Women make up 42% of the working population in South Africa, but a recent survey conducted by HERS-SA reveals that women only occupy 23,6% of the senior leadership positions in higher education.
This inequity in the sector responsible for educating the country’s future leaders has negative implications for achieving future gender equity in our democracy. Students studying in our 23 higher education institutions will encounter only three women vice-chancellors and five women registrars.
Only 21,1% of the current deputy vice-chancellors and 27,8% of the deans are women. Who can blame the young people who graduate in this environment and move out into the working world for believing that leadership is a male prerogative?
Sarah Riordan of HERS-SA, who conducted the survey, said she was not surprised by these results. ‘This is why HERS-SA was established in South Africa. We want to change the gender profile of our higher education leadership. Young people need powerful role models demonstrating both gender and racial diversity. Women are contributing a great deal to higher education, and this needs to be seen and recognised.”
Since its inception in 2000 HERS-SA has provided professional development for more than 800 university women, mainly from South Africa but also from other countries in Africa as far afield as Ghana and Nigeria. The main event on the HERS-SA calendar is the annual week-long HERS-SA Academy, which takes place in Cape Town at the Graduate School of Business each September. Attendance is limited to 80 women who live in and participate in an intensive, diverse programme.
One of last year’s participants described the academy as ‘a life-changing experience”. During the structured, women-only programme experts in the field present an overview of the current issues in higher education and afternoon workshops provide opportunities for personal career reflection and development. As one woman remarked: ‘I thought I was settled in my position (which I enjoy enormously) but I realise that I still have much to offer, and, possibly still places to go!”
HERS-SA is a registered, independent, not-for-profit organisation based in Cape Town. In addition to professional development, HERS-SA encourages networking among women in universities in Africa, and participates in research into gender in higher education. HERS-SA was inspired by HERS-America, which has been operational for more than 30 years in the United States. During the 1990s, our Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, and one of our few women vice-chancellors, Professor Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga, both participated in the HERS-America Summer Institute on which the HERS-SA Academy is modelled.
While not all the women who have attended HERS-SA professional development programmes move into more senior positions, many do. Progress is slow, but most of the vice-chancellors are very supportive. They realise that HERS-SA is helping universities achieve the equity targets that the country demands. And from the feedback HERS-SA receives we know that we are making a difference to the careers of individual women.
Lesley Shackleton is a researcher on gender in higher education and the chairperson of the board of HERS-SA, which she founded. For more information on HERS-SA visit www.hers-sa.org.za