Edwin Naidu
Gender equality in higher education remains a huge challenge and a work in progress.
The article, “Gender Perspectives on Academic Leadership in African Universities”, published in the International Journal of African Higher Education, 2023, by academics Roseanne Diab, Phyllis Kalele, Muthise Bulani, Fred K. Boateng, and Madeleine Mukeshimana, found that women are underrepresented in higher education leadership worldwide, with the gender gap more pronounced in Africa.
Statistics for selected African countries confirmed the underrepresentation of women leaders in the study funded by the International Development Research Centre in Canada.
In 2021, only six of the 26 vice-chancellors (23%) in South Africa were women, while two of the 12 vice-president positions (17%) at three Ethiopian public universities were occupied by women. Their findings show that only 24% of the top 200 universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings have a female leader.
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 is striking.
The study covers Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Its objectives were to present gender-disaggregated statistics on senior leadership at each university and make recommendations that would assist in closing the gender gap in senior leadership.
A general pattern of under-representation While the percentages differ regionally and depend on the sample of universities included, the general pattern of under-representation of women in senior leadership is upheld. For example, women comprised 29% of vice-chancellors (VCs) in the United Kingdom (2018 statistics), increasing from 17% in 2013 to 22% in 2016. In the European Union, 24% of all heads of higher education institutions in 2019 were women.
Notably, 22 countries in Europe had no female university leaders.
According to an American College President Study, in 2016, 30% of all college presidents in the United States were women.
The gender gap in leadership in Africa is even more pronounced.
The article in the International Journal of African Higher Education states that the underrepresentation of women in academic leadership is a challenge from a social justice perspective and a failure to tap into a population’s full capacity.
According to the paper, women occupy lower ranks at universities, and only a tiny number make it to the top.
Some studies cite individual factors such as a lack of self-confidence (imposter syndrome), a lack of ambition or women’s reluctance to because of sexist cultures in institutions, messy politics, or challenges with work-family balance.
Universities gendered institutional culture tends to be biased towards male academics, with women academics being constrained by social sanctions that range from hostility to outright rejection.
Continuing gender disparities “Thirty years is usually considered a significant milestone.
Often, it suggests maturity and some certainty about how things should be done. It is, therefore, disheartening that our reflection on how we are doing on the gender question since 1994 illustrates continuing gender disparities,” says Brightness Mangolothi, the executive director of Higher Education Resources-South Africa, and Grace Khunou, chairperson of the Transformation Management Forum, which is driving transformation at UNISA.
Mangolothi and Khunou argue that male vice-chancellors can serve apply for senior management roles more than two terms, with others holding vice-chancellor roles in more than one university.
“Currently, we have 20 male vice-chancellors, a scenario that has been the case since 1994. Given the five-year tenure of vice-chancellors, each university had six chances/terms to appoint a female leader, which equals 156 positions (26 x 6) in the 30 years of democracy,” they point out.
“There were more chances if there were 36 universities before the merger, and some vice-chancellors stepped down before the end of the term. The question is, why has this yet to happen?”
Their research shows that universities were created for men by men, and this is still largely true.
“These disparities are especially troubling when we use an intersectional lens – we find that fewer and fewer of these roles are held by Black women who, when they do, are vilified.
“Although much has changed in higher education to advance transformation, the Ministerial Committee Report shows the lack of women academics, especially Black women, and the continuous toxic space in which they find themselves, which arrests their success.”
Little progress
They argue that if women are held back in academia and society in general, these goals, with a 2030 deadline, are doomed and remind us that in South Africa, 30 years after democracy, there has been little progress. Women continue to lag behind incumbents who pay lip service to gender equality.
Since 1994, there have been 20 women vice-chancellors in South Africa. The first was Prof Brenda Gourley at the University of Natal (now the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal), followed by the University of Cape Town, where Dr Mamphela Ramphele was appointed the first Black female vice-chancellor in 1996. Some institutions have not had a woman leader since democracy.
Those institutions that have had women vice-chancellors have not replaced them with female vice-chancellors, except the University of Zululand, which had two female vice-chancellors (Prof Rachel Gumbi, 2003 and Prof Fikile Mazibuko, 2010) before the current female vice-chancellor (Prof Xoliswa Mtose, 2016), currently serving her second term.
Three of the six current female vice-chancellors are serving their second term, and three are in their first term.
For the first time in 2023, South Africa had seven female vice-chancellors. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the UCT vice-chancellor, Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng, stepped down before the end of her second term.
Since democracy, men in South Africa have traditionally outnumbered women vice-chancellors by 20 to an average of six.
Looking back at the 14 female vice-chancellors since 1994, only a few served more than two terms, and some have been forced to step down before the end of their terms. According to current statistics, women have been let down.
Towards an inclusive workspace
Mangolothi and Khunou recommend that universities should strive for an inclusive workplace, and to achieve this, the following must be emphasised:
- Prioritise transformation at the leadership level by appointing a deputy vice-chancellor responsible for transformation,
including appointing an ombudsperson. - Provide family-friendly workplaces with onsite childcare.
- Hire for culture add not fit.
- Recognise care work as part of performance management (this includes mentoring students, representing them in
transformation committees, and more) - Create workplace lactation spaces.
- Flexible working hours, including hybrid work.
- International mobility should also accommodate parents with kids, providing a travel allowance.
- Consider increasing the age limitation for scholarship opportunities for women.
According to the “Gender Perspectives on Academic Leadership in African Universities” study, progress has been made
regarding female appointments as council chairs and chancellors.
However, the gender gap at the VC level between the university’s executive head and the most powerful decision-maker was striking. Women represented only 13% of VCs, and if one excluded UCT, where the female VC had vacated her position, there was only one university among 16 with a female head.
While women’s representation in executive leadership teams and at the level of deans varied considerably across universities, half had less than 50% women in their executive teams, and half had less than 30% female deans.
Women ranked competence and experience as the most critical factors in their leadership accession, indicative of belief in their abilities and self-worth. They expressed a need for mentoring, measures to address discrimination and greater visibility.
A wide gender gap was apparent in men’s and women’s understanding of obstacles to having more women in leadership positions.
Men placed responsibility for the under-representation of women on them, stating that too few were suitably qualified and that women did not aspire to senior leadership positions.
In contrast, women pointed to systemic institutional failures. The study said formal mentoring and coaching programmes emerged as the dominant successful interventions.
Suggestions to enable early career women to prepare themselves for leadership positions included taking advantage of mentoring programmes, building their research reputation through publications, and building their confidence through improved communication skills.
From the above, it is clear that achieving gender equality in South Africa’s higher education institutions remains a challenge and a work in progress.
INSIDE EDUCATION
