Understanding the career trajectories of Black female academics in South Africa

This study seeks to explore the career trajectories of Black South African female academics at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Their lived experiences continue to include the political vicissitudes of race and gender. Global scholarship on the challenges experienced by Black women in academia is palpable; the South African landscape is distinctive, resultant from the complex intersections of apartheid and the 2004 higher education transformation process. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with Black female academics from five different campuses at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, inviting them to recount their lived experiences as academics. Notable themes that emerged when examining race and gender included: the ‘old boys’ network’, the leadership paradox of feminised leadership versus the ‘queen bee’, as well as the impact of stress. The theoretical framework that underpins this paper is social constructivism with a specific focus on intersectional theory. Intersectional theory will give context to race and gender identity in the experience of the academics. The intersectional experiences are documented by the South African government as legislation[1] addresses disparities that existed during apartheid; nonetheless these intersectional experiences of disadvantage are perpetuated. The dimensions of race and gender play a critical role in academia, while transformational legislation is responsible for facilitating gendered targets. These findings seek to provide a tool of support for Black women, as they continue to be exposed to innumerable challenges including perfunctory appointments, remuneration incongruence, and inconsistencies in the apportionment of research funding. [1]Legislation including Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 designed to encourage racial transformatio

South African specific complexities in aligning graduate attributes to employability

South African higher education (HE) cannot be compared to any other country’s HE systems due to the unique political landscape and structural narrative that it has undergone. Subsequent to the reorganisation of HEIs in 2004, a number of complexities arose. These included accessibility to education across race and the alignment of the South African HEIs to global pedagogic benchmarks. With the changing political landscape, transformations within higher education, socio economic inequities and changes in the workplace, researchers failed to cognize the impact of these factors on graduate employability. Changing graduate attributes to align with a decolonised curriculum and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) workspaces were transiently underway when COVID-19 set a new narrative for the future of employability. This paper seeks to identify the impact of workplace changes and its direct influence on successful graduate employment and integration into the HE curriculum. The work environment has cursorily moved from 4IR to an advanced stage of the 4IR, where there is a full emphasis on digitisation, non-localised workspaces and is an ostensible playground for digital natives (Generation Z). This paper provides a systematic review of literature in the South African HE contexts that pertains to graduate attributes for employability within the workplace.  The adoption of malleable secondary data will allow for an understanding of the relationship between changing workplace environments and expectations from graduates. This correlation is directly linked to graduate attributes which students need to comply with from year one. The paper will provide context to changes which are required for the future success of graduates, and whether graduate attributes are adequate preparation for employability. A clinical model is recommended with an intervention to manage the risk factors of decolonisation of curriculum, the 4IR and multi-generational workplace and responses to COVID-19

Move Over Ms. Professor!

This paper seeks to identify the professional challenges, success factors, work environment, institutional culture, research support and gender explicit practices for women in higher education in a post-apartheid South Africa, thereby contributing toward supporting women in academia at different stages in their careers. The study is contextualized within the context of national and global scholarship on the professional challenges faced by women in the academy. This included theoretical explanations and studies of perceptions of the glass ceiling, the glass wall, the mommy track, academic roles, academic bullying, the queen bee syndrome, strategies for the advancement of women and stress experienced by women. Women in the academy are unique and so too are their experiences and coping strategies. In order to fully understand effective coping strategies adopted by women in higher education; as they progress along their careers, it is integral to understand their lived encounters. This study was qualitative, using in depth interviews and collected evidence from twenty women at different levels at the University of KwaZulu Natal. The results of the study are strengthened by existing scholarship and contextualised with the social construction of reality (Berger and Luckmann, 1979)

Welcome to University: Have a seat please!

The teaching and learning milieu in a post-apartheid South Africa has transmuted fundamentally. Twenty-five years ago a university class accommodated 100 students; this has augmented into a class of approximately 2000 learners. Notwithstanding this transformed learning environment affects students, academics, and learning process significantly. Failure to deliver supplementary fiscal and human resources has left both students and academics unsupported. The proliferation of students has simultaneously and surprisingly seen a reduction in academics within faculties. Ineffectual organizational human resource and infrastructural developments has compounded the challenges. Scholarship on pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning in large classes is examined, adopting a qualitative desktop methodological approach. The adverse impact on first-year students and academics at universities in South Africa is documented. The results from this study denote the challenges experienced by academics and students in endeavoring to maintain academic standards. Sociological insights on the complexities, challenges, and possibilities that lie ahead, are examined. &nbsp

Understanding the career trajectories of Black female academics in South Africa: A case study of UKZN

This study seeks to explore the career trajectories of Black South African female academics at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Their lived experiences continue to include the political vicissitudes of race and gender. Global scholarship on the challenges experienced by Black women in academia is palpable; the South African landscape is distinctive, resultant from the complex intersections of apartheid and the 2004 higher education transformation process. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with Black female academics from five different campuses at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, inviting them to recount their lived experiences as academics. Notable themes that emerged when examining race and gender included: the ‘old boys’ network’, the leadership paradox of feminised leadership versus the ‘queen bee’, as well as the impact of stress. The theoretical framework that underpins this paper is social constructivism with a specific focus on intersectional theory. Intersectional theory will give context to race and gender identity in the experience of the academics. The intersectional experiences are documented by the South African government as legislation[1] addresses disparities that existed during apartheid; nonetheless these intersectional experiences of disadvantage are perpetuated. The dimensions of race and gender play a critical role in academia, while transformational legislation is responsible for facilitating gendered targets. These findings seek to provide a tool of support for Black women, as they continue to be exposed to innumerable challenges including perfunctory appointments, remuneration incongruence, and inconsistencies in the apportionment of research funding. [1]Legislation including Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 designed to encourage racial transformatio

“I Cannot Fall Pregnant!”: Unequal Bodies in South African Higher Education

Girls from single-parent households in South Africa (90 percent of whom are Black African or coloured) have significantly lower educational outcomes than other demographics. Through a methodology of life-history interviews, we explore the experiences of 30 women in single-headed households who have been successful in their educational endeavours as university students or graduates. Results show that pressures on girls from single-headed households to look after the family and domestic sphere and to protect their bodies from sexual abuse leave many girls depleted of the time, energy, and mental capacity required to study. Despite these challenges, these participants have escaped the perceived weight of their female burden in a post-apartheid, patriarchal society and reclaim their bodies and sense of agency through educational success