2.6 Hearings and findings on higher education transformation

CPUT

2.5 HEarinGS and findinGS on HiGHEr EducaTion TranSformaTion

ms Sixolise ngcobo

Provincial manager: commission for Gender Equality (cGE)

The vision adopted by the South african commission for Gender Equality (cGE) is of a society free from all gender oppression and inequality. Given the long-term nature of this goal, sustainability is a key principle guiding the commission’s work. The cGE seeks to implement its vision through a number of strategies, which include: • Research; • Public education; • Policy development; • Legislative initiatives; and litigation.

in pursuit of its strategies, the commission’s most prized value is its independence. Gender dynamics shape the nature of everyone’s daily experience in society and can lead to oppression and inequality. accordingly, after the introduction of democracy in 1994, the South african government decided to establish the cGE as one of a number of institutions founded under chapter 9 of the country’s new constitution to hold government, private sector and civil society bodies accountable for their obligations, as outlined in the constitution.

The cGE’s mandate is defined in the commission of Gender Equality act of 1996 and is also shaped by South africa’s obligations under a number of internationally agreed instruments, including the convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women (cEdaW), the Sadc (Southern african development community) declaration on Women, the african union (au) Protocol on the rights of Women in africa, and international labour organisation (ilo) conventions.

The commission recognises that there are particular african practices that need to be addressed in promoting gender equality. in this regard, the african instruments provide a useful balance to some of the other international conventions, such as cEdaW. under the commission of Gender Equality act, the cGE is mandated to monitor and make recommendations on government policies and practices, existing laws, and compliance with the relevant international conventions. in considering adherence to present law on gender equality, it may recommend that new legislation be implemented. The cGE is further mandated to: • Develop and manage education programmes to foster gender equality; • Investigate and seek to resolve matters and complaints relating to gender; • Engage civil society and other organisations promoting gender equality; and • Report directly to Parliament on its work.

broadly, the problems encountered by cGE in its work as part of the national gender machinery are not found in any lack of commitment on the part of the government to address gender equality issues, or in the direction promoted by national and international policies in this field, but rather in the implementation of the policies and in the practices that may be found on the ground more generally.

The cGE views gender as a crosscutting issue that has an impact across society and the economy, including in the world of work, and it has accordingly undertaken to monitor the impact of affirmative action on employment levels concerning historically disadvantaged groups such as women and disabled people and, to some extent, designated racial categories. it also seeks to promote gender-sensitive policies and practices within the world of work more generally. it holds individual institutions to account for their constitutional obligations to promote gender equality.

in this context and following a number of well-publicised cases of oppression on the basis of gender at universities, the commission held a series of hearings on gender transformation within higher education from 2014. The cases, which were covered by national media, concerned academics exploiting their authority to sexually abuse their students. in addition, a number of people in the sector had approached the commission directly

sECTiON 2 SHarinG TranSformaTion lESSonS and iniTiaTiVES

with complaints of harassment and a lack of transformation.

broadly, the hearings considered issues relating to some of the following: • The abuse of students by those in power; • Employment equity among university academic and administrative staff; and • (The lack of) inclusion in the services and facilities made available on campus, in particular to lGbTiQa people.

in addition, the focus was not so much on the universities’ policies, which were often quite comprehensive, but rather on problems in implementing them, with a number of senior managers seeking to claim that the policies did not apply to them. The hearings were held on a formal legal basis, with the cGE referencing the country’s legislation on labour relations; employment; skills development; employment equity; equality; and black economic empowerment. cGE collected data from the universities, often in the form of their responses to a semistructured questionnaire.

Vice-chancellors were then required to attend the hearings, make presentations and testify under oath or affirmation in response to questions put to them arising from this data and the cGE’s own enquiries. They were afforded the opportunity to put their side of the story. other stakeholders from within the university were also required to give evidence. Vice-chancellors could not delegate their attendance at these hearings to another manager or furnish inadequate testimony – for example, in the form of a short PowerPoint presentation. after the hearings, the cGE made further enquiries as necessary and then analysed all the information which had been collected. it presented its findings in the form of a report with recommendations to the national assembly. The report was then distributed among the dHET, the ministerial Task Team, the Employment Equity commission (EEc), the department of labour (dol) and Parliament through the quarterly reports of the cGE to the Portfolio committee on Women. These hearings had been held at 16 universities by 2019.

The information provided in the hearings affirmed broader findings in relation to employment across South africa which include: • That women are still being marginalised in the workplace despite the country’s progressive legal framework for gender equity. • There are too few women in senior management and academic positions, and too few strategies to recruit women, mentor them and retain them in such posts. • In particular, few women rise to the level of senior decisionmaker, winning a seat on the university council or becoming

Vice-chancellor, or are supported at this level if they do. • In the absence of a proper understanding of gender dynamics in the workplace and a failure to ensure an environment in which women may thrive, there is a high turnover among female staff. • It was found that some women professors are so traumatised within the workplace that they lose hope of pursuing a career at this academic leve,l and are

either forced or enticed to leave. • Although black women enjoy proportionally fewer opportunities than white women, sexism appears to be a greater obstacle than racism in the university workplace, where male privilege persists across racial groups and knows few boundaries. • The discrimination against women extends beyond their marginalisation in the university’s socio-economic and governance structures. • Violence against women is an everyday reality on campus. in this regard, the #feesmustfall protests revealed many of the challenges faced by female students on campuses where a “rape culture” is accepted as normal. for example, some groups of male students believe that if a female student does not have a boyfriend, she is available to be sexually harassed and even attacked. • The entrenchment of this

“culture” is exacerbated by a lack of student orientation and staff induction programmes to promote gender diversity and equality; and inadequate policies and practices to address sexual harassment and sexual violence and offences. • In addition, a lack of institutional engagement on issues of lGbTiQa inclusivity poses a major challenge.