THE BARRIERS FACING BLACK WOMEN ACADEMICS AT UNISA POST 2006
Date
2014-01-09
Authors
Dube, Gwendolene Thobela
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Abstract
Black women academics at the University of South Africa (UNISA) are faced with the same
challenges as other women in leadership positions in academic institutions have to contend with.
At UNISA there are institutional and individual barriers, namely, criteria for promotion, lack of
support, limited networks and inadequate mentoring programmes, to mention but a few. These
barriers militate against their professional development; so there is paucity of Black women
leaders in top management at UNISA. Women leadership has always been a contested terrain.
The literature on women in higher education attest to the fact that there are few women in
leadership positions and this is a trend worldwide. Women leadership is always associated with
empowerment, access to equal opportunity for advancement of employment equity. In addition
women academics felt that they are in spaces that were not created for them and that is why they
have to prove themselves that they are equally capable to becoming scholars of note like their
peers.
There have been some changes at UNISA which may improve the situation for women leaders,
like formal development programmes are established in order to redress the legacy of the past.
There is a need to change the mindset of the both academics and administrators so that UNISA is
a home for all.
Description
MM (P&DM) thesis
Keywords
Women in leadership, Women academics