Early Life And Education :
Helen Gavronsky was born in Germiston in 1917. She was educated in a convent and thereafter at the University of Witwatersrand. In 1937 she married Dr. Moses Suzman and together they had two daughters. Between 1941 and 1944, Suzman worked as a statistician for the War Supplies Board. In 1944 she started lecturing in Economic History at the University of Witwatersrand, but then entered politics when she represented the United Party (UP) in Parliament in 1953.

Political career:
Six years later she founded the Progressive Party (PP) and became its sole representative in Parliament. Suzman was noted for her strong public criticism of the governing National Party's policies of apartheid at a time when this was unusual amongst whites, and found herself even more of an outsider by virtue of being an English-speaking Jewish woman in a parliament dominated by male Afrikaners. She was once accused by a minister of asking questions in parliament that embarrassed South Africa, to which she replied: "It is not my questions that embarrass South Africa, it is your answers". During her time in Parliament she defended the right to freedom of expression for all South Africans and used every opportunity to speak and put forward questions. Later, as parliamentary white opposition to apartheid grew, the Progressive Party was renamed the Progressive Federal Party, and Suzman was joined in parliament in 1974 by six colleagues, notably including Colin Eglin.