Hear Our Voices!: Women and the Transformation of South African Higher Education

Abstract

The study on which this article is based examined the experiences of Black women faculty and administrators in South African institutions of higher education. The three cases presented in this article explore challenges that women scholars have had to address within the context of a rapidly changing sociopolitical environment, which in turn has influenced the transformation of higher education. The article seeks to understand how these emergent scholars have managed to survive and succeed in this environment. The racial and gender composition of faculty at South African institutions of higher education does not reflect the distribution of Blacks and women in the larger society. When the South African National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) released its report on the condition of its educational system in 1996, the commissioners raised concerns about the pervasive racial and gender disparities so deeply entrenched at all levels.1 South African institutions of higher education have responded assertively to concerns about racial disparities, however, the same cannot be said for gender issues. Although the universities have expressed some concerns about gender disparities, these concerns have yet to be translated into positive policies and programs that will improve the academic experiences of female students and the professional development of female faculty and administrators. This article examines the experiences of Black women faculty and administrators in two institutions of higher education in South Africa. The institutions highlighted in this study include a historically Black university formerly designated for Africans and a historically Black university formerly designated for Indians. Though these institutions emerge from divergent historical backgrounds, strong threads of commonality run among them in the professional experiences of their female faculty members and administrators. The women whose cases are the focus of this study represent an emergent generation of leaders who have recently entered the higher education scene in South Africa. Throughout that nation's higher education history, White males, even at historically Black universities, occupy the overwhelming majority of senior academic and administrative positions. In cases where Blacks have been appointed, those appointments were often offered to Black males. At each institution, a disproportionate percentage of Black women are overrepresented in the lowest academic and administrative ranks as junior lecturers and lecturers.2 The article begins with a historical overview of the condition and status of women in South Africa higher education to provide a context and framework for understanding the current position of female scholars and administrators. The remainder of the article is devoted to exploration of the experiences, insights, and visions of female faculty members and administrators. I specifically explore the experience of three female scholars-one senior university administrator and two lecturers-paying particular attention to issues that these emergent leaders have had to address within the context of a rapidly changing political environment that in turn has influenced transformation of the higher education system. In such an environment, this article asks and attempts to explain, how have these women managed to survive and succeed? HISTORICAL OVERVIEW According to the 1996 NCHE report, the distribution patterns of faculty and administrators in South African higher education do not reflect the demographic profile of the larger society. Indeed, the system is highly polarized by race and gender, with the more prestigious positions occupied predominantly by White males (Mabokela,, 2000a). Blacks and women tend to be relegated to the lower rungs of the employment ladder, with a disproportionate number holding service positions as opposed to academic or administrative positions. Gender inequities are similarly pervasive in the allocation of key administrative positions and permanent teaching and research positions. …