Biography
Leila is finishing her Honours degree in Sociology at the University of Cape Town where her academic focus is the field of urban sociology. She believes that this field engages with key issues relating to contemporary social life: social inequality, migration, culture, and identity. In this field, Leila's Honours thesis attempted to understand why the occupational structure of a 'globalizing' city like Cape Town, which has seen the rapid growth of high-income employment, has not generated a substantial growth of low-income employment. The impetus for this research was to understand why income inequality and unemployment remain rife in a city like Cape Town. Leila is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, and served as the Deputy Director of the UCT PBO, the Thethani Debating League.