By Edwin Naidu
In one of her first media engagements since her appointment as Minister of Higher Education and Training, Nobuhle Nkabane told Inside Education that she would push for more women to occupy senior roles in the country’s heavily male-dominated ivory towers of learning.
“I envision more women PhD holders with extensive experience in the sector taking up the space as VCs [vice-chancellors] at the institutions of higher learning, and challenging the status quo,” Nkabane said.
Since her appointment, three of South Africa’s top institutions – the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University– have not heeded the minister’s call. They have appointed men to senior posts despite women being on the shortlist at each institution.
Last month, UCT installed Professor Mosa Moshabela as its 11th vice-chancellor. UWC named Professor Robert Balfour as its candidate to formally take over on 1 January. Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, Stellenbosch University’s current Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Learning and Teaching, has been appointed as the its next rector and vice-chancellor.
All three are seasoned higher education leaders with proven track records. However, there still seems to be a bias against women in the top roles at the best tertiary institutions in the country.
Former director of Higher Education Resources-South Africa (HERS-SA) Brightness Mangolothi once lamented that some institutions have not had a woman in charge since democracy, although gender equality is a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.
It’s documented that South Africa has had 20 women vice-chancellors since democracy, the first being Prof. Brenda Gourley at the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal), followed by the University of Cape Town, where Dr Mamphela Ramphele made history as the first Black female vice-chancellor in 1996.
Those institutions that have had women vice-chancellors have not replaced them with other women, with the exception of the University of Zululand. It had appointed two women vice-chancellors – Prof. Rachel Gumbi (2003) and Prof. Fikile Mazibuko (2010) – before the incumbent, Prof. Xoliswa Mtose, who is currently serving her second term.
In 2023, for the first time, South African universities had seven women vice-chancellors.
A similar pattern is evident in other countries on the continent. Despite the best efforts of the Association of African Universities (AAU), the most current statistic shows that of 1400 African universities, just 41 are led by women.
A research paper titled ‘Gender Perspectives on Academic Leadership in African Universities’, published in a journal by academics Roseanne Diab, Phyllis Kalele, Muthise Bulani, Fred K Boateng and Madeleine Mukeshimana, found that women are under-represented in higher education leadership worldwide, with the gender gap even more pronounced in African nations.
The findings of a study funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada confirmed the under-representation of women leaders in a selection of African countries.
That research shows that only 24% of the top 200 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings are led by women. Given that the world average for women faculty representation in tertiary education institutions increased from 33.6% in 1990 to 43.2% in 2020, the writers found the gender gap in leadership striking.
While her predecessor’s track record on gender parity in tertiary education is poor, Minister Nkabane, as a woman, must do more to change this narrative than Dr Blade Nzimande, who has never engaged a woman as Director-General under his watch. It is imperative to ensure equal opportunities for all in the corridors of learning.
Perhaps Nkabane needs to make use of a carrot-and-stick approach. Reward those institutions that take cognisance of gender equality by allocating them more resources for research, while penalising those that maintain the old boys’ club approach.
The Commission on Gender Equality has conducted studies at universities. However, it has few tools to use against those who continue to ignore gender parity as integral to transforming the education sector.
More broadly, on the continent, organisations such as the AAU must heed this mandate since it is an important part of the Science Granting Councils Initiative, of which gender and inclusivity are recurring themes.
What about some pressure from the African Union, so keen on Agenda 2063, when some of us may not be alive to witness what it is championing?
Change is needed sooner rather than later. Given her commitment, Nkabane should have more success than her predecessors and lead the way to gender equality at the highest levels of South Africa’s higher education institutions.
Edwin Naidu is the editor of Inside Education.
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