CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
2.4. EDUCATION WHITE PAPER 3 AND GENDER EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
In 1983, the government introduced a Bill to repeal some of the sections of theAct 45 of 1959. The aim ofthe 1983 Bill was to make historically-white universities (HWUs) more open to "non-white" races. Inspite of the opposition from HWUs, this Bill was passed, and it provided for the conditional acceptance of African students to white universities provided they had obtained a written Ministerial consent to register for degrees / courses that were not offered by the Black universities.
The current calls for transformation of higher education institutions therefore do not mean that there has been no change whatsoever. There is however, scope for improvement and as a result the Employment Equity Act, of 1998, has been enacted to deal with all inequalities in the workplace including higher education institutions.
Furthermore the Labour Relations Act of 1995 was the first labour relations law to apply to both the public and private sector. It covers all employees except members of the security forces and intelligence services. The harmonisation of aspects of the law of collective bargaining, dispute resolution and unfair dismissal is one of the most significant reforms introduced by the Labour Relations Act of 1995. Furthermore, the Higher Education Act, of 1997 is linked to the imperative to address the inequalities of the past and to eradicate all forms of unfair discrimination in relation to access and equality of opportunity within higher education for historically and socially disadvantaged groups.
2.4. EDUCATION WHITE PAPER 3 AND GENDER EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
South Africa's transition from apartheid and minority rule to democracy requires that all existing practices, institutions and values are viewed anew and rethought in terms of their fitness for the new democratic era. Higher education plays a central role in the social,
cultural and economic development of modem societies. In South Africa today the challenge is to redress past inequalities and to transform the higher education system to serve a new social order, to meet pressing national needs, and to respond to new realities and opportunities. The principle of equity requires fair opportunities both to enter higher education programmes and to succeed in them. Applying the principle of equity implies a critical identification of existing inequalities which are the product of policies, structures and practices based on racial, gender, disability and other forms of discrimination or disadvantage (Education White Paper 1 1997: 1).
Despite the negative consequences of the apartheid legacy, some higher education institutions have introduced many changes in terms of access and equal opportunity for staff and students in higher education institutions. The study conducted by Subotzky (2001) revealed that the overall approximate proportion of staff in the university system by race was: African (40%); coloured (7%); Indian (3%) and white (50%). However, the embedded racial stratification of higher education labour is immediately apparent when studied across the board of various professions and non-professional personnel category.
In the professional category of staff, only 19% is African and 77% is white, whereas among non-professionals, Africans constituted 55% of the total and white 31 % (Subotzky 2001 :23).
However, if higher education is to contribute to the reconstruction and development of South Africa and existing centres of excellence maintained, the inequalities, imbalances and distortions that derive from its past and present structure must be addressed. Higher education needs to be transformed to meet the challenges of a new non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society committed to equity, justice and a better life for all (Education White Paper 3 1997:2). Table 2 of this chapter reveals that some higher education institutions in KwaZulu Natal had started with the programme of dealing with inequalities and imbalances of the past by employing people from designated groups where possible.
Some changes have occurred in higher education system after eight and half years of democracy. However, there is still an under-representation of the disabled and of African women in higher education system, especially at senior levels. Senge (1995) cited by Majola (1999), further stated that lack of consultation andforlink between policy makers and the implementers of policy within the institutions has also a negative impact on the implementation of equity policies and further leads to under-representation of women.
Men, regardless of ethnicity, once in power and in status positions protect their own interests by controlling the admission or employment of categories of people to the organisations thus limiting their occupancy to key positions in tertiary institutions (Majola 1999:64).
Contemporary forces of social and economic transformation have destabilised, and in many respects, worsened women's lives. Visvanathan; Duggan; Nisonoff and Wiegersma (1997) confirm this assertion:
affirmative action and equity pay policies have proved to be important instruments in the pursuit of gender equality, and lately, to accommodate people with disability. Yet the progress made through these policies at some levels is being undermined in the current restructuring of the economy through the creation of new structures of production - such as part-time work and other practices of work flexibilisation - that relegate women again to the lower echelons of the labour hierarchy. This is one of the social criticisms in the implementation of social change
Despite efforts to alleviate problems associated with the recruitment of women and the disabled in higher education institutions, problems still exist. In one study conducted at the University of Queensland in 1997, 1998 and 2000 respectively it was indicated that women in academia are still under-represented, but over-represented in general staff (Ngaire 2000:3).
The Education White Paper 3 as a central policy in higher education, is viewed in this study as a means of closing the gap that still exists between the HDIs and the HAIs, where the former were disadvantaged, especially in governance, while the latter were advantaged in terms of both governance and facilities, and so forth. Thus Education White Paper 3 is appropriately sub-titled "A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education".