/ 28 January 2011

A change in mentality

A Change In Mentality

More than twice as many women students graduate from the University of Zululand (UniZulu) as male students. UniZulu students celebrate this achievement — but the university’s vice-chancellor admits that the pattern of men outnumbering women in tertiary governance is still firmly entrenched even here.

In 2009 647 men and 1 439 women graduated from UniZulu. The preponderance of women graduates was reflected, too, in that year’s overall enrolments — 9 009 women but only 4 646 men.

Nationally, women students outnumber men across all universities — but UniZulu’s proportion of women is far higher than the country’s average. Government figures show that 837 611 students enrolled in public higher education institutions in 2009 and of these 478 112 were women and 359 499 were men.

Official figures also show that out of a total of 144 809 students who graduated in 2009, 88 054 were women and 56 755 men.

“My observation, looking at the age group from high school to early 30s, is that women seem to have a sense of purpose, a certain level of maturity,” UniZulu vice-chancellor Fikile Mazibuko told the Mail & Guardian.

“They are confident and start competing at a very young age,” she said.

A former UniZulu student herself and the university’s second woman vice-chancellor (VC) since its inception in 1960, Mazibuko said it was unfortunate this gender dominance among students did not translate into the institution’s staff structure.

“We face a challenge in this regard. In this university the VC is female and her executive is all male. I’m sensitive to that: we need to change that status quo and we need to create more spaces for women.”

Refilwe Mofokeng, a zoology honours student at UniZulu and a Mandela Rhodes Scholarship nominee, said: “From the kitchen to the boardroom, the mentality has changed. Women believe in themselves more. They are conscious of themselves and they want to achieve, be heard and make a difference in the corporate world.”

Thandeka Gwala, an honours law student in 2010, said the ways the girl and boy child are raised play a part in the decisions they make. “Being a mother and a wife comes naturally, but to go into a company and rescue it is a challenge.”

The UniZulu faculty with the highest percentage of female students in 2010 was education with 69,5%, followed by arts (64,8%), commerce and law (56% each), and science and agriculture (54,6%). This pattern carries on through to PhD levels.

But published poet S’kho Mkwanazi, who was in her final year of drama last year, expressed concern about a trend other students generally applauded. “My worry is that some women are obtaining PhDs to be equal to men who have no degree,” she said.

“Men have a natural, God-given power. For me as a woman to have a voice, I must have a PhD, but a man doesn’t have to have anything,” she said.

Government figures show that women dominate in the humanities and men in science, engineering and technology.

Kubi Rama, deputy director of Gender Links, said: “Women aren’t pursuing the working environment.”
The majority of the graduates are women but no one knows what happens to them after they graduate, Rama said. “Even with more women graduating, you are not seeing many women in the mainstream and in positions of decision-making.

“So the question we should ask ourselves is: If more women are graduating, where are they going? How many are continuing to study for higher degrees?”