The Challenge to SA HE: Women in HE Leadership

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The Challenge to SA HE Women in HE Leadership

• Mala Singh
• Cape Town
• 27-8 March 2008

2
Overview

• Contextualisation
• Key Understandings
• Tasks
• Change Modalities
• Actions
• Agencies
• Omissions/Cautions

3
Contextualisation

• There are global patterns of gender inequity in
  HE-what are local commonalities and variances
• Gender inequity is not separable from incomplete
  social transformation iro race, class,
  asymmetrical relations of power and
  privilege-needs targeted attention but within
  recognition of intersecting forms of social
  exclusion. Intersection of gender and class may
  be the most intractable challenge.

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Contextualisation

• Sexism embedded in society-reflected in gendered
  nature of HEI roles, relationships, structures
  and operations, including its core functions
• A progressive constitutional, legislative and
  policy platform for gender equity is in
  place-however, the challenges of interpretation,
  implementation, stubborn practice, and the gap
  between formal and substantive equity remain

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Key Understandings

• We need to aim at equity numbers but go
  beyond-qualitative and quantitative analyses both
  needed. Reliable equity statistics disaggregated
  acc to gender can help chart progress and
  strengthen monitoring
• Womens leadership crucial not only iro HEI exec
  management-also academic and research leadership,
  student councils, staff union structures,
  national policy bodies
• Biology and sisterhood not enough-transformative
  leadership counts for more

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Key Understandings

• Need to reconceptualise leadership beyond current
  modes(often masculine)
• Transformation of institutional cultures-includes
  shifts in power dynamics, values, cultural
  conceptions, cognitive understandings, social
  relations, expectations/perceptions of women.

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Key Understandings

• Powerful opportunity exists for HEIs iro of educ
  and training of new generations-breaking of
  reactionary patterns of social reproduction in
  society and institutions-HEI both agent and
  object of change iro of race, class and
  gender-what will it take to enable HEIs to meet
  this challenge?
• Multiple imperatives for gender
  equity-political(power shifts), ethical
  (different values), economic(optimal use of human
  resources), social(different relationships).

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Tasks

• Conceptual-locating gender equity in
  transformation tasks, what is transformative
  leadership
• Political-confronting power relations,
  mobilisation of relevant constituencies
• Psychological-building womens confidence and
  capabilities, redefining identities and role
  assignations including images of womens work,
  re-socialisation of men and women

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Tasks

• Organisational-search for new models for core
  functions and operations, engendering
  institutional policies and practices
• Academic-curriculum reform, new research themes,
  support for feminist scholarship
• Strategic-developing integrated mutually
  reinforcing sustainable intervention strategies,
  balancing equity and excellence

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Change Modalities

• Legislation-more effective use of existing legal
  instruments
• Regulation-targets/benchmarks, monitoring, public
  reporting
• Activism by engaged constituencies-substantive
  equity not automatic product of democratic
  transition

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Actions

• More research, data and analyses-use of
  information for progressive interventions
• Strategies and good practices to increase numbers
  and transform institutional cultures-importance
  of sustainability, documenting of initiatives,
  institutionalisation

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Actions

• Monitoring, co-ordination, taking responsibility
  and concerted action at different levels
• Learning from others-draw on regional and global
  experience and research/writings

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Agencies/Responsibilities

• Government-coordination of different departments,
  setting targets and reporting formats that are
  gender specific, monitoring, consideration of
  national graduate tracking system (e.g.where do
  women graduates go, esp those with Ms and Ph.Ds
  )

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Agencies/Responsibilities

• CHE/HEQC-research and monitoring, advice,
  strengthening gender focus in QA
• HESA-develop a national picture of gender equity
  in HE, lobbying and advocacy, running capacity
  dev programmes, tracking programme alumnae,
  sensitise VCs, Councils, Deans, etc.

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Agencies/Responsibilities

• Student Councils-emphasize gender equity in key
  projects, advocacy and information campaigns
• Staff Unions-similar to above
• Disciplinary Associations
• Systemic/institutional/individual

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Omissions and Cautions

• Silence on sexual violence and harassment as part
  of institutional culture-need for urgent
  interventions
• Where does PG training take place-84 of doctoral
  and 74 of Masters training at small number of
  universities. How many women will get there?
  What are implications for a differentiated HE
  system if one increases PG training across entire
  system?

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Omissions and Cautions

• Need for joined-up policy in government,
  HEIs-what is connection between different policy
  initiatives, use of existing data and analyses,
  building on what exists, collaboration
• Role of current institutional leadership-self
  proclaimed non sexist/non racist individuals not
  enough-translation into institutional/systemic
  change is key

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Omissions and Cautions

• What are we educating/training for?
• Where to from here, whose responsibility is way
  forward-regular Forum for national discussion?