience in litigation and two years as an activist. She founded the Women’s Law Clinic in 2016, which deals with human rights-related issues, particularly for women and youth. She was inspired to found this organization due to the legal issues women and young girls came to her office with, especially discriminatory laws such as denying women the right to inherit property. Her organization educates people about their rights and takes their cases to court on a pro-bono basis. Mpho also mentors young girls to join politics and donates sanitary towels to keep them in school throughout the month. In addition, she trains police officers on clinical management of evidence in cases of gender-based violence to ensure they arrest the perpetrators. Upon completion of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, Mpho will proceed with her projects, putting a greater emphasis on empowering women to go into politics and using the networks she created during the Fellowship.
