Naledi Pandor
2004 – 2009
The South African Women in Science Awards 2014 is taking place against the backdrop of two critical events in the history of our country – the celebration of our first 20 years of democracy and freedom, and the death, less than a year ago, of the Father of our Nation, the much-loved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
This year is a year of reflection on the journey we have travelled as a country since 1994. While we have reason to look back with pride on how far we have come in eliminating the legacy of apartheid, we still have far to go to ensure that all South Africans enjoy the fruits of our democratic dispensation. Poverty, inequality and unemployment must be tackled, and the National Development Plan recognises the important role of science and technology in this endeavour.
Given former President Mandela’s love of learning, and his commitment to improving access to decent education for the previously marginalised, these awards can be seen as a tribute to his gallant efforts and visionary leadership in the development and empowerment of women.
Women have been sidelined in all fields and facets of life for centuries (and still are), but their exclusion from and marginalisation in education has made it more difficult for them to join the mainstream in every area. This is one of the reasons that every year in August, Women’s Month, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) stages the Women in Science Awards to celebrate women by recognising and rewarding their research achievements, as well as encouraging young women to pursue science-related careers.
If we are to realise our vision for South Africa to become a knowledge-based economy, where production and services are based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technological and scientific advancement, it is vital that many more of our young people enrol for higher degrees and attain high-level skills.
As a country, we have made good progress in increasing women’s participation in higher education. The percentage of female students enrolled increased from 48% in 1996 to 58% in 2012. Of particular concern is the decrease in the proportion of postgraduate to undergraduate enrolments from 19% in 2000 to 15.6% in 2012, rendering our higher education essentially undergraduate.
Globally, there is an agreement that a PhD-level qualification is a key driver of innovation and global competitiveness. The National Development Plan requires South Africa to produce more than 100 doctoral graduates per million of the population per year, translating to the production of 5 000 doctoral graduates per year by 2030. At least half of these should be women.
The DST has developed a number of initiatives to improve women’s access to higher education and research careers. Ministerial guidelines on improving equity in the distribution of DST/National Research Foundation (NRF) bursaries and fellowships were issued to the NRF in 2013, setting specific targets for the disbursement of bursary and fellowship funds, including that 55% of these funds should be allocated to women.
I believe that women scientists and researchers have much to contribute to our future.