SOUTH AFRICA: Gender equity measures mooted

The South African government, vice-chancellors and the country's Council on Higher Education are due to report at the end of this month on concrete sets of proposals to advance gender equity at senior levels in universities. It is hoped higher education leadership organisations, and especially the government, will be able to shake loose obstacles to women taking up top academic posts that remain despite a decade of affirmative action laws and policies.

In March, a non-profit group dedicated to improving the status of women academics called HERS-SA hosted a conference titled Institutional cultures and higher education leadership: Where are the women? in collaboration with the Department of Education, vice-chancellors' association Higher Education South Africa (HESA) and the Council on Higher Education.

"It was agreed that the department, HESA and the council would prepare documents for release at the end of July, outlining what steps will be taken to improve the representation of women at leadership level in universities," says HERS-SA director Dr Lesley Shackleton. "HESA is driving the process but government really has the ability to remove constraints."

Although more than half of all students and lecturers in South Africa are women, as in most other countries women's representation drops off with each step up the career ladder, starting at senior lecturer and professor levels. Only 28% of deans, 21% of deputy vice-chancellors and three of 23 vice-chancellors are women. A survey of 369 leadership positions revealed that only 85 (23%) were occupied by women, the March conference heard.

"At senior levels, affirmative action hasn't worked at all," says Shackleton. "There is always a reason why someone else is better, or has more experience."

Affirmative action laws have been in place in South Africa since the Employment Equity Act came into effect in 1999. It aims to promote equal opportunity and fair treatment in the workplace by eliminating unfair discrimination on any grounds, and through affirmative action measures that redress historical disadvantages suffered by 'designated groups' - among them black people, women and the disabled.

Companies and organisations are legally obliged to select a 'designated group' person before a 'non-designated' (white male) applicant as long as he or she has the potential to do the job or can be trained to do so. They also need to ensure that members of designated groups are adequately represented across and at all levels of the workforce. Large employers, such as universities, must draw up equity plans that outline targets and commitments.

"The numbers of women are slowly creeping up but the improvement is slight and we are nowhere near equity levels," Shackleton says. "My research indicates that while equity laws and policies cover all disadvantaged groups, in South Africa race comes to the fore and other groups fall off the platform."

There are many possible reasons for poor gender equity at senior levels in institutions. Not all women want to take up the tough job of heading a male-dominated university, Shackleton argues, "or perhaps women are actively kept out of positions. My view is that universities are trying hard to achieve gender equity. But there are so many ingrained perceptions stopping women getting into senior positions that universities have to be quite specific in their approach in order to overcome such disadvantage."

Universities are penalised through the funding formula for not achieving gender equity among student populations - but there is no penalty for missing gender equity targets among staff. "At the March conference we identified things that can be done to improve equity among staff. One suggestion was to use the funding formula as an incentive. Although legislation is there, affirmative action won't happen without incentives," says Shackleton.

A conference declaration called for the Department of Education to consider setting targets with time-frames to increase the number of women in senior positions, with the Council on Higher Education monitoring progress. It urged HESA to draw up a national plan of action on women in leadership, and universities to take a range of measures including identifying and tackling barriers, monitor equity and examining employment policies and implementation.

Professor Theuns Eloff, chair of HESA's board, told the conference it would encourage vice-chancellors to engage with equity issues, undertake an audit of existing university initiatives that promote the development of women leaders, and look at establishing a 'community of practice' of people working to advance women that would help to develop a set of best practices and identify aspects of institutional cultures that constrain women leaders.

HESA would also promote institutional equity practices, "including target setting and making gender equity part of performance agreements", hold workshops for women leaders, advocate equity awareness among councils and senior managements - which make decisions on top positions - and work towards better management information about women leaders.

karen.macgregor@uw-news.com