Chapter Two
2.1 Introduction
From the very inception of this study, I have often been subjected to anecdotal comments that suggested that there is no 'real' problem with women in academia and research. Was my study simply a case of 'hunting teddy-bears in the saloons of the academy instead of hunting real bears out in the woods?' (Gulbrandsen, 1995). I was faced with the dilemma of presenting a convincing argument that this was not just some esoteric exercise about a group of elite women in society when there are more pressing problems 'out in the real world'. Such comments served not only as a reminder but also provided the impetus to further commit to my passions. They served to clearly demonstrate to me how critical it was not only to address the issue of equity and redress but also to begin to show the strong links to deep philosophical, sociological and political issues. I thought that perhaps embedding my concerns in such a context would signal the seriousness of the situation I was trying to address. The challenge lay in demonstrating that research is not simply some ivory tower practice that happens somewhere out there, but to show how it pervades the minute fibres of our everyday worlds in direct and indirect ways, overt and covert ways. I expand on this argument in the chapter that follows entitled "It Does Not Go Away Just Because I Am Pointing To It!"
I found it impossible to write about women's absence from research or knowledge production without acknowledging the under-representation of women generally from academia. Even in rare instances where the representation is fair, women are located at the lower levels of academia and virtually non-existent at the professorial or higher levels of the academy. In South Africa, while women in general are underrepresented at the higher levels of academia (Tothi11, 1998), women of colour in particular are virtually non-existent in academia and hence research (Singh, 1999).
My earlier research at the master's level focused on the influences, experIences and aspirations of first year female students. That study showed that if equality for women in higher education is to be reached, there was yet another frontier that had to be explored,
namely, the barriers to teaching and research in higher education, especially in universities, which play a leading role in research and knowledge production. For, although teaching is widely regarded as a women's profession, in universities women remain in the minority amongst the academic staff and, most notably, women are virtually non-existent at the upper end of the academic ladder of the university.
I needed to capture this scenario by gathering evidence from research conducted in other parts of the world as well as in South Africa. The review that follows presents a snapshot of the position of women in academia and research both internationally and locally.
My study, like all aspects of my work, is informed by literature from many areas of scholarship. My earliest attempts found me delving into the growing body of knowledge on higher education, but more especially the literature on gender and higher education.
There has been a number of studies abroad, of women in the academic labour market (Alien, 1990, Bacchi, 1993, Davies, 1982, Holton, 1988, Grimes, 1990, Over and McKenzie, 1985, Sawer, 1984, Gale and Lindemann, 1989). These studies have focused attention on the issues affecting higher education and women academics. I also found literature on career development and career issues with specific emphases on women and careers. Some studies such as Tonkinson (1988), Wieneke (1988, 1991, &1992), Strachan and Duirs (1993) have paid particular attention to the problems and concerns of general staff at universities. Whilst studies such as those of Sawer (1984), Poiner et al (1986), Crawford & Tonkinson (1988), Butler & Schutte (forthcoming) have looked at all women staff both academic and non-academic staff within a particular university context, other researchers (Conrad, 1994; Moses, 1990, 1992; Powles, 1986, 1988; White, 1996) have been concerned specifically with female postgraduate students' experiences. The barriers to women's participation as postgraduate students have also been recorded by Conrad (1994), Moses (1990) and Powles (1986, 1988), highlighting the differences in how women and men experience postgraduate study. Most studies of academic women have, however, been approached from one of two perspectives viz.: institutional constraints on women's equal participation, or status conflict in the lives of individual women (Jensen, 1982, 67). Most captivating of all are the several studies that span various disciplines on topics such as women and work, women and leadership and women and professions.
In South Africa, the production of knowledge is largely the domain of white academics, located at the historically white institutions. Research documenting this under- representation includes Evans (1991) Jansen (1993), Pityana (1993), Seepe (1993), Reddy (1995), Lewin (1995), Dyasi (1995) and Naidoo (1996).
The literature on academic women in South Africa is rather sparse. Anecdotal responses suggest that it probably reflects a tendency to consider women researchers as members of an elite rather than a disadvantaged group worthy of feminist concern. However, research conducted by Reddy (1995) indicates that there is an under-representation of black women in Science and Mathematics Education research in South Africa. She looks at the relevance and promotion of equity in science and mathematics education research, reflecting on various reports on higher education that highlight the race and gender imbalances in the higher education sector. In a more recent study, Reddy (1997) begins to document the "texture of experience" of under-representation of black women in research in a paper that traces the life history of Black South African women scientists.
Naidoo (1996) presents an emerging picture of research in Science Education in Sub- Saharan Africa. He finds that researchers are mainly from the university sector, but there is a race and gender imbalance; very few researchers are black and female.
The data collected from annual returns made to the National Department of Education show that not much has changed since 1993, when Keith S. Peacock carried out his investigation which was published under the title - South African Universities: Race and Gender Factors in Employment Patterns. The figures in the annual returns show that whites still predominate in institutions of higher education at about 45% while blacks account for 35%. The Peacock report depended "heavily on effect to identify possible areas of discrimination in the university environment" (Peacock 1993: 7). But this, too, is problematic. Itis difficult to distinguish "between real or imagined discrimination over and above the effect (that is statistics or otherwise)" (Sarinjeive, 1996: 7)
Sarinjeive (1996) conducted a study on race and gender factors specifically with regard to employment practices in South Africa. The emphasis however, was on comparing Vista University with other universities in South Africa. Her study investigated aspects of staff distribution, gender distribution and the race distribution of university staff with a focus on
Vista University. The main objective, as far as race and gender factors are concerned, was to determine the position at Vista University in order to make recommendations for improving the situation there.
The South African Science and Technology Indicators (1996) published by the former Foundation for Research and Development (FRD) provides some indication of where women stand in higher education, academic posts and in the professional workforce in the fields of science, engineering and technology. The indicators show very clearly that women are struggling to break into the male-dominated fields of science, engineering and technology. The report fails however, to explore the reasons for this situation.
In her address to the postgraduate symposium at the University of Durban-Westville in 1999, Professor Ramashala pointed to some national and international trends in research and postgraduate education. Higher education is undergoing radical changes locally and internationally, the restructuring of our research activities, in particular. At least four interrelated factors were identified as having a significant impact on restructuring within higher education. They are the broadening of access to particularly disadvantaged populations, increasing Higher Education relevance, improving accountability, and the progressive reduction of resources for higher education. These factors have a significant impact on research and postgraduate education. This has itself become an area of study with rapidly increasing literature as recent national conferences on postgraduate education demonstrate.
"Research and research skills are fundamental to fuelling the information economy.
Society has made increasing demands on research to solve societal problems, and a new societal contract is fast emerging between research and society. In fact. .. it is imperative that we take on board the development mandate of linking science and research to society." Ramashala (1999).
What follows is a reVIew of only those studies that have direct implications for my research. Through all my intensive searches I found it extremely difficult and could barely muster a handful of studies on women in research and women of colour in research. The literature on women and research is virtually non-existent except for a few conference papers at the international level and the recent Forum for African Women Educationalists
_ South Africa (FAWESA) Report capturing some aspects of women academics in South Africa.
I also present a synopsis of some of the findings of a few studies on women academics in higher education. I do this firstly by making broad general transnational comparisons and analyses and then focus my argument particularly within some of the categories that were generated from the focus group discussions with the participants of the WIR Project. With this synopsis I demonstrate the differential positions typically occupied by women and men in the hierarchical structures of universities, both locally, wherever possible and internationally.