A 2024 study at a South African university found female staff are concerned about their future in the workplace because of their gender. Photo: File
This year, 2025, marks the 30th anniversary of International Women’s Day, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, an agenda for women’s empowerment.
On 8 March, International Women’s Day was observed under the theme “For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment”. Sorry to burst the celebration bubble but, with the deadline to achieve the UN sustainable development goals just under five years away, true emancipation of women seems a distant goal.
An overview of sustainable development goal 5, gender equality, indicates that the world is not on target to achieve it by 2030. At the current rate, it will take 140 years to achieve equal representation in leadership in the workplace.
Concerning women leaders at institutions of higher learning, the University of Cape Town and Unisa only appointed a black woman as a vice-chancellor and principal in 1996 and 2021, respectively.
Without taking anything away from both women’s achievements, it is perplexing that it took the institutions 167 and 148 years to have a woman at the helm.
Several scholars have published articles about problems facing academic and support personnel in both traditional universities and universities of technology. The battle to attain gender equality at institutions of higher learning, even beyond 30 years of democracy in South Africa, is there for everyone to see.
Delving into some of the scientific evidence, in their 2024 study Reforming Higher Education in South Africa by Addressing Gender Inequalities, researchers Anri Wheeler and Laurika Wiese identified the absence of “gender-sensitive policies and practices” as one of the key factors contributing towards slow progress.
Their research article, published in the Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, shows that the policy vacuum perpetuates the marginalisation of female students and personnel. The study was conducted with female employees from varied staff components at a university of technology and they applied the Gender and Development Theory, which asserts that “genuine economic and social progress is hindered as long as gender inequalities endure”.
Some of the study’s key findings highlight the preference of some males for working only with colleagues of the same gender. Meanwhile, female staff remained concerned about their future in the workplace because of their gender.
The results also highlight that the selection of female staff into higher positions often serves only to comply with filling of quotas — a tick-box exercise.
Even more disturbing, some participants confirmed the existence of a “band of brothers” mentality in institutions — a group of male colleagues indifferent to working with females and, in many instances, treating them with disrespect based on gender.
Furthermore, one of the themes emanating from the study is female stereotyping, where female colleagues are undermined by labels such as “emotional” because of their gender.
The study indicates that universities can help to reduce inequities and create a more inclusive and diverse learning and working environment by addressing gender discrepancies in academic and professional contexts.
Wheeler and Wiese affirm that by espousing sustainable development goal 5, higher learning institutions can simultaneously contribute to attainment of other goals such as poverty eradication; quality education; decent work and economic growth reduced inequalities.
A 2022 study, Workplace Bullying and Its Implications for Gender Transformation in the South African Higher Education Sector: An Intersectional Perspective by Brightness Mangolothi and Professor Peliwe Mnguni is relevant in helping us find ways to fasttrack gender transformation.
They employed qualitative semi-structured interviews wherein they targeted a sample of 25 women academics from three universities. Their research article, published in the International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, makes a link between workplace bullying and gender transformation in the higher education sector in South Africa.
Mangolothi and Mnguni listed bullying behaviours directed at women such as excessive workload allocation, removal of key areas of responsibility and being given trivial tasks to replace their core duties.
The researchers summarise women’s academic journey through a model anchored in the elements of access, retention, development, performance, progression and exit through resignation.
The authors’ research findings are aligned to identified themes and point to bullying mostly affecting African, coloured and Indian women academics. Key findings include access being denied and resources withheld; not being seen or heard; shifting goalposts; recognition withheld and authorisation denied for women at institutions of higher learning.
Mangolothi and Mnguni’s study shows that there is a “boys club” culture, where men support each other in bullying women, undermining and excluding them from decision-making structures.
South Africa continues to grapple with the triple developmental challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment, with women seemingly the most negatively affected.
Amid the research concluding there is gender inequality, the question is whether there is a will to address the patriarchy’s negative impact across society and the workplace — or will women emancipation remain an elusive dream?
Shalate Davhana & Malesela Maubane are Tshwane University of Technology alumni, with the former a staff member at the university. They write in their personal capacities.