DOMAINS OF INFLUENCE ON ACADEMICS’ CAREERS:
NARRATIVES FROM BLACK AFRICAN, COLOURED, AND INDIAN
WOMEN ACADEMICS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
By
Pamela Roy

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education--Doctor of Philosophy
2014

ABSTRACT
DOMAINS OF INFLUENCE ON ACADEMICS’ CAREERS:
NARRATIVES FROM BLACK AFRICAN, COLOURED, AND INDIAN
WOMEN ACADEMICS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
By
Pamela Roy

This research study examined a specific group of academics in South Africa who work in a
nation that is striving for equity, inclusion and equality among its citizenship as it attempts to
redress the legacies of colonial history and apartheid. I conducted an interview-based,
phenomenological, interpretivist study to examine the narratives of 28 black women academics
in post-apartheid South Africa concerning the factors that shape their lives and careers, and I
analyzed how these perceived factors facilitated and/or inhibited their career development and
lives. The detailed analyses of this study resulted in classifying black women academics’
experiences in their careers with regard to four broad domains of influence: context, community,
commitment and competence. The interactions and interrelationships between these domains of
influence are complex, nuanced and dynamic as they influence the vibrant nature of these
academics’ lives and careers. In other words, each of the academics’ careers was deeply
embedded in her life, connected to her inner commitments and competencies, and influenced by
the multiple contexts and communities to which she belonged.
Black women academics in post-apartheid South Africa do not define their career success
solely by advancements in title and rank or by achieving so-called higher positions in the
academy. Rather, the degree to which these academics viewed themselves as being successful in
their careers and lives was based on their personal definitions of success and was a function of
their efforts to balance these four domains that exert influence on their careers. Career success

was not a facile definition; instead, it was complex and unique to the particularities of every
woman’s life. Success defined in such a way is gendered, and some would argue that it reflects
feminist ways of thinking about success. Further, this study raises the question of whether the
particularities of culture and national context influence the lives and careers of female academics
in other countries whose institutions of higher education may or may not evaluate, reward, and
incentivize academics for their advancements in title and rank.
Black women academics in post-apartheid South Africa are one example of how talented
academics create and sustain successful and meaningful careers in ways that honor their work
and personal lives. This has particular implications for how to create a workplace that
accommodates personal and professional dimensions of the individual, providing the global
academic community another way to think about career success in the academy. Not
surprisingly, this notion of success reflects the spirit of uBuntu or as Archbishop Desmond Tutu
once said, “I am what I am because of who we all are.” In other words, this perspective defines
success relationally and communally, recognizing that success both derives from the matrix of
complex relationships in which we find ourselves at any given time and is the result of the
contributions of many over the course of several years, and has a reciprocal obligation to that
same matrix from which it was drawn. It sets the individual in the context of the community
rather than apart from or, against it, as some competitive western models do.
The study also has specific implications for practice, including recommended action steps
for academics, institutional leaders, policymakers and government officials in South Africa.

Keywords: higher education, South Africa, women, faculty, academics, career
development, success.

Copyright by
PAMELA ROY
2014

To the successful and resilient academics
that shared their stories with me,
I’m deeply indebted and grateful to each of you.

“We relive stories and see ourselves only as the watcher or listener, the drummer in the
background keeping cadence.” By Michael Ondaatje

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dear…
Academic Women Participants:
This study would not have been possible without your receptivity, willingness and
courage to share your narratives with me. I am grateful to have crossed paths with each
of you on your life’s journey.
Ann E. Austin, Ph.D., Dissertation Chair:
Little did I know that when we ventured to South Africa to conduct work together in
2009 that it would profoundly influence my life, eventually give birth to this study’s topic
and spark the direction for my vocational aspirations. When I doubted myself throughout
short periods of this dissertation research and writing, the kindness and love in your
words, gestures and actions brought me comfort and instilled hope, propelling me to
forge forward. I sincerely appreciated your balanced mixture of gentle prodding and
unwavering support throughout this journey. Your unequivocal investment through
mentorship, collegiality and friendship has given me inspiration and marvelous examples
of how to enact a full and meaningful scholarly and home life. Thank you for scaffolding
my learning, caring so deeply about my doctoral career and investing in my growth as a
professional, scholar and person.
Members of the Dissertation Committee:
Kristen Renn, Ph.D., for the wisdom, encouragement, and mentorship you provided me
over the last twelve years– my deepest gratitude. John Metzler, Ph.D., for engaging
deeply about mutual topics of interest during the initial phases of this dissertation that led
to a broadening of my understanding and knowledge about historical and contemporary
vi

issues facing South Africa. I am deeply grateful for your support and friendship –
including a meal and hugs when I needed it the most. Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela,
Ph.D., for asking me a simple question many years ago: “Pam, what do you want to
contribute?” This question serves as the backbone to this dissertation’s purpose and aims.
It is also a question that I have grappled with as I seek to further understand and explore
who I am and what I hope to contribute to this world.
Family in India and Canada:
Thank you for believing in and supporting my dreams. Dear brother, I share this
achievement with you. To my parents in particular – you planted the seeds of this
dissertation many years ago when you gave me my first book as a child and inspired me
to learn. Every time I achieve something, you get to smile and know that you laid the
groundwork for my success.
Susan E. Grettenberger, Ph.D.:
Thank you for being extraordinarily generous with your time and energy, and authentic
friendship, especially with supporting the writing process which would not have been the
same without the presence of your kindred spirit. I hope that I can continue to honor our
spiritual connection by offering my trust, respect, loving-kindness and affection1 to our
friendship.
Inge Steglitz, Ph.D.:
I am deeply indebted to you for introducing me to Rumi and Singer who (re)awakened
my spirituality at a critical juncture in this dissertation which enabled me to untether from
the shackles of my own fears to finish writing. Without the gifts of your friendship, I
may still be that cat clinging dearly to the fence too afraid to just trust, let go and write.

vii

Holly Lynn Gentry:
The only way to know the play of destiny and free will is to dance the mystery and die
inside it… To the loving ones who stay inside and are willing to explore love and
friendship2 there are really no words, except this: Thank you. For everything.
Laura Blanton:
Tirelessly copy-editing iteration upon iteration of this dissertation with a smile takes
some kind of soulful patience and perseverance. Thank you for breaking bread with me,
for the infinite hugs and laughs and for being my rock through these past two years.
Hajin Kim:
Thank you for your caring and thoughtful friendship and for bringing my sketches of this
study’s findings and conceptual framework to life with your digital artistic talents.
Sabrina Chong, Ed.D.:
Sunny California with all its greenery, blue skies, and eclectic selections of food; a
desperately-needed antidote, sanctuary, and space to finish the final revisions. Thank you
for your generosity in hosting me as I completed the final hurdle.
South African Family:
Deans Cheryl Foxcroft, Ph.D. and Sabiha Essack, Ph.D., for your extraordinary
hospitality and support “in the field” and thereafter. I am deeply grateful.
Ubhutis and usisis3 Thabo Msibi, Ph.D., Nokuthula Setole, Aileen Ownhouse, Kim
Elliott, Michelle Crowley, Ph.D., Cebolenkosi Duke Myeza, Mugadi Sboniso, Khayelihle
Khaya Thusi, and Mzwandile L. Shabalala for your love and kinship.
Nyna Amin, Ph.D., for a critical review of this dissertation. But more importantly, for
being an inspiration and role model on how to live authentically unapologetically.

viii

My experiences with each of you changed me irrevocably for the better. Although a
chapter of my life has closed, and a new one opened, I still crave South Africa– I miss the
smell of it, the heart, the bustle, the chaos and the people4. I hope that my feet will find
their way back to South African soil and the shores of the Indian Oceans. Until then, I
hold each of you in my heart. A sincere thank-you also to the members of management
at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal who
participated in and enriched this study.
Friends:
Thank you whole-heartedly for sharing in community and for exercising the compassion
that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle and inextricably
connected to each other through a loving and resilient human spirit5. Special
acknowledgements to my friends: Alexander N. Akulli, Lindsay Bernhagen, Ph.D., Kyle
Carter, Corvell Cranfield, Ph.D., Faith Cranfield, Holly Lynn Gentry, Susan E.
Grettenberger, Ph.D., Stacie Macias, John Medendorp, Renata Opoczynski, Leslie Jo
Shelton, Inge Steglitz, Ph.D., and Dafina Stewart, Ph.D, for providing thoughtful
comments to various sections of this dissertation.
Mr. Boorro Cuddlesworth Roy:
Thank you for your loyalty and companionship. You single-handedly taught me a critical
life lesson during the most challenging moments in writing this dissertation: how to love
myself unconditionally. Through misery and glory you stayed nestled by my side. Your
warmth and purr, my home.

ix

Pamela:
Thank you for practicing self-compassion, honoring vulnerability and embracing your
imperfections throughout this dissertation process. So rest now and rejoice with humility
and gratitude for the vast community of support that have loved, supported and nurtured
you to where you stand tall now.

Deeply Indebted to You All,

Pamela Roy, Ph.D.
Note: I am grateful for the generous support from the Michigan State University’s Graduate
School Research Enhancement Award and the College of Education’s Summer Research
Fellowship, HALE Center Grant, and the Dissertation Completion Fellowship which enabled me
to conduct pre-dissertation and dissertation research and to complete this dissertation.
______________________________________________________________________________
1

Brown, B. (2010). The gifts of imperfection: Let go of who you think you're supposed to be and
embrace who you are. Center City, MN: Hazelden.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi, M. (2001). The soul of Rumi: A new collection of ecstatic poems (C. Barks
with J. Moyne, N. Ergin, A.J. Arberry, R. Nicholson, & M.G. Gupta, Trans.). New York, NY:
HarperCollins. (Original work published 1207-1273).
2

3

Ubhuti is an isiZulu word meaning brother; Usisi meaning sister.

4

Metcalf, C. (2003). Walking away: A film-maker’s African journal. London: Eve Books.

5

Brown, B. (2009). Connections. A 12-session psycho-educational shame-resilience curriculum.
Revised and expanded. City Center, MN: Hazelden.

x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xvi
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... xvii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................. 1
Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................................ 3
Conceptions ............................................................................................................................. 6
“Developing Countries” and “Developed Countries” ................................................. 6
Academic Staff Members ............................................................................................ 7
Racial Categorizations in South Africa ....................................................................... 9
Career Development .................................................................................................. 10
Selected Theoretical Perspectives ......................................................................................... 12
Linear and Non-Linear Career Development Models ............................................... 12
Ecological Perspectives: Career Development in Nested Environmental Contexts . 14
Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 16
Purpose Statement ................................................................................................................. 16
Dissertation Structure ............................................................................................................ 17
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................................ 19
International Context Factors ................................................................................................ 22
National Context Factors ....................................................................................................... 24
History of Apartheid and Apartheid Education......................................................... 24
The Post-Apartheid Landscape of Higher Education ................................................ 27
Selected National Policies of the New South Africa................................................. 28
Key Elements of the National Context Factors ..................................................................... 30
Institutional and Disciplinary Factors ................................................................................... 31
Institutional and Disciplinary Cultures ..................................................................... 32
Cultures of Institutional Types ................................................................... 32
Cultures of Particular Disciplines. ............................................................. 33
Institutional History and Climate .............................................................................. 34
Institutional Mergers. ................................................................................................ 34
Institutional Policies and Practice ............................................................................. 35
Workload Policies. ..................................................................................... 35
Research Sabbatical Leave Policies ........................................................... 36
Institutional Equity Programs..................................................................... 37
Evaluation and Rewards ............................................................................. 39
Key Elements of the Institutional and Disciplinary Factors .................................................. 41
Individual Factors .................................................................................................................. 41
Educational Background ........................................................................................... 42
Socio-Cultural Identities ........................................................................................... 43
Self-Efficacy and Agency ......................................................................................... 44
Work-Life and Personal Support............................................................................... 46
Research and Teaching.............................................................................................. 48
xi

Key Elements of the Individual Factors ................................................................................ 49
Conclusion of the Literature Review..................................................................................... 50
Conceptualizing Career Development in South Africa ......................................................... 50
Overview of the Framework.................................................................................................. 51
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 54
Overview of the Research Design ......................................................................................... 54
Research Paradigm ................................................................................................................ 55
Constructivism........................................................................................................... 56
Site Selection ......................................................................................................................... 56
The University of KwaZulu-Natal ............................................................................ 57
Evaluation and Promotion Policies at UKZN ................................................. 58
Equity and Transformation at UKZN ............................................................. 59
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University ................................................................. 60
Evaluation and Promotion Processes at NMMU ............................................ 60
Equity and Transformation at NMMU ........................................................... 62
Rationales for Site Selection ................................................................................................. 63
Participant Selection .............................................................................................................. 64
Data Collection ...................................................................................................................... 66
Individual Interviews with Academics ...................................................................... 66
Demographics of the Academic Participants ................................................ 69
Interviews with the Members of Management .......................................................... 73
Documents ................................................................................................................. 75
Field Notes ................................................................................................................ 75
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 77
Considerations of Human Subjects ....................................................................................... 80
Trustworthiness ..................................................................................................................... 82
Credibility and Adequate Engagement with the Data ............................................... 82
Critical Expert-Reader............................................................................................... 83
Reflexivity ................................................................................................................. 84
Rapport ...................................................................................................................... 86
Reciprocity ................................................................................................................ 89
Organization of the Proceeding Chapters .............................................................................. 90
CHAPTER 4: BROADER NATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXTS ....................... 91
A Call for Greater Research Productivity and Research Output in the New South Africa ... 92
The Changing Nature of the Structure and Function of the South African Professoriate ..... 95
An Aging Professoriate and Academic Staff Shortages............................................ 96
Training and Developing the Next Generation of Qualified Academics .................. 98
Formal and Informal Mentoring .............................................................................. 101
Summary of the Chapter...................................................................................................... 104
CHAPTER 5: DOMAINS OF INFLUENCE ON ACADEMICS’ LIVES AND CAREERS ... 106
Composite Stories................................................................................................................ 110
Composite 1: Gayle’s Story .................................................................................... 110
Composite 2: Nkosi’s Story .................................................................................... 112
xii

Composite 3: Ranu Gauri’s Story ........................................................................... 114
Summary of the Chapter...................................................................................................... 117
CHAPTER 6: FACTORS INFLUENCING BLACK WOMEN ACADEMICS’ LIVES
AND CAREERS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA ................................................... 118
Context ................................................................................................................................ 119
Personal Context.................................................................................................................. 120
Childhood Upbringing, Family Background and Structure .................................... 121
Educational Background and Schooling during apartheid ...................................... 122
Summary of Personal Context ............................................................................................. 128
Institutional Context ............................................................................................................ 128
Institutional Programs and Opportunities ............................................................... 129
Key Professional Moment(s) as an Academic ........................................................ 132
Professional International Experiences ................................................. 132
Completing Advanced Degrees ............................................................. 134
The First Publication ............................................................................. 136
Professional Awards, Achievements, and Recognition ........................ 137
Summary of Institutional Context ....................................................................................... 138
National Context.................................................................................................................. 138
Quantity v. Quality: “More Bums on Seats, please” ............................................... 139
Quantity versus Quality: Research Output .............................................................. 141
Summary of National Context ............................................................................................. 143
Community .......................................................................................................................... 143
Personal Community ........................................................................................................... 146
It takes a village: Support, encouragement, and aid ................................................ 146
Husband or Partner ................................................................................ 146
Parent(s) and In-Law(s). ........................................................................ 148
Siblings and Friends .............................................................................. 150
The Academics’ Children ...................................................................... 151
No Woman is an Island: Lack of Support ............................................................... 151
Husband or Partner ................................................................................ 152
Mothers, Siblings, and Family .............................................................. 153
Professional Community ..................................................................................................... 155
Work “Families” Make a difference: Support, Encouragement, Aid, and Barriers. 156
Supervisors ............................................................................................ 156
Mentors.................................................................................................. 160
Institutional Leaders .............................................................................. 163
Colleagues ............................................................................................. 165
Perceived Racism and Sexism in the Workplace .................................................... 166
Supervisors…………………………………………………………….167
Colleagues ............................................................................................. 168
Summary of Personal and Professional Communities ........................................................ 171
Commitment ........................................................................................................................ 172
Religion and/or Spirituality ................................................................................................. 174
Religion, Family History and Personal Background ............................................... 174
Vocational Calling ................................................................................................... 175
xiii

Religious Ideologies and Teaching ......................................................................... 176
Religious Ideologies in Research and Service Work .............................................. 177
Social Justice and Transformation ...................................................................................... 178
Justice and Change in Pedagogy and Instructional Strategies ................................ 178
Justice and Change in Research, Outreach and Engagement .................................. 179
uBuntu: A Cultural and Ethno-Linguistic Practice ............................................................. 180
Capacity Development and Nation Building....................................................................... 182
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Capacity Development ............................... 183
Capacity Development and Previously Disadvantaged Students ............................ 185
Summary of Commitment ................................................................................................... 186
Competence ......................................................................................................................... 186
Competence in the Context of Childhood Hardships: Support and Self-Efficacy .. 188
Grappling with Internalized Racism: Agency, Resiliency, Neither? ...................... 191
Dealing with Being Denied Promotion ................................................................... 195
Racial Microaggressions: Resiliency During Institutional Mergers ....................... 199
Enacting Agency through Mentoring ...................................................................... 201
Balancing Work and Life ........................................................................................ 203
The Balancing Act of Being a Student Whilst a Scholar........................... 204
Managing Personal Health and Well-Being .............................................. 207
Juggling Work, Life and Motherhood ....................................................... 209
Summary of Competence .................................................................................................... 212
Summary of the Chapter...................................................................................................... 213
CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 215
Summary of Major Findings ............................................................................................... 217
Discussion of Results .......................................................................................................... 222
Domains of Influence and Academic’s Success ..................................................... 222
Understanding the Relationship between Academics and their Organizational
Work Environments ................................................................................................ 226
Statement of Significance .................................................................................................... 228
Implications for Practice: Recommended Action Steps for Primary Stakeholders of
South African Higher Education ................................................................................ 230
Individual-level Implications: Recommended Action Steps for Academic
Women and Retired Academics .............................................................................. 231
Academic Women Entering the South African Academy ....................... 231
Black Women Academics in the South African Professoriate ................. 233
Late-Career Academics and Retired Academics in South Africa ............ 236
Institutional-level Implications: Recommended Action Steps for University
Leaders .................................................................................................................... 237
National-level Implications: Considerations for Government Officials and
Other Policymakers ................................................................................................. 240
Further Research.................................................................................................................. 242
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................ 244
APPENDIX A Dissertation Completion Timeline ..................................................................... 246
APPENDIX B Institutional Review Board Michigan State University...................................... 247
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APPENDIX C Ethical Clearance Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University ............................. 248
APPENDIX D Ethical Clearances from the University of KwaZulu-Natal ............................... 249
APPENDIX E Email Inviting Potential Participants .................................................................. 251
APPENDIX F Participant Information Form ............................................................................ 253
APPENDIX G Protocol for Individual Academics ................................................................... 255
APPENDIX H Protocol for Members of Management ............................................................. 257
APPENDIX I Interview Data of Academic Participants Clustered by Coding Similarity
(Pearson Correlation) .................................................................................................................. 259
APPENDIX J Research Consent Form for the Academic Participants at Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University .............................................................................................................. 260
APPENDIX K Research Consent Form for the Members of Management at Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University ............................................................................................... 264
APPENDIX L Research Consent Form for the Academic Participants at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal ........................................................................................................................... 268
APPENDIX M Research Consent Form for the Members of Management at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal ....................................................................................................................... 272
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 276

xv

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1

Group A Participants: Junior Lecturers and Lecturers…………………………71

Table 3.2

Group B Participants: Senior Lecturers, Associate Professors, and Professors..72

Table 3.3

Academics’ Level of Education………………………………………………...73

Table 3.4

Marital and Parental Status of Academics……………………………………...73

Table 5.1

Factors Influencing Academic Women’s Lives and Careers in South Africa…109

Table 6.1

Personal and Professional Communities’ Contributions to Academics……......145

xvi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1

Factors Influencing the Career Development of South African Academics…... 52

Figure 2

Domains of Influence in Academics’ Careers………...……………………

Figure 2A

Domains of Influence in Academics’ Careers (Context)………...…………… 119

Figure 2B

Domains of Influence in Academics’ Careers (Community)………...……….. 144

Figure 2C

Domains of Influence in Academics’ Careers (Commitment)………...……… 173

Figure 2D

Domains of Influence in Academics’ Careers (Competence)………...………. 187

xvii

107

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
South Africa has attempted to make steady progress over the course of the last twenty
years to overcome the legacy of apartheid as it builds the nation. In the post-apartheid era, there
has been increasing national attention in South Africa to build an egalitarian society inclusive of
race, ethnicity, and gender, among other identities. In fact, 21st century post-apartheid South
Africa has “chosen to adopt a substantive conception of equality, but it is still searching for the
exact balance in achieving that, without alienating the population groups that were (more or less)
privileged under apartheid” (Henrard, 2002, p. 34).
One of the many spaces that the new South Africa has attempted to achieve equality is
within academia. A central issue within administration and higher education is present academic
staff compositions, which have not changed to the same extent as the evolving student
composition; nor does the staff composition mirror the racially diverse demographic of the
country (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013; Ministry of Education, 2001; Subotzky,
2003; Tettey, 2010). Some of the national policy narratives outlined in the Education White
Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education (Department of Education,
1997a) and the National Plan for Higher Education in South Africa (Ministry of Education,
2001) are meant to ensure that staff profiles progressively reflect the demographic realities of
South African society and to increase the representation of people of color and women in
academic and administrative positions, especially at the senior level. Since faculty members, or
academic staff, as they are called in South Africa, constitute a critical ingredient that influences
the quality of higher education institutions (Austin, 2002), it is disappointing that twenty years
after the inception of the democratic order, gender and race disparities continue to plague the

1

society. The academic staff composition is still inequitable for individuals of color, especially
women.
The legacies of colonial history and apartheid still affect the demographic profile of
academic staff at South African universities, which overwhelmingly consists of White males (du
Toit, 2006; Subotzky, 2003). In 2001, White male academics constituted 72 percent of the total
number of men in the South African professoriate while Black African, Coloured and Indian
male academics combined represented 28 percent of the total number of men in the professoriate.
Seventy percent of the total number of women in academe are White, while women of Black
African, Coloured and Indian descents represented 30 percent (National Advisory Council on
Innovation, 2009). Although by 2005 there had been moderate improvement in the number of
male academics of color, female academics of color had decreased to 25 percent (National
Advisory Council on Innovation). Some progress has been made throughout the past few years,
however, which shows that the gender gap between male and female academics has been
decreasing and, although males constitute the majority of the professoriate nationally, the
proportion of females has steadily increased from 39% in 2001 to 42% in 2006 (Tettey, 2010).
Goh, Recke, Hahn-Rollins, and Guyer-Miller (2008) suggest that universal barriers exist
for all female academics of color since they are likely to face unfriendly organization structures
and cultures which typically favor male academic staff and White individuals regardless of
gender. The present composition of academic staff in South Africa is no exception, as the South
African higher education system is polarized by race and gender (Mabokela, 2000b, 2002), and
less visible forms of discrimination related to age and experience persist and render women

2

subaltern1 academics (Mudaly, 2012). Rabe and Rugunanan’s (2012) study of 11 female
sociologists exiting the South African academy suggest that racism is the primary reason why
these academics believe they were disregarded for permanent positions in the academy or for
promotion in rank. Rabe and Rugunanan argue that racial challenges overshadow gender
challenges for young black female academics, and that gender discrimination is typically
experienced once female academics reach senior academic positions.
In South Africa, gender inequities are also pervasive in the allocation of key
administrative positions, permanent teaching appointments, and research positions since the
majority of women are most likely found in the lowest academic rank, that of junior lecturer
(Mabokela, 2000b, 2002, 2004). In some historically male-dominated disciplines, such as
science, engineering and technology, women academics across all racial and ethnic groups in
South Africa are poorly represented (Chinsamy-Turan, 2003). Typically, the higher the status of
science, engineering, and technology fields within academe, the lower the representation of
women academics in that field (Chinsamy-Turan, 1999; National Advisory Council on
Innovation, 2009).
Statement of the Problem
Academic staff ranks in South Africa range from junior levels, such as tutor, junior
lecturer and lecturer, to senior levels, such as senior lecturer, associate professor, professor, and
senior professor. However, most initial academic appointments are commonly two- or three-year
probationary periods subject to satisfactory performance, but the vast majority of which are

Subaltern is used as follows: “[In South Africa],black women academic’s concern about her
subaltern status which is borne, firstly, of a socio-political history of legitimated oppression, and
secondly, and paradoxically, of the implementation of affirmative action policies which are
embedded with notions of ‘lowering standards for black people’, increases her feeling of
vulnerability” (Eidelson & Eidelson, 2003 as cited in Mudaly, 2012, p. 41).
1

3

routinely confirmed as permanent positions (du Toit, 2006; Higgs, Higgs, Ntshoe, & Wolhuter,
2010; Koen, 2003). Moreover, it is widely understood that academics in senior positions benefit
from several advantages, including job security, increased individual prestige, greater
responsibilities and decision-making power within universities, more favorable teaching loads
and higher salaries.
At some universities in South Africa, departments often determine the rates of pay for
their permanent employees, which is typically dependent upon the staff member’s academic or
appropriate professional qualification, the amount of time devoted to lecturing, supervision, and
administration, as well as their skills and experience (No Author, 2011c). Although factors such
as cost of living vary across provinces in South Africa, higher salaries for academic staff are
typically associated with the prestige and rank of the institution as well as the title and rank of
the position. Since the majority of Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics in
South Africa are in the lowest ranks of the professoriate (Mabokela, 2000b, 2002, 2004), it
should come as no surprise that they have less access to the advantages associated with senior
levels, including higher compensation and additional benefits.
Special opportunities exist at some universities for career advancement because of the
climate of organizational change and transformation in the new South Africa. For example,
some talented Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics have experienced career
advancement during institutional mergers and/or have been promoted as a result of universityinitiated diversity or equity policies designed to assist talented academic staff members
previously disadvantaged during apartheid, such as women and people of color (No Author,
2011a). The transformed political dispensation in the post-apartheid landscape is resulting in

4

many South African higher education institutions beginning to favor the employment of black
women academics (Mudaly, 2012; Soudien, 2010).
Regardless of these and other types of opportunities for career promotion, many barriers
to career development continue to exist for Black African, Coloured, and Indian women
academics in the new South Africa. First, numerous priorities compete for all South African
academics’ time and attention (Austin, 2002). Since “the benchmark for most permanent
appointments at [South African] universities remains the Ph.D.” (Koen, 2003, p. 301), academics
pursuing doctoral degrees are often stretched for time as they must pursue their advanced degrees
around academic workloads and institutional responsibilities (Austin, 2002; Mabokela, 2002).
And since junior academics are typically in two- or three-year probationary periods, taking
sabbatical leave to complete these advanced degrees is prohibited by many universities (Division
of Human Resources & Equity, 2012).
Second, several universities in South Africa have caps on the number of senior positions
allowed per Faculty (School/College), and career advancement into these levels is often
dependent upon staff vacancies. Some universities, such as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University, have taken progressive initiatives to alleviate this systemic inhibitor. The initiative at
this university is called the Academic Ad Personum Policy, which provides a framework for
university management to promote present, full-time academic staff on an ad personum basis,
even where no vacancy exists for such promotion (Paul, 2009). Although the policy excludes
promotion to the most senior level, it nevertheless works to ensure a uniform, fair and
transparent process. Of particular relevance to the present study is the effort to recognize
excellent performance, to retain academics with highly specialized skills, and to enhance
institutional transformation and racial and gender equity wherever possible in order to meet the

5

objectives of the institution (Paul). Third, tight fiscal conditions often leave academics in South
Africa, especially academics with advanced degrees, having to choose between the lure of high
salaries in government posts or continuing in the professoriate (Austin, 2002).
There is much to be learned from understanding how Black African, Coloured, and
Indian women academics succeed in the academy. As higher education institutions transform to
meet the growing socio-economic and democratic needs of the nation, changing the present
academic staff demographics to meet the national policy narratives and mirror the demographic
reality of the nation is critical. Ultimately, if universities in South Africa strive for racial and
gender parity among their academic staff composition, they will likely have to address the
structural and individual impediments that inhibit the career development of academics,
especially Black African, Coloured, and Indian women who were previously disadvantaged
during apartheid, toward senior positions in the professoriate.
Conceptions
This research study explores the lives and careers of Black African, Coloured, and Indian
women academics in post-apartheid South Africa. Many terms are used differently by
individuals across disparate nations, both regionally and locally, and internationally. The
ensuing conceptions help the reader become familiar with the key words and concepts that are
relevant to the present study.
“Developing Countries” and “Developed Countries”
The United Nations composition of macro-geographical regions, geographical subregions, and selected economic and other groups include “developing and developed regions,”
“least developed countries,” “landlocked developing countries” and “small island developing
States” (see http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#developed). The

6

designations “developed” and “developing” do not necessarily express a judgment about the
stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process; they are mostly
intended for statistical convenience (United Nations Statistics Division, 2013). Nonetheless, the
designation “developed countries” versus “developing countries” is highly contested among
some scholars and others. Colloquially, the designation often implies homogeneity between
countries, especially with regard to health and wealth, which vary widely, linearity of
development, and inferiority of developing countries. In other words, the designation
“developing countries” implies that these countries desire to develop along the Western model of
economic development (Ura, 2005).
On the other hand, scholars and others have adopted designations such as “Global North”
and “Global South” instead of the “developing and developed” paradigm. Yet these designations
are also limiting because they are often associated with value judgments. For example, the South
is often categorized as politically unstable and lacking in technology, their foreign exchange
earnings dependent on product exports which come from the North, and their economies divided,
thereby condemning the South to obey the imperialist system and rely on the North in the form
of international aid agendas (Mimiko, 2012; Preece, 2009). The designations “Global South and
Global North” and “developing and developed countries” are cited throughout the manuscript in
quotations to remind the reader that they are commonly used conventions by certain scholars and
others.
Academic Staff Members
Faculty members are commonly referred to as academic staff in South African higher
education (Austin, 2002). Presently, there is nothing in South Africa comparable to the tenuretrack type appointment that exists in the United States (Koen, 2003). However, two types of

7

basic employment arrangements exist: permanent employment and contract work (Rumbley,
Pacheco, & Altbach, 2008). Permanent employment typically extends to retirement, while
contract work, which is a growing trend in South African higher education, is based on
temporary appointments of one to three years. Additionally, contract employees differ by rank,
role, type of contract, length of service, and qualification; however, academics in these
appointment types typically incur lower salaries and more limited benefits than permanent
employees of similar rank (Koen). Particularly noteworthy is that at some South African
universities, academics on contracts of two years and longer are eligible to accrue research
sabbatical leaves but are only eligible to take the leave if their contract is converted to a
permanent contract (Division of Human Resources & Equity, 2012). The present study includes
academics who are both permanent employees and/or academics who hold temporary
appointments.
Permanent academic positions include a wide range of denominations, and signify
positional hierarchy in title and rank, generally arrayed from tutor, junior lecturer, which is the
lowest academic rank, to lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor, and senior
professor, which is the highest academic rank (Rumbley et al., 2008). Recent trends in South
African higher education suggest that junior lecturers and lecturers are typically expected to hold
relevant masters degrees and experience or, depending on the discipline, an honors/four-year
professional degree with equivalent qualification and professional registration, while senior
lecturers, associate professors, and professors, in contrast, are required to hold relevant doctoral
degrees and experience or, depending on the discipline, a master’s degree with extensive relevant
experience, and professional registration (Koen; Naude, Mayekiso, & Paul).

8

One of the most relevant features characterizing academic positions in South Africa are
the inequalities in the distribution of senior academics by type of institution (Koen, 2003). In
2000, 80 percent of permanent instruction and research staff were employed at historically White
universities and only 20 percent at historically black universities (Koen). One of the major
beneficiaries of equity changes have been White women, who presently comprise close to 70
percent of female academics in South Africa (Koen; National Advisory Council on Innovation,
2009). Another disparity characterizing academics is the over-representation of women and
blacks in lower ranking positions within the academy, despite attempts to promote staff equity
(Koen). The term that is used henceforth is academic staff member(s) or academics. The term
faculty is only used when referencing the U.S. professoriate.
Racial Categorizations in South Africa
In South Africa, the apartheid superstructure was built on colonial arrangements and
aimed at ensuring White survival and hegemony through the central policy of dividing the nonWhite population along racial and ethnic lines (Bennett, 1995; Kashula & Anthonissen, 1995).
Moreover, policies and regulations were based on a group membership basis across four major
racial/ethnic categories, namely White, African, Coloured, and Indian (Kotze, 1997; Manby,
1995). The importance of understanding the historical predispositions for and the complexities
of identity and difference within the context of post-apartheid South African society is cogently
argued by Govinden (2008):
Against the background of apartheid… expressions of identity or of difference were often
linked to the cultural specificity of groups and communities living in an oppressive
society. As the apartheid machinery worked to separate racial groups, it created the
impression of a fairly uniform identity on the basis of race and ethnicity for oppressed
groups… The discourse and legal and cultural apparatus of apartheid promoted
differences as ‘natural’ and ‘national’. It also attempted, through education and other
forms of coercion, to engender a common interpretive basis from which to interact with
apartheid culture… Apart from the broad vertical background of apartheid, mainly based
9

on race, gender, and class, which tended to homogenise oppressed groups
hierarchically… we see that identities and differences were influenced by other specific
factors such as spatial relationships, political activism, language, religion, education, and
historical period. Some of these, such as location and space, were themselves contingent
on apartheid policies. Often cultural attributes such as language, religion, food, music,
and dress became reified and defining characteristics or markers of difference. (p. 36)
In the present study, I use the term black women academics as a shorthand designation that
encompasses academic women of African, Indian, and Coloured (miscegenous) descents
(Mudaly, 2012). Yet peoples of these descents have distinct cultures, traditions, religions, and
ethno-linguistic identities. They have separate histories of migration and immigration to South
Africa, varying degrees of inclusion or exclusion during the apartheid era, and political
experiences pre- and post-apartheid that separates them from a collective whole. Given “the
legacy bequeathed on South Africans by apartheid, the complexity of racial dynamics is such
that with a relative disregard for the imperatives of intersectionality, there is a taken-for-granted
assumption that all blacks are disadvantaged and all other designated racial groups are
advantaged” (Sewpaul, 2013, p. 118). To account for these nuances, I allowed each participant
in this research study to self-identify their preferred term of racial/ethnic, national, linguistic,
religious, or other identities– thereby honoring their multi-dimensionality and contradictions
inherent in identity/identities. This research study uses the terms “black women academics,”
“previously disadvantaged individuals” and “Black African, Coloured and Indian women
academics” interchangeably throughout the dissertation.
Career Development
Understanding academic careers and how career development occurs is a complex
process, yet there is often a lack of understanding about how career development relates to
professional vitality and institutional productivity (S. M. Clark & Lewis, 1985). Blackburn and
Lawrence (1995) have argued that academic careers, within the U.S context, have several key
10

properties including the graduate socialization experiences of an individual, an academic’s
pattern or sequence of positions in the academy, career age (the number of years and experiences
academics have held), as well as accomplishments in a career. Additionally, scholarship suggests
that academic staff productivity over an entire career is predictable; faculty interests and desires
for different types of work change over the academic career, and the institution, organizational
factors and how academics structure their time determines their productivity (Blackburn, 1985;
Blackburn & Lawrence, 1995). Other scholars have argued that career development does not
occur at a steady, predictable, or reliable pace throughout the duration of an academic career but
is often influenced by important occurrences or critical events, such as the opportunities for
professional growth, promotions, and role changes (Baldwin & Blackburn, 1981; Caffarella &
Zinn, 1999).
O'Meara, Terosky and Neumann (2008) provide yet another perspective on career
development, suggesting that learning, agency, professional relationships, and commitments are
active expressions of growth in academics’ careers. Moreover, individual academics have
intrinsic interests, social knowledge, self-efficacy and agency to learn and develop their careers
through different opportunities across many different work roles, in different ways with different
groups, and in different organizational contexts (O'Meara et al.; Schuster & Finkelstein, 2008).
Professional and interpersonal relationships provide academics with the support they need to
help them bring forth the best of their work and their commitment and professional investments
as scholars help further not only the goals of higher education but also their careers (Caffarella &
Zinn; O'Meara et al.).

11

Selected Theoretical Perspectives
The terms career development and career advancement are used interchangeably in this
research study. The following basic theoretical notions of linear and non-linear career models,
although informative, serve mostly as background information. On the other hand,
Bronfenbrenner’s (1976a, 1976b, 1979, 1992) ecological approach as one way to understand how
careers develop as a result of an individual’s reciprocal interactions with a set of nested
environmental contexts over time is foreground in the present study.
Linear and Non-Linear Career Development Models
Careers are a part of our life journey, and the work people do in their careers can provide
a sense of purpose, challenge, self-fulfillment and, of course, income (Yehuda, 2004). Scholars
have been theorizing about how careers develop for several decades. The classic theories of
career development were linear models. For example, the theory of career development cited
often in scholarship is Super’s model based on a trait and factor approach that later changed to a
developmental approach in which adult workers were said to move through their careers from an
'Establishment Stage' (approximately ages 25-44) to a 'Maintenance Stage' (approximately ages
45-64), and career decisions were likely made over and over, referred to as ‘Career Recycling’
(Super, 1986, 1990; Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996). Douglas Hall’s (1986, 2002) model of
organizational career stages is also a linear model and suggests that adult workers progress
through career stages: trial and getting established, winning recognition and promotion,
diminishing challenges and decreasing opportunities, and possibility of revitalizing.
Like the developmental and organizational career models, the academic career model is
linear, flat and rigid in structure, and professionally based (Baruch & Hall, 2003). Additionally,
the academic career model reflects mostly North American models of academic life, but to a

12

large extent the UK and many other countries have adopted it (Yehuda, 2004). As well, in
academia it is commonly accepted that individuals are likely to move laterally or even
downwards (i.e. Dean returns to serve as a Professor; upward mobility is typically limited), and
cross organizational moves have become the norm of career moves (Baruch & Hall).
In U.S. higher education, scholars have traditionally discussed academic careers in terms
of career stages (Baldwin & Blackburn, 1981). For example, the early-career stage is six or
fewer years of teaching at an institution in which faculty are usually in the probationary phase of
the academic career. The mid-career stage is 12-20 years of teaching at an institution and in
most cases the longest and most productive phase of an academic life. Finally, the late-career
stage is typically 25 years or more of teaching at an institution (Baldwin, Lunceford, &
VanDerLinden, 2005). Ultimately, understanding the career as an evolutionary process helps
academics anticipate and prepare for career changes (Baldwin & Blackburn, 1981). Therefore, if
academics plan their career development strategy, regularly assess their professional
achievement, their future goals and career aspirations, and how these match their personal values
and goals, they are more likely to maintain steady professional growth and enjoy the satisfaction
of regular career renewal (Baldwin & Blackburn).
Although these linear career models are insightful, non-linear or multidirectional career
models provide additional perspective on how careers may develop in the academy. Literature
about careers has shifted from being an examination of a predicted linear progression of job
responsibilities within an industry (Hall, 1976; Schein, 1978) to being a boundary-less,
competency-based exploration of how careers may evolve in unexpected ways (Arthur &
Rousseau, 1996; DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994). Scholars argue that career success is a non-linear
affair in which a great amount of effort is required at the beginning to initiate entry into the

13

network, and an individual must understand cultural requirements of the industry and develop
basic skills for the job. However, a 21st-century career also requires the ability to shift directions
to stay at the edge of one's learning (Bergmann Lichtenstein & Mendenhall, 2002; Yehuda,
2004).
From this perspective, an individual is self-aware and enacts “response-ability”– the
ability to respond to changes, create new opportunities for furthering one's expertise and finding
ways to match current skills to an often expanding stream of options (Bergmann Lichtenstein &
Mendenhall, 2002). Additionally, careers unfold in sequences which involve high degrees of
mutuality and reciprocity, relational learning and interdependence, requiring academics to
occasionally recreate their career identity (Hall, 1986; Weick, 1996). A new form of career
perspective is the protean career, where individuals are responsible for planning and managing
their own careers, changing according to their will and inclinations, and transforming their career
path (Hall & Mirvis, 1996).
In South Africa, linear and non-linear career models are at work; and these models frame
the range of ways that career development occurs for academics in higher education. In the
present study, one example of linear career development is the movement of an academic into a
new position in the professoriate– e.g., junior lecturer to senior lecturer, senior lecturer to
associate professor. Non-linear career development is reflected in an academic’s broadening of
responsibilities throughout her career, without necessarily changing position or rank at the
institution.
Ecological Perspectives: Career Development in Nested Environmental Contexts
Progress in one's career is often influenced by the interactive effects of internal and
external forces (Baldwin & Blackburn, 1981). Bronfenbrenner’s (1976a, 1976b, 1979, 1992)

14

ecological approach is foreground in the present study and guides how careers develop within a
set of nested environmental contexts over time. The ecological systems theory suggests that an
individual continuously grows and develops through interactions with the environment; this
developmental process is characterized by reciprocity (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
There are four nested contexts where development occurs: microsystems, mesosystems,
exosystems and macrosystems. Microsystems are “a pattern of activities, roles, and
interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a given setting with particular
physical and material characteristics” (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 22). Moreover, ecological
theory explains that each person develops within the context of multiple internal and external
microsystems, and one microsystem cannot be disconnected from another microsystem.
Microsystems include an individual academic’s classroom, department, family, etc.
Mesosystems, on the other hand, are comprised of inter-relations among two or more
microsystems, and the environment within which these microsystems interact is called the
mesosystem of a person’s environmental context (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1992). One example is
the interaction between institutional policies and an individual academic’s research and teaching
practice; the environment (the academic’s home university) in which this interaction occurs is
the mesosystem.
The exosystem does not directly involve the individual as an active participant; however,
events occurring within exosystems impact what happens in the setting containing the individual
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1992). Institutional history and climate, disciplinary cultures, as well as
other factors represent exosystems. Ideologies and belief systems make up an individual’s
macrosystem. It is also the most distal zone of an individual’s developmental context

15

(Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1992). Individual’s macrosystem includes the norms and values that
guide who they are and how they develop themselves and their careers over time.
Research Questions
The central research question guiding the present study is: What characterizes the career
development of Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics in post-apartheid South
Africa? Two related sub-questions of interest include: What factor(s) facilitate and/or inhibit the
development of these academics’ lives and careers? And how do these factor(s) interact with
one another to influence these academics’ experiences as academics and as people?
Purpose Statement
In the post-apartheid era, staff equity profiles predicted that the number of women, and
black women academics in particular, would increase significantly (Koen, 2003). Twenty years
since the inception of the democratic order, the demographic composition of academic staff in
the new South Africa remains predominantly White and male (du Toit, 2006; Subotzky, 2003;
Tettey, 2010). In fact, institutions of higher education in South Africa have been “moving
lethargically towards meaningful inclusion of women in their ranks” (Mabokela, 2004, p.59). In
order to achieve national policy goals in South Africa and to mirror the demographic reality of
the nation it would be necessary to increase the number of women, especially individuals who
are Black African, Coloured, and Indian, into senior positions in the professoriate.
The central purpose of the present study is to understand what characterizes the career
development of Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics in post-apartheid South
Africa. In other words, what do these academics deem as key characteristics of their careers and
what organizational and personal dimensions contribute to their lives and careers? Another
purpose is to identify the factor(s) that facilitate and/or inhibit the development of these

16

academics’ lives and careers. Bodies of research and other scholarly literature on the academic
profession drawn from South Africa, the U.S. and internationally suggest that four broad factors
contribute to academics’ careers: international context factors, national context factors,
institutional and disciplinary factors and individual factors. These four factors serve as a
beginning framework for discussing the factors that likely contribute to the lives and careers of
these academics.
The final purpose of this study is to understand how these four factors interact with one
another to influence these academics’ experiences as academics and as people. I argue that all
four factors are inter-connected and inter-dependent to each other, constantly interacting to
influence the academics’ understanding of themselves, and influencing the experiences in their
lives and careers. To illustrate this further, let’s consider the following hypothetical example:
Some female academics may have domestic responsibilities or family expectations. These can
vary across race and ethnicity. Such responsibilities may inhibit how these academics participate
in various professional opportunities (e.g., conducting research abroad). Thus, understanding
how domestic responsibilities, socio-cultural identities, family traditions and expectations, and
professional opportunities interact is integral to understanding how individual academics develop
their career.
Dissertation Structure
This dissertation contains seven chapters. The purpose of this chapter was to present the
statement of the problem and position the research questions within the problem statement while
highlighting the potential relevance of the research. Chapter two provides the scholarly literature
informing the study, and it is presented in a way that is consistent with Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological approach of nested environmental contexts. Additionally, chapter two proposes a

17

starting framework to conceptualize the factors that relate to the career development of Black
African, Coloured, and Indian women academics in the new South Africa. Chapter three
outlines the specifics of the methodological approach and the research design.
Chapter four, five and six present the findings of this study. Specifically, chapter four
overviews the national and institutional contexts in which the study’s participants work. Chapter
five presents an overview of the domains of influence on academics’ lives and careers (i.e.,
context, community, commitment, and competence) and includes three vignettes that aim to
illustrate the key learning gained from the academics’ stories, and to illustrate and feature the
various factors that influenced the academics’ lives and work. Chapters six illustrates the
complex, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional lives of these academics and illuminates the
nuanced and dynamic ways in which context, community, commitment, and competence were
interrelated, and how these influencing domains interacted within the academics’ lives and
careers. Chapter seven summarizes the major findings of this study and its significance,
identifies specific implications for practice, and concludes with recommendations for further
research.

18

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Defining and achieving gender equality in higher education remains a globally
recognized challenge. The underrepresentation of women, especially in leadership positions and
in certain academic fields, has been a focal point of scholars, university administrators,
international donor agencies, and ministries of education around the world. Beyond numerical
parity, there remain entrenched gender inequalities in perceptions and attitudes, work
environments and work-life balance. The academic cultures in most institutions are historically
gendered and masculinized, although efforts are underway to address these imbalances (Aikman,
Halai, & Rubagiza, 2011; UNESCO, 2008). In sum, gender equity in higher education is a
gateway issue, through which the achievement of other development goals will eventually need
to pass; developing strategies for addressing these challenges is paramount not only to achieving
gender equity in higher education, but also to achieving development across the socio-economic
spectrum (Jamison, Medendorp, Roy, NyaManda, & Bucagu, 2014).
In the South African context, women continue to drop out at key transition points
between academic levels and remain at the periphery of higher education in terms of academic
appointments, especially at the senior level of administration and the professoriate (Mabokela,
2000b, 2002, 2004; Tettey, 2010). In the changing post-apartheid landscape, academics face
many constraints that often overshadow their professional growth and success. This includes
contending with heavy workloads and system-wide inequities, increasing pressures to conduct
and publish research, and managing teaching and research policies that favor academic insularity
(Department of Education, 1997a; Higgs et al., 2010; Koen, 2003; Mabokela, 2004). In addition,
academics in South Africa are working within a higher education system that is rapidly
transforming to address and respond to a fourfold agenda: meeting the basic needs of people,

19

developing human resources, building the economy, and democratizing the state and society in
ways that enable South Africa to engage and compete in a highly global economy (Higgs et al.).
The following review of the literature is a starting framework for the exploration of how
academics in post-apartheid South Africa may characterize their career development and what
factors are likely to facilitate and/or inhibit the development of their lives and careers. This
chapter can be seen as proceeding from the general macro-level contexts (e.g. international
issues) to the more specific contexts (e.g. personal dimension of the academic) related to
academic work and work-life and paralleling the key scholarship related to the academic
profession, writ large. This study does not aim to compare or contrast the academic profession
across disparate national contexts. Rather, I reviewed selected literature on the professoriate
from several international bodies of scholarship so as to complement the existing empirical,
conceptual, and/or theoretical literature about the historical and contemporary issues in the South
African educational system (e.g., Austin, 2002; Higgs et al., 2010; Jansen, 2009; Koen, 2003;
Soudien, 2010), and gender and the South African professoriate (e.g., Mabokela, 2000b, 2002,
2004) .
Included in this chapter were research and scholarship about/from: the US on
perspectives related to professional growth and academic work-life (e.g., Gappa, Austin, &
Trice, 2005; Gappa, Austin, & Trice, 2007; O'Meara et al., 2008; Wolf-Wendel & Ward, 2006),
as well as self-efficacy (Bandura, 1982) and agency (Neumann, 2009; Neumann, Terosky, &
Schell, 2006); and, the UK and Australia on perspectives related to relational agency and
academic work (Edwards, 2005; Edwards & D'Arcy, 2004; Edwards & Mackenzie, 2005;
Hopwood & Sutherland, 2009). Although some of the sources in this chapter on the academic
profession reflect perspectives from the global North, it would be important to consider

20

scholarship by scholars in the global South. Comparative perspectives on the global
professoriate in this chapter included studies conducted byAltbach (2002, 2003); and Altbach,
Reisberg, Yudkevich, Androushchak, and Pacheco (2012).
These numerous bodies of literature were organized to highlight the following four
factors that are relevant to academics’ careers: international context factors, national context
factors, institutional and disciplinary factors, and individual factors. The present study also
accounts for other factors that academics may identify as important to their lives and careers.
The first two broad factors represent the external contexts in which academics work, i.e., the
international and national environment. I examine three foci within the international context:
remuneration in the academic profession; issues of employment equity, academic freedom and
autonomy, and professional growth; and the challenges associated with publishing in
international journals for those in the so-called ‘developing world’. Next, I have selected the
following three foci for the national context: the history of apartheid and apartheid education, the
post-apartheid higher education landscape, and the national policies of the new South Africa.
The third broad factor represents the organizational environment within which academics
develop their careers, namely institutional and disciplinary factors. In this chapter, I highlight
the following four areas related to the organizational environment that likely contribute to
academics’ career development: disciplinary cultures, institutional climate and history, university
policies and practices, and evaluation and rewards. The fourth and final factor is the personal
dimensions or individuals factors that contribute to academics’ lives and careers. I present five
foci related to the individual academic (i.e., educational background, socio-cultural identities and
traditions, work-life and personal support, self-efficacy and agency, and teaching and research).

21

International Context Factors
Altbach (2003) suggests that “the academic profession worldwide is united by its
commitment to teaching and the creation and transmission of knowledge” (p. 1). However, the
conditions of academic work in the academy vary greatly, especially in “developing countries”2
where levels of remuneration for academics are inadequate and the autonomy to build an
academic career is often constrained (Altbach). In a recent survey of the professoriate in 28
countries, data suggest that the academic profession did not pay salaries that provided a locallystandard middle-class life, as measured by purchasing power parity3 (Altbach et al., 2012).
South Africa is presently third, after Canada and Italy, for the highest average academic salaries
in purchasing power parity. The authors argue that equitable remuneration and compensation are
important to ensuring academic success and productivity (Altbach et al.).
Employment equity, academic freedom and autonomy, and professional growth are also
essential components of the academic environment (Gappa et al., 2007). Academics often
choose “an academic career because it offers autonomy, intellectual challenges, and freedom to
pursue personal interests” (p. 105). They typically derive considerable satisfaction from
scholarly contributions to research, and autonomy and perceived control over one’s career. In
the South African context, academic freedom is a right enshrined in the 1997 White Paper and
the South African Constitution (Department of Education, 1997b). However, academic freedom
and institutional autonomy have been regularly and publicly debated in academic circles over the
past five years and tensions exist between institutional management’s efforts to steer South
African institutions and the rights of individual academics to research, teach and publish without
2

See pages 6-7 regarding the contestation of this designation.
The term purchasing power parity (PPP) is used in some economic theories as a useful
mechanism to compare salaries across diverse economic realities and variations in the cost of
living across countries (Altbach et al., 2012).
3

22

constraint (Council on Higher Education, 2009). Regardless of these tensions, academic
freedom and autonomy remain the glue that hold academic staff and the university in a mutuallyrewarding and reciprocal relationship since academics and academic institutions are deeply
rooted in a culture that prizes academic freedom (Birnbaum, 2004; Gappa et al., 2007).
Moreover, all academics deserve to be treated fairly in every aspect of employment by the
university and the departments in which they work and to have access to the tools necessary to
complete their jobs (Gappa et al., 2005, 2007). From a professional growth perspective,
academics should be enabled to broaden their skills, abilities and knowledge to address the
challenges, concerns and needs of their work (Gappa et al.; O'Meara et al., 2008).
Academics in emerging economies, including South African academics, often have high
research productivity expectations for career advancement. Depending on the discipline,
publishing in reputable international journals is often the preferred norm. However, only six
fields in South Africa have high visibility in international journals: genetics and heredity,
oncology, psychiatry, respiratory system research, other earth sciences and the humanities
(Council on Higher Education, 2009). These trends place academics in South Africa in some
disciplines at a disadvantage for gaining international recognition for their scholarly
contributions. Another challenge associated with publishing in international journals is that
research universities in the “developing countries” of the North typically set the patterns and
means of communication, produce the research, and control key international journals (Altbach,
2003). This study also addresses other international context factors, such as the influences of
conducting scholarly work abroad and interacting with scholarly communities through
collaborative writing and leadership activities, on the academics’ growth and development.

23

National Context Factors
Several scholars suggest that African universities in particular cannot be understood well
without an understanding of the national contexts in which they are situated and an
understanding of the internal processes that shape them (Britwum, 2005; Manuh, Gariba, &
Budu, 2007; Sawyerr, 2002; Tsikata, 2007; Zeleza, 2002). This section includes a brief
historical overview of apartheid and apartheid education, as well as an overview of the post-1994
higher education landscape in regards to the responsibilities academics bear during the time of
democratic and university transformations. I also present brief overviews of four reports that
provide context for the national policy environment in which these academics work: the 1997
Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education; the 2001
National Plan for Higher Education; the 2008 Report of the Ministerial Committee on
Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher
Education Institutions; and the 2009 Report on Higher Education Monitor No. 8.
History of Apartheid and Apartheid Education
This section is not a complete history of apartheid and apartheid education “but a
selection of a few dimensions of apartheid to demonstrate some of its totalizing effects on
citizens and structures” (Amin, 2005, p. 18). At the heart of the apartheid system are four ideas.
First, apartheid categorized and officially classified the population of South Africa into four
‘racial groups’ (Altbach, 2003; Carrim & Soudien, 1999; Thompson, 2001). Amin’s comments
are particularly poignant:
Color, a genetic endowment, and race, a social construction, were conflated by apartheid
masters: the one implied the other. In practice, however, color and race often
contradicted each other. Irrespective of family roots, the apartheid regime allowed for
race reclassification based on shades of Whiteness and blackness, and hair type, (i.e., one
could be born into a family designated Coloured but qualify to be reclassified White if
one was fair enough and had straight hair). In other words, persons were not born into a
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race; instead persons matched one of four preordained race groups (emphasis on original,
p. 18).
Second, Whites were entitled to have absolute control over the state (Thompson). Third, the
state was not obliged to provide equal facilities for subordinate races, and White interests
prevailed over Black interests (Thompson). In other words, the racial classification of South
Africans influenced where people lived, where they were schooled, with whom they interacted,
to what social amenities they had access, social relations, and political positions (Carrim &
Soudien). And fourth, although apartheid started as an Afrikaner project, it gained broader White
support from the English speaking people. The Afrikaans language soon became synonymous
with White racial power (Henrard, 2002; Thompson).
One particular way that the apartheid regime created a racial state was through the
manipulation of the education system (Freedman, 2009). For example, The Bantu Education Act
of 1953 put apartheid’s stamp on African education. Not only did it transfer control of African
education from the Department of Education to the Native Affairs Department, it also aimed at
psycho-ideologically subjugating Africans to the designs of apartheid (Fataar, 1997; Mandela,
1994). During the apartheid regime, 1948-1994, primary and secondary schools were divided
along racial lines and reflected the broader South African society in which White schools
enjoyed first-world resources while black schools could be characterized largely by an
inequitable allocation of resources, overcrowded classrooms, high drop-out rates, and
insufficient and poorly qualified teachers (Freedman; Jansen, 2009; Mandela; P. N. Pillay, 1990).
Nuances existed in most schools for Black [African] learners, the most deprived, lacking “basic
amenities like water, ablution facilities, electricity, furniture and class rooms” whilst the
education for Indians, controlled by the House of Delegates, did not enjoy “the same level of
privilege as schools for Whites [but] were, nonetheless, materially superior to schools for Blacks

25

[Africans]” (Amin, 2005, p. 20). Even the curriculum differed by racial classification and was
designed to perpetuate the racial divisions of society by molding the aspirations and expectations
of students (Freedman; Jansen). Thus, “schools were, resultantly, spaces of racial homogeneity
with teachers and students of the same so-called race” (Amin, p. 20).
The higher education sector in South Africa was not exempt from the apartheid education
system; in fact, it was a fiercely contested space (Soudien, 2010). In 1957, a Separate University
Education Bill called for the establishment of separate universities for the different racial groups,
while the Extension of the University Education Act, passed in 1959, lay the foundation for the
establishment of four new ethnically-based universities for Africans, Coloureds, and Indians
(Mabokela, 2000a). The University of the North at Turfloop was established for Sotho-Tsongaand Venda-speaking Africans, the University of Zululand for Zulus and Swazis, the University
of the Western Cape for the Coloureds, and the University of Durban-Westville for Indians.
Additionally, the University of Fort Hare, the oldest Black university, was already designated
exclusively for Xhosa and the Sotho of Ciskei (Ajayi, Lameck, & Johnson, 1996; Council on
Higher Education, 2004; Mabokela). Additionally, legal constraints were put in place by the
National Party government to prevent universities designated for the use of one race group from
enrolling students from another race group. Specifically, “permits were supposed to be granted
only if it could be shown that the applicant’s proposed programme of study was not available at
any institution designated for the race group to which she/he belonged” (Bunting, 2005, p. 38).
As such, under the apartheid regime, higher education was fragmented and divided into a
system of racial and ethnic groupings within which White institutions were funded far more
generously than African, Coloured, or Indian institutions, and the composition of academic staff
reflected severe social inequalities by race and gender (Austin, 2002; Higgs et al., 2010).

26

Ultimately, the higher education landscape was largely dictated by the geo-political imagination
of apartheid planners (Department of Education, 2002), a vehicle by which apartheid kept people
within their racial and social classes, reproducing White privilege and Black subordination
through teaching and research (Foxcroft, 2011; Higgs et al., 2010).
Toward the end of the 1980s, with pressure from the outside and stubborn resistance from
the inside, Afrikaner elites realized that not changing would eventually cost them more than
dismantling (or abandoning) a system that had become anachronistic in a postcolonial world
(Jansen, 2009). Consequently, pressure on the faltering economy of the apartheid state
eventually led to power changing hands and, within a short time, the first democratic election
occurred in 1994 (Jansen). During this era, with the formation of the new national government
under the leadership of President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the National Commission on
Higher Education was formed and appointed to analyze and prepare recommendations,
ultimately resulting in the 1997 Higher Education Act that set the goals, structures, and values to
guide higher education in the new South Africa (Austin, 2002).
The historical overview of apartheid and apartheid education offers perspective on the
lived experiences and realities of Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics that
were educated under the apartheid system. The post-1994 era, however, provides a different
perspective for understanding these academics’ present work lives.
The Post-Apartheid Landscape of Higher Education
Given the ways that South Africans were historically segregated by race in the schooling
systems and likely lived as unequal individuals during the apartheid era, race cannot be ignored
in South Africa’s present day (Carrim & Soudien, 1999). However, in the post-1994 era, there is
a larger national agenda of healing and the national policies explicitly honor and value the

27

contributions of all people, regardless of race, insisting on equity across all facets of life in South
Africa (see Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). “A marked development
following the collapse of apartheid is that rigid, racially exclusive universities no longer exist”
(Council on Higher Education, 2004, p. 8). The present higher education system in South Africa
consists of 23 public universities. Education, especially higher education, is now seen as a
medium for progress and upward mobility, and higher education is often called upon to respond
to and address the development needs of the democratic nation (Foxcroft, 2011; Higgs et al.,
2010).
In this changing post-apartheid landscape, academics are expected to fulfill many
responsibilities as institutions of higher education strive to transform themselves into democratic
and accessible universities (Austin, 2002). For example, universities in South Africa expect their
academic staff members to balance global intellectual and international disciplinary
conversations with local concerns and to offer their views, bearing the responsibility for the
direction and transformation of their universities as full stakeholders in institutional decision
making (Austin). Bearing the additional demands and responsibilities of institutional and
democratic transformation while juggling heavy academic workloads and administrative burdens
may leave little time for academics to conduct research and other activities contributing to career
advancement. Therefore, how academics balance their competing priorities is essential to how
successfully they develop their careers and manage their lives.
Selected National Policies of the New South Africa
This section presents four foundational policy reports related to higher education and
academic careers. The Education White Paper 3 highlighted the gross racial and gender
discrepancies and imbalances revealed by the low ratios of black and female academics

28

compared to Whites and males (Department of Education, 1997b). Moreover, the report
identified the stark imbalances across race and gender in the demographic composition of
researchers in higher education, research councils, and private sector research establishments,
which are overwhelmingly White and male (Department of Education, 1997b). Two key points
related to the issue of academic staff demographics found in the National Plan for Higher
Education (Ministry of Education, 2001) are the emphasis that higher education should strive to
increase the representation of blacks and women in academics positions, especially at the senior
levels, and that staff profiles should progressively reflect the demographic realities of South
African society (Ministry of Education, 2001). Both these reports are relevant to the present
study because they draw attention to the severe discrepancies across race and gender in academic
staff composition and demographic composition of researchers, as well as establish the national
priority to change these realities (Department of Education; Ministry of Education).
The findings from the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social
Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions have
implications for the present study because they indicate that the opportunities for career
advancement into senior positions are limited and academics of color, especially African
academics, both male and female, are not only minimally represented in the professoriate, but are
also leaving academia for other positions. Moreover, the report advocates for the necessity of
competitive salaries and equity policies for promotion and appointments, which arguably provide
increased incentives and avenues for career advancement, especially for female academics of
color.
The 2009 Report on Higher Education Monitor No. 8 is relevant to the present study
because it provides national data regarding the research output of academics across different

29

institution types and disciplinary fields. First, academics are often asked to be more productive
by broadening their knowledge base and transforming knowledge production, while at the same
time increasing international collaboration (Council on Higher Education, 2009). Second, there
are several institutional differences in knowledge production across public higher education in
South Africa. The University of Cape Town, Pretoria University, Stellenbosch University, the
University of Witwatersrand, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal are considered the five most
research-productive universities in South Africa. These universities presently dominate the
production of research in South Africa, producing more than 60 percent of all research and postgraduate output (Council on Higher Education, 2009).
Third, there are several distinctions between how academics publish (i.e., collaboratively
or individually) and where they publish (i.e., domestic or foreign journals), and these distinctions
vary across different disciplines. For example, academics at the five most research-productive
universities in South Africa have a higher proportion of international collaborative papers, while
academics at comprehensive institutions produce proportionately fewer international
collaborative papers. And scholars in the humanities and social sciences publish predominantly
in South African journals while scholars in the health and natural sciences publish more often in
foreign journals (Council on Higher Education, 2009). Being attentive to the norms and
expectations around research output across institutional type and disciplinary field is important to
understanding the various differences that may exist regarding how academics in South Africa
place emphasis on research as they develop their careers and where they are likely to publish.
Key Elements of the National Context Factors
Academics who teach in the South African academy inherently bring with them the
history and baggage of apartheid (Freedman, 2009). In the new South Africa, jobs, promotions,

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appointments and contracts in the public higher education sector favor blacks, and the pressure
on universities to hire blacks over Whites is unrelenting (Jansen, 2009). However, the
demographic reality is that boardrooms remain overwhelmingly White, decisions about
employment and directorship still favor Whites (White males in particular) and Whites remain, at
least in economic terms, much better off on average than black people (Jansen). Consequently,
Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics continue to be under-represented in the
professoriate, especially in senior positions, while navigating organizational cultures that are not
welcoming and hospitable (Austin, 2002; Mabokela, 2002, 2004). Although some national
policies have advocated for the necessity of competitive salaries and equity policies for
promotion and appointments, opportunities for career advancement into senior positions are
limited.
Institutional and Disciplinary Factors
The academic workplace is often defined by institutional and disciplinary characteristics
(Gappa et al., 2007). Moreover, academic work in the university setting regularly occurs within
several faculty cultures, including the culture of the academic profession, the culture of the
academy as an organization, the cultures of particular disciplines, the cultures of institutional
types, and the culture of the particular departments in which academics have appointments
(Austin, 1996).
This section highlights two faculty cultures related to the research study: the cultures of
institutional types and the cultures of particular disciplines. I argue that these faculty cultures
shape what work academics do, how they do the work, and the physical spaces in which they
conduct their work matters. I also explore how an institution’s history and climate influences
academics’ careers in South Africa and how post-apartheid university mergers provide

31

opportunities for career advancement otherwise not available or some talented academics of
color. In addition, I examine issues concerning academic workload, opportunities for research
sabbatical leaves, and policies and practices related to equity and transformation. I conclude
with an overview of how evaluation and rewards relate to academics’ career advancement.
Institutional and Disciplinary Cultures
Universities are uniquely organized into many academic units and subunits (Gappa et al.,
2007). In South Africa these units and subunits have naming systems that vary from university
to university. For example, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University organizes their academic
units and subunits into seven faculties, 20 schools, and 66 departments. Regardless of how
universities organize their academic units, these units serve as primary disciplinary homes for
academics. Additionally, universities have many academic staff cultures. The term culture
herein refers to the process by which groups of people create meaning, have shared values,
assumptions, beliefs, or ideologies of their organizations and experiences (Austin, 1996; Peterson
& Spencer, 1990). Understanding how Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics
create meaning from their values, their beliefs about the university, and their experiences at the
university matters.
Cultures of Institutional Types. The type of institution in which academics are
employed affects their relationship to the discipline and culture. This includes what work is
viewed as important, what standards of excellence are used, and how new academics are
socialized into the institution (Austin, 1990, 1992; Ruscio, 1987). Presently, five universities in
South Africa produce more than 60 percent of all research and post-graduate output in the nation
(Council on Higher Education, 2009). It is fair to conclude that research is a central component
of these universities’ missions and that they likely produce an ethos of valuing and rewarding

32

research among academics. In fact, academics who are employed at research universities are
typically encouraged to spend comparatively more time on research and engage in specialized
research activities than academics at other types of institutions (Austin, 1996).
At institutions with less emphasis on research, such as comprehensive institutions in
South Africa, academics may be challenged to balance both teaching and research cultures. The
resulting culture at comprehensive universities may involve “considerable tension for faculty as
they try to carry out research with minimal support while simultaneously facing the demands of
heavy teaching duties” (Austin, 1994, p. 50). Ultimately, considering the cultures of institutional
types is important to understanding how academics develop their careers because the dominant
cultures of institutional types determine the varieties of responsibilities in which academics
engage, as well as the opportunities and rewards they receive (Austin, 1996).
Cultures of Particular Disciplines. Disciplines are “the primary units of membership
and identification within the academic profession” (B. R. Clark, 1987, p. 7). Moreover, the
discipline of an academic is a strong cultural force and often the primary locus of academics’
professional identities (Austin, 1990, 1994). The cultures of particular disciplines therefore
influence what work academics do, how they conduct their work, and where they work. For
example, in the hard-pure, or natural and physical sciences, academics’ goals typically relate to
discovery, simplification, explanation, and identification of universals, and knowledge in these
disciplines is often cumulative. The culture of the discipline involves projects that are often
long-term, funding is extensive, teamwork is emphasized, and fast publication rates and formal
and informal publications are the norm (Austin, 1990, 1994). In contrast, in the soft-pure
disciplines such as the humanities, academics’ work is conducted quite differently, as the
emphasis is on understanding and interpretation, and knowledge is holistic rather than

33

cumulative. The culture of the discipline, therefore, involves single authorship rather than
multiple authorship, a comparatively slower pace, fewer publications, and independent work
(Austin, 1990, 1994).
Institutional History and Climate
There is no exact definition of institutional climate. However, some scholars define
climate as the organization’s current manifestation of organizational culture, and attributes and
internal characteristics that distinguish one organization from the other (Ayers, 2002; Sullivan,
Reichard, & Shumate, 2005). Peterson and Spencer (1990, 1991) provide a particularly useful
set of conceptions of institutional climate, suggesting that climate includes the common patterns
and dimensions of an organizational life and/or members’ perceptions and attitudes towards
those dimensions. They found that climate can be objective (i.e., the focus is on patterns of
behavior or formal activity that can be observed directly and objectively); perceived (i.e., the
cognitive images that participants have of how organizational life functions and how it should
function); and/or psychological or felt (i.e., motivational, rather than perceptual dimension
focusing on how participants feel about their organization and their work).
Institutional Mergers. Historically, the nation’s 36 institutions of public higher
education, composed of 21 universities and 15 technikons (technical universities) was a system
plagued with inefficiencies, duplication, and inequities (Mabokela & Evans, 2009; Makgoba,
2008). After democracy, South Africa’s new government attempted to address these issues in
higher education through government-mandated institutional mergers. A central purpose of the
institutional mergers was the attempt to rid South Africa’s educational system of its apartheid
legacy and position the country within the fast changing, technology-driven, and informationbased economy within the rubric of globalization (Sehoole, 2005). Additionally, the core

34

underlying thrusts of the institutional mergers was to create an equitable and accessible system of
higher education, one which would eliminate deeply entrenched legacies of racial, ethnic,
linguistic, and gender disparities across student access and staff composition (Mabokela &
Evans, 2009).
Since historically black universities were experiencing enrollment declines and
bankruptcies, and staff profiles of former White universities did not closely reflect the national
racial distribution (J. Reddy, 1998), I argue that institutional mergers provided some talented
academics of color career opportunities otherwise not available at historically White universities.
As well, institutional mergers played a significant role in contributing to the ongoing process of
reconfiguring universities, creating new identities and cultures that transcended past racial and
ethnic institutional histories, and contributing to de-racializing South Africa’s higher education
system (Hay & Fourie, 2002; Jansen, 2002).
Institutional Policies and Practice
Institutions need policies that are broadly shared and understood so that individuals who
work within them know what is expected and how they will be rewarded for their
accomplishments (Tierney, 1999). Mabokela & Mawila (2004) suggest that “university policies
[in South Africa] such as equal opportunity employment, employment equity, and affirmative
action policies have created both a discursive space and a practical means for universities to
inject and support the advancement of women in academe” (p. 418). This section briefly
overviews policies and practices related to academic workload, equity and transformation, and
research sabbaticals within the context of South African academe.
Workload Policies. Academics’ workloads in South Africa have been intensifying over
time as the demands of the 21st century higher education changes (Koen, 2003). Staff workload

35

expectations and responsibilities typically include balancing teaching, marking, supervising, and
committee work with research and service activities (Koen). However, academics must balance
these responsibilities while working in university environments that tend to be prescriptive and
managerial (Higgs et al., 2010). For example, many institutions have teaching and
administrative policies that set quantitative targets for academics’ workloads in terms of hours in
the classroom, number of students to supervise and teach, the amount of time academics should
set aside for student consultation, and percentage of students that need to pass examinations
(Higgs et al.). Academic workloads also vary across academic disciplines in South Africa
(Higgs et al.; Koen); marking student papers is one example of the workload differences by
discipline. In general, marking loads are typically quite intensive in the arts and humanities,
sometimes involving marking assignments of more than 100 under-prepared students at one
time. In contrast, marking loads are limited in science, engineering, business, and commerce
fields (Koen).
Additionally, the under-preparedness of undergraduate students in South Africa also
intensifies academic workloads. Since much of the teaching burden of undergraduate students
falls upon junior lecturers or lecturers, prescriptive workload policies and helping under-prepared
students leaves little time for junior scholars to conduct research (Higgs et al., 2010; Koen,
2003). Consequently, having little time to conduct research presents a possible inhibitor for
career advancement for all junior academics, regardless of gender.
Research Sabbatical Leave Policies. A broad definition of research sabbatical leaves
includes temporary absence from work in the career of an academic for the purposes of approved
academic professional development through the pursuit of research endeavors (Division of
Human Resources & Equity, 2012). In South Africa, academic staff members are typically

36

expected to spend the work week at institutions, but some universities give their academics one
day off each week for research, and one full year’s leave for every six years of work to conduct
research (Koen, 2003). Policies and regulations regarding research sabbatical leaves vary from
institution to institution. For example, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, sabbatical leaves
accrue from the date of appointment of a permanent academic staff member at a rate of 2.75
working days per calendar month of completed service. It continues to accrue at the prevailing
rate while an employee is on sabbatical leave but does not accrue during any periods of unpaid
leave. Sabbatical leaves accumulate to a maximum of 264 days, and any accrual in excess of this
amount is automatically forfeited. The minimum number of days of sabbatical leave that may be
granted is not less than 22 working days and not more than 264 days within a five-year cycle
(Division of Human Resources & Equity, 2012). At Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University,
research leave accrues at 2.5 days per month of service. However, if an academic was
permanently appointed prior to the institutional merger, academics are eligible for a “once-off”
opportunity and are encouraged to apply for “doubling up” on their research leave (Mayekiso &
van Breda, 2011).
Research sabbatical leaves are an essential element in the intellectual and academic life
of an individual academic and mutually beneficial to the university too because they help the
institution achieve its mission of research innovation and academic excellence (Division of
Human Resources & Equity, 2012). Therefore, research sabbaticals offer all academics the time
and support to advance scholarship and to develop their careers.
Institutional Equity Programs. Various types of opportunities for career advancement
are available across universities in South Africa, some of which are geared toward equity and
transformation of previously disadvantaged individuals. Thuthuka (the Zulu word for develop or

37

advance) Programme falls within the Human and Institutional Capacity Development directorate
of the National Research Foundation, which was launched in 2001. The program aims to
develop human capital and to improve the research capacities of designated (i.e., black, female
and disabled) researchers for the purposes of historical redress (National Research Foundation,
2001). Each university in South Africa has an office or organizational entity responsible for
administering Thuthuka awards. The awards are typically offered to scholars, via research grants
and travel support to conferences, and to students at some universities via bursaries.
The Leadership and Equity Advancement Programme (LEAP) at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, on the other hand, is exemplar of the type of institutional initiatives that
universities can offer to support, nurture, and advocate for high achieving black women
academics that are seeking a rewarding career in academia (Jones, 2005; No Author, 2010).
LEAP began after the university received generous financial support from the Andrew Mellon
Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The
central component of LEAP is a Lectureship Scheme in which promising young black academics
are appointed on three-year supernumerary contracts and undergo structured professional
development through participation in a formal mentoring program, in which the lecturer is
mentored by the university’s best researchers and teachers (No Author, 2010). Additionally,
LEAP candidates are often appointed to permanent lectureship if they meet the standards of the
program, as determined by their academic colleagues and peers and special effort is made to
make academic appointments in disciplines where staff equity profiles are most acutely skewed
(Jones, 2005). LEAP is widely recognized as the most innovative and successful program of its
kind in South Africa (Jones, 2005). The program has now expanded to embrace the entire
academic spectrum–undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students, as well as

38

administrators– through multiple opportunities that include but are not limited to the LEAP PostDoctoral Fellowship Programme, A LEAP Associate Dean Job Shadow Scheme, and The Women
in Research and Leadership Leverage (Jones, 2005).
Evaluation and Rewards
Reward systems are about the valuing of professional work (O'Meara, 2002). In
“developing countries” there are often calls for research productivity to be the currency that
results in higher salaries (Altbach, 2002, 2003). There is little to no evidence that research is
privileged in how academics are rewarded in South Africa; evaluation systems are not universal
or nationally determined and no collective bargaining exists for academic salaries, as salaries and
benefits vary on an institution-to-institution basis (Kubler & Roberts, 2005). With respect to
pay, academics in South Africa may have a comfortable lifestyle, and salary levels and
remuneration packages place most academics in the middle class, but compared to professionals
in other sectors academics do not hold impressive advantage (Koen, 2003; Rumbley et al., 2008).
South African academics can expect to earn more in the private sector and at research councils
and foundations than across public higher education (Koen). Some academics in South Africa
have found other ways to supplement their income, mostly through consultancy work, yet some
universities have strict rules forbidding consultancy work and policies that govern the size of
additional income sources (Koen).
Additionally, in South African public higher education, academics’ pay scales differ by
qualification, age, past work experience, institutional type, years of service, and seniority, and
across professions and disciplines. Although limited national data exists, there is considerable
variation between pay levels (Koen, 2003; Kubler & Roberts, 2005; Rumbley et al., 2008). For
example, the standard salary package, not including benefits, for permanent academic staff at one

39

of South Africa’s prestigious institutions, the University of Cape Town, commonly ranges from
R403,124 (approximately USD $39,000) for lecturers to R701,440 (approximately USD
$68,000) for professors (No Author, 2011d). At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, also a top-tier
institution, lecturers can expect to earn R286,934 (approximately USD $28,000), while
professors earn R569,416 approximately USD $55,000) (No Author, 2011b). Although factors
such as cost of living vary across provinces in South Africa, higher salaries of academic staff are
typically associated with prestige and rank of the institution, and title and rank of the position.
Evaluation and reward structures are generally not clear at many universities in South
Africa (Higgs et al., 2010; Koen, 2003). Some institutions have taken active steps to clarify
policies for evaluation and reward systems that honor a wide range of academics’ career
pathways. One such institution is Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, which has created
the Policy on Multiple Career Pathways for Academics that takes into consideration position title
and individual academics’ career interests. Career Pathway 1 is for academics in senior levels,
such as senior lecturers. The focus is on developing expertise and excellence in ‘Teaching and
Learning’, and on ‘Research’ (Naude et al., 2014). Career Pathway 2 typically represents the
traditional role in which academics develop expertise in both ‘Teaching and Learning’ and in
‘Research’, although excellence is normally only developed in one of these areas. Finally, Career
Pathway 3 is for academics in established stages of their academic careers as Associate
Professors or Professors. These academics primarily focus on developing excellence in
‘Research’ in their disciplines or in an interdisciplinary context. Although academics in Career
Pathway 3 enjoy reduced teaching loads, their ‘Teaching and Learning’ practices are often
research-led, research-oriented, and/or research-based (Naude et al.).

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Key Elements of the Institutional and Disciplinary Factors
In this section I argued that faculty cultures and institutional history and climate influence
the types of responsibilities academics engage in and the rewards academics receive for their
work (Austin, 1996). I also argued that academic workloads and research sabbaticals influence
the time academics spent on scholarly activities and the time and support they have available to
focus on advancing their scholarship and careers. I identified two institutional equity programs
(i.e., the Thuthuka Programme and Leadership and Equity Advancement Programme) that aim to
support, nurture and advocate for black women academics’ success. These programs are
important initiatives to the vitality of higher education in South Africa, especially toward
changing the demographic composition of academic staff.
Individual Factors
The daily work of the university is carried out by academic staff members who enable
higher education institutions to accomplish their various missions (Austin, 1996; Gappa et al.,
2007). These academics are professionals with deep commitment and vocation, who learn,
grow, have agency to navigate barriers, and make contributions through professional
relationships embedded in communities (O'Meara et al., 2008). However, no two academics “are
identical in their experiences, personalities, training, and interpretations of their role as members
of a community involved in the practice of teaching and learning” (Samuel, 2008, p. 98).
In this section, I examine the broad factors contributing to the understanding of who an
academic is and what personal dimensions influence their lives and careers. I highlight the
following five characteristics of the individual: educational background, socio-cultural identities,
work-life and personal support, self-efficacy and agency, and teaching and research. I also
present three potential barriers to academics’ lives and careers in South Africa: (a) junior

41

academics must pursue terminal degrees to meet the criteria for career advancement into senior
academic positions, yet they often do so while juggling full-time academic positions and while
attending to other factors that compete for their time and attention; (b) the academics’ sociocultural identities likely influence how they understand themselves, their work and other
responsibilities, and what decisions they make in their lives and careers; and (c) hostile work
environments are one example of the types of impediments facing black women academics’
career advancement.
Educational Background
The benchmark for permanent appointments in South Africa remains the Ph.D. (Koen,
2003). However as suggested in Herman’s (2009; 2012) analysis of 16 leaders of reputable
Ph.D. programs at nine South African universities and Herman and Yu’s (2009) web-based
survey of 950 Ph.D. students enrolled at the top 12 Ph.D. producing South African universities,
constraints over academics’ time and energy was a leading factor for attrition, since most
individuals pursue their Ph.D. while employed full-time. In addition, there are several
challenges facing the career development of junior academics such as the attainment of doctoral
degrees under unfavorable conditions. First, junior lecturers and lecturers do not possess
terminal degrees; they often find themselves perplexed, balancing teaching loads, academic
workloads and institutional responsibilities while pursuing Ph.D.’s (Austin, 2002; Mabokela,
2002). Second, they do not receive adequate leave time to complete their degrees. Since most
junior lecturers are typically in 2- or 3-year probationary periods, taking research sabbatical
leaves to complete advanced degrees is prohibited by many universities (Division of Human
Resources & Equity, 2012; Mabokela, 2002). It is troublesome that not all junior academics are

42

able to secure research study leaves when it is clearly critical to their career mobility,
perpetuating their marginal position within the academy (Koen, 2003; Mabokela, 2004).
Socio-Cultural Identities
In South Africa, “the identity of teachers [or academics], is a kaleidoscope of many
permutations: race, class, gender, language, age and stage of career. Each of these different
permutations yields particular kinds of interpretations and framing of their relationship to
professional [and career] development” (Samuel, 2008, p. 99). However, part of the slipperiness
of the term “identity” is that there are difficulties in defining it adequately (Lawler, 2008). In
this section, I situate the discussion of identities around the axes of gender and race. I explore the
influences of gender and race on academic development, which underpin social relations in
general and those in higher education institutions in particular (Mudaly, 2012). In other words,
identities are not ‘within’ an individual person but rather are socially constructed and produced
between persons and are situated within social relations and contexts (Lawler). The “self is
always in process, never fixed, reflecting and shifting realities in multiple positioning” (S. H.
Merriam & Clark, 2006, p. 34).
During apartheid, respect for the dignity of an individual was determined by the color of
an individual’s skin and within various racial groupings, and by gender designation (Kornegay,
2000). The historical legacy of patriarchy in South Africa also meant that black women were
less likely to lead in decision-making and men had more power in most interpersonal
relationships (Kornegay). Barnes (2007) suggests that institutional cultures in African, including
South African, universities operate in male-centric paradigms where men and masculinity is
privileged:
Higher education has been and continues to be constructed as a masculinist process – one
that privileges confrontation, and the strong, dismembering the weak… Institutional
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cultures in modern, Western, African/South African universities maintain the ability to
produce and reproduce ways of knowing that privilege certain kinds of maleness, and
sideline and marginalize other ways of knowing and knowledge production (p. 17).
Other scholars argue that black women were often relegated to second-class citizenship status
and demarcated into roles in the home front as opposed to professional spaces (Gasa, 2008;
Mabokela & Mawila, 2004).
Additionally, the legislated apartheid policies gave rise to a system which marginalized
black people as they were denied the basic rights of education and training (Kornegay).
Consequently, black women suffered the most severe brunt of both the racial and gender
discrimination due to the apartheid laws and the patriarchal social system (Gasa; National
Research Foundation, 2001). Regardless of the legacy of colonial history and apartheid,
Magubane (2004a) suggests that “black South Africa women in the academy have been anything
but passive victims or willing accomplices in their own domination” (p. 1). Scholarship suggests
that academics of color in South Africa have pushed against patriarchal and cultural barriers as
they advance their careers in the post-apartheid higher education landscape (National Research
Foundation, 2001). Moreover, the professional experiences of women “are intricately related to
and informed by the type of institution where they are employed, as well as by their status as
black people and women in a social structure that is still plagued by racial and gender
disparities” (Mabokela, 2004, p. 61). Thus, the importance of thinking about the socio-cultural
identities of individuals within the complexities of South Africa’s history as a patriarchal and
racialized society is paramount in the present study.
Self-Efficacy and Agency
In this section I briefly overview key aspects of agency and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy
involves a generative capability to organize one's cognitive, social, and behavioral skills into an
integrated course of action to serve a multitude of purposes and reach a certain level of
44

performance (Bandura, 1982; Hemmings & Kay, 2009). Moreover, self-efficacy determines
how much effort individuals will expend and how long they will persist when faced with
obstacles or averse experiences (Bandura). On the other hand, self-efficacy is different from
agency in that agency is the ability of an individual to act intentionally on the basis of reflection
and planning, and to garner power, will and desire to create work contexts that are conducive to
an individual’s thought over time (Elder, 1997; V. Marshall, 2000). Agency is constructed by an
individual within a social and political context and is not something that simply arises within a
person (Elder; V. Marshall). In higher education, agency is often regarded as faculty person’s
ability to construct the contexts of their own learning and develop in intellectual and professional
ways (Neumann, 2009; Neumann et al., 2006).
Relational agency (Edwards & D'Arcy, 2004) is equally important as individual agency
in how academics develop their careers. Some scholars suggest that relational agency requires
that an individual know who to ask for help and how to engage the right people to meets one’s
needs (Edwards, 2005; Hopwood & Sutherland, 2009). Moreover, relational agency is different
from collaboration or teamwork in that an individual must elicit, recognize and negotiate with
other people, identifying that the other person may be a resource (Edwards, 2005). Relational
agency involves a capacity to offer support and ask for support from others, and doing so
enhances an individual’s ability to engage with the world alongside others (Edwards &
Mackenzie, 2005).
Over the course of many decades, higher education researchers in the U.S. have pursued
scholarly interests around academics’ self-efficacy and agency as it relates to faculty members’
work lives. Blackburn, Bieber, Lawrence, and Trautvetter’s (1991) foundational work on U.S.
faculty’s satisfaction, motivations and expectations for work found that self-efficacy, or

45

believing one has influence on curricular decisions within the faculty member's unit, was
significant across all types of institutions in the United States. Other scholars have found that
U.S. faculty often do not feel in control of their work and their work choices and that their
priorities are being chosen for them (Baldwin et al., 2005; Neumann et al., 2006). Nonetheless,
recent research suggests that although faculty face a set of constraints in approaching their work
and learning, faculty members can nevertheless “find ways to work through these barriers to
make distinct contributions to teaching and mentoring, to commitments of discovery (or
construction) of new knowledge, to the shared governance of their institutions, and to
community and broader public engagement” (O'Meara et al., 2008, p. 178).
Jeff Jawitz, (2009), a leading scholar at the University of Cape Town found that there is a
complex relationship between identity construction and participation in teaching, professional,
and research communities of practice that defined the academic field in the department. Jawitz
found that multiple identity trajectories in an academic’s department reflects that an academic’s
individual agency is important in “choosing an academic career path and creates the possibility
of a changed notion of the academic within the discipline” (2009, p. 250). Overall, self-efficacy
and agency matter– that in order for academics, including for black women academics in South
Africa, to advance their careers they must seek the resources of others, see themselves as talented
teachers, researchers and academic citizens, and believe that they can successfully navigate the
challenges that impede their career development (Major & Dolly, 2003).
Work-Life and Personal Support
There is limited to no empirical data that specifically addresses work-life issues in the
South African professoriate. The exception is Pillay’s (2007) study of academic motherhood.
The findings from her study suggest that the balancing two lives approach for academic mothers

46

in South Africa is not feasible; motherhood implies feelings of guilt, and mothering is often what
mothers believe is their sole responsibility. I am interested in understanding how child-bearing
and parenting influence black women academics’ lives and careers. I argue that how academics
function in the academy and in the home, and how satisfied they are at integrating their work and
personal life (Rapoport, Bailyn, Fletcher, & Pruitt, 2002) are issues that mediate their lives and
careers.
Research related to work and family in U.S. higher education has increased over the past
five years (Wolf-Wendel & Ward, 2006). Some of themes in the US scholarship that follow are
most likely relevant to the South African academy. Scholars have argued that gender may
influence the extent to which faculty integrate work and personal roles, and women faculty in
particular are often deliberate in choosing where they want to work and how they want to
combine work and family in a meaningful way (Colbeck, 2006; Ward & Wolf-Wendel, 2008).
One school of thought among work/family scholars is that women academics separate their work
and family domains (Judge & Watanabe, 1994). Another school of thought is that academic
women with families or children may enjoy working the second shift (i.e., cooking, cleaning and
childcare), because it provides balance from the endless amounts of work, ambiguity of tenure,
and the high-stakes nature of achieving academic success (Ward & Wolf-Wendel). Academic
women with families or children may also appreciate the joys of professorship because it
provides temporary reprieve from the endless amount of work at home and from the high-stakes
nature of success and ambiguity of being a parent (Ward & Wolf-Wendel).
Another school of thought is that when academics integrate their personal and
professional roles and allow the boundaries and borders between work and family to be flexible
and permeable, they accomplish personal and professional goals at the same time (S. C. Clark,

47

2000; Colbeck, 2006; Rapoport et al., 2002). How black women academics either separate their
work-life domains, attempt to balance their work and life, and/or integrate their personal and
professional lives is an important consideration for understanding what kinds of work-life, and
perceptions of work-life, the academic women in the present study desire.
U.S. scholars have also suggested that academic women make career and personal tradeoffs such as limiting the number of children they have, deciding not to have children, and/or
limiting the positions they seek (Perna, 2005). Moreover, academic women believe that their
career progression and chances for promotion are inhibited by taking time off for child-bearing
and that they experience a career time crunch in which they are less likely to take advantage of
maternity or parental leave policies until they have achieved job security, a solid research
reputation or acquired certain career accomplishments (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011).
Research and Teaching
“It is universally held that [academic staff] work lives are divided into three main
categories of responsibilities: teaching, service, and research.... and these three branches are
equally important to academic life and inextricably tied together” (Jamison, 2010, p. 8).
However, some scholars have found that the teaching and research environment is particularly
hostile and unwelcoming toward black women academics and that there are widely held
perceptions of black women academics’ intellectual inferiority, which has created an atmosphere
where they must justify their presence in the South African academy (Mabokela, 2004; D. A.
Potgieter & Moleko, 2004). Stereotyping is one way that black women’s professional
contributions have been undermined, which has profoundly shaped black women academics’
interactions with their students (Mabokela; D. A. Potgieter & Moleko). Ramphele (1995)
articulated that black women academics are commonly expected to assume a mother-figure role

48

by colleagues and black students. Consequently, “when notions of black and female inferiority
are coupled with the assumption that black women must behave like mothers – selfless and selfsacrificing – a curious reversal of agent and object takes place whereby pedagogical politics
work to construct black women scholars as the problem, not the students or the institutional
culture” (D. A. Potgieter & Moleko, p. 85).
Additionally, since black women academics are often not taken seriously as producers of
academic knowledge, there are serious repercussions for their research, especially acquiring
funding to support their scholarly endeavors (D. A. Potgieter & Moleko, 2004). Scholarship also
suggests that black women academics lack mentoring, experience conducting research, writing
scholarly articles for journals and presenting papers at professional conferences (Mabokela,
2004). Overall, the historical disavowal of the legitimacy of black women’s right to occupy a
place in the universities and prevailing myths about the (in)capacities of black people continue to
undermine their positions of pedagogical authority and practice of research (Abrahams, 2004;
Gqola, 2004; Mabokela; Magubane, 2004b; D. A. Potgieter & Moleko). This study illuminates
the types of issues, positive and negative, that black women academics face in the teaching and
research communities at their institutions.
Key Elements of the Individual Factors
The personal dimensions or individual characteristics of academics contribute to what
they bring into the work environment and in turn influence how they develop their careers. I
argued that how an academic functions in the academy and in the home, and how satisfied they
are at integrating their work and personal life (Rapoport et al., 2002) facilitates their career
advancement. I also argued that irrespective of the barriers that academics experience in the
academy or in their personal lives, black women academics must continue to act as agents of

49

their own careers, garnering the desire, will and belief in their abilities to control their work
contexts and persevere towards developing their careers (Elder, 1997; Hemmings & Kay, 2009;
V. Marshall, 2000). Even though the teaching and research environment may be hostile and
unwelcoming to black women academics, research will likely remain the currency for promotion
and what is valued and rewarded by universities in South Africa. Therefore, it would be
advantageous for black women academics in South Africa seeking career advancement to
continue strengthening their commitment to, involvement in and productivity of research.
Conclusion of the Literature Review
In this chapter, I presented a starting framework for the exploration of how academics in
post-apartheid South Africa may characterize their career development and what factors are
likely to facilitate and/or inhibit the development of their lives and careers. These broad factors
included the external (international and national context factors) and organizational (institutional
and disciplinary factors) environment, and personal dimensions (individual factors) of the
individual related to academic work and work-life. I reviewed selected literature on the
academic profession from several international bodies of scholarship so as to complement the
existing empirical, conceptual, and/or theoretical literature written by scholars from and/or about
South African higher education in particular, and gender and the South African professoriate
specifically.
Conceptualizing Career Development in South Africa
This research study seeks to answer what characterizes Black African, Coloured, and
Indian women academics’ career development in post-apartheid South Africa, what factors
facilitate and/or inhibit the development of these academics’ lives and careers, and how these
factors interact with one another to influence the women's experiences as academics and as

50

people. Now I present the following framework as a starting point for conceptualizing the
factors that are likely to influence the career development of South African academics. The
development of the conceptual framework was shaped by the insights gained from research and
scholarly literature and my personal observations of academics’ work in South Africa.
Overview of the Framework
A central focus of this research study is the individual academic staff member, which is
represented in Figure 1 as a yellow circle at the center of the figure. This core represents the
academic’s current position and future career aspirations. Additionally, four broad factors that
are likely to contribute to black women academics’ lives and careers are represented in the
framework as differently colored circles. I have placed these circles around the core circle to
illustrate the continuous interaction between the core-self and these four broad factors, namely
the personal (individual), organizational (institutional/disciplinary), and external (international
and national context) factors. I claim that each of these four broad factors facilitate and/or
inhibit the development of these academics’ lives and careers, and have represented them in the
figure as a solid black line that divides the circles in half. I also account for factors that
academics may identify, which is expressed as ‘other’ in the figure.
The international context factors are represented in Figure 1 as the gold circle, or the
outermost circle in the conceptual frame. The international factors that are likely to influence all
academics’ work, including the work of black women academics in South Africa, are
employment equity, academic freedom and autonomy, and professional growth. Other
international context factors may include but are not limited to: publishing scholarly work in
journals, collaborating with international colleagues, receiving funding from international
agencies and conducting scholarly activities abroad.

51

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The individual academic experience is situated within the national environment (national
context factors) of South Africa and is represented in Figure 1 as the green circle. I have
considered three foci related to the national context: the history of apartheid and apartheid
education, the present landscape of South African higher education and the policies of the new
South Africa. Institutional and disciplinary context factors, which are represented in Figure 1 as
the blue circle, illustrate how the individual academic is embedded in the institution and within
his/her respective disciplines and disciplinary contexts. I have elected to highlight four areas:
evaluation and reward structures, institutional history and climate, disciplinary cultures, and
institutional policies and practices. The personal or individual characteristics (individual context
factors) that academics bring into the work environment are represented in Figure 1 as the red
circle closest to the core of the individual. The characteristics of particular relevance to this
research study are: educational background, socio-cultural identities, self-efficacy and agency,
work-life and personal support, and teaching and research.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
The purposes of this research study were to explore what characterizes the career
development of Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics in post-apartheid South
Africa; to examine what factor(s) facilitate and/or inhibit these academics’ lives and careers; and
to understand how these factor(s) interact with one another to influence the academics’
experiences as academics and as people. The organization of this chapter is as follows: (a) an
overview of the research design, (b) details of the site and participant selection processes, (c) a
description of the data collection and data analysis procedures, (d) a review of efforts intended to
increase the level of trustworthiness in the findings and (e) a description of how the privacy and
confidentiality of the study’s participants were protected.
Overview of the Research Design
The unit of analysis in this research study was individual academic staff members. I
recruited 28 academics who self-identify as women and broadly as Black African, Coloured, or
Indian to participate in an interview-based study of what characterizes their career development
and what factors influence their lives and careers. Most of these academics were permanent
employees who represented diverse fields and a range of academic positions (i.e., junior lecturer,
senior lecturer, associate professor, professor, and senior professor). I conducted a 90- to 120minute in-person single interview with each academic, with the exception of one interview
conducted via Skype. The sample includes 13 respondents from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University (NMMU) and 15 respondents from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
Additionally, I conducted a 60- to 90-minute in-person single interview with 10 members
of management in this study, with the exception of one interview I conducted via Skype. These
members of management held a wide range of administrative and leadership positions at NMMU

54

and UKZN, such as deans and academic staff development professionals, and others who
oversaw research capacity-building for academics, or equity and access of academic staff. The
sample includes a disproportionate number of administrative staff from NMMU (n=7).
Appendix A presents the dissertation timeline and outlines the various processes associated with
this study.
Research Paradigm
This dissertation is a phenomenological, interpretivist study in that it aims to gather an indepth understanding of humans and their social world and views human action as constructed,
meaningful, and historically contingent (Bevir & Kedar, 2008; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; S. B.
Merriam, 2009). Phenomenology is based on “the assumption that there is an essence or
essences to shared experience” (Patton, 2002, p. 106). Interpretivism investigates “culturally
derived and historically situated interpretations of the social life-world” (Crotty, 1998, p. 67).
Within this research paradigm, qualitative researchers see themselves as active participants in the
research process and they seek to capture and illuminate the participants’ subjective meanings,
experiences and social contexts with depth and complexity (Denzin & Lincoln; Geertz, 1973;
Kvale, 1996; S. B. Merriam, 2009).
I used a qualitative, phenomenological research approach to explore, describe and
analyze black women academics4’ lives and careers: “how they perceive it [their lives and
careers], describe it, feel about it, judge it, remember it, make sense of it, and talk about it with
others” (Patton, 2002, p. 104). This approach allowed me to: (a) understand how black women
academics’ career development is characterized within the context of South African higher

4

See page 10 for how I use the term black women academics in this study.
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education and (b) develop new concepts and theoretical perspectives from the data which are
presented in the findings and discussion chapters.
Constructivism
Most qualitative researchers adhere to social constructivism or a constructivist paradigm,
which views knowledge as complex, ever-changing and socially constructed. Constructivism
acknowledges multiple realities in that these realities must be understood in totality and not as
discrete variables that are analyzed separately (Creswell, 2009; Glesne, 2006; Patton, 2002).
Moreover, constructivists “hold that knowledge of the world is not a simple reflection of what
there is, but a set of social artifacts of what we make of what is there” (Schwandt, 1997, p. 20).
My understandings of how career development of the target group is characterized in
South Africa is informed by a constructivist paradigm and emerged from the inductive analysis
of the data, which is a rich collection of stories of black women academics’ life journeys and
their experiences in the South African academy (Creswell, 2003). In this dissertation, I address
how black women academics’ lives and careers are influenced by the inter-relationships and
inter-connections of the external and organizational environments in which they work, and how
they personally understand and reflect upon the world in which they live (Creswell, 2003;
Schwandt, 1997).
Site Selection
The two research sites in this study were Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and
the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In this section, I provide rationales for the selection of these
sites and give an overview of descriptive features of each university. These descriptive features
reflect the official stated position of the university which is available to the public. In South
Africa, any statement of public posture, particularly by an institution, is subject to scrutiny.

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The University of KwaZulu-Natal
UKZN is a relatively new university, formed in 2004 as a result of the merger between
the University of Durban-Westville (a historically disadvantaged institution) and the University
of Natal (a historically advantaged institution), which brought together the rich histories of both
former universities (see more at: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/about-ukzn/history). In 2010 the
university was composed of 32,791 undergraduate and 8,835 graduate students, and it presently
employs 2,888 academics in permanent and contract positions (Moodley, 2013, July). UKZN is
classified as one of the five most research-productive universities in South Africa (Council on
Higher Education, 2009). It is also ranked within the top three percent of the World’s
Universities and is third in Africa and South Africa (UKZN, 2011). Its vision is to be the
“Premier University of African Scholarship.” The mission is “a truly South African university
that is academically excellent, innovative in research, critically engaged with society and
demographically representative, redressing the disadvantages, inequities and imbalances of the
past.” The goals of the university are to: promote African-led globalization, contribute to the
prosperity and sustainability of the province and to nation-building with responsible community
engagement, be a pre-eminent leader in knowledge production locally and globally, promote
excellence in teaching and learning, establish the university as an institution of choice for
students and staff, and establish and maintain efficient and effective management (paraphrased
from: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/about-ukzn/vision-and-mission).
The university is a multi-campus institution with the following five branch campuses: (1)
Edgewood Campus is located in Pinetown and is the primary site for teacher education and home
of the university’s School of Education; (2) Howard College Campus is centrally located in
Durban and offers a full range of degree options in the fields of Science, Engineering, Law,

57

Management Studies, Humanities, Social Sciences, Architecture, and Nursing; (3) Medical
School is also located in Durban and has been producing medical doctors for 54 years; (4)
Westville Campus houses the university’s central administration and similar to the Howard
Campus, it offers a wide range of degree options including Health Sciences; and (5)
Pietermaritzburg Campus, which is approximately one hour from Durban, is home to a range of
innovative academic programs including Agriculture, Theology and Fine Arts
(http://www.ukzn.ac.za/about-ukzn/campuses).
Evaluation and Promotion Policies at UKZN. There is an integrated system for
evaluating and promoting academics at UKZN. The following are specificities to that end. The
Integrated Talent Management Policy (ITM) at UKZN aims to “facilitate and promote the
achievement of institutional objectives through a process of identifying, attracting, nurturing, and
retaining talent across the whole of the university” (Mosia, Ramabodu, & Vithal, 2012, p. 2).
Academic staff members are assessed in relation to their performance, potential and level of
work. The University’s performance management system is the key tool used to assess
employees’ performance for the purposes of talent management and it is based on two criteria:
the ‘what’ as per performance agreement outputs and the ‘how’ (behavioral performance) in
terms of the academics’ demonstration of the university’s values and behaviors that support the
university’s transformation charter (i.e., respect, excellence, accountability, client orientation,
and honesty). In the context of Talent Management, potential should be seen as the existence of
the employee’s ability to handle future assignments or ability to operate at the next level and/or
sustaining peak performance at the current level. The employee’s level of work is assessed based
on the following criteria: (a) demonstration of their competencies as per UKZN’s Talent
Capability Framework, (b) measured performance against specific-level deliverables and the

58

capabilities of the employee in the current level of leadership/specialist pathway, and (c)
demonstration of their capabilities of the next level in the leadership/specialist pathway (Mosia et
al.).
The outcome of the performance review and the final ratings is one of the primary
considerations for Talent review. Employees must meet or exceed performance standards of the
current level and demonstrate some of the performance standards for the next level before being
placed into the relevant talent pools (Mosia et al.). Essentially, the academic must meet with
their direct supervisor, referred to as line manager at UKZN, to discuss the supervisor’s appraisal
in relation to the Performance-Potential Matrix (PPM) as based on their performance, potential
and level of work. The PPM includes the following categories: radiant star, rising star, moving
star, super keeper, solid contributor, potential star, developing contributor, and potential
contributor. The employee is given an opportunity to present evidence for alternative plotting on
the matrix if they disagree with the supervisor’s appraisal (Mosia et al., 2012).
Equity and Transformation at UKZN. The notion of transformation is deeper and
broader than a narrow categorization based on race and gender representation; rather, within
UKZN’s context transformation means changing the identity and culture of the university in
every aspect of its mission (http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ukzn-transformation-charter). The charter
states that the university shall be a place where: research, teaching, learning and scholarship are a
vocation for all; race and gender representation is evident in all structures; a socially cohesive
and inclusive institutional culture thrives; the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed;
advancement of the transformation agenda is the responsibility of all; and [the institution]
nurtures collegiality, recognizes and respects difference, and celebrates diversity (see more at:
http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ukzn-transformation-charter).

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Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
NMMU is also a relatively new university. It was formed in 2005 as a result of a merger
among three very different institutions: Port Elizabeth Technikon, which has “roots in the
country’s oldest art school;” the University of Port Elizabeth, which was “the country’s first
dual-medium residential university;” and the Port Elizabeth campus of Vista University, which
was centered on increasing access for students from socially and financially disadvantaged
backgrounds (see more at: http://www.nmmu.ac.za/About-NMMU/Management--Identity/History). The NMMU mission is to offer a range of quality educational opportunities
that will make a critical and constructive contribution to regional, national and global
sustainability. As one of six comprehensive universities in South Africa, NMMU brings together
the best traditions of technikon (technical) and traditional university education as it offers a wide
range of academic, professional and technological programs at varying entrance and exit levels.
The university also aims to conduct research and advance knowledge locally, nationally and
internationally (NMMU, 2009b). The university’s vision is to be a dynamic African university
that is recognized for its leadership in generating cutting-edge knowledge for a sustainable
future. The institution is guided by six values: respect for diversity, excellence, integrity,
uBuntu, respect for the natural environment, and taking responsibility (see
http://www.nmmu.ac.za/About-NMMU/Management---Identity/Mission,-Vision---Values).
Presently at NMMU there are 23,000 undergraduate and 4,000 graduate students, and 1,858
permanent and contract academics across all appointment types, which includes temporary
personnel such as undesignated instructional/research professionals (Levendal, 2013, January).
Evaluation and Promotion Processes at NMMU. At the time I conducted this study,
NMMU was in the process of changing its promotion and evaluation processes for academics

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toward an integrated system. The following are examples of key features in both the promotion
and evaluation systems. The Excellence Development System (EDS) at NMMU is used to
evaluate academic staff performance. The aim of EDS is to create a motivated and continuously
developed workforce that is competent and skilled to achieve the university’s strategic goals and
objectives; it serves as a useful tool for assessing suitability for promotion and for determining
the remuneration of employees linked to performance (Paul, 2010). The institution is presently
in the process of aligning EDS with its new Multiple Career Pathways Policy (MCP), which was
recently established to link the university’s core academic functions with the academics’
individual interests, expertise and discipline-based/faculty/institutional priorities (Naude et al.,
2014). These core academic functions are teaching and learning, research and innovation, and
engagement. Within the MCP framework, academics are encouraged to participate in
appropriate activities to enhance their development as scholars and to progress along the career
pathways depending on their scholar-development stage, which includes the emerging stage, the
advancement stage, and the established stage (see Mallard, 2002). The academics’ plan for
personal and professional growth also needs to be well understood by their supervisors before
they can jointly determine which career pathway best aligns with interests, goals, and aspirations.
I found it quite interesting that the university has adopted a distinct set of metrics for how
to evaluate academic staff producing outputs in the performing and creative arts. Specifically,
their policy states, “The outcomes of scholarship and scholarly activities from creative work may
differ from published research and patents… [since creative work] represents the culmination of
a lengthy period of questioning, reflection, analysis, evaluation and expression” (van Breda,
2009, p. 3). Moreover, the criteria and requirements for evaluation include the extent to which
the creative work: (a) is original in idea and/or execution, (b) is a substantial body of work

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demonstrating a sustained development over time, (c) contributes to advancing the discipline, (d)
increases the public profile and standing in the professional field, (e) contributes to critical
debate within the discipline/profession, (f) impacts on scholarly discourse and the profession,
and (g) is received and responded to by peers of standing in the professional field/discipline (van
Breda). In my opinion, the policy and procedures for awarding and evaluating academic staff
producing outputs in the performing and creative arts truly honors the diversity and range of
ways that these academics conduct their discipline-specific work.
Equity and Transformation at NMMU. Institutional equity and transformation5 serve
as the vehicle for achieving the NMMU mission and vision and to promote academic and service
excellence, social justice and social relevance in relation to the Eastern Cape, South African,
African and global challenges and imperatives (Levendal, 2010). The main purpose and
strategic intent of the NMMU Governance Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is to facilitate
and coordinate the efforts of the university in monitoring and reporting of progress in the
implementation of its key strategic priorities articulated in Vision 2020 (Levendal, 2012).
Within this framework, two strategic priorities are worth mentioning given this study’s topic.
Strategic Priority Five is to develop and sustain a transformative institutional culture that
optimizes the full potential of staff (and students). The desired 2020 outcome of this priority is
for NMMU to be “known as a values-driven university that embraces diversity and achieves
excellence through an ethic of compassion, support, belonging, and cooperation in keeping with
continuous improvement principles” (Levendal, 2012, p. 17). Strategic Priority Eight is to

5

Transformation, within the context of NMMU, is defined as a complex, multi-faceted and
integrated process of continuous institutional renewal in all aspects of its functionality, including
academic, administrative and support service in an ongoing effort to represent excellence
through diversity with the aim of achieving its vision and mission towards providing liberating
education (Levendal, 2010).
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unlock and maximize potential of staff. The desired 2020 outcome of this priority is to
strategically position NMMU as an “employer of first choice for talented scholars and
professionals through its affirming institutional culture and its emphasis on systems and
processes that value diversity, excellence, growth, and employee advancement” (Levendal, 2012,
p. 24).
Rationales for Site Selection
There are three rationales for why NMMU and UKZN were selected as ideal sites for this
study. First, both of these universities were more likely than other universities in South Africa of
similar stature to employ a greater percentage of black women academics. For example, UKZN
is located in the geographical and historic epicenter of Durban, which has the largest population
of Indians in South Africa, and thus, the university would be more likely to have a large
percentage of Indian South African academics, which increased the number of eligible
academics to participate in this study.
Second, these universities are presently undergoing structural changes that influence
academics’ work. They are also fertile grounds for examining how national and institutional
pressures for research productivity influence academics’ careers. For example, NMMU is
making a concerted effort to strengthen policies and practices for remunerating academics that
honor a wide range of career pathways, including teaching and learning, research and innovation,
and engagement (Naude et al., 2014). These policies and practices may offer insight into the
range of choices in how academics advance their careers, as well as how these academics are
rewarded and remunerated.
Third, my prior knowledge of, networks within, and professional experience at NMMU
and UKZN were assets to this research study. Specifically, I was familiar with how to access

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university resources such as libraries, the individuals to contact for support and guidance with
this study, and how to manage the ethical clearance processes for obtaining permission to
conduct research. The most useful tool I acquired as a result of my prior experiences was
learning how to navigate the local transportation system, which served me well as I traveled
between the universities’ branch campuses to interview participants or to the participants’ private
homes in disparate locations.
Participant Selection
This dissertation employs purposeful and snowball sampling strategies for selecting
participants (Patton, 1990). Purposeful sampling involves “studying information-rich cases in
depth and detail. The focus is on understanding and illuminating important cases rather than on
generalizing from a sample to a population” (Patton, 1999, p. 1197). The central purpose of this
study was to understand how black women academics characterize their careers and to examine
what factors influenced their lives and careers. In accordance with the standards of rigor in
purposeful sampling, I applied specific criteria for the selection of participants who would yield
data relevant to the study’s purpose and major questions (Patton, 1999, 2002). Thus, each
academic was required to meet the following criteria to be eligible for participation in this study:
(a) self-identify as a woman; (b) self-identify as South African and under the broad racial
category Black African, Coloured, or Indian; and (c) presently hold a full-time academic
appointment (permanent or contract) at NMMU or UKZN. The criterion to be eligible for
participation as a member of management in this study was less stringent; namely these
individuals were required to hold a full-time administrative appointment at NMMU or UKZN
during the time that I conducted the interview.

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The first step in selecting participants was to identify senior administrative leaders from
UKZN and NMMU to serve as liaisons in South Africa. Given my long-standing professional
relationships with Dr. Sabiha Essack, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences at UKZN, and Dr.
Cheryl Foxcroft, Dean of Teaching & Learning at NMMU, both were ideal candidates for the
role of liaison. These individuals significantly aided me in a variety of ways with this study,
including serving as the official university designee to the ethical clearance board. Upon
receiving approval to conduct this study from the Institutional Review Board at Michigan State
University (MSU) and ethical clearance boards at NMMU and UKZN (see Appendices B to D), I
consulted with Drs. Essack and Foxcroft to identify academics and members of management
from which to draw a sample. They also helped me identify individuals within colleges and
departments with whom I could also speak to recruit participants for this study. This strategy is
reflective of a snowball sampling approach which includes locating information-rich key
informants through the process of asking well-situated people “who else to talk with- the
snowball gets bigger and bigger as you accumulate new information-rich cases” (Patton, 1990, p.
176).
Based on Drs. Essack’s and Foxcroft’s nominations and the nominations of others, I
compiled a list of potential participants. I also populated this list by systematically reviewing
each university’s staff directory to identify more potential participants. Within the list I
categorized the potential participants into groups to ensure a proportionate number of academics
across positions (e.g., junior lecturer, associate professor, etc.), fields (e.g., social sciences, hard
sciences, or professional disciplines), and racial groups pertaining to this study (e.g., Black
African, Coloured, or Indian). I made a separate list of eligible members of management at each
university.

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Data Collection
The following section describes the data collection procedures for this study. I primarily
drew on interview data to answer the research questions. These interviews were digitally
recorded and took place during a two-month period while I was in South Africa solely for the
purpose of data collection. I took extensive field notes and collected relevant institutional
documents during this data collection period.
Individual Interviews with Academics
The recruitment of the participants occurred in several stages. First, I asked Drs. Essack
and Foxcroft to send an email to all academics at their respective universities to invite their
participation. The email invitation included a general description of the study, its purpose and
criteria for participation, the length of the interview, the researcher’s contact details, and how to
schedule an interview (see Appendix E). However, recruiting academics through mass-email
yielded very few interested and actual participants.
Second, I generated a list of potential participants from Drs. Essack’s and Foxcroft’s
recommendations, the nominations of others, and through my own search of each university’s
staff directory. I sent a personalized email-invitation to each academic on this list, which led to
several academics who were interviewed.
Third, I called each individual on this list by telephone. I spoke with them about the
study’s purpose, provided them with information about my personal and scholarly background,
and shared why their participation mattered to this study. Most of the potential participants that I
was able to reach via telephone agreed to participate in this study. The only exception was one
academic who at first hesitated and then eventually declined the interview, stating that she was
seemingly uncomfortable with the official university designee’s level of potential access to the

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raw data. Otherwise, if an academic indicated a willingness to participate in this study, I
scheduled an interview at her convenience and sent the consent form in advance.
At the start of each interview, I requested that the participant complete a form identifying
her contact information and personal demographics such as educational background, current
position title and appointment type, as well as her preferred pseudonym and markers of identity
(see Appendix F). I conducted a 90- to 120-minute semi-structured, open-ended, in-depth single
interview with each academic participant. These interviews were conducted in the participant’s
office location or a location of her choice, which sometimes included her private home.
In qualitative research, semi-structured interviews “are used to facilitate more focused
exploration of a specific topic, using an interview guide... usually containing a list of questions
and prompts designed to guide the interview in a focused, yet flexible and conversational,
manner” (Minichiello, Aroni, Timewell, & Alexander, 1990 as cited in Fossey et.al., 2002, p.
727). My interview protocol was quite structured and complex during the proposal stages of this
dissertation. As Appendix G indicates, the semi-structured interview protocol includes openended questions that I used to elicit detailed responses from the participants (Beech, 2009;
Dicicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006, April). However, during the interview I took a holistic
approach to interviewing these academic women because I was interested in allowing them to
share their stories from whatever points of departure they were interested in sharing, and to allow
them to emphasize whatever components of their lives and careers mattered to them.
To begin the interview, I asked each interviewee the following question: “What are key
moments or defining moments in your academic career?” As the interviewee listed or described
these moments, I made note of them on a sheet of paper. When she was finished speaking, I
circled back to the key themes she brought up by asking a series of follow-up questions. For

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example, if an interviewee stated that her key moment was their first publication, I typically
asked her the following clarifying questions: “What did you publish? Were you the sole author
or did you collaborate with others colleagues? How did you feel when you accomplished this
milestone?”
Throughout the interview, I prompted the interviewee with open-ended questions (i.e.,
“You received your formal education in South Africa under apartheid, is that correct? Can you
tell me about that experience? Can you tell me a little bit about the personal dimensions of your
life that you believe have contributed to your career? Do you receive support from people in your
academic, personal, or other communities? If so, can you provide a few examples? If you don’t
receive support, why do you believe that is the case?”) As the academics told their career
stories, each respondent often identified aspects of her life and career that mattered to her. In
almost all of the interviews, the interviewees did not need to be prompted about the types of
challenges or barriers they faced in their careers and lives (n=22). In addition, I remained open
“to changes of the sequence and form of the questions in order to follow up [with] the answers given

and the stories told” by the participants (Kvale, 1996, p. 124). This flexible format benefited the
interviewer and the interviewee because it allowed for a natural dialogue to emerge between
myself and the participant.
At the conclusion of each interview, I invited the interviewee to share her ultimate career
aspirations and to respond to the following questions: “What would you like me to make sure I
include about your story so that I have captured the essence of it?” and “Is there anything about
your story that you haven’t shared that you would like to share now?”
All interviews were digitally recorded on a hand-held device and fully transcribed. I
listened to each interview again to check for accuracy and added my descriptive and reflective

68

notes to each interview. In some cases, the interviewee nominated other colleagues that met the
criteria for participation. I followed-up via email and telephone with each of these nominees and
interviewed the ones interested in participating.
Overall, 15 academics from the five branch campuses of UKZN participated in this study.
This study also includes 13 academics from four branch campuses at NMMU: Summerstrand
North and Summerstrand South Campuses, Missionvale Campus, and Second Avenue Campus.
There were no academic participants from the Bird Street Campus (NMMU Business School) or
the George Campus particularly because the city of George was 179 miles (289 kilometers) from
Port Elizabeth. Constraints on time and financial feasibility prohibited my travel to George to
conduct interviews. There were a combined total of 28 academics in this study.
Demographics of the Academic Participants
The study’s participants represented a diverse range of academic fields and a variety of
academic titles such as lecturer, junior lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, and
professor. Additionally, each academic self-selected the following racial, ethnic, linguistic,
religious and/or national markers of identity to represent herself: Black, African, Black/African,
Coloured, Indian South African, isiZulu/African, Xhosa/African, Sesotho/African, South African
of Indian descent, and/or South African Muslim. These markers of identity, which are varied
and diverse, illustrate the range of ways that these academics identified, and the numerous kinds
of academic fields and academic titles represented in the data.
The racial and ethnic composition of the academics in some colleges and departments at
the two universities where the interviews were conducted is limited in such a way that the
confidentiality of female academics of color might be at risk were more detail given. In
consideration of these issues, several measures were taken to ensure that the data did not

69

inadvertently breach these academics’ anonymity. First, each of the academics interviewed selfselected their pseudonym and preferred racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious, and/or national
marker of identity (see table 3.1 and 3.2). Second, the data included 13 respondents from Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), and 15 respondents from the University of
KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). However, the presentation of the data did not include an analysis by
institution, thereby eliminating the possibility of linking the respondents’ stories to the university
in which they were employed.
Third, the respondents were categorized into two groups based on academic rank and
title. Group A, which represented half of the academics interviewed, was composed of lecturers
and junior lecturers. Group B, which represented the other half of the academics interviewed,
included senior lecturers, associate professors, and professors. Finally, to further ensure
anonymity, the academics were categorized into three broad, discipline-based groups: hard
sciences (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics); social sciences (i.e.,
Education, History, Arts, Music, Language Studies, Tourism, Culture, Agriculture and
Environmental Fields, Religious Studies, Allied Health and Psychology Fields, Gender Studies,
and Teaching and Learning); and professional disciplines (i.e., Business, Social Work, Medical
Fields, Law, Dentistry, and Nursing). The distribution of the academics across the three
discipline based-groups was closely proportional: social sciences (n=11), hard sciences (n=10),
and professional disciplines (n=7).
In South Africa academic rank and title are not necessarily a measure of the number of
years that an academic has been employed at the institution. Descriptive data revealed that the
average number of years that these respondents were employed in the professoriate ranged from
7 to 19 years (𝑥 = 13) at NMMU, and 4 to 20 years (𝑥 = 10.7) at UKZN. Additionally, half of

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the academics interviewed were in their early to late 40s (n=14), while the remaining half of the
academics were in their 30s (n=8) and 50s (n=6) respectively.
Table 3.1

Group A Participants: Junior Lecturers and Lecturers
Self-Identified
Marker of Identity

Discipline-based Group

Black African

Professional Discipline

Indian

Professional Discipline

South African Muslim

Professional Discipline

Star

Xhosa/African

Hard Science

Ms. DNB06

Black/African

Hard Science

South African Indian

Hard Science

Coloured

Hard Science

K

Indian

Social Science

Lila

Indian

Social Science

Lucy

Black/African

Social Science

Indian

Social Science

Zulu/African

Social Science

Xhosa/African

Social Science

Sesotho/African

Social Science

Self-Selected Pseudonym
Lindy
Amina Bux
Advocate

Cheryl
Hempies

Nandani
Ndosi Lwasini
Rebelie
Sweet Potato

Table 3.3 presents the respondents’ level of education, which included a broad spectrum
of educational attainment. On average, the respondents obtained their higher education degree(s)
from the institution at which they presently work, suggesting that many respondents were homegrown and rose up through the universities designated for their respective race group during
apartheid. On the other hand, some of the academics pursued undergraduate (n=7), honors
(n=5), and masters (n=1) degrees from institutions in another province different from their home.
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The majority of the academics interviewed have doctorates (n=20), and four respondents
received them from international universities. Altogether 32 percent of the respondents received
at least one degree from an international institution (n=9). At the time of interview eight
respondents were pursuing advanced degrees while employed as academics. Ultimately, the
academics’ socio-cultural identities, and experiences such as educational backgrounds informed
and shaped how these individuals understood and made meaning of their lives and careers.
Table 3.2

Group B Participants: Senior Lecturers, Associate Professors, and Professors
Self-Identified
Marker of Identity

Discipline-based Group

Mrs. X

African

Professional Discipline

Port

African

Professional Discipline

Jothi

South African

Professional Discipline

Jacira

Coloured

Professional Discipline

Indian

Hard Science

Paks

Xhosa/African

Hard Science

Microbe-Lover

South African

Hard Science

Patricia Singh

Indian

Hard Science

Factor X

South African

Hard Science

Doctor K

Black

Hard Science

Nhiza

Xhosa/African

Social Science

Louise

Coloured

Social Science

Indian

Social Science

South African

Social Science

Self-Selected Pseudonym

T

H
Bachan

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Academics’ Level of Education

Table 3.3
Type of Degree

Degree from
South Africa

Presently
Pursuing Degrees
in South Africa
1
7
-

Degree from an
International Institution

Bachelor’s Degree
27
1
Honor’s Degree+
25
Master’s Degree
25
2
Doctoral Degree
16
4
Post-Doctoral
2
Degree
+Some professional disciplines and/or other disciplines do not require honors degrees (N≠28).
Table 3.4 illustrates the respondents’ marital and parental statuses. The academics were
married to men (n=22), unmarried but partnered to men (n=4), or single (n=2). Four academics
were presently separated and/or divorced from their husband or partner. Two of these academics
had remarried or re-partnered, both with men. Additionally, all but seven academics were
mothers (n=21).
Table 3.4

The Marital and Parental Status of Academics

Marital Status

Married
Unmarried, but Partnered
Single

Number of Academics
22
4
2

Prior Relationship Status

Divorced and/or Separated

4

Academics with Children
Academics without Children
*Table based on data self-reported by academics (N=28).
Parental Status

21
7

Interviews with the Members of Management
In addition to interviewing black women academics, I interviewed 10 upper-to-mid-level
administrators from UKZN and NMMU. In this study, I refer to these individuals as members of

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management6. The purposes of these interviews were to gain insight about the institutional
context (e.g., what are the structural barriers that impede academic careers and what
opportunities facilitate career advancement) and to learn about and gather resources, such as
policies and criteria for promotion and academic workload. I generated a list of the members of
management based on Dr.’s Essack’s and Foxcroft’s nominations of those who were likely to
have direct experience working with academics or in supporting academics with their
professional development and scholarly efforts.
I sent personalized emails to each of the members of management on this list to invite
them to participate in this study. I followed up via telephone with the members of management’s
administrative assistants to schedule an interview if the participant indicated a willingness to
participate in this study and sent the consent form in advance of the interview. I conducted 60to 90-minute in-depth, semi-structured interviews with each member of management. All
interviews were conducted in the office of the member of management or in a place designated
by each of them.
I began each interview by asking the participants to share general information about their
background and role(s) at the university (see Appendix H). I was also interested in
understanding the broader institutional and national contexts in which these academic women
work, so I tailored my questions about the types of infrastructures, structures, resources and
policies that support academics’ work in relation to these members of managements’ academic

6

The members of management in this study were men and women from various racial and ethnic
groups. There were significant differences among these managers in the number of years they
have been employed at their respective institution, with a range of 3 to 30 years of employment
experience. Seven of these managers were from NMMU and three individuals were from
UKZN. Most of these managers held academic positions prior to becoming management, often
at their own, or in a few cases, a different institution in South Africa or internationally. A few
retained concurrent academic status at their institutions after moving into management.
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or professional unit(s) of responsibility. These individuals were also asked to share potential
barriers they perceived to likely inhibit the careers of academics writ large. Documents were
collected from each member of management as relevant to this study.
Documents
I collected the following supplemental materials from the members of management that I
interviewed or from where they were available at the university or online: (a) policies related to
academic workload and career promotion, and guidelines and metrics for performance
management, and (b) documents that outlined the processes and criteria for obtaining research
grants, sabbaticals, rewards and incentives, and examples of formal mentoring offered by
academic and non-academic units. I used these materials to clarify and amplify interview data
and to shed light on the institutional contexts in which these academic women work thereby
illuminating the broader influences, existing structures and policies that shape their careers.
Field Notes
I carried with me and used extensively a field notebook throughout the duration of the
data collection process as a tool for recording my thoughts and observations. My field notebook
became “filled with descriptions of people, places, events, activities and conversations; and
[became] a place for ideas, reflections, hunches, and notes about patterns that seem[ed] to be
emerging. It also [became] a place for exploring [my] personal reactions” (Glesne, 2006, p. 55).
As an artist, I often relate to places, events and activities by drawing sketches or taking
photographs, which helps me to visualize the setting (Glesne). Typically, I walked from one
interview to the next taking photographs of the surrounding buildings. And every couple of
days, I found a quiet place to reflect upon and sketch the things that inspired me about each
campus I visited. My sketches were of the monkeys who scavenge for food in front of the

75

library on Westville Campus; a centuries old tree framing the historic landmark Memorial Tower
Building on Howard Campus; a food bazaar with people selling fresh local produce that I passed
en route to Pietermaritzburg Campus; and a zebra, lonesome, sketched from the angle of a bird’s
eye view taken from the Vice Chancellor’s office on the Summerstrand South Campus. These
sketches and photos were useful reminders of where I had traveled throughout the day, who I had
interactions with, what I saw and related to, and what it all meant to me within the context of the
research experience.
I also took field notes that included interesting facts about the interviewee’s story that
caught my attention; descriptors about the office or surroundings where the interview took place,
such as family photos on their desks or religious artifacts in their office; preliminary reflections
of the key themes in the interview; and what the participants offered me to eat or drink such as
Rooibos tea, cookies, and cupcakes. These descriptive and analytic notes enabled me, “a year
later, to visualize the moment, the person, the setting, and the day” (Glesne, 2006, p. 56).
Additionally, my field notes reflected the interactions between the participant and myself and our
points of mutual connection. I referenced these points of connection in the thank-you card that I
gave to each participant along with a token of my appreciation (i.e., MSU flash drive and pen).
Additionally, the field notes included information about upcoming events and activities
occurring on campus that I was interested in attending. One such event was the 15th Annual
Time of the Writer presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at UKZN which brought together a
select group of leading writers from South Africa, other African countries, and internationally to
gather for a thought-provoking week of literary dialogue and exchange of ideas. This event
provided me with unlimited access to purchase new groundbreaking literary texts by South
African thought leaders, opportunities to interact and dialogue with scholars about the pressing

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issues facing South African higher education and the chance to learn about the kinds of concerns
that continue to plague the country.
I also made lists of the abbreviations or words interviewees frequently used (i.e., SAPSE,
HoD, module, M and D, DoHET, NRF, DVC, and matric) in my field notebook. These notes did
not analyze what was going on in the interview but portrayed the context (Glesne, 2006) and
served as a useful resource I provided to the peer coders in this study to familiarize them with the
concepts and words pertinent to the South African higher education context.
Data Analysis
The analysis of data occurs at many points in a research study, often beginning with
making sense of what is heard and observed during the gathering of data; building understanding
of the meaning of the data through data analysis; and through the development of a description of
the findings in which the writer's interpretation of the data as a whole is embedded (Denzin,
1994; Fossey, Harvey, McDermott, & Davidson, 2002). This section outlines the procedures I
used to: (a) organize the data, (b) immerse myself in the data, (c) generate categories and themes,
(d) code the data into manageable chunks, (e) search for alternative understandings to the data,
namely through the use of peer-coders, and (f) present the findings in ways that bring meaning
and insight to the words of the participants in this study (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010).
The first stage of data analysis involved transcribing the interviews verbatim. After all of
the transcriptions were complete, I listened to each interview recording while carefully reading
the transcript word-for-word to ensure the accuracy of the transcription and made general
observations and notes of each interview (Maxwell, 1996, 2005). I repeated this process for each
interview and made an initial list of categorical themes and codes that responded to the research
questions.

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The second stage of data analysis included searching for alternative understandings to
these initial emergent themes and codes. I developed conceptions for each code and asked
“blind” review coders to apply the conceptions to data to check for consistency in meanings and
application (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010). The peer coders were first- and third-year doctoral
students in the College of Education at MSU and were selected because of their familiarity with
researching issues relevant to higher education. Each peer coder was also provided with the
research questions, as well as a list of abbreviations and context-specific information related to
this study. They were instructed to use their own open coding strategies to identify additional
themes and patterns across the three different transcripts that I had given to each of them.
Next, I met with each peer coder to compare and contrast how we individually coded the
same three transcripts. I uncovered interesting nuances of analysis over the differences between
my coding and the coding of my peers (C. Marshall & Rossman). One example is the difference
between how I coded ‘external pressures on academics’ work’ as compared to how one of the
peer coders coded the same segment of text as ‘validation or affirmation of academics’ work.’
We discussed our analyses of these codes and eventually unearthed that there were distinct
nuances that I needed to be attentive to while coding all of the transcripts.
Ultimately, peer coding enabled me to: (a) discuss the data with colleagues critically, (b)
strengthen my confidence in how I coded the data, and (c) develop a comprehensive coding
scheme. As a side note, I did not systematically code the data of the members of management;
rather, I extracted selective data from these interviews that shed light on the institutional contexts
in which these academic women work.
The third stage of data analysis was “bringing order, structure, and interpretation to a
mass of collected data [which was] messy, ambiguous, time-consuming, creative, and

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fascinating. It [did] not proceed in a linear fashion, [nor was] it neat” (C. Marshall & Rossman,
2010, p. 207). There were 662 single-spaced pages of interview data on the academic
participants alone that needed to be managed. Although no mechanism replaces the “mind” and
“creativity” of the researcher, computers and data analysis software can serve as a useful tool to
help the researcher consistently code the data, easily sift and sort data, and manage the data in
one workspace (Fossey et al., 2002; C. Marshall & Rossman; QSR International, 2010). I used
volume 9 of NVivo to code the data of academic participants. NVivo literally means in a living
thing– the art of drawing codes in an analysis as much as possible from the participants’ own
words (QSR International, emphasis added). The primary purpose of using NVivo was to store
the data into smaller units and chunk the data into meaningful and parsimonious units of
analysis.
My first step included creating ‘nodes’ in NVivo. These nodes were representative of the
codes from the comprehensive coding scheme I had developed. I created approximately 65
“parent” or macro-level nodes (codes). An example of two parent nodes that I created was
‘supportive people’ and ‘unsupportive people’. Each of these parent nodes had six associated
“child nodes” which were: parent(s), in-law(s), sibling(s), husband or partner, extended family,
and close friends that emerged from the data. The second step in using NVivo was
systematically applying the coding scheme to each interview transcript by chunking the text lineby-line into parent and child nodes. Often, I expanded the coding scheme and created new nodes
as new themes emerged in the data. In order to determine the strength of the relationship
between codes used, a Pearson correlation was run (see Appendix I). Thirty-three pairs of
relationships were found to have a moderately strong relationship (r = .295 to .396). The range
of nodes for each interview was 55 to 65 nodes.

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After having waded vigilantly through 42 hours of data and after coding each
transcription, my next challenge was to transmute the data into “a coherent narrative with the
ingredients of a bestseller, while simultaneously capturing nuanced meanings that allow for
substantive conceptual analysis and theorizing” (Dhunpath, 2003, p. 1). The results and
discussion chapters of this study attempt to do so.
Considerations of Human Subjects
Universities have created codes of ethics and research review boards to protect human
subjects from unnecessary harm (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010). This section outlines the
ethical management of role, access, data collection, storage, and reporting (C. Marshall &
Rossman). I treated the privacy and confidentiality of the study’s participants with the utmost
concern. Prior to data collection, I informed the participants of the potential risks and attempted
to limit risks by assuring voluntary participation and confidentiality, as well as options to
withdraw from the study at any point without prejudice.
During the consent process and during the interview, I ensured that the participant’s
privacy was protected by conducting interviews in private office spaces or in a space designated
by the participant, such as her private home. I alerted the participants that the telling of their
stories may be cathartic or trigger unwelcome feelings, vulnerability, and/or thoughts and
memories about experiences that were painful (i.e., experiences of oppression, racism during or
after apartheid, or experiences with institutional discrimination). As such, I was sensitive to the
participant’s level of comfort and redirected the line of interview questioning if the participant
showed signs of distress, discomfort, or anxiety. I also made myself aware of the local mental
health professionals in the area or within the university should the participant desire these
resources. Participants were also given the option to refrain from answering questions.

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I secured participant data files containing interviews, documents, field notes, and related
materials in locked file cabinets and on my password protected personal PC. The data were
accessible only to me, the dissertation supervisor, the Institutional Review Board at MSU, and
Ethical Clearance Boards at NMMU and UKZN as requested. The consent forms were
approved by MSU and were tailored to the specificities of each university’s ethical clearance
boards (see appendices J and K [NMMU participants] and appendices L and M [UKZN
participants] for consent forms).
I asked participants to select a pseudonym and select their preferred markers of identity,
such as racial/ethnic, national, linguistic, religious, or other identities. The dissertation
supervisor and I were the only individuals to have access to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with
contact information corresponding to pseudonyms. Such information was only used to contact
participants in the case of an emergency. During analysis, all data were stripped of identifiers to
maintain participant confidentiality and participant pseudonyms were assigned to the data so that
the participants’ actual names were not associated with the data files. I will store the data (digital
audio files, transcripts, institutional documents, and field notes) for at least three years after the
project closes, after which I will destroy the data.
In writing about the participants, I protect each participant’s privacy and confidentiality
by masking identifying data (e.g., discipline, subject or field of expertise, and biographical data)
and use the participant’s pseudonym and preferred markers of identity to report findings.
Additionally, I pay careful attention to ensure contextual details do not reveal the identities of the
academics or the members of management in this study.

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Trustworthiness
To enhance the quality of this research study, I have monitored my own subjectivities and
biases, as well as how I have incorporated a variety of criteria and safeguards to increase the
level of trustworthiness in the findings (Glesne, 2006; Guba & Lincoln, 1989; C. Marshall &
Rossman, 2010; S. B. Merriam, 2009; Patton, 2002). These inclusions partly serve as an
acknowledgement of my awareness that I bring who I am to this study and as such may have
inadvertently overlooked themes in the data that someone else may have seen (Harding, 1987,
1993; J. F. Hartley, 1994; Olesen, 2008; Shackleton, 2007; Taylor, 2001).
Credibility and Adequate Engagement with the Data
First and foremost, to establish credibility as the researcher, I conducted this research
study ethically and with integrity. Specifically, I provided the participants with an honest and
clear understanding of the study’s purpose, aims and intent of the research, and how I intended to
protect the confidentiality of the study’s participants, as well as ensure the safety and security of
data. Secondly, to ensure a credible, high-quality analysis of the data I returned “to the data over
and over again to see if the constructs, categories, explanations, and interpretations [made] sense
and if they really reflect[ed] the nature of the phenomena” (Patton, 1999, p. 1205). In particular,
I listened closely to the audio-recordings and reviewed the following sources of data to
understand how black women academics characterize their careers and what factors influence
their lives and careers: interview transcripts, field notes, institutional documents, and personal
notes of the themes and patterns in the data that emerged through my observation and analyses of
the data and through the discussion of the aggregate data with peer-coders and others, such as my
dissertation advisor, committee members, and colleagues.

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To ensure the trustworthiness of the findings, I adequately engaged with the data and
tried “to get as close as possible to the participant’s understanding of [the] phenomenon” (S. B.
Merriam, 2009, p. 219). In other words, I “cuddled up with, embraced, and got to know [the
data] better [by] reading, rereading, and reading through the data once more” as people, events,
and quotations sifted constantly through my mind (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010, p. 210).
Moreover, I organized, analyzed and scrutinized the data in NVivo and jotted down my
interpretations of the data and determined whether similar issues were being presented by the
study’s participants over and over. And when I found no new variations in the data I felt
confident that I had adequately engaged in the analyses and interpretations (S. B. Merriam) in
ways that responded to the research questions.
Critical Expert-Reader
The assessment of qualitative research is an interpretive act and requires informed
reflective thought (Kuper, Lingard, & Levinson, 2008). There is a great deal of disagreement
and debate about the appropriate criteria for critical appraisal of qualitative research; however, it
is generally understood to include good practice in the conduct of the research (i.e.,
methodological rigor) and the trustworthiness of interpretations made (i.e., interpretive rigor)
(see Greenhalgh & Taylor, 1997; Locke, Wyrick Spirduso, & Silverman, 2000; Stiles, 1999).
In an effort to produce a thoughtful and credible study, I asked an expert-reader to
provide a critical review of this dissertation. The following broad areas that were reviewed by
the expert-reader parallel what the key scholarship suggests as the criteria for evaluating
qualitative research: (a) whether the participants’ perspectives have been authentically
represented in the data; (b) whether the data collection and data analyses were clearly articulated
so as to evaluate their appropriateness and adequacy in the light of the study’s topic, aims and

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research questions; (c) whether the analysis of the data were meaningfully coherent and resonate
with the data and social contexts from which they were derived; (d) whether there were glaring
disparities or inaccuracies, especially in relation to the national and institutional contexts in
which this study is situated; and (e) whether the study is characterized by sincerity (i.e., selfreflexivity about values, biases and inclinations of the researcher and transparency about the
methods and challenges) (Fossey et al., 2002; Kuper et al., 2008; Lincoln, 1995; Stiles, 1999;
Tracy, 2010).
I asked Dr. Nyna Amin, a distinguished scholar-teacher in the Faculty of Education at
UKZN, to serve as the expert-reader for this study, based on her scholarly expertise and
contextual awareness of the historical and contemporary issues impacting South African higher
education and on her particular knowledge and expertise related to gendered and racialized
discourses. Dr. Amin’s critique and suggestions on a draft copy of this dissertation study were
insightful, thought-provoking and useful and were, thus, integrated into this final product.
Reflexivity
Consistent with constructivism, I recognize that as the researcher I am an instrument
within the entire research process (S. B. Merriam, 2009; Patton, 2002). Thus, it is important to
explicate the perspectives from which I write so as to provide a point of reference for how I have
interpreted and presented the data in the proceeding chapters. My keen interest in this topic
developed as a result of a series of professional scholarly experiences I had in South Africa
during the first and second year of my doctorate. These experiences included: (a) co-facilitating
collegial dialogue with academics and institutional leadership at NMMU beginning with a
presentation focusing on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and the Scholarship of
Engagement; (b) conducting an interview-based study on identities, experiences and successes of

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Indian South African women academics in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics at UKZN (n=24); and (c) facilitating two workshops with colleagues: Exploring the
Role of Social Identities in an Academic Classroom at NMMU and Beyond the Gender Binary Implications for Curriculum, Planning, Development, and Implementation in Education at
UKZN. These experiences familiarized me with the institutional contexts in which this study
occurred and raised my awareness of the types of contextual issues and challenges facing
academics’ lives and careers in post-apartheid South Africa. I decided to turn these observations
and experiences into a dissertation topic.
Next my theoretical assumptions in this study were that the four broad factors influencing
the career development of the study’s participants already identified in the literature (i.e.,
international, national, institutional, and individual context factors) would be borne out by this
research. In other words, I did not expect to find new themes that did not fall under one of these
broader categories. I further assumed that the configuration of these factors would depend on the
individual. This was partly due to my standpoint and epistemic position on issues of identity,
culture and locality, namely that individual’s identities and lives are complex, dynamic, multifaceted and multi-dimensional. As such, I assumed that black women academics’ successes,
accomplishments and shortcomings in their lives and careers were likely to be based on
numerous and overlapping factors. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find that the study’s
participants defined their career successes in a broad range of ways, including ways that were
gendered, relational and communal, as well as in ways that honored their work and personal
dimensions of their lives.
In addition, a feminist approach allowed me to locate myself in this research study. My
life experiences as a spiritual being and my multiple and intersecting identities as a young

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woman who is a middle-class queer-identified able-bodied South Asian-Canadian Westernizededucated scholar are the filters through which I view and understand the world. These identities
and experiences were a meaningful entry for connecting with this study’s participants. One
instance that exemplifies this point is how I was welcomed by the participants. Who they
expected me to be in relation to my social identities and who arrived as the researcher did not
align. Three of the study’s participants actually said, “I was expecting a White researcher.” A
handful of others mistook me to be an Indian South African and an undergraduate student from
their institution until, of course, my North American accent identified me as an outsider. Thus,
my visible and audible markers of identity, such as age, accent and race, disrupted these
participants’ expectations. Apparently, my social identities were unanticipated assets to this
research study (i.e., they provided access to some of the study’s participants who otherwise may
not have participated, and they seemed to increase trust as some of the study’s participants
became more comfortable in sharing their stories openly).
Rapport
Building rapport with the study’s participants began during the recruitment phase. As I
telephoned potential participants they often asked me one or more of these questions: “Why are
you interested in this topic? What brought you to South Africa? And how will you ensure my
anonymity if I choose to participate in this study?” I was intentional about being prompt, diligent
and professional in answering these questions and by sharing aspects of why my identity,
interests and experiences were meaningful points of entry to the study’s topic and in selecting the
study’s location. Once the academic had agreed to participate in this study, I sent an e-mail to
reiterate the study’s purpose, aims, and intentions of the research in language that was clear and

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in an effort to convey the genuineness of my interest in understanding her life and career (S. B.
Merriam, 2009).
“The more one deems a person trustworthy, the more he or she [or ze] will speak fully
and frankly to that person” (Glesne, 2006, p. 102). To begin each interview, I gave a brief oral
description of my personal background and how my scholarly interests and research experiences
aligned with the study’s topic. During each interview, I strove to engage the participant by
active listening and patience, caring, respect and empathy for their stories and experiences.
Throughout the duration of each interview, I was conscientious that my “academic armor” could
get in the way of building rapport with the study’s participants if I was not careful (Lerum,
2001). I attempted to shed my academic armor in the following ways: (a) I consciously used
plain, easily-understood language which shed my “linguistic armor;” (b) in my attire, I attempted
to strike a balance between professionalism and comfort and tried to relax so my demeanor
would not contribute to a perception of “physical armor;” and (c) I acknowledged the risk of
believing my intellectual or theoretical superiority to the study’s participants, with the intention
of shedding my “ideological armor” (Lerum). By making an effort to shed my academic armor,
which tends to prevent the intimate emotional engagement often required in qualitative research,
I hoped to allow for a richer and more intimate acceptance in the ongoing lives and sentiments of
the study’s participants (Lerum). At the conclusion of each interview, I planned a gradual exit or
transition by talking about the completion of the project with the study’s participants, described
to them what I hoped to accomplish next in the study and within my career, and left them with
small tokens of my appreciation (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010). In most cases, the interviewee
initiated a friendly hug at the end of the interview as we parted. Thus, the act of hugging

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communicated a level of connectedness among us, a mutual appreciation for each other’s time
and presence, and my genuine care and empathy toward the participant.
“Whether the researcher chooses to end the relationships [with participants] or to
continue them in some way, being respectful of people and relationships is essential for being an
ethical researcher” (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010, p. 130). Several participants were
appreciative of how I strove to build rapport, including my conversational tone in interviews.
The following dialogue occurred between a participant and me at the conclusion of the interview:
Researcher: Take care of yourself. I’m sure we’ll be in touch as time passes.
Participant: Thank you so much for making me feel so comfortable. It was awesome.
Researcher: Even without [the Skype] video [working properly]. Not bad, eh?
Participant: I know hey! I feel like I’m talking to you like an old, old, friend…
Researcher: I have been thinking about my contribution… and [one thing is that I have
been] able to connect with participants and make them feel comfortable [during the
interview].
Participant: It’s a gift. You’re so warm. You strike me like you’re an African in the way
you approach life and embrace spirit. It’s actually very empowering to people around you
because they feel they can be free themselves. It’s good…. The whole interview was just
spot on. I read a bit about everything [in your study’s purpose and aims] and I have an
even better appreciation now of what you’re doing.
Researcher: Cool. Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute somehow with this work back to
South African universities and institutional policies.
Evidently, the interview made this participant feel “comfortable,” “free,” and “empowered.” The
extent to which I was effective in building rapport with some participants is evidenced in the
direct quote that follows, from an e-mail that I received after the interview:
Thank you for your inspiring words and good advice that you have shared about the
NMMU career development model… [It was] really great meeting you because I feel
hopeful and a little more confident to make my career all about me and not to please
anyone else but me. Keep me in your prayers. You are in mine… Thank you so much
for giving me the courage to face my fears… The gift [MSU flash drive, pen and thankyou note] was not necessary but it reminds me to have courage. Thanks again! You made
me feel so comfortable to open up to you and I am glad that I did… to think that I nearly
cancelled the session [interview]?

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The sentiments expressed by this participant are deeply suggestive that she appreciated the
opportunity to share her story and receive advice.
Reciprocity
Qualitative studies can be quite intrusive to people, as they often require people to adjust
to the researcher’s presence. Thus, the researcher should be attentive to building trust,
maintaining good relations and respecting norms of reciprocity (C. Marshall & Rossman, 2010).
Moreover, engaging in reciprocity with the study’s participants and with others who support the
study is essential because of the person-centered nature of qualitative work (Lincoln, 1995).
During data collection I was conscientious that my presence at the university disrupted the daily
routines of the study’s participants because they were giving their time to be interviewed. I was
punctual and ensured that the interview did not exceed the time we had mutually agreed upon.
To acknowledge their contributions of time and effort, I offered each participant small tokens of
appreciation (i.e., MSU flash drives and pens) that supplemented my words and notes of
gratitude (C. Marshall & Rossman).
The examples that follow describe the range of ways that I engaged in reciprocity during
the interview and after the data collection period: (a) being a good listener to a participant who
seemingly exhibited visible signs of distress in the interview. The situation generated sensitivity
and acknowledgement of vulnerability with an attempt to create safety. Yet I attempted to be
respectful, attentive, caring and empathetic by displaying to her my deepest presence; (b)
emailing a participant with a list of scholarly articles she requested during the interview related
to a mutual topic of interest; (c) sharing scholarly resources with a participant’s graduate-student
supervisee who was referred to me by a participant six months after data collection; (d)
facilitating an introduction through e-mail between a participant and my colleague at a Canadian

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university who have similar research interests; and (e) helping a participant brainstorm ideas for
a book title through an exchange of e-mails.
Dr. Foxcroft’s generosity also included hosting me at her personal residence for three
weeks while I collected data at NMMU. I was humbled by the time, availability, energy, support
and dedication that Dr. Foxcroft exhibited to ensure this study’s success. I was able to thank Dr.
Foxcroft in a meaningful and personal way by presenting her with two original paintings that I
created with the gracious support of NMMU’s Art Department who provided me with private
studio space as well as paints and supplies. These paintings were acrylic on canvas, threedimensional multi-medium abstract art that incorporated sentimental personal artifacts and
recycled materials from Dr. Foxcroft’s former office space that I helped her pack during the data
collection period. The paintings represent Dr. Foxcroft’s transition between office spaces and
honor our time together.
Organization of the Proceeding Chapters
In consideration of readability and manageability, the results of this study have been
divided into three parts: chapter four, five and six. Specifically, chapter four overviews the
national and institutional contexts in which the study’s participants work. Chapter five presents
an overview of the domains of influence on academics’ lives and careers (i.e., context,
community, commitment and competence) and includes three vignettes that aim to illustrate the
key learning gained from the academics’ stories, and to illustrate and feature the various factors
that influenced the academics’ lives and work. Chapters six illustrates the complex, multifaceted and multi-dimensional lives of these academics and illuminates the nuanced and dynamic
ways in which context, community, commitment and competence were interrelated, and how
these influencing domains interacted within the academics’ lives and careers.

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CHAPTER 4: BROADER NATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXTS
To better understand the lives and careers of the study’s participants, it is necessary to
understand the national context in which they are situated and the organizational environments in
which they work. The South African system of higher education began with colonialism and the
legacies of colonial history and apartheid continue to shape higher education (see pages 24-28;
34-35). The transformed political dispensation in the post-apartheid landscape illuminated a
larger national agenda of healing, as reflected in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa
(1996), and subsequently national policies aimed to explicitly honor and value the contributions
of all people, regardless of race, insisting on equity across all facets of life in South Africa.
During the 1994 era, the government led by the African National Congress (ANC) initially
followed a neoliberal stance to manage the economy and a redistributive strategy to close income
disparities (see Ncube, Shimeles, & Verdier-Chouchane, 2012), and these neoliberal economic
policies reshaped South Africa’s national identity and influenced higher education policy.
Moreover, government-mandated institutional mergers sought to create an equitable and
accessible system of higher education, one which would eliminate deeply entrenched legacies of
racial, ethnic, linguistic and gender disparities especially across student and academic staff
compositions (Mabokela & Evans, 2009; Ministry of Education, 2001).
Higher education in South Africa is not hermeneutically sealed from global politics and
macroeconomic forces, such as the influences of globalization and North South inequalities that
affect the distribution and allocation of resources to higher education, as well as influences on
whose knowledge counts and what knowledge is privileged in academia. However, it is beyond
the scope of this study to discuss these macroeconomic policies and forces. Rather, the foci of
this chapter is to discuss two critical themes in the broader national and institutional contexts that

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are directly relevant to the lives and careers of the study’s participants: (1) a call for greater
research productivity and research output in the new South Africa, and (2) the changing nature of
the structure and function of the South African professoriate. These themes emerged from my
review of the scholarly literature, analysis of interviews about these contexts with members of
management of the institutions in this study, and my review of the relevant web sources and
documents at the participating institutions, as well as to some extent observations and
experiences of and in these contexts. In this chapter, I briefly describe each theme and then
discuss how these themes have direct implications for enhancing the understanding of study’s
participants’ reports about their work and work environments.
A Call for Greater Research Productivity and Research Output in the New South Africa
In the new South Africa, there has been a call for greater research productivity and
research output from the higher education sector. There are three predominant purposes for this
call. One purpose is that South Africa is striving to position more of its universities to attain
international and national rankings, which increase their reputations and prestige, a goal that
requires greater research productivity and research output. Another purpose is that research and
innovation in the country, to which academics significantly contribute, directly and positively
influences the reduction of poverty and the quality of life of South Africans (No Author, 2002).
The third purpose is that the nation is aiming to: (a) promote internationally competitive research
as a basis for a knowledge economy; (b) grow a representative science and technology
workforce; and (c) provide cutting-edge research, technology and innovation platforms to benefit
present and future generations of South Africans (http://www.nrf.ac.za/index.php). Thus,
academics play an important role in assisting with and contributing to these aims as they are
invested in the nation’s growth and future.

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Various stakeholders of higher education are driving the call for greater research
productivity and research output. These constituents are found in the national government,
research agencies and councils, and universities. For example, in his May 8, 2013 speech, Dr.
Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, publically
announced the government’s commitment to support the research capacity development of
academic staff, a group that is largely responsible for South Africa’s knowledge production and
output. He stated: “177 million Rand7 for research development has been allocated to all 23
universities to develop the research capabilities of university staff, especially for those
institutions with low numbers of staff with Masters and Doctorate degrees.” Functionally, these
governmental resources will increase research productivity and research output over time.
The call is also evidenced in various national policies, such as the Green Paper for PostSchool Education and Training, which states that universities need to “be creative and prolific
creators of knowledge. They need to continue to improve the quality and quantity of research”
(Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012, p. ix). Additionally, the call is implicit in
the Higher Education Qualifications Framework and central to the aims of the National
Research Foundation and the Council for Higher Education and Training (CHET). Further, it is
evidenced in the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) policy on the
allocation of subsidies that serve as incentives for universities to produce and subsequently
disseminate research through publications and postgraduate student throughput8.
Universities in South Africa are also driving the call for greater research productivity and
research output. The missions, visions, values and strategic plans of the universities in this study

7

This was roughly $18 million (USD) at the time the statement was made by Nzimande.
In South Africa, postgraduate student throughput refers to the successful degree completion of
masters and doctoral students.
8

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are evidence that research is a key focus at the institutional level. For example, in 2008, Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Derrick Swartz, in consultation
with key institutional stakeholders, initiated the university’s Vision 2020 Strategic Plan which, in
part, aims to: (1) promote research and innovation that contributes to local, regional, national,
and global sustainability; (2) create and support an environment that fosters research quality and
productivity; (3) develop and sustain the research capacity of staff and students; and (4) promote
a broad conceptualization of research, scholarship and innovation. Clearly, this strategic plan
demonstrates NMMU’s commitment to research and support of the research community.
Like many universities within well-developed higher education systems, South African
universities such as the institutions in this study have policies and practices that reward and
incentivize research excellence and innovation among its academic staff. This is done in part by
offering grants and sabbaticals to help academics generate and/or complete their research
outputs. For example, both NMMU and UKZN offer Seed Grants, which serve as base funding
for academics to begin new research initiatives, and Teaching Relief Grants (TRG), which
provide financial support to academics through funding teacher replacements. These TRGs
allow academics to take time off to complete specific aspects of research toward improving their
qualifications or to publish articles. Sabbaticals are also available for academic employees at
both of these universities. Within the context of South African higher education, the purpose of a
sabbatical is to: (a) increase the academics’ knowledge and stimulate their intellectual interests,
(b) further their research, and (c) provide support that allows them to strengthen networks with
the global community of scholars (see http://hr.ukzn.ac.za/). Additionally, two types of financial
resources that are available to support the research activities of academics at NMMU are
Research Themes Grant (RTG) and the Research Development Fund (RDF). RTG encourages

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academics to conduct interdisciplinary research and develop research expertise that aligns with
the institution’s identified research themes (http://rm.nmmu.ac.za/Research-Themes), and RDFs
are designed to develop academics who are emerging researchers into established researchers so
that they can successfully integrate their research activities into the research focus areas of the
university and apply for NRF-rating (van Breda, 2010). In sum, NMMU and UKZN prioritize
research productivity by offering grants and sabbaticals designed to support academics with their
research endeavors.
It is clear that the call for greater research productivity and research output is a national
priority and an institutional imperative, at least at both of the universities in this study.
Plausibly, the greater the research productivity and research output from academics, the greater
the likelihood of them contributing to local needs, such as finding solutions for social problems
in South Africa, thereby improving quality of life. In so doing, academics play an important role
in assisting with and contributing to the nation’s growth and future. Additionally, greater
research productivity and research output contributes to knowledge production and innovation
nationally and globally, and further positions South African universities and scholars among the
international elite. Recognizing why this call is a national priority and an institutional
imperative, as well as understanding who the drivers of this call are, better enhances our
understanding of the pressures and expectations facing the study’s participants’ work.
The Changing Nature of the Structure and Function of the South African Professoriate
The second important theme is that the nature of the structure and function of the South
African professoriate is changing in ways that influence the lives and work of the study’s
participants. Within this theme there are several key characteristics of the South African
professoriate that need to be taken into consideration. One such issue is that there has been

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relatively small change in the representation of the equity profile of academics. This point
speaks to the fact that despite the dismantling of apartheid 20 years ago, there has been
somewhat limited improvement in the level of inclusion of women and academics of color in the
South African professoriate. Why does the representation of the equity profile of academic staff
matter within the context of this study? There are two reasons that are particularly poignant.
First, the relatively low numbers of female academics and academics of color suggests that the
demographic composition of academic staff does not mirror the demographics of the student
body in South African higher education nor does it mirror the demographic realities of the nation
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013; Ministry of Education, 2001; Subotzky, 2003;
Tettey, 2010). From a social justice perspective, the inclusion of more female academics and
academics of color is necessary so as to ensure that a full range of perspectives and experiences
are represented in academe. Second, increasing the number of female academics and academics
of color is an important goal toward achieving the equity targets set by the national government
and higher education institutions toward historical redress and transformation in the new South
Africa.
This section of the chapter offers insights into a few other areas of change in the structure
and functioning of the South African professoriate that influence the lives and work of the
study’s participants: (1) the professoriate is aging and there are shortages in academic staff; (2)
there has been a failure by academe to adequately train and develop the next generation of
qualified academics; and (3) there is some evidence of mentoring at the institutional level.
An Aging Professoriate and Academic Staff Shortages
Two issues with respect to changes in the structure and function of academe are an aging
professoriate and shortages in academic staff. These issues were recently addressed in the

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DHET’s Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training (2012), a national policy that
identifies the key challenges facing South African higher education and sets out a path for
overcoming these obstacles. The green paper presents the following national data on these two
issues and on the equity profile of academic staff:
Academics are both teachers and researchers, and their sustained contribution to
knowledge creation, innovation and skills development at both individual and countrywide levels is critical. The total instruction and research staff complement for the 23
universities was 16, 320 in 2009. Of this, 44% are women. However, at the higher end
of the academic ranks, there are four times as many male professors as female professors.
The age breakdown of instruction and research staff at these institutions is worrying. In
2009, almost 50% of staff were 45 years old or above. This shows that we have an aging
academic population. Moreover, almost 55% of all permanent, professional staff at
universities is White, while Africans make up less than 30%. Furthermore, the rapid
expansion of the university sector in terms of enrollment has not been accompanied by an
equivalent expansion in the number of academics. This means that academic staff
experience rising workload pressures due to increased teaching loads (p. 45).
Since 2009 there have been no significant changes; rather, the revitalization of the academic
profession is an on-going and pressing concern for higher education and its stakeholders and
vital for the long-term sustainability of high-quality public higher education in South Africa
(Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012). Additionally, the green paper sketches a
direction for national government plans to address the aging professoriate and shortages in
academic staff:
(1) Academics should be incentivized by improving conditions of employment to ensure
that growth in student numbers is accompanied by growth in academic staff numbers. At
the same time, there must be recognition of the fact that teaching is only one aspect of the
work of the academic, and that research opportunities and funds must be made available
to young academics. The DHET will work closely with universities to explore ways of
ensuring a greater enrollment and through-flow of postgraduate students from whose
ranks academics must come;
(2) A medium-term to long-term plan for renewing the academic profession must be
developed… in reference to: increasing the number of young academics; addressing
racial and gender imbalances by increasing the number of black and women academics
and researchers; addressing staffing shortages at universities; upgrading academics into
masters and doctoral programs locally and abroad; upgrading the teaching qualifications
of academics; and improving the overall quality of academics; and
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(3) The extension upwards of the retirement age of academics and the greater use of
retired academics in teaching and supervision on a part-time basis (p. 46).
These recommended initiatives are a potentially helpful step in identifying and implementing the
types of structural and programmatic adjustments necessary to revitalize the professoriate.
In sum, the changes in the structure and function of academe through the aging of the
professoriate and the shortages in academic staff have several implications, both challenges and
opportunities that are relevant to this study. First, as academics retire, a loss of human and
knowledge capital is expected. Specifically, there is a loss of expertise that has not necessarily
been recognized and for which there is not a current replacement plan. However, retired
academic staff could continue to be assets to universities in a variety of ways, such as by serving
as mentors to junior colleagues and by transferring their knowledge to colleagues, thereby
decreasing the gaps of knowledge that may exist between the generations of academics (Tettey,
2010). Second, academic staff retirements create vacancies in staff posts that need to be filled.
These open positions create opportunities for those entering the profession and/or for academics
already in the profession to advance in rank. Third, the shortages in academic staff can lead to
increased workload pressures, particularly heavier teaching loads for existing faculty. This may
reduce time academics have available for scholarly activities, such as conducting research,
obtaining grants to advance research, and writing for publication. Fourth, the shortages in
academic staff are related to what is likely a failure within academe to adequately train and
develop the next generation of qualified academics.
Training and Developing the Next Generation of Qualified Academics
The need for training and developing the next generation of qualified academics is
critical so as to: (a) ensure an ample pool of talented and qualified applicants to assume the
vacated positions resulting from staff retirements or other staff departures; (b) meet the needs for

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more teaching and learning as a result of rapid and large increases in student enrollments; and (c)
offer a high-quality public higher education system (Department of Higher Education and
Training, 2012; Tettey, 2010; Vithal, 2012). The logical point for identifying and beginning
training of the next generation of qualified academics is graduate students. However, graduate
student enrollments in South Africa are low and attrition is high (Academy of Science of South
Africa, 2010; C. Herman, 2012; C. Herman & Yu, 2009; Koen, 2007), significantly impeding the
initial step necessary to develop the next generation of fully qualified academics.
How and why are these issues relevant to academics that are presently in the workforce,
including the study’s participants? First, academics in South Africa have now been placed under
significant pressures nationally and institutionally to produce a certain quantity of graduate
students, especially if they themselves want to advance in the academy. These pressures are
directly linked to a call for greater research output that includes increasing the number of
postgraduate student throughput. Yet, academics are working in a context whereby their time is
limited and/or constrained, which inhibits their capabilities to produce the quantity and quality of
graduates that universities expect of them and they expect of themselves. Second, graduate
student supervision places significant demands on the academics’ day-to-day activities, which
may potentially interfere with their time to advance professional skills and attend to other
scholarly priorities such as research.
In a sense, competing solutions to two different problems – South Africa’s desire to
enhance its international reputation in higher education and its need to replace academics who
are leaving higher education – have created a very difficult double bind for the academics who
remain. They are currently being asked to be more productive in their research, to teach more
and to mentor possible future academics (graduate students). All of these demands require time

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and some require additional resources. Documenting this situation offers the possibility of
information and the development of more viable solutions to this current higher dilemma in
South Africa. In other words, in a country where there needs to be a pipeline of people coming
into the academy, prepared to advance in the roles of academe, it is vital to understand the lives
and careers of academics who are presently employed at universities because they are part of the
workforce taking on the leadership to prepare, train, and develop the next generation of talented
and qualified academics.
Recent efforts led by the national government indicate a priority toward training and
developing graduate students to serve as the next generation of qualified academics. Nzimande’s
ministerial address in 2013 is evidence of the national government’s commitment toward this
end: “It is on postgraduates that we depend for our future academics, researchers and other
leaders in knowledge-intensive professions. Research masters graduates increased by 26% and
doctoral graduates increased by 15% from 1, 373 in 2009 to 1, 576 in 2011. In my view though,
this is quite insufficient to meet our needs and it is not really comparable to other leading
developing countries, let alone developed ones.” Additionally, he has allocated 575 million
Rand9 to the 23 universities in South Africa for teaching development grants to assist in
improving graduate outputs, as well as 205 million Rand for foundation programs to improve the
success rates of students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds. The national policy
recommendations found in the Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training is further
evidence that the training and development of graduate students matters to the renewal and
advancement of the academy: “South Africa needs to be at the forefront of knowledge creation to
enhance the economic, social and cultural life of all our citizens. This process will not only
9

This is roughly $64 million (USD) for teaching development grants and $23 million (USD) for
foundation programs at the time the statement was made by Nzimande.
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create new knowledge but produce capable postgraduate students many of whom will become
academics and researchers and thus help renew and advance innovation and the academic
profession” (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012, p. ix).
Although the need to train and develop graduate students who may serve as the next
generation of qualified academics is of national importance, there is a paucity of scholarly
literature that focuses on the South African graduate student landscape, writ large. Data and
scholarship on this population are limited to the following studies: national trends and
demographics of postgraduates (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2010; Tettey, 2009, 2010);
factors related to postgraduate student attrition (Academy of Science of South Africa; C.
Herman, 2012; C. Herman & Yu, 2009; Koen, 2007); academic workload and time spent on
teaching, advising, mentoring and supervising undergraduates and postgraduates (Higgs et al.,
2010); and the lived experiences of postgraduate supervisors (Fataar, 2005; Hugo, 2010; Mudaly,
2012; Waghid, 2005). These and other relevant studies draw attention to the importance of
understanding the postgraduate student milieu within the context of academics’ work and
workload. Moreover, these studies suggest that South Africa must attract more graduate students
to the higher education sector, retain graduate students presently in the system, and train
academics with supervision skills so as to increase the likelihood that graduate students are
among the pipeline of people coming into the academy and are prepared to advance in the roles
of academe.
Formal and Informal Mentoring
Another issue leading to changes in the structure and function of academe is mentoring.
Within the higher education sector, there is recognition that academics generally benefit from
mentoring (Bland, Taylor, Shollen, & Weber-Main, 2012; E. Savage, Hallie, & Karp, 2004) and

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that mentoring is especially critical in the careers of young scholars (Blau, Currie, Croson, &
Ginther, 2010; Mathews, 2003). Some evidence suggests that universities in South Africa are
developing formal and informal mentoring opportunities so as to help academics better prepare
for and manage what their institutions expect of them and to help them grow and develop as
scholars and persons. By way of example, the universities in this study presently offer four
formal mentoring programs.
The first example of a formal mentoring program is the Women in Leadership and
Leverage (WILL) program, which began in 2006 as a peer-support style formal committee
composed of senior academics who were dedicated and committed to supporting junior
academics in realizing their endeavors toward becoming successful academics and scientists
(Govender & Sibeko, 2010). In the past, workshops focused on the following topics: enhancing
grantsmanship and manuscript preparation skills, the use of electronic research management and
referencing tools, skills related to study design and biostatistics, the assertiveness needed to
undertake science as a career path, and identifying and securing resources available to female
scientists and their projects. Programs like WILL enable participants to: (a) network and connect
with others; (b) establish themselves better in academia; (c) gain new skills and insights related
to teaching, learning, research and engagement; (d) prepare for leadership and excellence; and
(e) support their own physical, mental and emotional growth (Govender & Sibeko).
The second example is the Erasmus Mundus Action 2 Programme of the European
Commission. EMA2SA is a professional development opportunity and mobility program in
which scholars (and students) from South Africa (and other countries) receive scholarships from
the institution to partake in activities, such as foreign study or research stay while living and
learning in Europe for one to three months (http://www.ema2sa.eu/). Programs such as EMA2SA

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offer opportunities for academics, such as the study’s participants, to acquire valuable
experiences while abroad and to gain access to an international community of scholars. The
knowledge and expertise that an academic potentially reaps from these experiences and
interactions abroad can be harnessed to benefit the scholarly community upon their return to
South Africa, including serving as mentors to their peers.
A third example is the Next Generation Scholars Programme. This program is designed
specifically to benefit early career academics: program participants are paired with an
experienced colleague who serves as a mentor to help them transition into academe.
Additionally, the program includes a new lecturer orientation/induction, a variety of lunch hour
and half-to-full day workshops on higher education issues, and modules leading toward
certificates (NMMU, 2009a). Early assessments of the program suggest that academics benefit
from their participation, such as “finding a safe space to discuss with colleagues professorial
challenges and departmental idiosyncrasies; understanding better the rationale for institutional
reform strategies; learning more efficient and effective ways to design courses and assignments;
and, gaining confidence to implement newer pedagogical methods, especially for those assigned
to teach large classes” (Bonnell & Foxcroft, 2011, p. 10).
Another example, offered by an administrator at one of the study’s universities, is an
interesting program geared toward connecting black women academics with leaders in the
industrial, trade, export and economic sectors, described here:
The Department of Trade and Industry… a very science and innovation-based
[department]… they had not one black woman in the national program or the
universities…. So, last year what I did was I got the team from the National Research
Foundation and I said to them, ‘One of the major issues that we have is that your program
requires that women have an industry partner. So before they can fill in the application
form [to receive funding] they must have an industry partner… We need to get some
industries on board and let them have a networking session.’ So we had black

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researchers, women researchers, and industries all come together yesterday to network
with each other.
This program is exemplary because of its focus on supporting academics who have been
historically underrepresented in particular fields and disciplines, a much needed area of focus
within the realm of mentoring.
As these examples suggest, the universities in this study offer mentoring programs to
their academics, which help to facilitate connection and networking opportunities as well as
opportunities for peer-to-peer learning across academic rank, which help to develop and maintain
a culture of excellence within an institution and to build a solid community of scholars (Tettey,
2010).
Summary of the Chapter
In times of intense pressures on institutions of higher education, the realities and needs of
academics working in them are typically not very high on the list of concerns (Lee, Bach, &
Muthiah, 2012). In this chapter I discussed aspects of the broader national and institutional
contexts in which the study’s participants work. I argued that understanding the pressures and
constrains on academics’ work and the issues leading to changes in the structure and function of
academic work and appointments better enhances understanding of the study’s participants’
work and workload, the environments in which they work, the constrains on their time and career
progress, and the kinds of support they need in the face of challenges.
The next two chapters address data pertinent to the study’s participants. Chapter five
presents an overview of the domains of influence on academics’ lives and careers (i.e., context,
community, commitment and competence) and includes three vignettes that aim to illustrate the
key learning gained from the academics’ stories, and to illustrate and feature the various factors
that influenced the academics’ lives and work. Chapters six illustrates the complex, multi-

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faceted and multi-dimensional lives of these academics and illuminates the nuanced and dynamic
ways in which context, community, commitment and competence were interrelated, and how
these influencing domains interacted within the academics’ lives and careers.

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CHAPTER 5: DOMAINS OF INFLUENCE ON ACADEMICS’ LIVES AND CAREERS
The 28 black women academics interviewed for this study give full voice and rich timbre
to the data. The findings in this chapter emerged from the data and represent these academics’
retrospective and subjective perceptions of the factors that contributed to their lives and careers,
as well as my analyses of how these perceived factors seemingly facilitated and/or inhibited the
development of these academics’ lives and careers (see figure 2). The detailed analyses of this
study resulted in classifying black women academics’ experiences in their careers with regard to
four broad domains of influence: context, community, commitment and competence. The
interactions and interrelationships between these domains of influence are complex, nuanced and
dynamic as they influence the vibrant nature of these academics’ lives and careers. In other
words, each of these academics’ careers was deeply embedded in her life, connected to her inner
commitments and competencies, and influenced by the multiple contexts and communities to
which she belonged.
Figure 2 represents how these four broad domains of influence interact with one another
to influence the academics’ experience as academics and as people. In the figure, each of the
four domains is represented by a different colored circle. Within each circle are factors that
facilitated (+) and/or inhibited (–) the development of these academics’ lives and careers. I
purposefully selected circles to represent each domain because of the symbolic nature of circles.
Circles represent harmony, have the power to establish order and have no beginning and no end
point (Fincher, 2000). I have argued that the interactions and interrelationships among these four
broad domains of influence were complex, nuanced and dynamic. Thus, I have attempted to
represent the interactions and interrelationships among these domains with overlapping the
circles to illustrate that they are in harmony with each other. I posit that the degree to which

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these academics viewed themselves as being successful in their careers and lives was based on
their personal definitions of success and was a function of their efforts to balance the four
domains that exert influence on their careers: context, community, commitment and competence.

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The red circle represents the Context domain. This includes: (a) personal context, such as
childhood upbringing, family background and structure, and educational background and
experiences; and (b) institutional context, such as programs and opportunities, scholarly work
and experiences, national policies, and key moments that served as catalysts for academics’
growth and development. The green circle represents the Competence domain. Competence was
expressed within these academics’ across three constructs: individual and relational agency, selfefficacy and resiliency. The blue circle represents the Commitment domain, which encompassed
these academics’ ideologies, beliefs, values, goals and aspirations. The Community domain,
represented in the figure as a yellow circle, is characterized by the following communities in
these academics’ lives and careers: (a) personal community, which comprised husband or
partner, parent(s) and in-law(s), extended family, sibling(s), close friend(s) and others; and (b)
professional community, which included colleague(s), line manager/supervisor, mentor(s) and/or
other institutional leader(s).
The academics were prompted to discuss a factor in greater detail if they themselves had
initially identified the factor in the telling of her career journey. Table 5.1 is an unduplicated
report of every academic who mentioned that particular factor. For example, almost all of the
academics interviewed identified ideologies as an integral factor influencing their lives (n=25).
For many, this included the academics’ religious and/or spiritual beliefs, values, and practices
(n=14), and/or beliefs and practices related to uBuntu (n=4). The academics’ ideologies also
encompassed their passion and commitment toward social justice and transformation (n=10) and
toward capacity development and nation building (n=19). The respondents often drew strength
from, and were motivated by, multiple ideologies, and these ideologies were part and parcel to
their teaching, research and service.

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Table 5.1

Factors Influencing the Academic Women’s Lives and Careers in South Africa

Domains and Factors

Sub-Factors

# of Factors
Mentioned

CONTEXT
Personal Context(s)
Childhood Upbringing & Family Background
Educational Background/Schooling during
apartheid
Institutional Context(s)
Career Program(s), Opportunities, and Policies
Key Professional Moment: International
Experience
Key Professional Moment: Advanced Degrees
Key Professional Moment: First Publication
Key Professional Moment: Awards &
Recognitions
National Context(s)
Post-Graduate Supervision Policies
Research Output in HE Policy
COMMUNITY
Personal Community

18
13
12
25
16
13
12
10
8
13
8
7

Colleague(s)
Line Manager/Supervisor
Mentor(s)
Institutional Leader(s)

21
13
9
4
3
4
2
23
13
9
8
5

Capacity Development and Nation Building
Religion and/or Spirituality
Social Justice and Transformation
uBuntu: Cultural/Ethno-Linguistic Practices

25
19
14
10
4

Agency and Self-Efficacy
Resiliency and Internalized Racism
Resiliency and Racial Microaggressions

21
7
5

Husband or Partner
Parent(s) and In-Law(s)
Sibling(s)
Extended Family
Others
Close Friend(s)
Professional Community

COMMITMENT
Ideological Beliefs & Values

COMPETENCE

*Not all academics identified each domain and/or factor as influencing their lives and careers. If an academic
mentioned a factor multiple times throughout their story, each factor was counted once. The number of academics
mentioning the factor includes facilitators and inhibitors, but does not distinguish among them.

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Composite Stories
Prior to providing a systematic disaggregation of the data for a detailed analysis, which
follow in chapter six, three composite stories or vignettes are offered. The vignettes aim to
illustrate the key learning gained from the academics’ stories and to illustrate and feature the
various factors that influenced the academics’ lives and work. The purpose of the composite
stories is threefold: (a) to frame for the reader the complex, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional
lives of these academics; (b) to illustrate the nuanced and dynamic ways in which context,
community, commitment and competence are interrelated, and how these influencing domains
interacted within the academics’ lives and careers; and (c) to emphasize that the detailed analyses
forthcoming represent whole individuals rather than fragmented points of data.
Every academic represented in this study had unique qualities and was, therefore,
irreducible to abstract factors or characteristics. Though the individuals presented here are
composites, each component of the composite story is a factual data point often reflective of
more than a single individual’s experience. As composites, the stories eliminate the possibility
of identifying any one particular academic. Ultimately, as the disaggregated and detailed
analyses unfold, the vignettes offer a point of reference to assist the reader in envisioning the
careers of these academics and the issues and experiences that typified their lives.
Composite 1: Gayle’s Story
Growing up in a township during apartheid was a struggle since everywhere she turned,
Gayle saw despair. Saddened and frustrated by the poverty and rampant unemployment in her
township, and disappointed that most people in her Coloured community expressed that women
were unlikely to achieve or improve their social circumstances, Gayle fought hard to remain
hopeful and to nurture her fierce desire to learn. Her family provided comfort and

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encouragement; her teachers at school provided inspiration, politicizing her consciousness
toward justice, equity and transformation. Gayle knew that one day she, too, would inspire
students in her own classroom. While her parents lacked in financial resources, their emotional
support and investment in Gayle’s education was unwavering. With their blessings, Gayle
applied for admission to the local university only to be instructed to consider the university
designated for her race group. Gayle remained determined to succeed. Eventually, she moved in
with relatives in Cape Town, applied for and received bursaries, and proceeded to pursue a
bachelor’s degree in education at the university designated for her race group. Gayle excelled at
the university and upon graduation she returned to her hometown, this time at the front of the
classroom, pursuing her dream as a school teacher.
Several years passed, Gayle got married and had her first child. Soon, an opportunity at
the local university for part-time lecturing became available. Times were changing and
affirmative action policies at universities were becoming the norm. Young and talented, Gayle
was overjoyed to earn the part-time lectureship position and immediately began working even
harder, dedicating hours to the pursuit of a master’s degree on the one hand, while lecturing and
building relationships with her colleagues on the other. Life was challenging but Gayle felt
fulfilled. The new South Africa was a dynamic place to live, but it presented new challenges too.
The university was restructured, resulting in a tumultuous institutional merger. Gayle found
herself navigating an unfamiliar and unwelcoming climate filled with daily encounters with
racism and sexism from colleagues.
Gayle was disheartened but with the love and support of her family, including her
husband, she found her footing. Later that same year, Gayle was promoted to a full-time lecturer
position. With the encouragement of her direct line manager (supervisor), a White man, she

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applied to a doctoral program at the university. Gayle’s life was demanding once again as she
juggled the arrival of her second child and tried to keep afloat while being knee-deep in her
dissertation and balancing teaching responsibilities. Three years of hardship paid off and Gayle
survived, her mother and father proud to be parents of their Ph.D. daughter! Two years later,
Gayle’s line manager urged her to apply for a Thuthuka grant, a new initiative to strategically
position young, Black, Coloured, and Indian women researchers within research, innovation and
knowledge generation (National Research Foundation, 2001). Gayle’s career exploded. The
Thuthuka grant was the catalyst for her to travel to international conferences, build networks
with colleagues at these conferences, and eventually participate in bi-lateral, grant-funded
international research projects. Her loving family and the opportunity to serve as a role model to
the future generation of students continue to motivate and inspire Gayle as an academic.
Composite 2: Nkosi’s Story
Nkosiphendule grew up in an upper-middle class, Black/African home under the tutelage
of her father, a school principal, and the guidance of her mother, a nurse at the regional hospital.
Nkosi’s older brother was also well educated and had completed his bachelor’s degree at the
local university. Not surprisingly, Nkosi followed suit, applying to the local university as
expected by her family norms and traditions and her socio-cultural upbringing within the
household of an educated Black family. Even though Nkosi had faced barriers throughout her
childhood during apartheid, she knew that God had a plan for her future, and His plans included
social work and teaching. With books in hand and scholarships from the university, Nkosi
entered through the doors of higher education with vigor and quickly became a steadfast learner.
Nkosiphendule graduated with honors and immediately pursued a master’s degree in
Social Work, which is how she met Sandile, her future husband. After completing her master’s

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degree, Nkosi started her career as an academic in a contract lecturer position in the Social Work
department. Within a year a permanent position opened, or as Nkosi believes, God’s divine will
intervened. As a qualified and talented individual, Nkosi was hired into the permanent post.
Sandile proposed soon thereafter, and the couple was married within the year. Even though
Nkosi was happy, she found Sandile’s traditional values overwhelming as she struggled to
balance her teaching and research activities while preparing all their meals and caring for their
home. Nkosi’s juggling act became more complicated when she became pregnant with their first
child. The arrival of their second child a year later left her with an infant and a toddler
constantly calling for her attention. Nonetheless, Nkosi was determined to succeed in her career
as a teacher and social worker and trusted that God would show her the way.
Next, Nkosi joined a local support group of women at her church -- soon these women
became a supportive, tight-knit community. Balance returned to her life as Nkosi relied heavily
on these women’s wisdom and support. She knew that with a simple telephone call her friends
would come to the rescue, picking up her children if she ran late at a lecture, or taking care of her
children if she needed a weekend to write without disruption. Nkosi began to steadily publish
and eventually enrolled in a doctoral program at the university. Her husband, Sandile, could not
understand his wife’s lack of priorities and believed that her continued education would only hurt
the children’s upbringing. Nonetheless, Nkosi applied for a teaching relief grant from the
university and took a sabbatical for six months to complete her degree. During this time Nkosi’s
sister moved into their home for two months, followed by her mother for another three months.
Alternating responsibilities, Nkosi’s support system fulfilled the domestic duties of the
household and provided care to her children as Nkosi finished the last stretch of her Ph.D.

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With her degree complete, Nkosiphendule immersed herself in teaching students, writing
for publication, and balancing her dutiful role as wife and mother, finding comfort and
inspiration in the academy and contentment from being a mother. Five years passed quickly and
Nkosi eventually applied for promotion. After receiving a senior lecturer title, she believed that
God had truly carved a beautiful path for her future. Another ten years passed, Nkosi’s children
were now fully grown. Today, Nkosi’s interests in applying for promotion are no longer at the
forefront of her motivation in the academy; rather, she strives to increase her publication efforts
and continues to mentor students as she develops her career. Nkosi is divorced yet lives happily,
surrounded by the love and support of her family, children and church community.
Composite 3: Ranu Gauri’s Story
Ranu Gauri’s childhood was simple, almost easygoing. Every day Ranu Gauri would
walk to school and sit among her Indian classmates eager to learn. And even though the school
had very few resources and tattered books, Ranu Gauri loved her teachers because they inspired
her to maximize the talents she possessed. An astute and diligent adolescent, Ranu Gauri’s
routine included coming home after school, finishing her homework and spending evenings
reading books with her brother. Ranu Gauri’s father loved his children. He wanted them to
understand that education mattered because it was the route to freedom in apartheid South
Africa. Ranu Gauri’s father also held traditional values regarding marriage and duty, with high
expectations for Ranu Gauri to marry into a good Indian family. However, Ranu Gauri’s mother,
who sacrificed her own dreams to be a nurse, wanted more for her daughter’s future. Because
Ranu Gauri wanted to please both her parents, she immersed all her energy into schoolwork and
even though she loved to learn, she always felt she was not good enough. Soon it was time for
Ranu Gauri to finish high school, and her father was already looking for a suitable match. Ranu

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Gauri had high aspirations to become a scientist and decided that she needed more time to
explore who she was. Her aunt, a single, independent woman who worked as a nurse, served as
Ranu Gauri’s role model. With her aunt and mother’s encouragement, Ranu Gauri went against
her father’s wishes and applied to the local university to pursue a degree in science.
Ranu Gauri loved making new discoveries and excelled in her clinical classes which
fueled her passion for science. Her hard work and effort were rewarded when she landed a lab
assistant position at the university upon completion of her postgraduate honors. Ranu Gauri
jumped at the opportunity to continue at the university and convinced her parents that marriage
could wait three more years while she worked part-time as a lab assistant for her supervisor and
pursued a master’s degree. Three years later, after completion of her master’s degree, Ranu
Gauri applied for an opening in the Biology department for a full-time lecturer position, keeping
her father’s expectations about marriage at bay.
Ranu Gauri immediately fell in love with working in the lab full-time and mentoring
students who, like her, had a thirst to learn science. Within a few years, she began publishing
collaboratively with colleagues and was invited to speak at conferences about her innovative
work. Though Ranu Gauri’s career was flourishing, her sense of being inadequate continued to
creep into academic spaces. The covert sexist and racist comments from colleagues, mostly
White, only exacerbated Ranu Gauri’s feelings of inferiority. At one point, Ranu Gauri left
academia in order to pursue a position in industry at a research organization, only to realize that
what she really missed was the student interaction. Two years later she reapplied for a lecturer
position at the same institution where she was previously employed and nestled back into the
comfort and familiarity of her lab.

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Upon re-entering the academy she began working toward promotion, except a hurdle
stood in the way. Ranu Gauri needed credentials: the three important letters P, h and D. Ranu
Gauri spoke to her line manager (supervisor), who was dismissive and discouraged her pursuit.
Nonetheless, Ranu Gauri rallied together a researchable project and a team of colleagues who
were senior academics at the institution to serve as mentors and soon began doctoral work.
During the degree process, Ranu Gauri was offered an opportunity to present her scholarly work
at a conference with her research supervisor, a conference that would eventually launch her
career into new directions. Ranu Gauri hesitantly boarded a plane to Europe, the conference
serving as her first trip outside of South Africa. She found her voice during her presentation, her
perceived inadequacies fading as the community of scholars at the conference affirmed her
brilliance. The conference not only built Ranu Gauri’s confidence but conveyed the importance
of staying connected to scholars from around the world who, like her, were involved in cuttingedge science. Two years after receiving her Ph.D., Ranu Gauri was successfully promoted to
senior lecturer. Her parents marveled at their daughter’s professional success.
Ranu Gauri continued to establish her international relationships with colleagues over the
years, collaborating with peers on grant-funded research and publishing extensively. She worked
tirelessly to build her lab and supervise masters and doctoral students, supporting them toward
degree completion. Ranu Gauri eventually decided to apply for associate professor and was
successful in that endeavor. Another five years passed and Ranu Gauri felt fulfilled with her
professional life but struggled to find balance with who she really was “outside” her role in the
academy. Her new line manager recommended that she apply to be rated, a process by which
scholars in South Africa submit their record of productivity to the National Research Foundation
to be assessed for the quality of their work, sustained engagement in their field and demonstrated

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ability for research productivity (National Research Foundation, 2012). Ranu Gauri is presently
a C1-rated academic, a distinction at the university that not many of her peers can boast. She is
slowly beginning to believe that she truly is “good enough” to belong in the academy.
Summary of the Chapter
This chapter presented a macro-level perspective, in aggregate, of the factors that
influenced the academic participants’ lives and careers. Three vignettes were offered to assist
the reader in envisioning the issues and experiences that typified these academics’ work/lives.
These vignettes captured the academics’ journeys from childhood to the experiences in the South
African professoriate. Chapter six, which follows, illustrates the complex, multi-faceted and
multi-dimensional lives of these academics and illuminates the nuanced and dynamic ways in
which context, community, commitment and competence were interrelated, and how these
influencing domains interacted within the academics’ lives and careers.

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CHAPTER 6: FACTORS INFLUENCING BLACK WOMEN ACADEMICS’ LIVES AND
CAREERS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
The findings of this study are based on my detailed data analysis, which resulted in
classifying black women academics’ career and life experiences in post-apartheid South Africa
with regard to four broad domains of influence: context, community, commitment and
competence. In this chapter I present the findings for these four domains. The findings are not
intended to be reductionist or generalizable and do not depict the story of South African black
women academics’ struggles around a discourse of victimhood. Rather, I aim to illustrate the
interrelationships between these influencing domains in an attempt to unearth the points of
convergence and intersection between these influences and to better examine how these factors
interact with one another to influence the academics’ experiences as academics and as people.
The importance of understanding the historical predispositions for and the complexities
of identity and difference within the context of post-apartheid South Africa are critical
(Govinden, 2008). Although I have erred on the side of presenting the findings in this chapter of
peoples from African, Coloured, and Indian descents in aggregate, I acknowledge that people of
these descents have distinct cultures, traditions, religions and racial/ethno-linguistic identities;
they have varying degrees of inclusion or exclusion during the apartheid era and political
experiences pre-and post-apartheid that separate them from a collective whole. In addition, the
study’s participants are employed at two universities in South Africa, each with its own
institutional mission, vision, cultures, policies, practices, programs and histories. I plan to
present disaggregated analyses of these complexities of identity and difference of the study’s
participants in subsequent publications.

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Context
Context refers to the academics’ subjective perceptions of the personal and organizational
backgrounds, experiences and environments that influenced their lives and careers. As figure 2A
illustrates, context encompasses the academics’ childhood upbringing, family background and
structure, experiences in primary and secondary schools, and experiences related to academic
workload and work life, as well as pertinent national and institutional policies and programs,
contributed to work.

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Further, context also comprised the academics’ key professional moments that served as
catalysts for growth and development, such as opportunities to conduct scholarly work abroad.
In this section, I present data along with the strategies that the respondents used to overcome
personal and organization-related challenges that ultimately enabled them to persist and succeed
in the academy.
Personal Context
The respondents’ salient social identities generally included gender, race, ethnicity,
nationality, socioeconomic class, age and religion. The academics’ families and communities
played a significant role in informing them about gender-related norms and expectations for
women. The respondents’ identities, which were intersecting and interconnected, together with
childhood upbringing, family background and life experiences contributed to the academics’ lens
and how they understood themselves and their relationships with others. Additionally, the
geographic region and locale where these respondents were raised prior to becoming full-time
professionals, such as rural areas, urban cities, and/or in townships, mattered. In most cases, the
respondent’s identities, backgrounds, upbringing and experiences mediated how they understood
and related to students, colleagues and/or other individuals in their work environment.
Almost all of the respondents were raised in South Africa during the apartheid era. The
exception was one respondent, now South African by naturalization, who arrived in South Africa
from a neighboring country immediately after democracy in 1994 with aspirations to pursue an
academic career. Presumably, all but this one person were influenced by apartheid policies that
enforced racial segregation and prescribed racial inferiority of all non-White individuals. This
historical backdrop also shapes the present economic and political contexts in which these
academic women work and live. Thus, apartheid and the respondents’ experiences during

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apartheid is not a preamble to understanding their stories, rather part and parcel to their story and
how they made meaning of their narratives. Each respondent’s story had its own shape and
nuance given the additional influences of each respondent’s childhood upbringing, family
background and school experiences.
Several respondents were actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement and/or had
parents and school teachers who were activists in the apartheid era. These experiences often
served as important markers in the respondents’ upbringings and were, in some instances, a
source of motivation for pursing teaching careers. I have told the stories in the personal context
section through the following themes: emphasis of education in childhood upbringing; and the
roles of school educators, schooling, and educational restrictions on the academics’ career path.
Childhood Upbringing, Family Background and Structure
For the great majority of the academics, factors such as childhood upbringing, family
background and structure, and experiences in primary and secondary schools were, and continue
to be, significant and influential factors in these academics’ lives and work (n=23). Broadly
speaking, the respondents’ family members impressed upon them the importance of hard work
and instilled values such as honesty, respect, integrity and sharing. Not all of the respondents’
parents were formally educated. However, almost all of the respondents saw their family
members as having instilled in them the understanding that education is an important tool for
social and economic mobility.
The valuing of education was prevalent in the families of all 10 respondents who are
broadly South African of Indian descent, which parallels various existing scholarship suggesting
that most Diasporic communities tend to view the host societies’ institutions, including schools,
in terms of opportunity, i.e., valuable knowledge and skills are gained through schooling (Foster,

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2004; Ogbu, 1983, 1985, 1990a, 1990b, 1991, 1992a, 1992b, 1992c). For example, Bachan said,
“My first degree was in science. And that was influenced by my family background and family’s
aspirations of me being a scientist… They valued science as a proper field of study as an entry
into important work, and rewarding work.” H said, “In the Indian community, education is seen
as the greatest gift you can give your child. Every Indian parent will want for their child to at
least get the first degree.” Amina’s perceptions of the importance of education in the Indian
Diaspora were reflected in the following:
Knowing that my mom left (passed away) with a Diploma… I think that I was able to
stand on her shoulder and get further because what we see is the development in the
Indian story went on and became such a success. South Africa is one of the quickest,
fastest built, developed Diasporic countries in the world and people still want to know
how South Africa made it so quickly? I think it’s because one generation stood on the
generation of the other! If I didn’t have parents like my dad and mom who are academic,
who were very fluent and fluid, I would not have got to where I am.
In sum, the importance of education was instilled during each respondent’s childhood and
throughout her upbringing by others, namely the respondent’s nuclear family unit, parent(s) or in
the absence of parent(s), by the respondent’s extended family, such as aunt(s). These individuals
and/or groups served as sources of the respondents’ motivation and inspiration for education.
Educational Background and Schooling during apartheid
A strategic approach for stratification by the apartheid regime was to demarcate all levels
of the education system by race. During apartheid, the school systems designated for Black
Africans, Coloureds, and Indians were typically under-resourced. Twenty-seven respondents
attended racially-segregated primary and secondary schools under the apartheid system. During
the apartheid years, people of color were restricted from attending the higher education
institution of their choice, relegated instead to the university designated for their specific
race/ethnic group (see "Extension of University Education Act," 1959; "Separate University

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Education Bill," 1957). It was not uncommon for these universities to offer limited academic
majors and/or be located in geographic locales that were distant from the individuals’ home
provinces, making the university increasingly inaccessible to individuals from low or poor
socioeconomic backgrounds or inaccessible to families with financial constraints.
Given these complexities, it is not surprising that some of the respondents pursued
careers outside their primary field of interest (n=6). “As an Indian woman, I could become a
nurse, a teacher, a social worker, a doctor, or a lawyer… those were the categories of work that
we entered into!” said Nandani. She elaborated, “I wanted to pursue a career in medicine [but
lacked] the required number of points that would admit me… that was one career decision that
was affected adversely.” Besides medicine, Nandani’s “second choice was to do nature
conservation.” Yet she explained that the career placement opportunities in this field during
apartheid were limited since the “Natal Parks Board employed only White people… and Black
Africans did the hard [manual] labor.” Nandani was determined, nevertheless. Unfortunately
“nature conservation was offered at the University of Pretoria in the medium of Afrikaans. So
the language of instruction was used to exclude people who wanted to attend,” recalled Nandani
disappointedly. Nandani’s third choice of an academic major was also stifled. Her disdain was
apparent in the following comment she made about her experience in attempting to obtain a
special permit to attend Rhodes University, an historically-White institution:
There were other barriers, of course. For example, I also considered doing the BSc at
Rhodes University. And they sent me a letter saying, “But you do have a university that
caters for you in Durban,” and that was the University of Durban-Westville (UDW)…
And they sent that letter in a way that was very unashamed… I was a bit taken aback by
it because although we had grown up in that [apartheid] system, I did not believe that an
institution would put those words in writing. I didn’t believe they would commit it to
paper. And they did! They said, ‘You’ve got a university right there, what’s wrong with
your university that’s right there, at your doorstep!’

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Eventually, Nandani pursued a social science degree at UDW, and even though her academic
major was different from her original fields of interest, Nandani is content.
The common perception that Blacks received an inferior education during apartheid
compared to White South African school learners, however, was not reflected in most
respondents’ experiences. The following comments by Lila and Nandani best exemplify
divergent perspectives on this issue. Lila said:
I was going to tell you something about apartheid education. You know, one often says
that the differentiated schools and that Blacks’ school would have inferior education to
the Whites. I’m not so sure about the education system that I came from and whether I
could call it inferior. So I’m challenging that general thought. So I would like that to be
made known. I don’t necessarily come from an inferior education system. Although it
was an Indian school, under an Indian education department because education
departments were segregated… So I’m saying that possibly because of the culture, we
took it upon ourselves to make sure that it wasn’t inferior. Or the teachers, or the school
itself, took it upon themselves to make sure it wasn’t inferior.
Alternatively, Nandani’s school experiences purportedly occurred within “a system that was
inferior” [emphasis added]. Her comments also highlighted the “disparities” between the
standards and expectations for White school learners versus “Indian matriculants.” As Nandani
explained from her experience:
I don’t know whether it was the Indian people that thought they need to set higher
standards for their- the sake of their own… Whether it was their own ego that was at
work, or whether they wanted to set a very high standard for Indian students, or whether
this was dictated by an outside body to ensure that Indian students did not succeed very
well. I don’t know what it was. But certainly there was a huge disparity. I came out of
that kind of system. So did my siblings. So I was quite aware of the discrepancy in terms
of standards… The standards that they set for Indian matriculants were far higher. They
expected far more from us but they trained us with a system that was inferior so there was
a double disadvantage.
Nandani’s comments seem to suggest that the school system wasn’t necessarily inferior but more
that the outcomes might not have been as unequal as might have been expected, in spite of the

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quality discrepancies. Although Lila’s and Nandani’s comments illustrate opposing viewpoints,
ample evidence in these women’s experiences suggested that overall the education respondents
received during apartheid positively contributed to their growth and development. For example,
education taught T “how to be resourceful” and helped her to learn “that you can overcome
challenges and achieve excellence… It’s not so much about your sort of intelligence or talent,
but it’s about hard work, and focus that actually makes you [to] achieve your goals.” Similarly,
Lucy learned about “tolerance and acceptance [in the] Bantu education system.” Lucy
elaborated, “We were taught to learn Afrikaans and we were taught to learn Latin. But from that
we gained a lot… People can think that they are disadvantaging you, but at the end of the day,
you can get something positive.” These comments suggest that the respondents’ education
fundamentally helped them to gain valuable skill sets, as well as to develop resiliency.
On the other hand, some religiously-affiliated schools, such as Catholic schools, were
already well-resourced prior to apartheid. In order to fulfill their enrollment numbers and to
justify their biblical teachings on equality, some of these Catholic schools permitted the entrance
of blacks and disadvantaged learners (N. Amin, personal communication, October 26, 2013).
Two of the study’s respondents were educated in Catholic schools during apartheid. One such
respondent was Jacira, who came from a working-class family background. She reflected on
how Catholic schooling informed her identity and ideological development. Jacira said, “My
mother felt that they [Catholic schools] were able to instill those Christian values into you, and I
think, maybe that is also what contributed to [my] value system.” She elaborated, “When you
reflect back [on your career], it’s like you will look at, most probably, how many people you’ve
touched and how many people you have sort of turned their lives around for them!” In other
words, Jacira’s family upbringing and Catholic schooling instilled in her the values of

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compassion and self-sacrifice. Her teaching career has likely been an act of self-giving for the
sake of her students, and through her students for the sake of the world.
Several of the respondents’ school teachers, guidance counselors and/or nuns at their
schools inspired and motivated the respondents to pursue teaching or academic careers (n=8).
Jothi’s school experiences during apartheid directly “impacted profoundly on the way [she has
since] approached education, and training, research, and supervision, and everything around it!”
One teacher, in particular, made a lasting impression on Jothi, who said:
I was very fortunate in that in High School I had a teacher who was absolutely bent on
politicizing us. She was part of the ‘black consciousness movement’ at that time and I
didn’t know it and I wasn’t aware from a theoretical point of view what she was using
with us. But, I think it was years later that I realized the power of it, of what she did with
us. So she would get us engaged in like free writing and impromptu drama… based on
the political scenarios and whenever she saw elements of ‘self-blame,’ she confronted us
with one powerful message that I think has made a world of difference to me. The
message was ‘It’s not your fault! It was the system out there that was evil and it’s not
your fault!’ But I think in typical Freirean sort of pedagogy, she didn’t stop at that… So
years later when I read Freire and Gramsci… wow, you know, this is what my teacher did
with us, and this is how she liberated us by giving us a sense of hope for the future, by
validating us, and increasing our self-esteem!
Whoever it was– nuns, guidance counselors, or teachers– these mentoring individuals had
profound influences on these academics’ skill development, pedagogy and practice, and/or
informed their career decision-making. Still, although most respondents perceived the influences
of their mentors as positive and developmental, Rebelie’s experience was quite the opposite. She
stated, “The fact that my teachers couldn’t teach me meant I had to be disruptive and teach
myself.” Rebelie elaborated,
We may have been given the most inferior education but we fought not to believe that we
were inferior. And it’s a stubbornness I think that I’ve grown with that refuses to accept
‘I can’t do a thing!’…. Having people like Biko, Mandela, Sisulu, denied the very
oppression of mind!

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For Rebelie, the national figures and great leaders of the anti-apartheid movement were her
inspiration. Her own resilient nature and ambition to learn propelled her “to teach herself.”
Port’s experiences included battling against various naysayers, such as the lecturers at her
university who were “suspicious” of a Black South African woman’s choice to enter a
specialized professional discipline that had a particularly racist history against Blacks, she said.
Moreover, Port’s school experiences also required sacrifices to her personal safety. Examples of
her hard work, dedication, intrinsic motivation, agency and perseverance are illustrated in the
following comment she made. These are presented alongside her descriptions of the battles and
sacrifices she experienced in school. Port said:
You know, like famous cases, like Amistad. It’s like, Black people have always been
cargo and White people have always been owners… And even the professors who
research in this area will all tell you, like, ‘No this industry has a really sad history!’ So it
was people with that mentality… who always kind of thought that, you know, not
everyone is going to take advantage of their opportunities of living under a democracy
without racism… But with that, lots of negativity, there was also great positivity because
the people, some of the people understood things like affirmative action very well and
employment equity, so what they did was they gave me opportunities that truly fast
tracked me, and I used them really well. Like, I was just like, ‘Okay I’m allowed to teach
tonight, so I would do all my homework, everything, be prepared and yeah, and I would
teach’… One time I walked in the dark for 20 kilometers to be at a class in the evening.
And I walked home afterwards. I didn’t want to say, ‘Look I don’t have transport, could
you give me a lift?’ And you know, I could’ve been raped or whatever. But I mean, I
survived all that, you know. And I look back now and I will never take those chances,
you know, but that is the kind of story I have of wanting to be a lecturer. I wanted it so
bad and I didn’t feel that, you know, ‘I’m owed this!’
Port’s teaching was directly framed by the types of experiences and outcomes described here.
These experiences influenced how Port presently approaches teaching others, namely teaching
with passion, compassion and conviction. The positive outcome of her experience influences
why she continues to teach.

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Summary of Personal Context
The macro-political context of apartheid was designed to promote racial inferiority of
all Africans, Coloureds, and Indians. This historical context and the respondents’ experiences
during apartheid mattered, as it had implications for and/or influenced the respondents’ personal
and childhood upbringings, and family and educational backgrounds and experiences. Data
suggested that these academics “learned” from family members about gender role expectations
and the importance of education as a tool for economic, career and social mobility throughout
their formative years. Data also revealed that the role of school educators and schooling highly
influenced these academics’ careers in ways seen as mostly positive, while the role of
educational restrictions on these academics’ career paths meant that some respondents pursued
careers outside their primary fields of interest. In sum, the respondents’ personal contexts
significantly shaped, informed and/or influenced who these academic women are today, how
they understand themselves in relation to others, and what and how they teach in academe.
There may be nuances that existed across the respondents’ race and/or ethnicity together with
childhood upbringing and family and educational background. I will address these differences in
subsequent publications.
Institutional Context
Institutional context encompasses the various programs and opportunities that contributed
to these academics’ professional development and/or career advancement (see figure 2A on page
119). Issues concerning academic workload and work-life are discussed in the Competence
section. In addition, institutional context also comprised the key moments in the academics’
careers, and their stories were told through the following themes: professional international
experiences; the completion of advanced degrees, including doctorate and post-doctoral degrees

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abroad; publishing; and professional awards, achievements and recognition. These key
moments served as catalysts for the academics’ growth and development
Institutional Programs and Opportunities
“One thing about our university is there are lots and lots of development opportunities for
[academic] staff. And depending on one’s openness to acknowledging their gaps, there is a lot
you can get,” said Rebelie. Several respondents identified a wide range of institutional, national
and international programs that were beneficial toward their career and professional
development, writ large (n=16). In this section, I have masked the institutional affiliations of
these programs so as to not reveal the participants’ identity.
Lindy was selected by her institution to participate in the South African Netherlands
Research Programme on Alternatives in Development, which is financed by the Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and aims to facilitate research projects (see
http://www.sanpad.org.za for more information). Lindy stated that by participating in the
program she was able to develop a dissertation proposal and was equipped with the skills
necessary to become a successful researcher and research supervisor to her students. The
Thuthuka Programme, on the other hand, is a National Research Foundation initiative by the
South African government to ensure that young Black women researchers become significant
players within the National System of Innovation. Five respondents, including Doctor K,
Patricia Singh, Louise, Factor X, and Sweet Potato were Thuthuka beneficiaries. Factor X was
able to fund new research as result of receiving the grant, while Patricia Singh “purchased huge
pieces of [lab] equipment” that made possible her ability to conduct “cutting-edge science.”
Doctor K used the grant to continue research she began during her post-doctoral fellowship
abroad. Alternatively, Sweet Potato said:

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I received the Thuthuka grant in my first year of doing my Ph.D. That gave me a lot of
freedom with research funds, and students to start supervising, and building a critical
mass of people around my area of interest… I actually don’t know if I would have
finished [my Ph.D.] in time had I not received that funding. It built a few things–
confidence in knowing that I can write a grant, and [that] it can be funded!
The funding from Thuthuka also supported Sweet Potato’s travel to Australia and Italy to present
scholarly papers. These experiences affirmed that Sweet Potato’s “work matters somewhere
outside of the university,” she said.
Similarly, the Leadership and Equity Advancement Programme (LEAP) is designed to
support, nurture and advocate for high achieving women and Black academics pursuing careers
in academe. LEAP offered K structured professional development, mentoring and “workshops
and seminars on teaching and research” that she needed in order to obtain “a permanent
academic appointment” at the university, she said. During the final stages of the dissertation, K
received a one-year sabbatical also funded by the LEAP. She used the grant to cover her
teaching responsibilities and focused solely on writing. She not only finished her Ph.D., but was
able to complete and submit two manuscripts for publication during the sabbatical.
Several respondents benefitted from the formal programs at the university and workshops
created by their respective Faculty (colleges), academic units and/or offices for capacity
development to assist academics with their scholarly writing. For example, Advocate received a
seed grant which enabled her to launch a new research project and teaching relief grants supplied
Hempies, K, Microbe-Lover, and Sweet Potato with the financial resources to compensate other
lecturers, or employ qualified, temporary employees to provide coverage for teaching
assignments so that their attention could be focused on research and publishing endeavors.
Sweet Potato and Microbe-Lover, in particular, were able to use the grant in conjunction with
their sabbaticals to conduct research in the United States. Jacira’s participation in a week-long

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retreat aided in the completion of multiple articles she had in the pipeline for publication. She
said:
Last year we had like a ‘writing retreat’ which wasn’t really too straining, you just
brought your stuff and you had a whole week just to focus on writing. The Faculty
organized it and that was really fantastic because you could cut yourself off from all the
external stuff and just focus on what you wanted to do. So I had quite a few things that I
was working on simultaneously that I could finish within that week!
Like Jacira, Paks also participated in a retreat offered by her Faculty. In Paks’ own words, her
participation in a research retreat “boosted my courage and confidence in my career!” The
following comment by Paks elaborates on her experience:
The experience at the research retreat was a fantastic one because people don’t see their
mistakes. Now, when you’re just a group of four, and you let people read your article
[they] easily pick up on your weak points. At first you become resistant, and you give it
about a day or so, and it’s only then that you see your mistake. And then they help you to
fix your mistake, and then your paper is usually a success. It motivates you!
Paks’ and Jacira’s participation at their respective retreats accelerated the generation of scholarly
outputs through publication.
Finally, the Women in Leadership and Leverage committee (WILL) is a program that is
worth mention. WILL is a committee of female academics dedicated and committed to
supporting junior academics with personal and professional development and aiding them in
learning the necessary endeavors toward becoming successful academics and scientists. Patricia
Singh’s and T’s career advancement was directly related to the support, advice, mentorship and
knowledge they gained from attending workshops offered by WILL. The narratives in this
section from 12 different academics illustrate the variety of institutional, national and
international programs and opportunities available to them. As these examples suggest, these
programs were significant to the respondents’ professional development and beneficial toward
their careers.

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Key Professional Moment(s) as an Academic
“Tell me about a few moments in your academic career that serve as important markers
of your journey?” was my opening question for each interview. The intent of the question was to
invite the participants’ subjective and retrospective perspectives on the moments in their
academic careers that they considered significant. The responses were subsequently grouped
into two thematic areas: prior and present relationships with mentors (see findings in the
Community section), and/or with undergraduate and post-graduate students (see findings in the
Commitment section), and prior experiences, including education, leadership experiences and
scholarly activities. This section addresses the latter and draws from selected examples to
illustrate the most frequently mentioned ‘key moments’ in each of these academics’ careers,
namely professional international experiences (n=13), completing advanced degrees (n=12), the
first publication (n=10), and awards, achievements, and recognitions (n=8).
Professional International Experiences. Almost half of the respondents had previously
engaged in substantive international scholarly activities. These activities ranged from teaching
abroad to conducting research abroad and collaborating with international colleagues to pursuing
post-graduate studies at foreign institutions. It also included activities such as presenting
scholarly work at international conferences and engaging in leadership roles cross-nationally.
For example, Lila spent one year teaching abroad in the United States. Although her husband
and children provided on-site support, Lila felt “inferior” to her US peers. The following
comment illustrates this point and how teaching abroad eventually empowered Lila:
There is something else very, very important about being in the U.S. that I have to tell
you about. You know, obviously I was brought up in the apartheid era. There were
certain things about growing up…You were almost indoctrinated to believe that you were
inferior… I didn’t feel confident to speak out. All through my career. All through my
life. All through my studying… But when I went to the States, I somehow gained a new
confidence. A sort of new freedom. I discovered things about myself. That I could be
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outspoken. That I could be valuable. I had a vision that I was not good enough in terms of
the bigger picture because I didn’t know the bigger picture. But when I went to the States
and I taught there, I kind of plotted myself against everybody else and I thought, ‘Wow!’
And I came back with that new confidence, knowing that I do know enough to be up
there with everybody else. I am capable.
Lila’s scholarly pursuits abroad exposed her to the “bigger picture” which allowed her to gain
“new confidence” and “freedom.” The following comment made by Bachan parallels the themes
in Lila’s comment:
[Going abroad for university] gave me the kind of confidence to pursue what I wanted to
do. And I really think that had I not gone, and had I been here [in South Africa], I would
have had that inferiority complex that would have not allowed me to shift. Coming from
a historically disadvantaged background and going to an Indian university… I kept those
feelings of inferiority…. I remember the first time I had to do a seminar on an article by
Foucault and I really struggled with that – I was feeling very insecure and not confident
about it, and my supervisors and the students were really full of praise at how I looked at
the article, and how I analyzed it, and I thought, ‘Hey, you know, we’re not that bad after
all. I got my education and I should not be feeling so inadequate!’ That first seminar got
me noticed as a scholar who could engage correctly with articles, and so personally it was
a huge confidence booster for me to know that in an international arena, I could hold my
own.
Jothi, Louise, Sweet Potato, and Amina Bux also had extensive international experience
including attendance and presentations at scholarly international conferences and/or serving in a
wide range of leadership capacities internationally. These experiences were reported as
“invaluable” and “rewarding” to these respondents because it often affirmed that “other people
outside of South Africa were interested” in their work.
One common thread that connects these examples is that each respondent felt
empowered from their respective experiences abroad, and they were often affirmed when
international colleagues recognized their scholarly contributions. The experiences abroad
provided a platform for the respondents to ‘test’ the ways in which their perspectives and
scholarship might truly matter in the global context. In sum, these women’s respective

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international experiences, despite being different activities, helped each of these respondents to
gain confidence in scholarly abilities and to debunk initial scholarly insecurities.
Completing Advanced Degrees. Completion of an advanced degree was a key moment
for nearly half of the respondents (n=12). Specifically, completing a degree contributed toward
their personal as well as professional growth and development and career advancement.
“Obviously getting a Master’s, and getting your Honors, the academic accolades are a huge
thing. Especially for black South Africans, you know?” said Rebelie. Eight respondents
completed their doctoral and post-doctoral degrees from institutions outside of South Africa. T
and Patricia Singh were inspired by studying abroad. T stated that securing a doctoral degree
from an institution abroad was “pivotal” in her professional growth as a scientist because it
exposed her to “cutting-edge, leading technology, and researchers, and environments.”
Similarly, Patricia concluded that being “physically” abroad was an immeasurable and rich
experience because “it annihilated everything that came before [the degree] and will not be
matched by anything that comes later!” said Patricia in her own words. Bachan, who expressed
similar sentiments as Patricia, said, “Working with people that I was reading about, that I used to
write and cite in my work, seeing them, and working firsthand with them [while abroad], that
was a really significant time of growing for me.”
Next, being abroad helped Sweet Potato, T, and Patricia Singh to establish gateways for
mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations with international colleagues as they have
moved forward in their respective careers. Being educated abroad also influenced several
respondents personally. For Bachan, “getting the Ph.D. was a very significant moment because
it open[ed] up different doors, and got [her] noticed in a more serious way,” she said, because
“the Ph.D. prepares you for, and mainly gives you confidence in yourself, and in your work!” T

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expressed that studying abroad taught her about “people from different countries, different
cultures… being independent and expanding your mind,” while Ndosi Lwasini said that being
abroad taught her a lot about other “Africans.” Ndosi elaborated:
Well, I always tell my students that the best teacher in the world is to go outside your
comfort zone because there I learned about life, not in class, just outside the class because
you, you are in a foreign country and in foreign countries it's not good for people with
faint hearts. You have to be very strong to survive in the U.S…. And the other thing
about the U.S. is that when you go there as a student from South Africa your
understanding of other Africans changes, because you're all F1-Visa students and you
have all these common problems, whether you are a Kenyan, or a Nigerian, or a
Zambian.
H’s comment is particularly poignant. While studying abroad, H was mindful of not only her
personal growth, but also the growth that her daughters were experiencing. H said:
I think I saw the opportunity to study as not just an opportunity for me but as an
opportunity for the girls to travel. And to experience a whole new life. And so, when I
accepted the post, or the scholarship, I didn’t see it as career development for me as much
as we on this wonderful big adventure as a family. And I was glad I saw it that way
because I wasn’t focusing on what would come after in terms of my career. I saw it
simply as an opportunity to get a Master’s degree. An opportunity to take the girls and
educate them in a different environment. So, I felt like I was blending my duties as a
mother and my need to study. But career development was not top of my list at that
point. So, I didn’t separate my commitment to the family and my commitment to
studying.
As evidenced herein, the purpose and meaning that each respondent placed on
completing advanced degrees, domestically and abroad, varied greatly from personal to
professional reasons. Yet, one thing common across these experiences was that they were
mostly positive and enriched the women’s lives profoundly. These academics were typically the
first individuals in their nuclear family to receive advanced degrees. Completing a master’s
degree or doctorate and post-doctorate degree was quite a feat, especially given that many of
these respondents simultaneously held full-time positions as academics while managing personal

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responsibilities and duties, too (see findings on balancing work and life in the Competence
section).
The First Publication. “I guess, I really think of my career as having kicked off when I
published my first paper,” said Doctor K. Comments that resembled this particular quote were
made by nine other respondents who indicated that their premiere scholarly publication was a
defining career moment. Additionally, the respondents’ first publications often instilled in them
a sense of “scholarly achievement” and “confidence,” said Bachan, Sweet Potato and Ndosi
Lwasini.
The following examples illustrate how the respondents gained confidence in their writing
and the particular ways that publishing served to mediate their entry into academe. “Publishing
my first article made me feel like I’d broken into the club that I’d always sort of stood outside of.
And there were particular ways in which people worked, and talked, and did things that I didn’t
feel part of before publishing,” said Bachan. Her comment draws attention to the systems of
power, privilege, exclusion and elitism seemingly associated with having been published in toptiered, peer-reviewed journals. Nevertheless by “breaking into the club"” Bachan’s confidence
was “boosted” as she began to perceive herself as the highly capable, skilled and talented scholar
that she is. On the other hand, Sweet Potato’s confidence in her writing abilities was affirmed by
a simple gesture made by her supervisor. Sweet Potato said:
While I was doing my Ph.D., I was having my first paper published in a peer-reviewed
journal. One of the supervisors that worked with me walked from door to door parading
me, saying, and ‘Look at what she’s done!’ And she used a word that I heard for the first
time in my life, ‘Oh, she’ll be a prolific writer!’ And that stayed with me. And I
remembered picking up the dictionary and looking up the word prolific. What does it
mean? And that stayed with me, oh, so I can be that. So that really made an impact on me
[emphasis added].
As evidenced herein, the respondents’ first scholarly publications often affirmed their scholarly
capabilities and instilled confidence in them as writers and scholars.
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In addition, the respondents often regarded publishing as a meaningful way to share,
disseminate and contribute their scholarly work across local, national and global platforms.
Publishing also helped respondents like Doctor K and Factor X to establish professional
credibility and to foster collaborations with colleagues from around the globe.
Professional Awards, Achievements, and Recognition. Several respondents stated that
being recognized by the university for their scholarly efforts, leadership demonstrated, and/or
receiving an institutional award was a defining moment (n=8). This included Amina Bux, who
was Researcher of the Year at her university; Cheryl, who was nominated for Best Lecturer of
her School; and Bachan, who received an award for 25 years of service to her institution. On the
other hand, Nhiza’s key moment was being called upon by the Dean and eventually serving in a
leadership capacity as the Acting Director for the department, while Nandani’s career highlight
included receiving a prestigious research grant. Not surprisingly, Patricia Singh’s and T’s
promotions to associate professor and professor, and becoming rated by the National Research
Foundation (NRF), were defining moments in these academics’ careers. Patricia Singh said:
The very big grant that I got from the NRF… has been pivotal towards my success!
There’s no two ways about it! But the single most important thing would have been
getting the [academic promotion]… So that was the best thing for me, and then just when
I was ready to give it all up, I got rated! And as you have pointed out, only thirty percent
of women in 2005 were rated, and sixteen percent in 2001, or something like that. So,
given the statistics, I thought it’s something to be proud of. It gave me a second boost
and I’m now like more enthusiastic about academia… So, the key moment would have
been the rating!
Port’s key moment was different from those of these seven peers. She relayed that her key
moment occurred when she “realized” that as a Black woman, she could viably “pursue” her
passion and “dream” of teaching at the university! Port stated:
Well, the first one was getting into teaching because up until 1994 if you were a Black
female you were not even allowed to think about teaching at the university. No matter
how much you loved it, or wish you could do it. You just knew that you couldn’t because
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no one does that, and no one did that at the time. It just seemed impossible. No guidance,
nothing. So it’s a key moment for me when I realized, in the final year of my
[undergraduate degree], that teaching [in the professional discipline] was an option. Or
teaching at a university was an option– that was like a huge key highlight. It was like,
okay, so, my dream, which I thought was basically impossible, is possible now, and I’m
gonna pursue it.
The narratives from these eight academics illustrate that professional awards, achievements, and
recognitions mattered to them and were defining milestones in their careers.
Summary of Institutional Context
As illustrated in this section, many of the study’s participants participated in and
benefitted from formal programs to assist them with their scholarly writing and from
opportunities that aimed to facilitate research projects and increase research and development.
These programs often accelerated the respondents’ scholarly growth and development, created
new platforms, synergies, and opportunities for collaboration, and contributed towards career
advancement. The key professional moments in these academics careers included: international
experiences, the completion of advanced degrees including doctorate and post-doctoral degrees
abroad, publishing, and professional awards, achievements and recognition. In some cases, the
academics’ scholarly activities abroad generated self-reflection. This self-reflection ranged from
the respondents’ grappling with and making meaning of who they are as individuals within the
global context, and what perspectives they offer to the international community as individuals
and as scholars, to how they have applied lessons from abroad to their teaching, research,
engagement and/or personal lives.
National Context
This section focuses on select national policies and frameworks that respondents
identified as pertinent to their academic work, workload and scholarly output. These select
national policies are represented in the red circle in figure 2A (see page 119). Examples include

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the Higher Education Qualifications Framework, the policies set by various governing bodies
such as the Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET), Centre for Higher
Education Transformation, National Research Foundation (NRF), and the South African
Qualifications Authority, as well as the Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training.
Quantity v. Quality: “More Bums on Seats, please”
In South Africa, postgraduate enrollment constitutes just between 14 percent and 16
percent; doctoral student enrollment remained at one percent of the total throughput (efficiency
toward degree completion) between the 2001 to 2006 period, while master’s student enrollment
increased only marginally from five to six percent during the same period (Tettey, 2010). Within
this context, one national imperative is to increase the number of postgraduate (master’s and
doctoral) students and throughput (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2010), since graduation
rates in South Africa “are generally low against the National Plan on Higher Education
benchmarks and needs to be enhanced” (Subotzky, 2003, p. 375).
Some respondents suggested that the national government’s imperative to increase
postgraduate students emphasizes “quantity” at the cost of “quality.” For example, Rebelie said,
“So the more bums you have on seats, the more [monetary] allocation that you get. It’s not
quality, it’s numbers.” The following example from Doctor K draws attention to how wellintentioned policies can often fall short of desired outcomes:
I think the government’s got their heads in the right place. I don’t know that they always
succeed in their intentions. For example, a big thing now is producing 6000 Ph.D.s a
year. That’s the big NRF drive at the moment. They’re pouring all their money into
student bursaries (scholarships) but not matching the running costs for the [research]
project… I’ve been getting Thuthuka funding and I’m grateful for that. The reality is that
it’s a very small pot of money to run an average Master’s degree. It would probably take
60,000 Rand per year/student. And that 60,000 Rand is probably going to be the sum
total of my grant from the NRF and Thuthuka. [That will] give me four Master’s
bursaries or two Ph.D. bursaries. The question becomes ‘I get the students, but what am I
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going to run the [research project costs] on?’ So it seems to me that there is a mismatch
between their [governments] intentions and where they are actually plowing their
funding. It’s a very big mismatch and it’s disturbing.
Luckily, the lack of funding from the national government didn’t impede Doctor K’s ability to
meet the goals of the research project while still fulfilling her commitment to students. Her
social capital and writing capabilities helped her obtain an external grant that has funded the
research and supported postgraduate student employment comprehensively. As these narratives
suggest, some academics had concerns with increases in postgraduate student enrollment as it
relates to their work and workload. Their stories draw attention to a contested issue in South
African higher education, that of quantity v. quality student throughput.
Another issue is the number of postgraduate students that these academics are expected to
“promote” (pass) which competes with scholarly priorities and workload responsibilities already
consuming much of their time. However, all academics must meet the postgraduate supervision
targets they have set with supervisors for partial fulfillment of performance management.
Demonstrating successful postgraduate throughput is also an essential criterion for career
advancement. One model that several respondents employed to manage the increasing number
of postgraduate students was co-supervision, which involves co-advising, and co-mentoring.
However, university performance management systems typically don’t financially incentivize or
reward co-supervision on par with individual supervision. T said “There’s no incentive… I think
if you graduate one Ph.D. student, if you were just one supervisor you get twenty thousand Rand,
and if you have a co-supervisor then its ten thousand Rand. So financially, anyone would think
‘Why would I take a co-supervisor?’”
A few respondents argued that the criteria for promotion with regard to postgraduate
supervision are unattainable and unfair because select academic disciplines don’t offer

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postgraduate studies. For example, Lucy’s academic discipline offers three- and four-year
bachelor’s degrees, making the promotion of postgraduate students nearly impossible. Lucy’s
supervisor told her that she should “try and promote postgraduate students from other
departments,” arguably quite a challenging task. While the issue of promoting postgraduate
students from other departments is not specific to women who are in these disciplines, this issue
presents another challenge for these academics on top of other barriers they already face.
Quantity versus Quality: Research Output
Another national policy related to these academics’ work is how research outputs are
measured (see Ministry of Education, 2003). Publications that are approved by DoHET
(formerly the South African Post-Secondary Education) and typically peer-reviewed are one type
of research output that is monetarily rewarded. These funds are disbursed to the university and
to each author on a per publication basis by the DoHET. Several respondents expressed concern
that co-authored publications are not rewarded or incentivized on par with single-authored
publications. T said, “It’s not about quality, it’s about getting the money into the university!
Because the DoHET is not paying any added incentive for quality, they’re just paying per
paper.” Bachan stated bluntly, “And there are many things like the kind of sharing,
interdisciplinary work, and caring for students that cannot be measured. But what gets measured
is how many articles you publish, and how many students you graduate!”
How publications are rewarded matters because it is directly linked to performance
management. The following example provided by T illustrates this point clearly:
[The policy] is unfair for those [academic] staff that are still at other levels where they
want to go up because before the promotions were based on the number of your papers,
and the quality of your papers. But now it’s based on productivity units. So [academic]
staff are now actually forced to write a single-authored paper in a really low quality
journal and you will end up with much more higher units than someone who’s doing
cutting-edge research in an international leading journal. So you’re actually being
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rewarded for mediocrity. Unfortunately, that I think is how corporatization has actually
affected us.
Thus, compared to academics who co-author in reputable top-tier journals, sole authors who
publish in low-tier journals are rewarded more. Yet, collaboration and co-authorship are the
norm in many disciplines and that presents an interesting conundrum for academics. For
example, Patricia Singh said:
Actually, your research is regarded as being shifty and shady if you don’t have
collaboration in science… Collaborating means you’re open, people want to work with
you, your paper has been scrutinized by many people, and it’s not just you. It’s healthy.
But it’s regarded as shady if there’s like only two people all the time. I think the nature
of our work we cannot do single authored at all. We’ll be kicked out… To holistically
look at any scientific question, you have to look at the various aspects of it and put it
together. So hence, the collaborations are necessary.
Sweet Potato expressed sentiments similar to those of Patricia. She said, “My field is quite transdisciplinary, you will always work with people.” Sweet Potato’s philosophy for teamwork is
also rooted in her faith, as evidenced in the following comment she made:
But the field I’ve chosen is so complex. If you don’t [collaborate] you will trample on a
lot of toes because you will need other people to partner with you… It’s all about
respecting others and understanding and that comes from my faith. It makes me a very
happy human being because I will always need to work with people. There’s work that I
will do on my own, but my field demands teamwork.
Co-authoring serves as an opportunity for Sweet Potato to practice her Christian faith. Sweet
Potato, Patricia, and others value collaboration. Although collaboration seems to be valued by
many individuals, and is the norm in several disciplines, it is not what is rewarded monetarily by
the government. Herein lays the conundrum. “I think it’s become a very typical checklist and
some people now work to the minimum… I think it has killed that spirit of sharing, of doing
things together, of open discussions if it’s not ending up in some written or measurable output,”
concluded Bachan.

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Summary of National Context
The national policies discussed clearly have a variety of effects on academic staff, not all
of which is intended. The higher education system in South Africa is attempting to establish
international stature. On the one hand, it makes sense that the national government is rewarding
and incentivizing opportunities for single-authorship. On the other hand, there appears to be
conflicting tensions between the academics’ valuing of collaboration and disciplinary standards
for collaboration, and the research output policy that emphasizes quantity and productivity
efficiency.
Additionally, as student enrollment has increased it has not been met by adequate
expansion in academic staff, thus reducing the capacity of universities to provide quality
education is creating a serious problem (Tettey, 2010). The quality of graduates should matter,
especially since the revitalization of the aging professoriate is paramount. These graduates are
the next generation of South Africa’s skilled talent as long as their numbers and quality are
maintained at the master’s and doctoral level (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2010;
Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012; Tettey). Yet, the lack of funding to support
these students places additional constraints on academic staff members’ time and workloads,
including on black women academics’ who already face many other challenges. It is important
to consider these constraints since student supervision is linked to performance management and
career advancement.
Community
Community referred to the academics’ primary relationships and the interactions with
individuals and/or groups within their personal and professional communities. As figure 2B
illustrates, community was characterized by (a) personal community, which comprised husband

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or partner, parent(s) and in-law(s), extended family, sibling(s) and friend(s); and (b) professional
community, which included colleague(s), line manager/supervisor, mentor(s) and/or institutional
leader(s) such as academic deans and other individuals in management or executive management
positions. Some individuals in these academics’ communities were pre-determined, such as
one’s mother, sibling(s), and supervisor. Nevertheless, how these academics chose to involve
and/or allow communities to influence their lives and career was within their purview and
control.

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It is not surprising that the great majority of the academics interviewed (n=25) expressed
that individuals and/or groups were necessary to their lives and important to their work. These
personal and professional communities provided support for, gave direct aid to, and/or served as
barriers to these academics (see table 6.1). Yet, the type and level of support and encouragement
they provided, support and aid they gave, and/or the barrier they served in the academics’ lives
and careers varied considerably.
Table 6.1
Community
Personal

Personal and Professional Communities’ Contributions to Academics
Individuals/Groups
Husband or Partner
Parent(s)/In-Law(s)
Extended Family
Sibling(s)
Close Friend(s)
Other

General Support/ Direct Support &
Encouragement
Aid
3
4
2
6
1
1
3
2
3
1

Barrier

Professional Colleague(s)
5
2
Supervisor/Line Manager
2
1
Mentor(s)
4
4
Institutional Leaders
4
2
*Table based on data self-reported by the academics in the present study.

6
1
1
1
8
6
-

The nature of the academics’ relationships with these individuals and/or groups was not
static, nor did the interactions occur within a vacuum. Rather these relationships are best
understood as dynamic and complex, and part of a continuum. Moreover, South Africa’s current
political landscape and history of apartheid, which is/was complex, influenced academics’ lives
and work. This section does not deconstruct how history, policies, and sociocultural constructs
influenced the academics’ lives and careers, nor does it attempt to reveal how the academics’
past communities influenced their lives. Rather, the data illustrated who these individuals and/or
groups were, and examined what and how these communities contributed to the academics’ lives
and careers. I have told the stories using the following personal and professional themes: it takes
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a village: support, encouragement, and aid; no woman is an island: lack of support; work
families make a difference; and perceived racism and sexism in the workplace.
Personal Community
Almost half of the academics’ interviewed identified their husband or partner as
contributing to their lives (n=13). Parent(s) and in-laws (n=9), extended family (n=3), siblings
(n=4), the academics’ children (n=3), and close friends (n=2), as well as a pastor and a domestic
worker were identified as contributing to academics’ lives and careers in ways that were positive,
affirming and nurturing.
It takes a village: Support, encouragement, and aid
The academics’ personal communities contributed to their lives and careers in two ways,
some which were distinct from and overlapping with, and others that facilitated their holistic
lives. First, these communities provided support, care and love to, and encouragement and
affirmation of these academics’ lives and careers. Second, these communities gave direct aid to
the academics by supporting them with domestic tasks and childcare responsibilities, if
applicable. This aid allowed the academics to balance their work and lives better.
Husband or Partner. Several academics’ husbands provided support and
encouragement to their lives and careers (n=7). This included supporting and/or sharing
domestic tasks and responsibilities, and aiding with childcare, if applicable. Additionally, these
academics shared a common experience: their husbands encouraged them to pursue their
doctoral degrees, in general, and provided unwavering support through their Ph.D. process, in
particular. Mrs. X, Advocate, and K, who were nearing completion of their doctorates, discussed
the importance of their husbands’ support and encouragement during attainment of their Ph.D.s,
a process which demanded much of their time and attention. K, who was raised by her aunts,

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stated emphatically, “I must say he [husband] has always encouraged me… If I have to say
who’s the proudest of me, it’s him... I don’t have a mother, I don’t have a father, it’s him. He’s
been the proudest person behind everything.” Similarly, Advocate described her husband thus,
“[He] was very supportive from the word ‘go.’ He always said, ‘No, no. If this is what you want
to do, everything else can be put on hold.’ He was very instrumental to me being able to
continue my studies.” From a somewhat different perspective, Sweet Potato believes that her
husband’s support, which was unequivocal throughout her Ph.D., was originating in the Lord’s
will. God’s grace and blessing of her career pathway and His divine intervention paved the way
for her husband to buy into her vision. Sweet Potato said:
I am very fortunate in that my husband has bought into my vision. From the time I did
the Ph.D., there were many times where… this couch that you’re looking at is actually
a bed, I can pull it out and sleep, it’s a sleeper couch. So when I was doing my Ph.D. I
would sleep in the office. So we [she and her husband] would have a negotiation, so
okay, this week I need two days like that, so he’ll stay with the baby, and I’ll spend the
whole night in the office, working and focusing especially when I was writing. So he’s
really bought into my vision and I thank the Lord for that because to have a human
being who fully supports you… It’s not easy for a husband to do that and especially an
African husband. So when I say my faith is truly important I also mean that part
because I think only the Lord could have helped him to be like that. He celebrates my
achievements.
Microbe-Lover, who married recently, expressed how refreshing it was to have a husband who
was “not intimidated by the fact that [she has] a Ph.D. or that [she] teaches.” Her husband, like
Sweet Potato’s husband, provided unequivocal support of her career and their relationship
operates as a partnership. Microbe-Lover stated that her husband often says, “If it’s going to
help you to move forward in your career then, you know, it’s something you should do…because
it will benefit us both in the long run.” Ultimately, these husbands provided ample support and
encouragement to these academics’ lives and careers, which subsequently nurtured and
nourished their relationships. In summary, one of the places that individuals logically seek

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support is from their husband or partner. Of the 13 respondents who spoke about their husband
or partner, seven had supportive husbands and six husbands were barriers. Four of these
academic women divorced their husbands.
Parent(s) and In-Law(s). The academics’ parents and in-laws often provided support
for, and gave direct aid to, academics’ lives and careers in numerous ways (n=8). Louise’s
mother, much like the mothers of other academics’ that were interviewed, advocated for her
daughter’s education. The common thinking and expectations of individuals in Louise’s
community were that Louise, like many Coloured women, would pursue jobs such as being
“tellers, or checkers at Woolworth’s or Okay, Bizzare’s.” Louise’s mother had other vocational
aspirations for her daughters, which were eventually actualized. To this day, Louise’s mother is
a source of strength for, and provides support to, Louise and takes pride that her daughters are
professionals in their respective fields.
Personal communities also provided another very important form of support, namely
aiding childcare responsibilities. Advocate’s father and Factor X’s parents, who are retired and
live in close proximity to their daughters, picked up their grandchildren from school, made meals
for the family, and were present in their grandchildren’s and daughters’ lives. Factor X and
Advocate’s parents provided the type of support that allowed them to balance their work with
childcare responsibilities better, much like the parents and in-laws of other academics
interviewed. For example, when H was offered an opportunity to pursue her Ph.D. abroad, her
parents moved into her house to care for her children, a sacrifice and commitment that H
believed typifies “many Indian parents of their generation.” H suggested that this potentially
“explains why so many academic career people of our generation have achieved the successes
that we have.”

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However, not all parents and in-laws were able to regularly give direct aid with childcare
responsibilities partly because they lived in provinces different from their daughters. This,
however, didn’t stop Lila’s mother and Sweet Potato’s mother in-law from arriving from out-ofprovince to help with their daughter/daughter in-law’s childcare and domestic responsibilities.
Cheryl’s mother, on the other hand, travelled with her to conferences to care for her
grandchildren so that Cheryl could participate in professional development opportunities, while
Sweet Potato’s mother in-law, ‘flew into town’ to give direct aid to her grandchildren and son.
Sweet Potato, humbled by her mother in-law’s support, said that it’s often difficult because her
“native families are in other provinces,” a sentiment expressed by several of the other academics
interviewed. Her mother in-law’s presence “comforted me, because he’ll [her husband] will
come home to see his mom, so things won’t be that bad,” said Sweet Potato. Her mother-in-law
took over childcare and domestic responsibilities in Sweet Potato’s absence, making it possible
for Sweet Potato to conduct research abroad for three months while being assured that her family
was in good and capable hands.
In sum, these academics’ parents and in-laws provided support and encouragement for,
and gave direct aid to, their daughters’ and daughters in-law’s careers and lives in ways that were
profound and meaningful. This included educating their daughters, providing them with advice,
being good role models, supporting their scholarly pursuits, celebrating their achievements and
accomplishments, and aiding with childcare and domestic responsibilities when able and
available. Parents and in-laws, as illustrated herein, made valuable contributions to these
academics’ lives and careers and therefore were necessary and important components of the
personal communities of most.

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Siblings and Friends. The sibling(s) and friend(s) of many respondents often provided
exceptional and unwavering support by aiding these academics with childcare responsibilities,
allowing them to juggle childcare with their careers better. For instance, Star, who is a single
parent, relied on her brother and sister for support to raise her children. While on maternity
leave, Star’s firstborn child moved into her sister’s home as Star cared for her newborn. Later,
Star’s brother moved in to help raise the two children upon her return to academia. On the other
hand, Rebelie’s friends provided aid with childcare by being ‘on call.’ She said, “I can still call a
friend and say, ‘pick her [daughter] up, I’m stuck in class or stuck in supervision.”
Sometimes the respondents’ sibling(s) and friend(s) acted as “stand in moms” for these
academics. Advocate’s sister, for example, played “super mom” to Advocate’s six children
while tending to her own five children. As Advocate collected data abroad, her conscience was
eased knowing that her children were well cared for in her absence. Similarly, Sweet Potato’s
friends took turns caring for her children while she spent one year abroad on sabbatical. Her
friends, or ‘Christian sisters’, picked up the children from school daily, took them to movies and
spent time with them on weekends. Subsequently, Advocate’s sister and Sweet Potato’s friends
aided these academics with childcare responsibilities, effectively functioning as surrogate
mothers.
While these personal communities seldom directly aid the academics’ with work-related
tasks, there were exceptions. For example, Paks’ two sisters, who happened to have a
specialized set of skills, helped her sort archival data, type handwritten notes, and serve as
professional editors to her scholarly writing. Paks stated:
It has helped me. Without them, I wouldn’t have managed. For example, with my
research, maybe I could have afforded to employ people, but two of my sisters helped me
to come up with research… They go through the archives and help me capture the data…
This is my hand writing. One can take it and type it up. They can help you, especially
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with their qualities. I have a sister who is very good at language so I don’t have to ask
people around to edit my things… So it does help [to have family because they bring]
social cohesion in the African culture.
The help that Paks received was closely linked to the philosophy embedded within her familial
and cultural upbringing, that of uBuntu. Ultimately, as these narratives illustrate, the academics’
sibling(s) and friend(s) created platforms for these women to succeed and flourish as academic
mothers.
The Academics’ Children. Several of the academics spoke about their experiences as
mothers. Factor X’s story was particularly inspirational. She provided the following viewpoint
on how children can help one keep perspective:
[My children] helped me focus. And they kept me sane in this insane environment. They
help you see the world in all its beauty, as you should see it which we forget, um, in
terms of they enjoy the flowers, they love to understand how things work, they challenge
me… It is [also] a challenge for me to raise them in an environment that I know where 80
percent of the people they will encounter will be hostile, but to raise them in a manner to
be liberal, and yet to be able to stand up for themselves without being disrespectful to
anybody else… But, if I have to do it again, I wouldn’t hesitate now… If I didn’t have the
children, I don’t think my career would have gone as well. It’s intertwined.
Factor X’s children helped her to balance the important aspects of her life. They challenged and
helped her to stay positive and grounded. In other words, her children were the sunshine in an
otherwise stressful workplace and world. In the narratives that follow, I have argued that
individuals and/or groups which comprised these academics’ personal communities were not
always supportive.
No Woman is an Island: Lack of Support
Six academics identified individuals that were, in some situations, barriers to their
careers; specifically these included one’s husband or partner, mother, sibling, and/or family,
broadly defined. There were two ways that these personal communities were unsupportive of the
academics’ lives and careers. First, husbands or partners (n=3) were unwilling to share domestic

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and childcare responsibilities, seemingly because they believed these to be women’s
responsibilities. Second, various individuals were unsupportive of the academics’ careers,
although the reasons for their lack of support differed.
Husband or Partner. Ms. DBN06, who is Black/African, and Lila, who is Indian, are
married to men of their own races. Both their husbands believed that raising children was a
woman’s responsibility and duty. For Ms. DBN06, this message was ingrained in her and reperpetuated during her upbringing: “In African culture, the children are the women’s children
when they are growing up… but when they become graduates, they are the father’s children….
My culture taught me as a woman, married with children, that you’re responsible for the
children.” Ultimately Ms. DBN06 bears the responsibility of raising her children, with little to
no support from her husband. Another respondent, Lila, expressed that her husband of 20+
years, was “spoiled rotten” by his mother and is a “typical Indian [who] has had to evolve from
that over the years.” Her husband, much like Ms. DBN06’s husband, “had the mindset that
because I was the mother and the wife that certain things, certain roles, belonged to me. Like
tending to the kids, making supper, and cleaning the house.” However, unlike Ms. DBN06’s
husband, Lila’s husband subsequently changed his views. Presently, he helps with childcare and
domestic responsibilities, which she believed made it more possible for her to complete her
Ph.D., which she was presently pursuing.
Ndosi Lwasini’s partner was not much different from Ms. DBN06’s husband who
expected her to perform gender specific tasks, which included cooking. Ndosi’s partner appears
to be unreasonable, and much like Bachan’s ex-husband, was unsupportive of her career
ambitions and goals as an academic. Ndosi’s frustration with her partner was evidenced in the
following example:

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He [partner] has this tendency to just call in the morning to say, ‘Hey, cook something,
I'm coming.’ And I'm saying, ‘Hun, did you look at the watch, its half past seven. I'm just
leaving the house for work.’ ‘No, no, no cook something, I'm coming.’ That's the thing
that outside that house, because we don't live together, we are not married, but he doesn't
see anything wrong with him saying cook something… This is a guy who knows I'm
working. Why on earth does he think that at half past seven in the morning I can just
drop everything I'm doing and cook for him?... And, uh I was telling him this morning
that, you know, that conference encouraged me even more to be an academic and he
doesn't like that. And, uh, when he talks to me he sees just a lady, a woman…. They
[husband and brother] make these comments about Xhosa women that they think the
Xhosa women are very outspoken and they say what they think. They don't like women
like that who are being controlling.
Even though Ndosi Lwasini’s relationship to her partner was seemingly patriarchal, she viewed
the relationship as a “different face of empowerment,” mostly because she was the breadwinner.
On the other hand, H, Bachan, and Louise are divorced and/or separated; yet, they received
varying degrees of support from their ex-husbands. Bachan’s ex-husband believed that
furthering one’s education, such as obtaining a Ph.D., was selfish and self-centered, apparently a
source of much tension in their relationship. Since the Ph.D. is a crucial component for
academic promotion at Bachan’s institution, Bachan’s desire to obtain a Ph.D. directly conflicted
with her then-husband’s beliefs. Ultimately, as these narratives illuminate, the lack of support
from one’s husband or partner appeared to cause tension in each of these academics’
relationships with their significant other.
Mothers, Siblings, and Family. As the data illustrate, mothers and siblings were
typically supportive and encouraging and/or gave direct support and aid, in numerous ways, to
these academics’ lives and careers. This was not the case for three respondents whose personal
communities were unsupportive and/or obstructive. This included Ms. DBN06’s family
structure, which is polygamous, Lindy’s mother, and Ndosi Lwasini’s brother.
Ms. DBN06 believed that her biological family has obstructed and continues to obstruct
her personal pathway to success:

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You know, in a polygamous family, the head of the family will not necessarily be
responsible for the general welfare of the entire family… There’s love, there’s hatred,
there’s jealousy, there’s everything. It’s there. So if you are such a brilliant child in a
group of ‘not so brilliant’ children, you are a target for destruction… Always they
obstruct you, either physically or spiritually… The other part of it though is, if the
children of this woman are doing so well, then the children of the other woman also
want to compete… So I had it rough with that. I had it rough with that.
Lindy, like Ms. DBN06, left her family’s home as an unmarried woman to be independent and
self-sufficient. Both women’s decision to leave their homes contradicted their family’s
expectations and the norms and expectations of their respective cultures. Specifically, Lindy’s
values, some of which she gained through education, conflicted with her mother’s values and
expectations for how women should operate. Lindy stated:
[When I went home] my mother would want to put me on my place… You don’t know
the Black culture, you don’t leave home. The only way you leave home is when you get
married, and then I left home as the young, as the ‘last born’… [In university] you’ve
been exposed to situations where I learned the value of saying something if you don’t
agree with it and that it does not mean I’m being disrespectful to them. And also reading
more, and you know, knowing the difference in being assertive, passive, or aggressive
and applying that in terms of my own life, and also when I go back home with my own
family, being able to stand my ground and deciding that I am going to respect them but I
also need to be respected. And having to do that every day, being conscious of that every
day… I’m still controlled by my mother who does not expect me to say anything, you
know… I decided instead of fighting with my mother every day, let me rather move out
so that I can be able to learn more in terms of making my own decision and being my
own person.
Ultimately, Lindy’s self-respect superseded her desire to gain respect from her family,
particularly from her mother. Consequently, her mother was initially a barrier to Lindy’s
independent living and their relationship remains strained.
On the other hand, Ndosi Lwasini’s brother, much like Lindy’s mother and Ms.
DBN06’s family, was also a barrier. Ndosi Lwasini doesn’t receive support from her family, nor
have they celebrated her achievement as a Ph.D.; regardless of her status in the academy, her
family views Ndosi simply as a woman. Ndosi believes her brother loves her but their

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relationship, at times, was stressful and constrained, mostly because of his patriarchal tendencies.
Ndosi states:
Because once I leave this office I'm something else in the community… And I think it's a
problem… I just don't talk about my academia at home. I just talk a broken pipe in the
bathroom. I just talk about grass that needs to be cut in our yard… I talk about fencing…
And my brother also makes some negative comments about educated women. He was
just last month he was talking about women in the government. Women this. Women
that. There's this whole notion of equality. Very few African men like it. Very, very
few. So there are those things that suggest that no matter how educated you are, eh.
Maybe... maybe... maybe it's also a question of yeah, you are still a woman, you know,
and whatever you say you need to mind it because you are still a woman.
It is not surprising that these academics may have struggled to maintain healthy and positive
relationships with these individuals and/or groups who don’t value their careers. In essence,
these individuals and/or groups have the potential to obstruct their careers, but how academics
allowed these individuals and/or groups to influence their careers remained within their purview
and control.
Professional Community
Slightly more than three-fourths of the academics identified their colleagues (n=11),
line managers/supervisors (n=9), mentors (n=8), and/or institutional leaders (n=6) as influencing
their lives and careers. More often than not, these professional communities were vital to the
academics’ growth and development and highly influential throughout the academics’ career
trajectories. The exceptions included a few of the academics’ supervisors, who in some
instances were barriers, and several of the academics’ colleagues, who on occasion exhibited
actions and/or behaviors that were perceived by the academic as racist and/or sexist. This
negatively influenced the academics’ relationships with these particular colleagues and lead
some of the academics to experience their work environment as unwelcoming and hostile. On
the other hand, some academics converted barriers into challenges which then allowed them to
find solutions. Other respondents drew strength from their ideological beliefs and values and/or
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garnered support from members of their communities to navigate these barriers more effectively.
Alternatively, some of the academics were unsuccessful in overcoming the barriers, and yet, they
exhibited resiliency and had determination to persevere amidst these barriers.
Work “Families” Make a difference: Support, Encouragement, Aid, and Barriers.
The academics’ personal and professional communities were similar in that they
provided the academics with support and encouragement and aided them in numerous ways.
However, there were several striking differences including the kinds of support these
communities provided and the types of aid they gave to the academics. Conversely, personal
communities provided general support and encouragement to the academics and aided them with
their domestic and childcare responsibilities. This created an opportunity for these academics to
balance their work and lives better. On the other hand, individuals within the academics’
professional communities provided them with mentorship, advice, and psychosocial support and
increased their access to networks and professional development opportunities. Additionally,
these individuals often influenced the work environment positively and created a welcoming and
affirming institutional climate in which these academics worked. These professional
communities or ‘work families’ made significant and positive differences in the academics’ lives
and careers. Finally, professional communities seldom created barriers. However, a handful of
the academics perceived their colleagues’ and supervisors’ actions and behaviors as racist and/or
sexist.
Supervisors. In South Africa the academics’ supervisors are often referred to as line
managers and they typically hold positions such as the Head of Department (HoD). These
individuals have dual responsibilities in the academy (i.e., that of an academic and as a member
of management within their respective academic units). Alternatively three respondents viewed

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their supervisors as supportive and helpful, while four different respondents indicated that their
supervisors were unsupportive and in some cases antagonistic. The following examples are
illustrative of this contrast between supervisors that served as pillars of support to these
academics, and/or those that were roadblocks in their careers.
Rebelie’s supervisor went beyond the call of duty to create various opportunities that
were instrumental in orchestrating Rebelie’s progression into the academy. She experienced her
HoD as an individual who helped craft her career path. Rebelie stated:
I wanted to study further and [my mother said] ‘no way, you need to work!’ And for
some odd reason my HoD at that time said, ‘Where does your mother work?’ And I told
her and she drove to my mother’s workplace... She [supervisor] secured a few
scholarships and I did my Masters…if it wasn’t for [the HoD and others] I wouldn’t be
here… These individuals [the HoD and others] came together to make me who I am.
On the other hand, Star’s supervisor assisted her in ways that benefitted her teaching strategies.
She stated, “I think my new HoD is really supportive. He’ll come and give [teaching] pointers…
For example he will say, the key thing with lecturing is that you need to be prepared of what
you’re going to say… So he really is a good coach… He is really coaching me!” Star’s
supervisor possessed the skills and qualities often associated with good coaching. The “pointers”
that he provided, which are, hypothetically, not much different from the tips that coaches offer
their players, conveyed to Star the importance of preparation as a teaching strategy for successful
classroom lectures.
Additionally, good coaches harness their players’ assets and strengths. In other words,
coaches help their players to excel by supporting and encouraging them, as well as creating an
environment that nurtures their talents. Jacira’s supervisor was similar to Star’s supervisor in
that she, too, possessed the skills and qualities often associated with good coaching. This was
evident in the comments that Jacira’s supervisor made to Jacira such as, “The sky is the limit for
you,” and “You can do anything you want to do. It’s entirely up to you!” These comments
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encouraged Jacira to slowly gain confidence as a scholar, confidence which she initially lacked.
Jacira stated, “I think it’s because of the way we were indoctrinated [during apartheid] that we
didn’t have the confidence. We were made to feel that we were second-class citizens.”
Effectively, Jacira’s supervisor “cheered her on from the sidelines” and affirmed her abilities as a
scholar which, in turn, led Jacira to rethink and reframe her perception of herself as a secondclass citizen to herself as a highly capable and talented individual.
Moreover, Jacira’s supervisor was flexible in that she allowed her supervisees to conduct
their scholarly work during regular business hours, in spaces that the supervisee believed was
more conducive to her productivity, even if this meant working outside the university on some
occasions. Jacira said, “If I really want to produce and I really want to finish something then I
must work at home… I’ll tell her [supervisor] give me two days so that I can just finish this and
then she’ll give it to you.” In the last two years, Jacira has produced three scholarly articles and
two book chapters and has promoted two masters students toward graduation. Consequently, the
supervisor’s flexibility directly influenced Jacira’s productivity and indirectly contributed to the
institution’s gross number of scholarly outputs and throughput (undergraduate student efficiency
toward degree completion) rates, both of which affect the financial dividends that the university
received from the South African Department of Education. Hence, these outputs not only
contributed towards Jacira’s promotion to senior lecturer but also benefitted the university, too.
Unlike Rebelie, Star, and Jacira’s supervisors, who were pillars of support for them, four
of the respondents’ supervisors were unsupportive. For example, Lucy described an interaction
with her supervisor that was particularly “sour.” Lucy said, “In my research account, I don’t
have enough money for the flight and the accommodation,” making reference to her desire to
attend a professional development conference in a neighboring South African province. She

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stated, “So I e-mailed someone on top [supervisor] for assistance. He wrote one sentence, ‘I
cannot help you!’ No salutation, no ending. That’s a lemon, my dear, a very sour one…
especially for someone who knows that this [conference] is part and parcel of your growing!”
Although Lucy’s interaction with her supervisor was antagonistic, and though she had the
potential to remain sour about the situation, she chose to rather “change the lemons to
lemonade.” She said, “You know I always go for Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. So if Plan C doesn’t
work, I just say God doesn’t want me to do this.” This example draws attention to how Lucy
remained positive amidst her supervisor’s lack of support and how she relied upon and trusted
her faith in God to guide the direction of her career. The influence of religion/faith/spirituality
on academics’ lives and careers is discussed in the next section.
Alternatively, Lila’s and Amina Bux’s supervisors discouraged them from pursuing their
respective doctoral degrees. Lila recalled two disconcerting comments that were made almost
seven years ago by her previous supervisor. These comments included: ‘I don’t think it’s that
important to do a Ph.D.,’ and ‘when you haven’t started something, it’s easier to not start it.’
Lila trusted her supervisor’s advice at face value and subsequently delayed commencing her
doctoral degree. Several years later, however, she reflected on her supervisor’s comments. She
said, “What a strange thing to say… I’m trying to think what was his motivation for telling me
that? I can’t fathom it out, it’s just a puzzle for me.” Lila eventually completed her Ph.D., yet
she remains perplexed by her supervisor’s advice. Similarly, Amina Bux’s supervisor also
discouraged her from pursuing a Ph.D. Amina said:
When I was battling to decide where I was going to do a Ph.D., she [supervisor] said to
me, ‘You know someone like you doesn’t need to be in an academic environment. You
need to be in a clinic working with people all the time and being in a job where you could
just come at eight and go at four.’ I took offense to that because it meant that I shouldn’t
be where I’m at, which is at the university in an academic position which is eight to four
anyway. And for me, I read it as, you’re not an academic! And now, I wonder because I
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haven’t finished this thing [dissertation] and she has literally deserted me… How I’m
going to do this?
It is clear that these comments were demeaning in tone and discouraging to Amina. Moreover,
they directly influenced how Amina subsequently perceived her own ability to complete the
dissertation, and as a result she questioned whether she belonged in the academy. Her
supervisor’s comments were harmful and unhelpful, especially since Amina was struggling to
complete the Ph.D. Since the Ph.D. is increasingly an important criterion for advancement from
junior to senior lecturer at Amina Bux’s and Lila’s respective universities, in this context, their
supervisor’s discouragements and lack of support were/are roadblocks to their career
advancement and their professional growth.
The relationships between these academics and their respective supervisors were often
fraught with friction and tension. Both Lucy and Lila chose to mend the fence, symbolically
speaking, with their supervisor. In other words, these academics attempted to improve or restore
the relations. On the other hand, Amina Bux’s relationship with her supervisor was severely
damaged. However, each of the academics navigated their own situations to varying degrees of
success.
Mentors. The relationship between the mentor and mentee is best understood as part of a
continuum and as embedded within a history of interactions between the respondent and the
mentor. However, the examples herein do not examine and/or illustrate the complex and
dynamic nature of these relationships in entirety. Rather, the examples seek to illuminate how
mentorship contributed to these academics’ careers and to highlight the types of mechanisms and
strategies that these mentors used in their relationships with the academic. Specifically, this was
done through role modeling, giving advice, and sharing their insights, knowledge and skills.

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Additionally, most of these mentors were from similar academic disciplines/fields to the
respondent, with the exception of a handful of mentors. Only Mrs. X and Hempies indicated that
they found it challenging to find mentors in their own disciplines. Among the roles mentors held
with the respondents were colleagues, their Head of Departments, and/or former Ph.D.
supervisors. Three-fourths of these mentors were employed as academics at South African
universities different from the respondent and/or were academics at international universities.
Interestingly, almost all of these mentors, with exception to Lindy’s mentor who is a woman of
color, were White individuals, four men and three women.
Eight respondents saw at least one of their mentors as having significantly shaped their
professional lives. Specifically, these mentors cultivated developmental partnerships with these
academics by sharing their perspectives over time and along the academics’ career journey. For
example, T stated that she benefitted from the tutelage of her mentor immensely. Their
relationship, which has evolved over 13 years, continues to nourish her personally and
professionally. She said, “I was just blessed. I had the most brilliant [Ph.D.] supervisor, and she
was my mentor and continues to be my role model. And that changed my life as well… not only
scientifically but even on a personal level.”
One strategy that mentors used was instilling confidence in the respondent and
encouraging her to be confident in her scholarly abilities. “I was very lucky I had a mentor,” said
Factor X, “That’s one of the reasons why I’m still in academia… he [the mentor] instilled and
grew my belief and confidence… I don’t think I would be as far in my science career if it wasn’t
for him.” Similarly, Lindy’s mentor taught her the importance of using her voice as a tool for
self-advocacy. This advice or insight was particularly influential in Lindy’s life given that her
sociocultural background and upbringing, and past educational experiences ill-prepared her to

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stand up for herself. Specifically, messages such as ‘be invisible,’ ‘don’t think critically,’ and
‘accept authority,’ especially if the authority figure was White, were often engrained and
constantly reinforced by societal expectations. These messages were from members of her
community and from within her family unit. Lindy, who reflected on the importance of her
mentor, stated that her mentor was not only a role model of effective ways to advocate for
oneself, but she also empowered Lindy to “fight for herself.” Lindy now applies this insight and
strategy in various situations, such as in discussion with colleagues and supervisors about the
equal distribution of workload and teaching assignments. Lindy’s example explicitly highlights
the interrelationships and interactions among influencing factors. Specifically, race and gender
were interrelated with other influencing factors such as family background and upbringing, prior
school experiences, mentor-mentee relationships, individual agency and self-efficacy, as well as
how these influencing factors interacted and contributed to the academics’ careers.
Another way that these mentors contributed to these academics’ professional lives was by
giving advice and by raising their awareness about the roles and responsibilities in the
professoriate. As well, these mentors encouraged these academics to reflect critically on various
dimensions of their work. For example, Lila was groomed by her mentor, who asked questions
that raised critical self-reflection. She recalled that she had “no idea what academia was about”
but that her first mentor “took [her] under her wing.” The mentor asked Lila: “How would you
go teach and interact with students?” These questions prompted Lila to think about her own
teaching and learning practices. Ultimately, Lila said, mentorship was the “grabbing force” in
her professional life and this force helped her achieve many successes in the academy.
Finally, these mentors also provided access to their international networks and
international communities. In turn, this stimulated new opportunities for the academics’

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professional growth and development, as well as invitations to future collaboration with these
newly-identified international colleagues. A prime example that illustrates the point was Sweet
Potato’s mentor, who invited her to spend a week at a peer institution in South Africa for a series
of meetings with his international colleagues. This opportunity ignited her career growth and
created a platform for collaborative research abroad. H also believes her mentor impacted her
life and career in ways that were immeasurable. She reflected on the serendipity of and God’s
intervention in the alignment of her relationship with her mentor, who was initially her father’s
friend. H stated, “In sheer coincidence he ended up being a professor at the university I went to
[abroad]…. So, he didn’t know it, I didn’t know it and honestly I think that’s why God
intervenes at times you know?” She elaborated:
When I went [abroad], he [mentor] arranged everything with one phone call… When the
girls [her daughters] and I landed there were people waiting for us, a home was arranged.
There was nothing I needed to do… He arranged for me to get the graduate assistantship.
Every Saturday… he would bring us a bag of whatever food we might need… He was a
driver of everything and anything. And I can tell you that my thinking changed because
of his mentorship… So I feel so privileged to have grown under his care.
Clearly, these mentors were highly influential in these respondents’ lives and careers. As these
examples illuminated, mentors contributed to these academics’ personal and professional growth,
and often propelled these academic women’s careers forward in significant ways. Of particular
noteworthiness is that these mentors (some of whom were deans), were often White men who
were allies to these black women academics.
Institutional Leaders. Six respondents articulated that various individuals within the
university administration and leadership, herein referred to as institutional leaders, supported
them and/or facilitated opportunities which encouraged personal and professional development.
Among these respondents were Patricia Singh, Star, and Advocate. These academics stated that
their respective academic deans were role models and were paramount in shaping their careers.

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The dean “played a pivotal role in assisting me in believing in myself” and “he taught me things
that are tools of the scientist,” said Patricia Singh. While attending a university-sponsored
workshop for female academics, the dean, a White male, gave Patricia the following piece of
advice: “You can go anywhere in the world, but you must have your very own little lab. It’s
something you must be able to do hands-on.” Patricia is presently seeking a grant-extension that
will enable her to continue her passion for wet science in her “very own little lab,” which she
recently established. Clearly, the dean’s advice had a resounding effect on her career and it
continues to influence how she practices her science today.
On the other hand, Star recounted that the support she received during her first year as an
academic from her dean, another White male, was a critical intercession in her career. She
recalled a specific event that was particularly meaningful. Star said, “The dean actually
organized a breakfast to introduce me to other young lecturers in the faculty. So I got to know
people because I’m kind of a closed-in person.” The event served dual purposes in Star’s career:
first, it was an opportunity to interact with colleagues in similar career stages, and second, it
created a platform from which to launch networks. The dean’s initiative in organizing such an
event was a symbolic and concrete gesture of his unwavering support for new academics and his
effort to effectively transition these individuals into the department. Consequently, the event
also created a safe space for Star to reach outside her comfort zone and test her natural
introverted tendencies while ‘in action.’ These deans modeled positive leadership attributes,
qualities and skills. But, they also provided these academics with the mentorship and advice that
encouraged their growth and development and equipped them with the tools to succeed in the
academy.

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Rebelie and Lila, on the other hand, did not identify a particular institutional leader as
having provided needed training and support. Rather, they stated that an organizational entity at
their institution, as well as the group of individuals within this entity who champion the unit’s
mission, contributed to their careers in profound ways. This entity, Research Capacity
Development (RCD), provided them with financial assistance to support their research activities
and/or offered workshops and individualized support to develop their skills and talent as
researchers. Evidently, organizational entities such as RCD are quite an effective resource for
academics because they directly support the development of researchers and/or offer financial
assistance, which in turn supports and enriches the academics’ research activities.
Colleagues. The respondents’ colleagues included individuals within their department
and persons from other academic units at the respondents’ university. Generally, these
colleagues provided the academic with personal support, scholarly advice and encouragement.
Several of the respondents also expressed that their colleagues were, in general, kind, caring and
genuinely interested in their well-being.
In addition, international colleagues served an important role for some of the respondents.
Sweet Potato’s initial interaction with international colleagues occurred during an invited
meeting. This meeting was coordinated by her mentor at another South African university. She
emphatically recalled, “[the international colleagues] had the same passion, and they
immediately just got it… I was blown away. I knew I had to spend time with them!” These
colleagues served as a catalyst in her career and were a major source of motivation for Sweet
Potato’s continued scholarly efforts. Within a year of meeting these colleagues, Sweet Potato
began fundraising to support her interest in conducting research abroad and upon receiving
support in the form of a sabbatical from the dean in her unit, Sweet Potato spent several months

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in the United States engaging in collaborative initiatives with these international colleagues. Her
time was highly productive. She conducted new empirical research, prepared several articles for
publication, and is presently in the process of writing a book on the topic that sparked the initial
collaboration. This example illustrates the importance of international colleagues and
international collaborations in advancing an academic’s career, as well as the role of mentors in
helping to facilitate how junior academics gain access to networks and how sabbaticals can
enhance opportunities for these academics to reinvigorate their careers.
Perceived Racism and Sexism in the Workplace
Broader socioeconomic histories inform an individual’s foundational, racial assumptions,
beliefs, and behaviors. Racism stems from prejudice and discrimination toward a group that
typically has less power. In South Africa, historically, this was non-White race groups.
Discrimination based on gender, male privilege, and gender stereotyping, as well as the attitudes
and cultural elements that promote this discrimination is referred to as sexism. Acts of overt and
covert racism and sexism by an individual must be understood as connected to and supported and
reinforced by systemic racism and sexism. This section provides examples of colleagues and
supervisors’ actions and behaviors which the respondent perceived as racist and/or sexist.
Generally, these occurred in the form of nonverbal and verbal messages and/or through nonphysical aggressions and behavioral exchanges. Although the racism and sexism was mostly
covert, the cumulative effect was harmful. The way that these academics ultimately handled and
navigated the racist and/or sexist aggressions, messages and exchanges is elaborated in the
Competence section.

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Supervisors. Actions of Hempies’ doctoral research supervisor and a comment made by
Microbe-Lover’s line manager were perceived as racist by these respective respondents. For
example, Microbe-Lover said:
I think he [line manager] was expecting to have to help me write this project proposal and
I kind of like wrote the proposal and gave it to him and said, ‘Okay, now check it.’ And
he couldn’t find anything that he needed to change… because we were coming from that
historically black university and so people kind of had this idea in their mind that we
weren’t of the same caliber or quality. So it was nice to show somebody, okay, ‘look
you’re mistaken’ because no matter where you came from if you have potential, you can
show it under any circumstances.
Correctly or incorrectly, Microbe-Lover interpreted her supervisor’s response to her as
prejudiced or biased toward black academics. However, instead of being deterred by her
supervisor’s comment, Microbe-Lover demonstrated that she was highly capable of writing a
scholarly proposal independent of the “help” he offered.
Hempies, on the other hand, was struggling in the relationship with her doctoral research
supervisor, whose persistent actions she perceived as racist. Although Hempies did not share
specific examples, she was quite distraught over the relationship and the subsequent response of
her line manager after she reported the situation. Hempies stated emphatically:
She [supervisor] used to always be racist in a way that they [the academic unit] covered it
up for her because she’s a well-known person in the community here… and I’m only a
little teepee… Teepee, I’m nobody. Nobody in the story… When I went to complain
about this whole situation to our school and to our line manager, they can’t believe that
she’s a person like that. She can’t be. So I said, ‘Yes she is!’ What do you do if they
don’t believe it? I just wish I had a recorder that day that I had a meeting with him [line
manager]… They [the academic unit] try to bombard you with work so that you can fall
off the bus. Is that the tactic that’s being used? Cause I don’t think like that. Or do you
sit back because sometimes you know, you sit back and you just watch yourself. It’s like
you gotta get out of your body. Then you see what’s happening and you start to think,
you know, you’re not hallucinating! This is really what’s happened… It feels that I’m
being pushed to the back of the bus so that I can fall off somewhere… through that hole
in the back of the bus.
The word “teepee” signified how Hempies felt insignificant as an academic within her unit. Her
feelings suggest that there is a systemic, if unplanned, set of racist pressures on her which will
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cause her to fall of the bus, or fail. In addition, it seemed that Hempies was overwhelmed and
distressed by the situation, felt alone and isolated in the academic unit, and was perhaps at a loss
for how to seek resolution. Although the situation seemed bleak, Hempies took the initiative to
contact members of the executive management team at her university immediately after the
interview to address multiple concerns and to pursue solutions.
Colleagues. The respondents Rebelie and Factor X described two specific situations
involving them and their colleagues, which broadly defined could be considered racial microaggressions. These situations occurred when the respondents initially began lecturing at the
same university, albeit in disparate academic units. Rebelie said:
Some racial things started because they [students] used to have another lecturer’s class
and then my class. And this lecturer had a habit of coming in, before he starts his class
and he would first ask [the students] ‘How was [Rebelie’s] class last week?’ How it was
his business I do not know. And my Black students started seeing this as a racial issue. I
was a new lecturer… I wanted to see it as he [colleague] was concerned about my wellbeing… And they [students] came to me screaming murder… There was then a racial
division. The White students had an opinion, the Black students wanted to protect me.
And I didn’t really need protection. So it brought tension within the class itself and the
next morning I was in the Head of Department's (HoD) office saying, ‘Have you assigned
somebody to monitor my performance?’ That was my question. And he [HoD] was
shocked… The [HoD said] ‘What happened?’ And I told him what happened and the
effect it was having in the class because it was starting a divide. It was three years after
segregation. I was the first Black lecturer in the department and I was the youngest… So
from that lesson, I’ve tried to neutralize things.
Factor X’s situation, in contrast, was quite different from Rebelies’ in that Factor X perceived
her colleagues’ repeated actions to be an intentional act of using her in order to meet the
affirmative action criteria for grant applications. Although at first she believed her colleagues’
actions were non-racist and not motivated by racist intentions, she reconsidered upon further
reflection. Factor X said:

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I was very optimistic. I was a young academic, starting out, I did not realize that strategy
was involved, politics was involved… I’ll show you one thing that’s very controversial.
People [colleagues] found it extremely uncomfortable, saying the only reason I was
appointed [was] because I’m an affirmative action candidate… Yet, when they’d apply
for funding, there’s a category where you can list your collaborators are Black, Coloured,
whatever. Everybody took me on board. Because this would show that they [research
group/collaborators] had color. And then when the grant was awarded, suddenly, they’d
say, ‘You know, the feedback from the grant agency was that we had to cut this aspect
where your research was on, so therefore, we’re really gonna focus on what we’re
doing!’… It happened the first time with one of my colleagues, and I thought, ‘Okay, I
can understand that and I can understand they need to do that for the benefit.’ When it
happened the second time, I realized there was a pattern. That’s how naive I was.
Rebelie and Factor X’s examples draw attention to the respondents’ perceptions of covert racism
by colleagues. In sum, these respondents managed the situations by either approaching their
Head of Department and/or by withdrawing from future collaborations with these particular
colleagues.
One respondent, H, described numerous examples of covert racism by multiple
colleagues in her academic unit. These situations occurred at the same university where Rebelie
and Factor X work and like these academics, H had also newly arrived at the university.
However, the timing of H’s arrival was particularly significant due to the university experiencing
massive transitions in academic staff compositions and racial integration of academic staff and
students to the university. In other words, this period of post-institutional merger was
demarcated by a tumultuous transition. H said:
What I didn’t know is that the people [colleagues] here were very much against the idea
of affirmative action being applied… They were very much against the idea of
newcomers. And in retrospect maybe they felt insecure about their jobs. But my
experience here [at the university] in that first semester convinced me that I don’t ever
want to live here anymore and I started applying to leave. It was covert racism, I think.
It was just a lot of female cattiness and it was very, very disillusioning… Life became
very, very difficult… It was colleagues within the department who did not accept that a
so called, in their words, ‘[Black] girl had to come here and be our Head of Department!’
They even requested to look at my doctoral dissertation. People who didn’t have
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doctorates wanted to look at it to see if I was worthy and capable of writing a
dissertation…. And together with the fact that the merger was happening and the budget
was being cut… I was given copies of emails stating how they should plan to destroy me.
And I’ll never forget one quote, ‘Don’t wrestle with the pig because the pig will enjoy it
and he will get dirty.’ And the pig was me. And these are academics talking, mind you!
Unfortunately, H’s transition to the university was hardly welcoming; rather, her colleagues’
racist actions and behaviors were deeply wounding. Pejorative comments such as “wrestling
with a dirty pig” were likely intended to demean and slander H’s position and status as an Indian,
woman, and Head of Department. Despite her disillusionment and being called to prove her
scholarly credibility, H managed to persevere amidst the hostile climate that these colleagues
evidently created.
Finally, four of the respondents perceived several of their male colleagues to be sexist.
This included Patricia Singh who stated, in general, that “male colleagues try to pull you down,”
and Paks who said, “Males think they are a superior gender [because] they are superior at home.
Superior made by the society.” Paks did not share specific examples; however, she stated that
male colleagues, in her experience, frequently practiced their privileges within the university.
On the other hand, Lila provided a more robust description of the sexist comments made
by the male colleagues in her department. She stated that she received very little support and this
was presumably because her discipline “has been a historically male-dominated field” and
because there were very few women in her academic unit. Lila said:
I would experience comments in the passage or the tearoom to the effects like, ‘Get on
with it now!’ and ‘Write it up now!’ And I used to feel almost like you go home to your
warm plate of food that’s been cooked already and you don’t have to mess with any kids
or whatever and I’m the woman in this whole situation and it’s harder for me! Because I
know the scenario that others [male colleagues] were experiencing in their homes. Their
wives were at home. They didn’t work. So they [male colleagues] had the support
system. It kind of made me feel a little bit, um, yeah… a bit hurt at times.

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Similar to Lila, Sweet Potato gave multiple examples of why she perceived male colleagues to be
sexist. Upon return from a research sabbatical to a U.S. university, Sweet Potato reflected that
she didn’t “realize the mental oppressions going on in [her] university” until she “was removed
from the environment.” Sweet Potato also said, “You’re not aware that every day you have to
contend with your ‘female’. Your colleagues see you as ‘female’. Not that they don’t see you as
female [abroad]. They do, but you come with this [broader] profile.” Sweet Potato expanded by
stating the following:
So I also had to accept that when I’m here [at the university], daily I was contending with
being female, being ‘Black’, being young… some prodigal child. And most of them
[colleagues] taught me so they are these older, White men who don’t really get what my
business is about. So there wasn’t any space to have a collegial relationship when I was
here. The environment didn’t exist. You met in meetings… you see the relationships
developing but you are not a part of it. It’s like you exist, but you don’t.
It was clear that Lila and Sweet Potato were isolated within their academic units. Lila, in
particular, felt hurt by the sexist comments and frustrated by her colleagues’ complete disregard
of their male privilege. Nevertheless, Lila subsequently found support from other female
colleagues and mentors. In contrast, Sweet Potato perceived her male colleagues in the
department to be sexist, racist, and ageist. This was illustrated through her comments related to
older, White, male colleagues’ lack of understanding of her disciplinary expertise. Evidently,
her position in the department as a young Black woman seemingly delegated her to the
periphery, where she received no opportunities to pursue collegial relationships.
Summary of Personal and Professional Communities
As previously mentioned, community referred to the academics’ primary relationships
and the interactions with individuals and/or groups within their personal and professional
communities. These communities served numerous functions in the academics’ lives and
careers. First, personal communities, in general, provided the academics with support and

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encouragement and aided them with domestic and childcare responsibilities. This provided an
opportunity for these academics to better balance their work and lives. Second, professional
communities offered these academics mentorship, advice and psychosocial support and increased
their access to networks and professional development opportunities. And third, the examples in
this section highlighted why these communities were a necessity for these respondents’
successes. Since the great majority of the academics interviewed identified personal (n=21) and
professional (n=23) communities as central to their work and lives, it is understandable that even
amidst the barriers, hardships, and challenges these academic women found ways to maneuver
the issue/situation in order to keep moving themselves forward.
Commitment
Commitment encompassed the academics’ ideological perspectives including core beliefs
and values (see figure 2C). Almost all of the academics interviewed identified ideologies as an
integral factor influencing their lives (n=25). These ideologies were part and parcel to their
teaching, research and service. For many, this included the academics’ religious and/or spiritual
beliefs, values and practices (n=14), and/or beliefs and practices related to uBuntu (n=4), a
cultural and ethno-linguistic, humanist philosophy that focuses on allegiances, community and
relations with others. The academics’ ideologies also encompassed their passion and
commitment toward social justice and transformation (n=10) and toward capacity development
and nation building (n=19).
The respondents often drew strength from, and were motivated by, multiple ideologies,
and these ideologies permeated their teaching, research and/or engagement such as using the
principles from Christianity and uBuntu to build relationships with colleagues and students.

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Seemingly, ideologies served to facilitate these academics’ careers in ways seen as positive and
meaningful. Yet, their perspectives varied and the ways that these ideologies interacted in the
academics’ lives and careers was nuanced. Their stories reflect the following themes: religion
and family upbringing; vocational calling; religious ideologies reflected in the academics’
teaching and service work; justice and change in pedagogy, instructional strategies, research,

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outreach, and engagement; an uBuntu leadership style; and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for
capacity development.
Religion and/or Spirituality
Christian beliefs and values influenced several academics’ careers and lives (n=7). The
data also included the perspectives of academics from various other religions and/or spiritualties,
including Islam (n=4), Atheism, Hinduism and Karma Yoga, a philosophy that stems from
Hinduism. These 14 academics comprised a diverse range of race groups (Indian, African and
Coloured) and ethnic groups (Xhosa, Zulu and Sesotho). In addition, most of the respondents
were involved in faith-based institutions and organizations, while a few expressed that they
preferred to practice their religion and/or spirituality in non-formal places of worship.
Irrespective of racial/ethnic group differences, these respondents shared common ideologies that
guided who they were, how they understood themselves, including in relation to others, and what
and how they taught, researched and/or engaged as academics. In subsequent publications, I
plan to report on possible differences across race and ethnicity together with ideological values
and beliefs.
Religion, Family History and Personal Background
Star was raised with religious values and principles. Her childhood upbringing, similar to
the 13 academic peers, consisted of learning about religion from various family members and/or
from individuals in faith-based communities. Today, almost all of these academics practice, in a
variety of ways and to varying degrees, the religion and/or spirituality of their childhood.
Louise, however, was the only exception. Louise rejected her Christian upbringing and adopted
an atheist perspective which provided connection and clarity for her life and guided how she
honored and celebrated the human spirit within students and colleagues.

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Port and Ms. DBN06 were similar in that religion helped them both to cope with and
overcome childhood hardships. Growing up in a Black township, Port described how she relied
on her faith perspective to overcome the racism and sexism pervasive in her community:
When I looked around in my culture, where I came from, the township, the treatment
that I had from men around, it was always like ‘you nothing, you nothing’. And then, it
even got worse with realizing that racism is so bad because now you had black people
and White people telling you that you’re nothing. It’s just, it was horrible. So I had to
stick to that faith [Christianity]. That no, I am not nothing and I can achieve. I can do
whatever God put me on this earth to do…. I just am important because I’m human and
I’m created by God with love. That’s it, you know?
Similarly, Ms. DBN06’s trust in God gave her the courage to ultimately leave her childhood
home and family situation. She said:
My background has always been a Christian. I’m from a polygamous family. If I wasn’t
trusting God I don’t think I would have survived a couple of things, you know?… He
protected me from the snares of the polygamous turmoil… in terms of my calling, I
believe God knows that I love to give… but for me giving can only be realized fully
especially as God’s children when you are with people…. Whatever your
circumstances are, in your career, at home, you will always be protected… He has been
with me throughout my journey.
In sum, Port and Ms. DBN06’s familial, socio-cultural and class struggles were similar to the
types of family backgrounds and upbringing of several other respondents. Yet their stories in
particular draw attention to how religious beliefs provided hope, purpose and meaning, despite
struggle and hardship.
Vocational Calling
Four individuals indicated that being an academic directly related to who God wanted
them to be and what purpose He wanted them to serve. Lucy and Port believed that God’s divine
will guided them toward their vocations as academics. Similarly, Star saw her identity, strength,
motivation, self-worth and life purpose as interconnected with God’s calling and saw herself as

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fulfilling His calling by serving as a hard scientist. Likewise, Ms. DBN06 expressed that her
academic identity was also linked to God’s intentions for her life:
There’s a direct link between caring for people and what God wants me to do. Whether I
am in the classroom or I am in the hospital, or even when I’m on the street or in the
shopping mall, there’s a direct link of me being who I am… and me being who I am that
God has made. I can’t separate the two… the health care profession, it actually sort of
directs you and it pushes you in the direction where God wants you to make a difference.
It is evident that religion is a core guide for these academics. Their beliefs and values as
Christians provided meaning and direction toward how they fulfilled not only their purpose, but
also God’s purpose.
Religious Ideologies and Teaching
Several academics expressed that religious ideologies influenced their professional work,
namely building relationships with students and/or purposefully integrating ideologies into
teaching (n=4). Ndosi Lwasini described her ability to relate to students’ struggles since, like
many of her students, she too grew up in a poor, rural, Black township where religion offers
people the hope of a better future. Her Christian beliefs undergirded how she guided students
within and outside the classroom environment. Ndosi said:
You come across a lot of students who are suffering at the university, they are
suffering… the students are always so poor, student’s today are so poor, that I always tell
them, ‘you know guys you must pray, God will help you’. I do that, and I say it from
deep down.
Meanwhile, Star relied on her relationship with God as the source of her teaching inspiration and
motivation. As she prepared her lectures a dialogue with the Lord ensued, and reading Scripture
provided comfort while simultaneously evoking her courage to teach. Star said:
So yes, I do converse with Him… I have to find scriptures that are gonna keep me strong.
For example, for this new course that I taught last year… I don’t know maybe an exact
scripture but I know a song that says we move from strength to strength and from glory to
glory and to move from faith to faith. I’m in a better glory than I was last year. And then
for my next lecture, I’ll be like, ‘Okay, I know today’s lecture will be better than

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yesterday’s lecture because we move from glory to glory.’ So those are the ways of
encouraging myself because it’s for me still a challenge to teach this course.
For these academics there was a direct link between teaching and working with students and
their Christian beliefs. Yet, their application of these religious ideologies, as demonstrated here,
was quite varied.
Religious Ideologies in Research and Service Work
The academics’ religious and/or spiritual ideologies also influenced service work and
research (n=3). Advocate’s and Nandani’s ideologies exemplified the explicit link between
religion/spirituality with research interests and/or outreach and engagement activities. For
example, Advocate worked diligently to find practical solutions for her comrades in South
Africa, stating that “Islam teaches us that you teach the person to fish instead of giving them the
fish.” Nandani, on the other hand, relied on her spiritual master’s teachings, the late Sri Swami
Sivananda, who called his believers and followers to serve and act in uplifting the plight of
others. Nandani’s commitment to Karma Yoga was demonstrated in her scholarly efforts: social
science research related to HIV/AIDS and dissemination of this work to previously
disadvantaged individuals and others in her regional community. Both Advocate’s and
Nandani’s ideologies directly influenced their scholarly endeavors and were enmeshed within
their philosophies, approaches and practices for research, outreach and engagement. Similarly,
Sweet Potato believed that God knew and understood her passion for research, and as such she
respected and valued each team member’s contribution to collaborative work. Purportedly, Jesus
brought together the perfect research team which enabled Sweet Potato to enact her gratitude and
fulfill scholarly duties.

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Social Justice and Transformation
Another ideological perspective that influenced academics’ lives and careers were values
toward social equity and inclusion and a passion and commitment toward transformation (n=10).
These values were often operationalized in the ways respondents sought to raise students’ critical
awareness of social inequalities and hegemony. It was also seen as they addressed the causes for
and advancing systemic change, both institutionally and societally toward the betterment of
South Africa. Apparently, social justice and transformation were ideological values central to
these academics’ lives, values often reflected in their pedagogy and instructional strategies
and/or embedded in research, outreach and engagement activities. Ultimately, the viewpoints of
these 10 individuals are unique and distinct: their passion and commitment for social justice and
transformation was fundamental to their identities.
Justice and Change in Pedagogy and Instructional Strategies
Social justice, equity and inclusion underpinned several academics’ principles, methods
and practices of teaching and were often reflected in instructional strategies (n=6). Rebelie and
Jothi, both from lower socioeconomic class backgrounds and educated in impoverished and
poorly resourced school systems, expressed that ideologies toward social justice motivated their
instructional strategies in ways they saw as positive and meaningful. In her own words, Jothi’s
teaching philosophy, informed by the thinking and work of individuals such as Freire, Gramsci,
Giroux and Palmer, aimed at “decolonizing the mind” and instilling “a sense of hope for the
future.” This emancipatory approach encouraged students to question their assumptions about
gender, race, class, religion and sexuality, and to understand the pervasiveness of institutional
inequities as a means of becoming “acutely aware of the various forms of discrimination” and
unequal distribution of power in the political, economic and social realms, said Jothi. She

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required students to write their life histories/biographies and journal in small groups. Through
these experiences, Jothi’s students learned to recognize the power of journaling for “developing
reflectivity and a critical awareness of one’s own engagement in the world and with people
around them.”
In hindsight Rebelie recalls that her primary and secondary school teachers discouraged
critical thinking. Rebelie’s desire to provide her students with a different educational learning
environment than she had experienced was exemplified in instructional strategies aimed to
disrupt students’ linear thinking and to encourage new ways of thought:
I bring in the controversial because that’s what excites me. I’ll still bring in the thoughtprovoking questions to a class because I don’t believe in not stimulating thought after
class. I want them to walk away thinking. I want them to walk away feeling something
even if it’s irritation. I want a reaction… I believe in ruffling those feathers… creating
the disorder… I want that chaos.
Further, Rebelie’s teaching, which is a form of disruptive pedagogy, included the use of code
switching between isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English. Here disruptive pedagogy asserts that
switching language from the normative language, English, would trigger different learning
patterns in multi-lingual learners. By doing so, code switching not only met students’ lexical
needs but also provided a platform for Rebelie to foster connection with her students and build
solidarity.
Justice and Change in Research, Outreach and Engagement
Ideological values based in social justice and transformation were also reflected in the
research, outreach and engagement activities (n=4) of a handful of academics including Star,
Sweet Potato, Advocate and Mrs. X. Arguably, these academics aspired to change and uplift the
various communities in which they worked through their scholarship, which was often actionoriented, and/or through their outreach, which was typically transformation-oriented. The
communities that these academics aspired to uplift included units or environments in which they
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worked and/or through changing university policies and practices. These ideologies also
influenced the types of research these academics pursued and the types of outreach activities they
engaged in, including but not limited to: advocating for and aiding small-scale farmers,
educating local women about how to cook and sew for profit and skills related to sustaining their
own income independent of husbands/partners, and providing services such as marriage and
legal counseling for previously disadvantaged and/or underserved groups. To this end, these
academics’ ideologies were reflected in their scholarly contributions directed toward achieving
social justice and transformation.
Alternatively, Mrs. X’s values regarding justice and change were less concerned with
societal transformation; rather, her efforts were geared toward department and institutional
transformation. In addition, Mrs. X was inspired by individuals such as Nelson Mandela. She
said, “People labeled him [Mandela] when he was trying to change apartheid… the challenges
that he had and everything negative that was said about him. When I hear them [naysayers], I
always say ‘dogs bark at a moving car, not a stationary car’!” Her comment alluded to the fact
that she was not easily deterred by challenges or impediments and like Mandela, her underlying
values were fueled by a strong conviction for justice and change.
uBuntu: A Cultural and Ethno-Linguistic Practice
Another ideological perspective that influenced academics’ lives and careers were beliefs
and practices related to uBuntu (n=4). For example, uBuntu shaped how Paks and Port
approached their relationships with others. Port said, “We as South Africans are raised to be sort
of like community-oriented, especially to take care of strangers.” Similarly, Paks said, “In my
culture, which is a black one… we help each other as a social support… not only financial

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support, but we get a lot of social support.” Thus, the practice of uBuntu included reciprocity
with members of community and building allegiances with family.
On the other hand, Star suggested that the uBuntu philosophy in South Africa was slowly
fading away and was less prevalent in today’s generation. Nevertheless, Star practiced uBuntu
and, like her peers Port and Paks, uBuntu influenced her approach to building relations with
others. She elaborated, “It’s an uBuntu thing. I think we [Blacks in South Africa] grew up with
that helping each other thing… Depending on the individual relationships in that particular
family… that dynamic will affect how they [family members] would help each other.” Star’s
comment suggests that uBuntu cannot be generalized as a cultural practice automatically adopted
and practiced by all South African Blacks; rather practicing uBuntu is an individual choice.
Nhiza exercised that choice, as beliefs and practices related to uBuntu permeated multiple
domains of her life and career. For example, she used an open-door approach to facilitate
allegiance-building with colleagues and students. Her leadership style was also informed by
principles of uBuntu. She said, “There’s unity within the department which is part of the values
universally. uBuntu is very important, and that’s what I’m trying to build, the uBuntu
management style.” As part of that, Nhiza mentored students, including those who approached
her from disciplines different from her own, with care and attention, and uBuntu undergirded her
collaborative work with post-graduate students. Nhiza stated, “I take post-graduate students to
international conferences to present papers and then I collaborate with them and write with them
as well.” Moreover, Nhiza’s practice of uBuntu was also evidenced in how she sought grants
from the Provincial Council to support incoming post-graduate students with financial incentives
e.g., R5000 per student. On her own initiative, she attended teacher workshops and schools to
recruit students and strategically built multiple allegiances with the broader community to meet

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her objective of incentivizing and increasing the participation of post-graduate students within
her academic discipline/unit. Interestingly, uBuntu also extended to how Nhiza approached and
built relations with domestic workers in her home and maintenance workers at the university.
Nhiza said:
I’m befriending the aunties [maintenance workers]... when I’m drinking tea, I’ll talk to
them and stay with them… I’m just like, a person who is down to earth… because they
are just human beings. Why do we have to [de]grade them? Like, ‘No, I cannot talk with
this one! I have to direct that one to do this, because she’s, you know, a helper!’… Even
the aunties [domestic workers] who are assisting me at home, they are just like part of the
family. Yah, I don’t take them to sort of sleep outside in the outside room. Here, we
enjoy everything together… in some of the families you will find that the helper cannot
sit with you and watch TV. But in my home we all sit there and then we chat, we laugh.
If we go on holiday, we go together.
Nhiza, Paks, Port and Star’s ideological perspectives influenced how they approached and
fostered relationships with others and formed allegiances. Ultimately, uBuntu manifested within
these academics’ work in ways that mattered to them and which affected other individuals
positively, too.
Capacity Development and Nation Building
There were generally three ways, broadly speaking, that these academics contributed to
nation building: scholarly contributions through research outputs, engagement with scholarly and
leadership activities aimed at the betterment of South African society, and/or assisting students to
persevere toward graduation. The latter, which is the focus of this section, was often reflective
of the respondents’ ideological commitment to and passion for teaching, advising and mentoring
undergraduate and post-graduate students, henceforth referred to as capacity development.
In general, capacity development encompasses the facilitation of students’ holistic
learning and development through teaching, advising and mentoring. It also includes paying
attention to students’ multi-modal learning styles and their psychological functioning across all
levels (i.e., cognitive, emotional, psychological and behavioral), as well as students’ overall
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development as scholars, persons, professionals and citizens. The respondents were deeply
committed to these activities and foci. Thus, through their efforts these academics aimed to
assist students with persistence toward graduation and successful degree completion, as well as,
in theory, being better prepared as graduates to serve as the new generation of skilled and
talented workers/scholars.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Capacity Development
Overall, 19 respondents were intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to build and
develop capacity. For example, these academics were motivated by students’ successes and
achievements, student acknowledgements that what they did mattered, and their own internal,
deep convictions toward capacity development. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were not
mutually exclusive. Rather, they typically overlapped within each individual. One such
individual was Doctor K who said, “I love working with students… I’ve now come to realize
that my big thing is capacity development. That’s become my new passion… facilitating and
making available opportunities for [students] to do their work and to do it well. That fires me
up!” She also expressed that “it’s little stories that can make it feel like it’s been a worthwhile
journey.” Doctor K shared one story in particular that was exemplative of her ideologies related
to capacity-development. She elaborated:
For me students are a big deal in my life! Having students that see you for your abilities
and what you can offer them… I had a student doing her Ph.D. with me and she said,
‘You know, after my honors, I wanted to give up on science. I had such a horrible
experience with my supervisor because professors can be mean.’ And she said, ‘If you
need to be that mean to be a successful scientist then I don’t want to be a scientist!’
Hempies, on the other hand, had an interesting example because at the time of interview, she was
de-motivated by the various struggles and discrimination she faced in academe. Yet her
ideologies toward capacity development served as a major source of motivation, which she said

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was “the only thing that really kept [her] going [because she] loved imparting knowledge and
skills to students.”
Factor X, Microbe-Lover and Patricia Singh, among other respondents, were motivated
by “promoting M and D’s.” This colloquial term, which was frequently used by the respondents
and by South African academics at-large, referred to the process of aiding masters and doctoral
students’ persistence toward graduation and degree completion. Bachan and Nandani also
enjoyed promoting post-graduate students; however, they were motivated by students’
assessments of their teaching. On the other hand, Jothi and Jacira were influenced by multiple
ideologies that motivated their teaching and work with students. These academics had values
toward social justice and capacity development, and these ideologies propelled their desire to
“make a difference” in students’ lives. This was apparent in their teaching pedagogies and
instructional strategies, which included preparing students to be engaged and critically informed
citizens as well as productive contributors to society. For example, Jothi said:
I think being positively engaged makes a world of difference and receiving feedback
from people about what it [teaching] does for them, makes it all worth it. My students
even on Facebook… they’ll write like, ‘Prof, your lectures gel,’ or, ‘You made a world of
difference to my life!’ One student sent me a message over the weekend…[to say] happy
birthday. And I wrote back and said, ‘Thank you. It’s so thoughtful of you’. And he wrote
back and said that there are things that he finds very important in anti-oppressive theory
and practice that I taught him and it’s so central to his heart and he uses it every day. You
know, when a student writes…‘we love you’, I think it goes against the grain of the norm
and may reflect in some way an overstepping of boundaries. But I think it reflects a more
authentic, um, I think for me, that is what defines it [making a difference].
In sum, the academics’ values and beliefs for capacity development ultimately influenced their
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for teaching and working with students and, for some
respondents, contributed toward prolonged engagement that extended beyond students’
completion of course modules and/or upon students’ degree completion.

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Capacity Development and Previously Disadvantaged Students
Six of the 19 respondents were motivated by teaching and mentoring a particular student
demographic, namely students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. Rebelie and Lila
are two such respondents that were enthusiastic about teaching and working with disadvantaged
students, and seemed to be driven by an innate ‘hunger’. Lila said, “we were historically a black
university… There were hundreds of them [Black students]… you could see almost the greed for
wanting to learn… That was such an amazing thing for me. I wanted to be a part of that
development.” In a slightly different orientation, Ndosi Lwasini and Port were more focused on
the achievements and successes of disadvantaged students. They shared that they were
especially proud when disadvantaged students graduated from their programs. Ndosi Lwasini
felt affirmed through her work with disadvantaged students, especially when they voiced
expressions of their gratitude with comments such as, “I'm so happy you fought, you fought with
me! You helped me!”
Finally, Paks and T’s investment in capacity development included prolonged
engagements in students’ lives. Paks said, “It gives you satisfaction when a student you’ve
promoted [degree completion and] gets a job… especially here in South Africa. It gives us pride
when our students, they’re successful.” In addition, T said, “I’ve worked with students that have
come from really impoverished homes… and when they do things like buying a home or a car,
it’s a major achievement!” It is not surprising that Paks and T’s commitment to capacity
development yielded reciprocal relations and prolonged engagement with students several years
after degree completion.

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Summary of Commitment
As previously stated, commitment encompassed the academics’ ideological perspectives
and this included religion and/or spirituality, uBuntu and beliefs and values toward social justice
and transformation and capacity development and nation building. Although the interaction of
these ideologies in the academics’ lives and career was nuanced and their perspectives varied,
several commonalities are worth mention. First, these ideologies were often key and central to
academics’ identities. Second, these ideologies seemingly served to facilitate academics’ careers
in ways they saw as positive and meaningful. And third, these ideologies more often than not
influenced the academics’ methods, approaches and practices of teaching and instructional
strategies and/or were embedded within their research, outreach and engagement activities. In
some instances, these ideologies also influenced how academics approached, interacted with
and/or collaborated with colleagues and students. Since the great majority of the academics
interviewed (n=25) identified ideologies as an integral factor influencing their work and lives, it
is understandable that it should find expression in identities and personal narratives.
Competence
As the green circle in figure 2D depicts, Competence was expressed in these academics’
self-efficacy, agency and resiliency. These three constructs provide useful lenses for
understanding the dynamic phenomenon of how the respondents adapted positively within the
contexts of significant life adversities, and successfully navigated barriers within academe to
succeed in their own goals (Campbell, 2012; Masten, 1994). Specifically, self-efficacy involves
a generative capability to organize one's cognitive, social and behavioral skills into an integrated
course of action to serve a multitude of purposes and reach a certain level of performance
(Bandura, 1982; Hemmings & Kay, 2009). On the other hand, self-efficacy is different from

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agency. Agency is the ability of an individual to act intentionally on the basis of reflection and
planning and to garner power, will and desire to create work contexts that are conducive to an
individual over time (Elder, 1997; V. Marshall, 2000).

In their work about agency, O’Meara and Campbell (2011), who were influenced by
Emirbayer and Mische’s (1998) theorizations and study of agency, suggest that faculty decisionmaking is temporal as well – that is, “influenced simultaneously by a sense of past experiences,
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current circumstances, and projections of future” (p. 449). Resiliency theory provides a
framework for understanding the various broad factors that have been associated with resilience:
family support; supportive person(s) outside the family; culture; and individual characteristics
including temperament, competence, self-efficacy and self-esteem (Brown & Rhodes, 1991;
Compas, 1987; Garmezy, 1994; Matson, 2001; Ungar, 2005; Werner & Smith, 1982).
Data suggest that the respondents’ barriers to success included personal backgrounds,
individuals, existing structures and themselves. The ability to overcome those barriers, to
activate and exert agency, garner will and power, expend effort and gather resources served the
respondents in their persistence to adapt and succeed (V. Marshall, 2000; Masten, Best, &
Garmezy, 1990). I use the data to illustrate what contributed to these respondents’ sense of
agency, self-efficacy and resiliency, and how they used (or did not use) these qualities to
overcome the obstacles that impeded personal and work contexts. The stories can be seen as
competence in response to the following life challenges or threats: responding to childhood
hardships, grappling with internalized racism, dealing with being denied promotion, and dealing
with racial microaggressions during institutional mergers. The stories can also be seen as
competence in response to: enacting agency through mentoring and balancing work and life.
Competence in the Context of Childhood Hardships: Support and Self-Efficacy
Several of the respondents faced hardships during their childhood, such as growing up in
poverty. The stories from the data illustrate how individuals, structures and their own selfefficacy aided these respondents in overcoming their childhood hardships.
Common across Jacira’s and K’s childhood experiences was the loss of a parent. “We
had to pay for our own education. With my father not being there, my mother said I would have
to leave school and go work. I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to work. I want to be somebody one

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day!’” said Jacira. Her willingness to assert herself about getting an education demonstrates
Jacira’s self-efficacy. When K’s mother passed away, her father remarried and moved out of the
home. But, “my mother had the foresight to leave some money for me… and luckily the money
stayed in a place where it earned interest,” stated K. She asserted her self-efficacy by enrolling
in the local university with the inheritance money. Jacira’s and K’s self-efficacy determined
how much effort they were willing to expend amidst personal loss to be “somebody” and do
“something significant” with their lives (Bandura, 1982). Like Jacira and K, Ndosi Lwasini
experienced the loss of a parent at a young age. During the interview, Ndosi shared the
following examples of her class struggles and the lack of positive guidance she received during
high school:
I grew up very poor… Because my mother took us [away from the rural area] a long time
ago, I grew up in the township… When I went to grade one I didn't even have shoes! I
only had shoes when I was in [grade] three because my mother was working then and she
could afford some things for us… So, when you grow up in an environment like that you
don't know where you're going!
Ndosi’s mother recognized the importance of educating her children. By moving out of the rural
area, Ndosi gained access to better educational opportunities. Ndosi said, “Initially, I did not
have a dream of becoming anything because of my poor background… [But] I realized I wanted
to be a teacher… so I did my diploma… Then I became a high school teacher. Then I did my
Honors [degree] after that!” She then achieved her doctorate from a prestigious university
abroad. Ndosi’s generative capabilities to organize the skills she possessed into an integrated
course of action aided her in the perseverance toward becoming a successful academic, amidst
these personal barriers (Bandura, 1982; Hemmings & Kay, 2009).

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Paks’ childhood story was different. She was raised in a two-parent home and her family
had moderate financial capital. Nonetheless, Paks had adverse childhood experiences that are
illuminated in the following quotation:
I come from a black culture where the females are not seen as a gender that can proceed
with the studies. When I passed my Standard 8… my parents had to choose which of the
two of us [her or older brother] had to proceed with education. My brother was sent to do
matric (high school)… And with me it was said, ‘Okay go for a teacher training!’… With
the hope that maybe after three years of teaching that I would get a husband and get
married.
According to her family and cultural practices, Paks was expected to find a respectable job to
ensure that a male suitor would deem her worthy of marriage. Paks envisioned a brighter future
for herself, and apparently so did her mother. She said:
I passed my teacher training at the age of 17 years. My mother didn’t want me to go and
work. She thought I was still young [and that] I needed some sort of maturity. Then out
of her small savings, not even with the consultation of my father, she sent me to a high
school… And then I passed my matric and I was very fortunate that I got a teaching post
[since I now had] a teacher’s course.
Paks’s mother was instrumental in advancing her daughter’s education and, through education,
her future. Furthermore, even infrastructure or structural supports provide resources for
individuals like Paks, who shares the following story of how she benefitted from such structural
agency:
I was earmarked by one of my ex-teachers to proceed with my education because there
was funding by the government… We used to get money from the Bantustan [former
Black homelands in South Africa because the government wanted] to try and groom
manpower. I got that sponsor from the Transkei government. It was not much… [But]
what they [the program] did for me is they took me from a rural area and they transferred
me to a school which is in the capital city… And then they were offering classes in the
morning and in the afternoon. So in the morning I would work and teach my students,
and then in the evening I would go [study at the university].

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Clearly, Paks was a beneficiary of structural agency. The Transkei government’s program for
Black schoolteachers enabled Paks to pursue the degrees she needed to eventually become an
academic. One common thread across these four stories is that each respondent’s mother
encouraged and supported her educational pursuits and aspirations. Although each respondent
faced hardships during their respective childhood experiences, they overcame them by
possessing positive self-efficacy.
Grappling with Internalized Racism: Agency, Resiliency, Neither?
During apartheid, Black, Coloured and Indian people were psycho-ideologically
subjugated to believe that they were racially inferior and the White race was superior. Within a
racist system, internalized racism occurs when a racial group oppressed by racism accepts and
supports the supremacy and dominance of the dominating group by maintaining or participating
in a set of negative attitudes, behaviors, social structures and ideologies, such as the acceptance
of the stereotypes or beliefs that one’s racial group is inferior, incapable or a burden on society
(Bivens, 2009; Padilla, 2001). Internalized racism often has adverse effects on the individual’s
mental, physical and social well-being, and identity development (Hipolito-Delgado, 2010).
Data suggest that less than one third of the respondents (n=7) continues to grapple with a
sense of self-denigration on the account of race in their present positions as academics. The
apartheid policies and structures, such as laws, legislation, media and schools, as well as
individuals and/or groups, such as teachers, family and community, contributed to the
respondents’ sense of internalized racism. The following quotes typify these negative messages:
“You’re not good enough,” “You’re supposed to be passive,” “You have to be in the shadows,”
“You’re only capable of rote learning and not critical thought,” and “Whites are smarter and
have a better education than you.” Moreover, non-conscious ideologies about White superiority

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were so entrenched in the respondents’ everyday lives it seems that they internalized them
throughout childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.
Additionally, the pervasiveness of internalized racism was evidenced in the
unintentional ways that it cropped up in these respondents’ dialogues with colleagues and/or
crept into their psyches during meetings or daily work. Internalized racism also manifested itself
in the respondents’ self-devaluation, doubt or insecurities about their own scholarly abilities and
intellect and in their perceived expectation that others believed them to be incapable academics.
The following stories illustrate how each respondent navigated her sense of internalized racism
by exerting agency through the use of resources available to her (V. Marshall, 2000), and by
continually adapting in the context of adverse experiences (Masten, 1994). Yet some
respondents did not exert agency.
“[My mother] was a domestic servant… within the micro-context of my home that
[racial inferiority] message was reinforced. We only knew Whites in the capacity of master and
servant,” said Jothi. Moreover, “sneaky feelings of racial inferiority” were often present during
Jothi’s interactions with White male colleagues and less apparent when she was abroad because
“I don’t carry the baggage internationally of being put down,” she said in her own words. The
following comments by Bachan and Jothi illustrate how they’ve had to “confront” and
“deconstruct” their respective senses of internalized racism. Jothi stated, “In order to develop
that sense of agency, you need to believe in yourself, and you need to overcome and understand
the structural sources of inferior language of the oppression around you.”
Bachan was less optimistic of freeing her psyche from the binds of internalized racism.
“I don’t know that you can completely free yourself from the deep socialization that you get, not
just in school and community but in your own families in the ways in which our parents

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understood that [racial inferiority] was normal and natural,” she reflected. Contrary to Bachan’s
ambivalence in dealing with internalized racism, Jothi took an active role in “constructively
engaging” in deep self-reflection about it. The following comments she made illustrates this
point succinctly:
Once I realized it’s not my fault-- it’s the system that’s external to me that’s
problematic… One has got to feel good about oneself to be constructively engaged. If
your whole sense of self is diminished and you feel demoralized… you don’t have the
moral courage to challenge anything around you that’s offensive and demeaning! So you
need to build that courage yourself and it’s through building that courage yourself that
you get engaged…. I am [now] able to question, ‘Is this feeling coming from something
that they are doing or saying to me? Or is it me? And quite honestly in contemporary
South Africa I think there is racism in various ways. But there are times when I have to
admit it’s me, it’s not them! In fact, all that I’m getting is a high level of respect and
regard from this person. Yet I’m feeling this way. So I’ve got to take ownership of that
feeling and deal with it.
Jothi’s conscious awareness of internalized racism and racial oppression and willingness to
confront it seemed to be courageous. She appears to be on the path toward freeing her mind
from the messages and ideologies that previously affected her adversely.
On the other hand, T and Lila’s sense of internalized racism manifests in a lack of
confidence. For example, T stated that “being brainwashed by the media” that Indian people
were racially inferior negatively affected her psyche. “I lacked confidence to speak, stand up
and articulate for myself at meetings with colleagues, and while socializing with others,” she
stated. Although T is a distinguished NRF-rated scholar, her lack of confidence “stifled [her]
career advancement” and “held [her] back.” Similarly, Lila’s lack of confidence also affected
her career as evidenced in the following comment she made:
You were almost indoctrinated to believe that you were inferior… Constantly being
taught [by my mother] to be quiet. Not be seen. Not be heard… It was something that
became part of who you were. So I wouldn’t feel comfortable to speak out. Didn’t feel
confident to speak out. All through my career. All through my life. All through my
studying.

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Lila ultimately “gained new confidence and freedom” when she taught abroad in the United
States. “I came back with that new confidence knowing I do know enough to be up there with
everybody else. I am capable,” she said. Although Lila and T coped with feelings of inferiority
at one point in their lives, their circumstances changed and so their resilience altered (Rutter,
1987).
Similar to T’s and Lila’s lack of confidence, Amina Bux’s sense of racial inferiority is
evidenced in her self-doubts and insecurities about her capabilities and intellect. She shared the
following backstory about how she entered academe as a tutor: “When I was asked to work at the
university, I was very shocked and confused! And I asked the Professor ‘Do what? Wash your
cups?’ And [the Professor] laughed and said, ‘No, to help us start a new problem-based,
community-based curriculum!’”
In contrast, Port and Rebelie grappled with and eventually overcame their respective
senses of internalized racism (Masten, 2010). Port stated, “It’s not always easy. Sometimes
people can’t look at you. And they [think], ‘Now what does this child know about this
[scholarly] area which has not even [been] open to people like her forever!” Port added, “But as
soon as they see the quality of your work then you can be so comfortable in your skin… ‘It’s not
about what I look like; it’s about what I’m putting out in terms of research!” Rebelie reached a
similar conclusion as Port, namely that her scholarly work speaks for itself. Rebelie exclaimed:
Initially when I started [as a lecturer] I always wanted to be a step ahead to cover for the
blackness and the doubt. Read more. Study more. Impress more. I’ve lost that. Take it.
Take the brain. Forget the face… ‘Cause I’ve got knowledge to bring. It’s not my color.
It doesn’t sit on my skin. It [knowledge] sits on my brain.
Intellectual and self-regulation skills, positive self-perceptions and self-efficacy, and a sense of
meaning in life are evidence of Port’s and Rebelie’s resilience.

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At the time of interview, Hempies was the only respondent who didn’t appear to exert
agency when faced with significant adversities (i.e., relationship with supervisor, details in the
Community section on pages 167). The following quotation alludes to her lack of confidence and
poor self-efficacy:
You always have that fear… I’ll always be insecure about something… During apartheid,
you were beaten because you were making a noise in class [because] you would speak in
class. And you had to be in the shadows. That is how you were treated during our school
era. The teacher speaks. You must listen or else you will be beaten… Now I think that
could’ve been the cause that I can’t stand up for myself… Whenever I have to say
something now, I don’t rock the boat. You know that type of thing. Accept it as it is.
They [White people] know best.
Hempies appeared to accept the status quo of her racial inferiority. However, a few months after
the interview, she corresponded with the interviewer via email to indicate that her circumstances
were improving. She had sought the support of others and was working on “building her
courage,” she said. “I feel frustrated and despondent but not ready to give up yet,” said Hempies
which confirms that resilience cannot be seen as a fixed attribute, nor does it require
extraordinary talents or resources; rather, it depends on fundamental human adaptive systems
(Masten, 2010; Rutter, 1987).
Dealing with Being Denied Promotion
“I really wish that the institution would not make it hard for people who really want to
advance in academia. I think I would like for them to invest more especially if they want to
develop previously disadvantaged people,” said Lindy. Several of the respondents, like Lindy,
stated that preparing the materials to apply for career advancement and promotion is
“cumbersome,” “burdensome” and “time-intensive.” Thus, applying for promotion often
competes with these respondents’ other priorities and workload responsibilities.

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Additionally, a handful of the respondents were also concerned that the criteria for
promotion routinely shifted from year-to-year at their respective institutions. For example, Mrs.
X said, “There are loopholes and lots of issues… Sometimes they give professorship to people
who don’t even qualify and don’t have teaching portfolios… So there are a lot of irregularities
and they keep on shifting the goal posts!” When the interviewer probed about whom or which
entity/entities were shifting the goalpost, Mrs. X identified the following individuals: “The Dean
or the Deputy Vice Chancellor. The people who are in power [who] look at credentialing….
They will say ‘Oh, we’re dropping the standards because the Africans are getting professorship!’
As if it [promotion] is only for a certain color!” Bachan was equally frustrated with the
promotion process. She stated:
I would like to apply for Associate Professorship… I think the criteria has been pushed
way out of my reach at the moment. So I’ve settled into ‘Okay, I’ll see how that goes
and I’m not pursuing it with much energy… Why they shifted the goalpost I have no
idea! Cynically, I think that those that got their [professorships] have closed it off to
other people.
According to Bachan’s and Mrs. X’s subjective perceptions, institutional leaders and/or
professors are the culprits of these “shifting” criteria for promotion. Further investigation is
necessary to unearth whether these perceptions are widespread and why.
The stories that follow illustrate how five respondents adapted to being denied
promotion. Each respondent’s reaction to this adverse experience differed in that some were not
interested in reapplying for promotion while others were determined to try again. How they
adapted to being denied promotion depended upon several factors of resilience, writ large. This
included the presence of a nurturing professional community, positive and supportive
relationships, individual faith, positive self-perceptions and self-efficacy, flexible sense of self-

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expectations, resources available to them and a sense of agency (V. Marshall, 2000; Masten,
2010; O'Meara & Campbell, 2011).
Mrs. X was denied promotion from junior lecturer to senior lecturer because she “hadn’t
done any research” according to the review committee’s report, she said. Yet four months prior
to the promotion decision she had been honored at the Faculty Research Day with the Best
Senior Clinical Researcher award from her Faculty (department). She was understandably
devastated and believed she had been unjustly denied promotion. Mrs. X stated the following
with regard to how she handled the situation:
That day I broke down and I cried because I’m hardworking and when I tell myself I’m
going to do something, you can’t stop me! So, then we took it up to the Dean and this
guy apologized and said, ‘No, I had so many teaching portfolios to look at that I didn’t
have enough time.’ And I said, ‘So, with all those teaching portfolios that you had to look
at you decided you’re not going to spend time on mine and you give a report that I
haven’t done research, even if I actually won the best senior prize for research?’… He
apologized.
Mrs. X plans to re-apply for promotion in the near future. Her positive self-perception, beliefs in
her capabilities and sheer willpower suggest that she is resilient and equipped with the right grit
to try again (Masten, 2010).
Lucy, Lindy and Louise also applied for promotion to senior lecturer but were denied.
Lucy was frustrated that her 16 years of experience as a productive and accomplished teacher
mattered little in the promotion process. Similarly, Lindy was discouraged because she was and
is genuinely interested in developing herself “in the field of academia and moving along in rank
[but] is frustrated because there is so much red tape,” she said.
In contrast to these stories, Nandani’s adverse experience of being denied promotion
appears to have caused debilitating stress, frustration and pain. She was told that her application

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was “premature.” The following comments shed light on how Nandani addressed the review
committee about her denied application for promotion:
There were people who had many years of experience in this discipline who had obtained
their Ph.D. after I had. I had obtained my Ph.D. long before I joined this institution.
When I went in for the interview… I was told by the interviewer that ‘You’ve just
received your Ph.D. recently.’ It’s sort of an assumption and I said ‘It wasn’t recent. I
had received it in 2006.’… So the assumption by the person who headed that promotion
committee was that I was new at all of this. And I found it difficult to argue because I’m
uncomfortable to draw comparisons between myself and colleagues. So all I said was
that I received it in that particular year. And I did not find it in me to say, ‘So-and-so
who you did promote last year received it [the Ph.D.] long after I did!’… I felt that would
be a breach of ethics. So I let it lie.
After the situation had somewhat deescalated, Nandani’s self-reflection on how the adverse
experience affected her is evidenced in the following comment she made:
I think it’s those silences that work against us… I think they realized that I had published
more at that time than I needed to in terms of my articles and research output in
accredited journals… I didn’t broach the topic of publications but the person said to me,
‘The problem is that people think that publications matter the most. Well they don’t
matter the most.’ And I just thought, ‘Well, this goalpost keeps changing! They matter
the most today and they don’t matter the most tomorrow… Where specifically were the
weaknesses?’ And they don’t even generate a report which would build my capacity and
help me improve what it is I’m supposed to do so that I may be successful next time.
Understandably, Nandani was “deeply disturbed” after the interview because she’s still unsure of
why her application for promotion was denied. She elaborated with the following comment on
why she felt that way:
It is a very significant worry for me. I have absolutely no idea… I find it very irritating
because I had invested huge amounts of effort and energy in getting everything together
and making the submission. It required me to consult with so many people from other
universities and get them to write references… It was very expensive time-wise, effortwise. And I wouldn’t have minded if I had not gotten it [feedback] and if I had some
guidance as to why [I was denied promotion]. That would have been worth all the
trouble. Right now I see it as an absolute, incredible waste of time and I see it as a huge
lack of respect for a person like myself who’s taken the trouble to invest the time and

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effort and who stands at the point of not knowing where to go from here. I hadn’t
anticipated this.
Nandani believes that feedback should have been transparent rather than “shrouded in secrecy”
she exclaimed. Nandani had also written to the Dean to inquire about specific guidance for what
she needs to do “to be more successful [with her application] in the future. I wrote twice and it
was met with no response,” she stated with apparent exasperation. Her situation is unfortunate.
But her perseverance to seek clarity is not only admirable, it is a testament to her resiliency.
Racial Microaggressions: Resiliency During Institutional Mergers
Almost all of the respondents were employed as academics when institutional mergers
occurred (n=25). The remaining three respondents began employment at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal in 2007 when it became a newly merged institution. These mergers were
intended to create new identities and cultures that transcended past racial and ethnic institutional
histories and contributed to de-racializing South Africa’s higher education system (Hay &
Fourie, 2002; Jansen, 2002).
The following examples draw attention to the adversities that the respondents faced in
their work environments immediately following these institutional mergers. The adverse
experiences can be categorized as racial microaggressions, specifically microinsults,
microinvalidations and microassaults (Sue et al., 2007). “Microaggression” refers to the idea
that specific interactions between individuals of different race groups, cultures or gender can be
interpreted as mostly non-physical aggression (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978)
while racial microaggressions in particular are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral,
or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile,
derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color” (Sue et al., 2007, p.
271).
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“You must remember that because of the historically black university [merging with] a
historically White [university] we were sometimes considered the poorer relatives in the
merger,” said Lila, who self-identifies as Indian. The following statement captures her
perceptions of why the institutional climate was unwelcoming: “There was a sense that we might
not be adequate in terms of content [knowledge] and teaching abilities. It took quite a while for
us to prove that we were worthy!” Lila also received verbal communications from White
colleagues in the department that her courses “weren’t really of a high standard.”
Communications that subtly exclude, negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or experiential
reality of a person of color, such as the comments that nullified Lila’s intellectual abilities and
skills, are referred to as microinvalidation (Sue et al., 2007). When Lila’s scholarly capabilities
were questioned by peers, instead of shutting down she chose to “carry on.” She said, “Carry on
doing what you’ve always done. Be passionate about the way you do things… If you’re giving
them good teaching, learning is going to happen and the course rate [student feedback] is going
to increase. And then they’ll [White peers] take notice.” By believing in herself and
demonstrating her intellectual skills, Lila was resilient (Masten, 2010).
H, who self-identifies as Indian, faced significant adversity during the merger (see
Community section on pages 169-170). “I was given copies of emails stating how they
[colleagues] should plan to destroy me,” she said. H recalled one quote from that email that
remains etched in her mind: “Don’t wrestle with the pig because the pig will enjoy it, and he will
get dirty.” This example is an explicit racial derogation in the form of a non-verbal attack
(email) that was intended to hurt H, or in other words, a microassault (Sue et al., 2007).
Thankfully, H was fortunate enough to receive the support of institutional leaders at the
university. She said:

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The Dean and the Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) were so horrified at the content of all
those emails. And what I was going through… They called me up and asked me if I want
the whole year off because they didn’t see how I could actually manage working under
these conditions… [They] then initiated a management inquiry into what was
happening… It’s individuals like these who recognize how traumatic it was to be thrown
into this context and kind of supported me, encouraged me and even told me that if I need
to leave, I must leave.
Resilience factors include positive relationships with other nurturing and competent individuals
and cultures that provide positive standards and supports (Masten, 2010). The Dean and the
DVC’s empathetic concern for H’s well-being, and their immediate inquiry into investigating
and eventually resolving the issue, created an avenue for H to be resilient and persevere in spite
of adversity.
Enacting Agency through Mentoring
There are two ways in which mentoring expresses agency. First, knowing from whom to
elicit support and how to engage the individual to meet one’s needs refers to relational agency
(Edwards, 2005; Edwards & D'Arcy, 2004; Hopwood & Sutherland, 2009). Eight respondents
sought and utilized mentors to meet their professional needs as academic women, which
illustrates relational agency (see detailed findings in the Community section, p.160-163).
Second, the act of mentoring gives an individual a sense of agency. This section uses the data to
illustrate how Nhiza’s, T’s and Mrs. X’s sense of agency was fueled through being a mentor to
others.
“I like to groom [academic] staff members… So, I asked [a colleague] to co-supervise
with me because she doesn’t have post-graduate supervision experience,” said Nhiza. She
requested the following of her colleague: “I want you to take the lead with this student so that I
can see whether you will be able to drive them to write a proper [thesis] proposal.” Nhiza’s
agency was also evidenced in the following statement she made: “If you don’t co-supervise…
they [junior colleagues] won’t be able to apply for promotions... So if you take everything for
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you, then what is going to happen with other people?” Clearly, mentoring others gave Nhiza a
sense of agency. It also demonstrated her underlying commitment to the practice of uBuntu.
T’s values, like Nhiza’s, are deeply rooted in helping others. “I just find that I’m
passionate about [mentoring] so maybe others just sense it!” exclaimed T. As a seasoned
academic she believes that her duty and responsibility to the profession includes mentoring peers
through the various stages of career advancement. T stated:
New staff that are still on their [career] trajectory… They consult me for a lot of advice
professionally as well as personally…. And when they are going through that promotion
procedure I actually help them with all the applications and compiling their portfolios
because I’ve been through that process and I’ve learned through the process.
T’s sense of agency is also derived from giving peers advice on “how to actually fit in within the
university and… [how to] choose battles in academia,” she said. As she described the ways in
which she is intentionally helpful to others, these were lessons learned from her mother about the
values and principles of Hinduism.
Mrs. X’s desire to create a work context that was productive over time to her and others
(V. Marshall, 2000) was evidenced in the following comments she made: “Maybe the new
generation of academics like our age group can learn to work together for one vision, to progress
and bring the best out of everybody.” She added, “Now if you want to make change, you can’t
just make change, you have to talk to the right people… [So] I’m talking to everyone and that
will have an influence on the policies that are made.” Her conviction for change is evidenced in
the following example:
So what I’d like changed, if there are five posts [academic positions]… three of those
posts must be strictly allocated to Africans. If they cannot find the candidates then they
must not be allocated because the excuse they use at the university is that there are no
applicants! No black applicants and it’s not true! It’s just that they don’t look hard
enough, so that’s what I’d like to change… And I want all the departments that are not
transformed to be flagged. If you don’t have an African in your department you are ‘redflagged’ as a department. If you are changing maybe you get 20 percent-- you are orange,
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if you are 60 percent and above you are green, you are safe… You can never know until
you try. I mean it has worked in my department, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t work now
in the other departments at the university.
This example illustrates how agency was constructed by Mrs. X within a social and political
context and not something that simply arose within her (Elder, 1997; V. Marshall, 2000). It also
demonstrates that Mrs. X’s values for justice and change were geared toward departmental and
institutional transformation. In all three examples, competence was expressed through the
respondents’ sense of agency. Agency also overlapped with these respondents’ commitment,
namely Nhiza’s practice of uBuntu, T’s duty to Hinduism and Mrs. X’s enactment of social
justice and transformation.
Balancing Work and Life
Data suggest that there were numerous constraints on the academics’ workload, such as
added pressures to conduct research, publish and be entrepreneurial; improve instructional
practices to meet student needs; and attend to teaching, administrative and programmatic
responsibilities which were substantially heavy. In particular, fifteen respondents stated that
their teaching load, including the time spent on preparing course modules and advising and
consulting with students, was a significant constraint on time and effort. Undergraduate students
often required remedial support while postgraduate students frequently required close
supervision due to their lack of experience, in general. Consequently, the average amount of
time that these respondents spent on teaching and teaching-related activities far exceeded the
average amount of time university’s policies suggested they spend on these tasks.
The following comment by Bachan illustrates her frustration with the amount of time
allocated for student consultations: “If I had to count how many [master’s theses] I read, that’s
besides the time I spend talking to the students, reading and sending draft changes, and re-

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reading and discussing-- definitely thirty hours (per student, per year) is not enough!” Nandani
also expressed frustration regarding workload allocations that did not match the actual time she
spent on developing course modules. From a policy standpoint, quantifying the amount of time
spent on teaching-related tasks appears, on the one hand, to provide suggested guidelines for
academic staff, while on the other hand is evidently disconnected from the “lived realities” of the
respondents’ work and workload. Bachan and Nandani’s sense of agency was hampered by the
university’s unrealistic expectations for teaching-related activities (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011).
Nevertheless, they remain committed to students and delivering quality education.
Data also suggest that the respondents’ work and workload compete with various
domains of personal influence for their time and attention. The following selection of examples
from the data illuminates this point and examines the complexities and subtle nuances of how the
respondents exhibited or failed to exhibit agency in balancing work and life. I have told these
stories through the following themes: the balancing act of being a student whilst a scholar;
managing personal health and well-being; and juggling work, life, and motherhood.
The Balancing Act of Being a Student Whilst a Scholar. One common theme is that
the majority of the respondents were faced with structural impediments during the pursuit of
their Ph.Ds. Specifically, they balanced, or attempted to balance, work (i.e., teaching, advising,
research and engagement) and institutional responsibilities (i.e., governance, programmatic, etc.)
while pursuing Ph.Ds. and lacked adequate leave time to conduct dissertation fieldwork or
complete their doctoral degrees. These unfavorable work conditions made it particularly
challenging to balance work, life and school simultaneously.
Of the academic participants who have completed their terminal degrees, only a handful
of them benefitted from receiving adequate leave time for Ph.D. work. This includes Sweet

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Potato, who received a Thuthuka grant to conduct fieldwork (see findings in Context section,
p.129-130), Mrs. X, who was on leave finishing the writing of her dissertation at the time of
interview, Bachan, who received time-off to meet with her academic advisor abroad, and K, who
received a six-month sabbatical to complete her degree. Patricia Singh, T and Doctor K all
received significant release time from the university to pursue their doctoral/post-doctoral
degrees abroad. Alternatively, Ndosi Lwasini and H didn’t require leave because they completed
their degrees prior to becoming academics at their present place of employment. Louise, who
did not receive leave, surprisingly managed to conduct fieldwork in another province in South
Africa while teaching full-time at the university. It is troublesome that not all of the respondents
secured research study leaves when research is a benchmark for permanent academic
appointment in South Africa and clearly critical to their career mobility (Koen, 2003; Mabokela,
2004).
At the time of interview, eight respondents were pursuing full-time studies as doctoral
students while employed as academics at their respective universities. This included Lindy,
Lucy, Rebelie, Ms. DBN06, Star, Advocate, Cheryl and Amina Bux. The following case
examples from the data are illustrative of three common themes found in these eight
respondents’ stories: the doctoral journey included ‘pauses’ due to life circumstances that shifted
constantly, balancing work and life with doctoral studies was difficult, and exerting a sense of
agency propelled individuals forward, despite the impediments they faced.
“I haven’t finished it [my Ph.D.]… I’ve just stopped. It’s not possible to be a new mom
with two kids that are almost the same age, and be working on the Ph.D., and lecturing at the
same time… so I suspended it,” said Star, who is a single mother. She was initially dissatisfied
with the decision to suspend doctoral work, but saw it as a sacrifice she willingly made “to move

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forward.” However, Star’s sense of agency was facilitated by her ability to accept her new
responsibilities as a mother and to integrate those duties into a new set of expectations for herself
(i.e., temporarily suspending the Ph.D., reconnecting with her faith community, creating a social
outlet and being attentive to her physical health through exercise), thereby achieving a more
flexible set of expectations regarding her own performance (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011).
Lucy, on the other hand, was deeply committed to finishing her Ph.D. above all other
responsibilities that competed for her time and attention. Unlike Star, she was willing to make
personal and family sacrifices. Lucy’s sense of agency was fueled by her commitment toward
degree completion, even at the cost of “limited sleep” and “no weekends or holidays,” she said in
her own words. Lucy added, “I first sat down and said I am going to be able to manage the
school work… I told myself ‘I wanted to do this [Ph.D.] and wanted to finish it… I must do it to
my fulfillment… with whatever passion I have!’”
Alternatively, Ms. DBN06 quit her Ph.D. and decided to pursue certification in her
professional discipline. As the following quotation alludes, she quickly realized that balancing
domestic responsibilities, raising children, work and studying would likely be daunting and
overwhelming:
I couldn’t balance my hospital work and care of my children with studying. I couldn’t
because I was fully responsible for the care of my children, though married, with their
father around, but I was fully responsible… So, I can honestly say that was a hindrance
for me in terms of balancing my work life and my personal life because at home I have to
be fully responsible for a lot of things.
When she made the switch to academia, Ms. DBN06 said it was an “a-ha and exciting moment”
because she would be able to pursue a Ph.D. again. She added, “Without a Ph.D. I cannot
remain in the job. Then it’s my own responsibility to get my Ph.D., of course for me number one,
but more importantly, for my employer because [the Ph.D.’s] a global demand!” Ms. DBN06’s

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sense of agency is evidenced in her will to complete her Ph.D. and desire to advance her career.
Encouraged by her friends, through the support of her supervisor, and the “help of almighty
God” Ms. DBN06 is making steady progress toward degree completion.
Managing Personal Health and Well-Being. Nine respondents mentioned that being
alert to and proactive about personal health and well-being enabled them to balance work and
life better, though achieving such balance came at a cost and was not always easy for some
respondents, such as Advocate, T and Jothi. Their stories illuminate the price they paid before
they realized that balancing work with personal health and well-being matters. “Women need to
do a whole lot more to get the recognition that men get… You’ve asked me how I balance it
[work and life]. Bottom line is that I don’t. I have paid a price,” said Jothi, matter of fact. She
stated that after having quadruple heart surgery she has “made a conscious choice to spend time
with family” because she realized how the heart attack raised her family’s concern for her wellbeing and was quite stressful for everybody. Jothi elaborated:
The truth is that the people that matter most to you, your immediate family, is what you
actually take for granted sometimes because you’re dedicating so much to work. It takes
crises like this to make you reevaluate your priorities. So I think I was successful for
about a year or so. You say, ‘I’m going to prioritize my family and take a weekend
without feeling guilty about it’ and then you actually consciously plan the holidays. But
now I can see myself. Old habits die hard! It’s a common saying and it’s absolutely true!
I find myself slipping into patterns again where I’m worrying at night and not sleeping,
and where I’m working whole weekends and neglecting relationships around me that I
should be nurturing. So, I can say that I don’t balance it [work and life].
Although Jothi exerted agency through her power, will and desire to create a work context that
was conducive over time to her and her family (V. Marshall, 2000), she has slipped into old
patterns of neglecting personal health and well-being again. “I think part of the reason I don’t
balance it is the way in which academia is treated [set up]… The problem is that I’m both the

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maid and the madam and that sums up my life. And it sums up my life more particularly in
academia,” she stated disappointedly.
Advocate and T also experienced negative health repercussions. They managed to exert
agency in ways that are sustainable to their well-being. Advocate said, “I had such bad burnout
[in academia] that it attacked my whole body that I couldn’t move!” Advocate’s sister
immediately took her to the hospital where she received the care she needed. The following
comment Advocate made illustrates how she’s made changes in her life to better balance work
and life:
I try not to neglect things. I’ve also learned to be very choosy in that if I can’t, I can’t. I
need to look after myself first. So I go to the gym six days a week even if I have to go at
night. I do it because that is for me. I go regularly for massages. I find I can only give
my best if I feel my best. For my family as well. When I’m happy, it kind of flows onto
them and they reflect that [well-being] as well. I think the starting point for me is that I
need to look after myself, and I listen to my body in that if I can’t, I’ve learned to say no.
Advocate’s self-care decisions include, as she mentioned, regular exercise, homeopathy and
relaxation through massage. Knowing where and how to maintain boundaries and set limits with
others helps her to live a holistic and balanced life and enriches her family’s well-being, too.
T’s stress was induced by attempting to meet high self-expectations and the standards and
expectations of others for her career advancement. Additionally, she felt pressured by her
supervisor to pursue a deanship. T said, “I take it [stress] outside of here and I just thought
[that’s] not something that I want… I had to go into therapy to actually learn to give that [desire
for deanship] up and pursue the part [of academia] that I enjoy,” namely making a difference in
people’s lives through teaching and mentoring others. The following comment she made
illustrates her new priorities:
I’ve really tried to ensure that I’m not working more than eight hours a day… even if it
means that I have to resign from a certain committee, or if it means that I can only
publish three papers this year, not five, so be it! I just feel as long as I’m productive, and
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not pushing myself at the expense of my personal life…I’ve just had to tell myself as
long as I’m making a difference, I am being productive! In the evenings and weekends,
I’m getting lots of time to spend with my aging parents. I mean, I’m not a mom but I
enjoy my relationships with my extended family… and I want to nurture those
relationships and friendships a bit more... I’m doing my yoga and restarted my dancing
classes… And then, even time for my marriage as well.
T made a conscious decision to handle her stress and bring balance into her work and life by
nurturing relationships with others and becoming more physically active. Moreover, agency for
Advocate and T is evidenced in their abilities to act intentionally on the basis of reflection and
planning, the power to make and follow through with decisions regarding what’s best for
balancing their personal and professional lives, and their flexible sense of self-expectations for
work and life (Elder, 1997; O'Meara & Campbell, 2011). Jothi has yet to achieve a satisfactory
work-life balance.
Juggling Work, Life and Motherhood. Seventy-five percent of the respondents are
mothers (n=21). At the time of interview, 14 of these academic women had dependent children,
and among this group, four respondents had raised or are presently raising their children as single
mothers. The data suggest that these respondents made decisions in their careers and personal
lives to find a balance that works for them and their values and these decisions were highly
individual (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011). The following select examples from the data illustrate
this point and exemplify ways in which agency (individual-relational) mattered in how the
respondents juggled their responsibilities at work, in life and as mothers.
Similar to how Advocate, Jothi and T experienced pressures at work that led to their
health-related ailments, Lila also went through a “difficult and traumatic period in [her] life.”
Lila’s period of depression resulted from the loss of her father in an accident during the same
month that her first child was born. She said, “I remember the physical result of that period…. at
the height of my pregnancy, seventy-two kilos, and a month after giving birth, forty-seven kilos
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(104 pounds)… I was so thin. I refused to eat meat. I was losing my hair!” Lila’s power and will
to overcome this challenging period in her life is evidenced in the following comment she made:
I’ve always been very strong. I take time out to breathe and handle failure or
disappointment, but then I come back… I was going to have to change the way things
were. I didn’t want to be here, but I was here. So I had to make a success of it. I had a
child. I was married. I needed to carry on with my career… I think it’s a very tough job
to juggle. I’m a very present mother. I like my job [be]cause I can be there for my kids.
When I can’t be at home, [the kids] spend time in my office doing homework. I like to
hear their stories about their friends, their day, and their problems.
Lila exerted agency by making specific decisions to change her circumstances. These decisions
were necessary to balance work and family in ways that were best for Lila, her family and her
professional life (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011).
Bachan’s, H’s, Star’s and Rebelie’s experiences as single mothers presented several
challenges to work-life balance. The following quotation from Rebelie illustrates her “period of
awakening” as she struggled to assert her independence and display deference and respect to
family traditions expected of soon-to-be-mothers: “I was grappling as a westernized [influenced]
Black academic and having to live the traditional black motherhood life. So you move from the
sophisticated person who can make her own decisions, to you’re pregnant and your car keys are
taken away by your family.” Rebelie is presently pursuing full-time studies as a doctoral student
while employed. She highlighted why prioritizing multiple responsibilities in her work-life
remains a challenge:
Being an academic is a prestigious label. Financially it’s not the best job you can take so
you don’t necessarily have the extra seven hundred Rand to put in aftercare. So it’s
really making do and arranging your times and your lectures, which you can’t control and
you can’t structure. The system structures that for you. So it’s not about you. It’s about
the students’ need. So you have to juggle. It’s a lot of juggling. A lot of wasted petrol
[gasoline] and a lot of anxiety because you pick up, you run to class. So motherhood and
making sure that you can still get the time to mark in the evenings when there’s
homework and school projects and all of that and prepare for your next lecture. It’s quite

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hectic. So the work-life balance I think I have is still a challenge. It’s still a huge
challenge for me.
Rebelie exerted agency by reflecting on and making purposeful choices about the family costs
(i.e., low salary) and benefits (i.e., prestige and schedule flexibility) associated with academia
and by intentionally planning how to “juggle” competing priorities in order to create work and
life contexts that were conducive to her needs (Elder, 1997).
Alternatively, Bachan’s sense of agency was encouraged by flexible university standards,
namely the positive academic culture and departmental norms that enabled her to work outside
the office to achieve balance in work and family commitments (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011).
Bachan’s quote illustrates this point well:
I think the university actually provides the ways to [balance work and life] because of the
hours not being so rigid and because I could go home at two o’clock and pick my
children up, and I could work at home at two o’clock in the morning. There’s no kind of
working hours except when I’m here to see my students.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Bachan said she felt “guilty for leaving [her] children behind and
thinking that they might be unhappy” when she travelled to international conferences for
professional development, a sentiment that was shared by many of the respondents who are
academic mothers. As she assessed her ability to balance both work and life, she was
particularly hard on herself. Bachan stated:
I don’t think I have a strategy. I don’t know that I’ve been dealing with it ideally; I think
I’ve been mainly trying to put out fires… You do feel like you’re spreading yourself too
thin. You do feel like you’re doing a lot of things but nothing well. I don’t know if that’s
just me being hard on myself. It’s difficult to be able to say that my kids are my priority
because I needed my work so that I could take care of them. And I can’t say that my
work’s my priority because my kids will have nobody else but me. I just had to make
sure that I’m doing both. I didn’t always feel that I was doing both the best I could.
As her children have grown, she feels increasingly satisfied with work-life balance: “I’m not
really struggling with anything at the moment. I’m in a pretty comfortable space.”
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The role that Bachan’s sister played in taking over childcare responsibilities while she
was away at conferences was similar to the role that Factor X’s parents played in babysitting
their grandchildren-- an example that illustrates that having positive people in academics’ lives
facilitates their sense of agency (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011). Factor X’s parents (and husband)
also played a role in encouraging Factor X to have children. Her reluctance to do so was initially
rooted in to her uncertainty about meeting two challenges: how to be a good enough mother and
how to seek the support of colleagues given that she perceived her work environment to be
hostile. Now that Factor X has children, she can’t imagine her life without them since they
provide her with inspiration, challenge her to grow and help her remain positive and grounded in
her life and career (see findings in Community section, p.151). She elaborated with the
following:
If I didn’t have the children, I don’t think my career would have gone as well. It’s
intertwined… You have flexibility within your academic career. I’ve chosen a school
[for my children] close to work so if something happens and it’s urgent, I can leave.
…You don’t have that flexibility in industry. You don’t have that flexibility in a
professional environment, so there is that plus side.
Bachan’s and Factor X’s respective universities provide flexible norms and standards for when
they can come and go from the office to facilitate balancing work and family needs, such as
picking up children from childcare (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011). Additionally, Bachan and
Factor X recognized they needed support, knew who to elicit support from others and how to
negotiate with others to meet their needs (Edwards, 2005; Edwards & D'Arcy, 2004; Hopwood
& Sutherland, 2009). Thus, they exerted relational agency.
Summary of Competence
The findings illustrated that the respondents’ barriers to success included personal
backgrounds, individuals, existing structures and themselves. However, exerting individual and

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relational agency, possessing positive self-efficacy and exhibiting resiliency were paramount in
overcoming and/or managing impediments that stood in the pathway toward success, such as
childhood hardships and internalized racism. The findings also confirm that agency and
resiliency were characteristics that enabled these respondents to successfully navigate academic
culture (Baez, 2000; Masten, 1994). This included adjusting oneself after being denied
promotion and confronting hostile work environments, which suggests that “agency is not just
about resistance but the will to change and hope” (Shahjahan, 2005a, p. 229).
In addition, the findings also confirm that academics’ “sense of agency to make satisfying
work and family decisions is constructed in context” (O'Meara & Campbell, 2011, p. 473). The
findings in this section made many of these contexts visible, such as attending to domestic roles
and responsibilities, raising children, maintaining personal relationships with others, being alert
to and proactive about personal health and well-being, and navigating full-time employment with
full-time studies. Work-life balance is beyond a gender and child care issue but rather one that
encompasses life enjoyment as part of the balance (Hooper & O'Meara, 2009). Moreover,
“sensitivity and responsiveness to employees’ work-life circumstances are especially helpful
in… retaining female academics whose careers otherwise might be significantly compromised by
the contending demands of home and workplace” (Tettey, 2010, p. vi).
Summary of the Chapter
In this chapter I presented data to illustrate the complex, multi-faceted and multidimensional lives of black women academics in post-apartheid South Africa and the nuanced and
dynamic ways in which context, community, commitment and competence were interrelated, and
how these influencing domains interacted within these academics’ lives and careers. I argued
that the degree to which the academic is successful is based on her definition of career success,

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and a function of her efforts to balance the four domains that exert influence on her career:
context, community, commitment and competence.
In the next chapter, I summarize the major findings of this study and its significance. I
identify specific implications for practice, including recommended action steps for academics,
institutional leaders, policymakers, and government officials in South Africa. I conclude with
recommendations for further research.

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CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION
Academic staff, as they are called in South Africa, constitute a critical ingredient that
influences the quality of higher education institutions (Austin, 2002). In the post-apartheid era,
the equity profiles of academic staff predicted that the number of women, and female academics
of color in particular, would increase significantly (Koen, 2003). However, 20 years have passed
since the inception of the democratic order and the demographic composition of academic staff
remains predominantly White and male (du Toit, 2006; Subotzky, 2003; Tettey, 2010) while
black women academics are underrepresented and most likely found in the lowest ranks of the
professoriate, those of tutor and junior lecturer (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013;
Mabokela, 2000b, 2002, 2004). In addition, women academics across racial and ethnic groups in
South Africa are poorly represented in many fields, such as science, engineering and technology
(Chinsamy-Turan, 1999, 2003; National Advisory Council on Innovation, 2009). Beyond the
lack of numerical parity, there are deep-rooted gender inequalities in perceptions and attitudes in
work environments along with gender imbalances through higher education policy and practice
(Mabokela, 2002; Mabokela & Magubane, 2004; Magubane, 2004b; D. A. Potgieter & Moleko,
2004; Rabe & Rugunanan, 2012).
Trends in national data suggest that the lack of parity is improving, as the number of
female academics and academics of color has steadily increased over the past two decades
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013; Tettey, 2010). Initiatives such as governmentmandated institutional mergers sought to create an equitable and accessible system of higher
education, one which would eliminate deeply entrenched legacies of racial, ethnic, linguistic and
gender disparities across student and academic staff compositions (Mabokela & Evans, 2009;
Ministry of Education, 2001). National and institutional policies and programs have also

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emerged in the past decade to increase the participation of black women entering the
professoriate and to increase the equity and inclusion of black women academics. Some of these
programs and policies are targeted to develop human capital and to improve research capacities
of black women academics (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012; National
Research Foundation, 2001). In part, these efforts have aimed to shift the academic staff
composition to mirror the racially-diverse student demographic in higher education and to reflect
the demographic realities of the nation (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013; Ministry of
Education; Subotzky, 2003; Tettey).
Academics in South Africa are important contributors to the nation’s growth by
developing solutions for social problems and advancing South Africa’s knowledge economy by
producing internationally competitive research and technology (http://www.nrf.ac.za/index.php).
In the face of the important contributions that academics make to nation-building, South Africa
faces an urgent need to revitalize the academy as a result of an aging professoriate and shortages
in academic staff (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012; Tettey, 2010).
Academics who are presently employed at universities are part of the workforce taking on the
leadership to prepare, train and develop the next generation of talented and qualified academics.
The inclusion of more female academics and academics of color is critical to ensuring that a full
range of perspectives and experiences are represented in academe and that South Africa can
achieve its goal of meeting the equity targets set by the national government and higher
education institutions toward historical reconciliation and transformation.
This research study examined a specific group of academics in South Africa who work in
a nation that is striving for equity, inclusion and equality among its citizenship as it attempts to
redress the legacies of colonial history and apartheid. I conducted an interview-based,

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phenomenological, interpretivist study to examine the narratives of 28 black women academics10
in post-apartheid South Africa concerning the factors that shape their lives and careers, and I
analyzed how these perceived factors facilitated and/or inhibited their career development and
lives. These participants represented a variety of backgrounds, races and ethnicities, ages,
religions and ethno-linguistic identities. As a group they represented a wide range of academic
disciplines and have various personal and professional experiences that have shaped who they
are as academics and as people. Their appointments at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
and the University of KwaZulu-Natal include full-time and contract positions spanning the entire
career cycle– from entering academics to academics on the cusp of retirement. These women are
single, married with children, single with children, dual-career couples and caretakers for elderly
parents.
In the subsequent sections of this chapter, I summarize the major findings of this study
and its significance. I identify specific implications for practice, including recommended action
steps for academics, institutional leaders, policymakers, and government officials in South
Africa. I conclude with recommendations for further research.
Summary of Major Findings
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1993) ecological systems model provided the initial
blueprint for this study by guiding my thinking about the study’s topic and by helping raise my
awareness of the broad factors that likely influence the lives and careers of the study’s
participants (i.e., personal (individual), organizational (institutional/disciplinary) and external

The study’s participants are black women academics, a short-hand designation that
encompasses academic women of African, Indian and Coloured (miscegenous) descents
(Mudaly, 2012). This research study uses the terms “black women academics,” “previously
disadvantaged individuals” and “Black African, Coloured and Indian women academics”
interchangeably throughout the dissertation.
10

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(international and national context) factors). I presented these broad factors in a conceptual
framework in chapter two. In chapter three I discussed how I have monitored my own
subjectivities and biases, as well as how I have incorporated a variety of criteria and safeguards
to increase the level of trustworthiness in the findings (Glesne, 2006; Guba & Lincoln, 1989; C.
Marshall & Rossman, 2010; S. B. Merriam, 2009; Patton, 2002). These inclusions to the
methods chapter partly serve as an acknowledgement of my awareness that I bring who I am to
this study and as such may have inadvertently overlooked themes in the data that someone else
may have seen (Harding, 1987, 1993; J. F. Hartley, 1994; Olesen, 2008; Shackleton, 2007;
Taylor, 2001).
The findings of this study are based on my detailed data analyses, which resulted in
classifying black women academics’ experiences in their careers in post-apartheid South Africa
with regard to four broad domains of influence: context, community, commitment and
competence. The interactions and interrelationships between these domains of influence are
complex, nuanced and dynamic as they influence the vibrant nature of these academics’ lives and
careers.
Almost all of the study’s participants were raised in South Africa during apartheid. The
exception was one respondent, now South African by naturalization, who arrived from a
neighboring country immediately after democracy in 1994 with aspirations to pursue an
academic career. Presumably, all but this one person were influenced by apartheid policies that
enforced racial segregation and prescribed racial inferiority of all non-White individuals. Not
surprisingly, each participant’s story had its own shape and nuance given the additional
influences of childhood upbringing, family background and school experiences. Yet these
academics shared common experiences. For example, they “learned” from family members

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about gender role expectations and the importance of education as a tool for economic, career
and social mobility throughout their formative years. Another common experience was the
positive influence of school educators.
Yet in spite of many positive influences, these academics experienced systemic racism in
schooling and school systems. Likely as a result, several of these academics had internalized
racism, which negatively influenced how they viewed themselves in relation to others. Thus,
these examples reveal that the contexts in which these individuals were raised are not a preamble
to their stories but rather part and parcel of the trajectory of their careers and how they made
meaning of their narratives. In sum, the academics’ personal context shaped, informed and
influenced who they are today and what they bring to their universities and various aspects of
their teaching. Simultaneously, their interactions with students, colleagues and other people in
the universities in which they work, and with the institution itself, influenced them as people and
as academics.
During the apartheid years, people of color were restricted from attending the higher
education institution of their choice, relegated instead to the university designated for their
specific race/ethnic group (see "Extension of University Education Act," 1959; "Separate
University Education Bill," 1957). These educational restrictions meant that some of these
academics pursued careers outside their primary fields of interest. Academics’ religious and/or
spiritual ideologies also influenced their service work and research, how they fostered
relationships with students and how they purposefully integrated religious values into teaching.
Similarly, academics with values of social equity, inclusion and a passion and commitment
toward transformation often operationalized these values in how they raised students’ critical
awareness of social inequalities and hegemony. In addition, the academics’ desire to advance

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systemic social and institutional change toward the betterment of South Africa was often
reflected in their pedagogy and instructional strategies and/or embedded in their research,
outreach and engagement activities. These examples illustrate how context interacted and
interrelated with commitment (i.e., their core values and ideologies) to influence the respondents’
career choices and directions and their work activities.
The historical backdrop of apartheid also shaped the present economic and political
contexts in which these academics work and live. For example, the study’s participants are
currently being asked by their universities and the national government to be more productive in
their research, to teach more and to mentor possible future academics (graduate students). In
addition, they are working in an environment that has undergone racial and ethnic desegregation
in the form of government-mandated university mergers during which some of these academics
have had adverse experiences that could be categorized as racial microaggressions (see Sue et al.,
2007). Not surprisingly, some of the study’s participants continue to perceive the actions and
behaviors of their colleagues and supervisors as racist and/or sexist. Within their personal
contexts, some of them have received minimal to no support from their families and may have
struggled to maintain healthy and positive relationships with family members who do not value
their careers. For a handful of these academics, husbands or partners were unwilling to share
domestic and childcare responsibilities, seemingly because they believed these to be women’s
duties. These life circumstances create competing tensions in these academics’ lives and careers
(i.e., navigating hostile work environments, juggling responsibilities, roles and relationships at
work and in life, and attending to national and institutional pressures that compete for their time
and attention).

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In spite of what for some has been difficult circumstances, the majority of the study’s
participants were satisfied with their work environments and received numerous forms of support
from individuals in their personal and professional communities, such as mentorship, advice,
psychosocial support and increased access to networks and professional development
opportunities. In fact, many of these black women academics had supervisors and mentors who
were White men and women who supported and encouraged them personally and professionally.
These academics seemingly have fulfilling lives. They are pursuing their personal hobbies and
interests and engaging in relationships with friends, family and others who nurture them as
people and who support them as academics. These academics also appear to be leading
productive and rewarding lives involving commitment to and passion for educating students,
engagement in other scholarly activities that matter to them, and working to enrich their
professional and personal development (i.e., by going abroad for scholarly pursuits).
In sum, even amidst barriers, hardships, and challenges, these academics more often than
not have found ways to maneuver through adverse or negative situations in order to keep moving
themselves forward. Some of the study’s participants relied on their sets of ideological values,
as expressed in their commitments to overcome challenges in their work and personal contexts,
while other academics depended on their communities for support and encouragement. Each of
these academics experienced self-efficacy, exerted agency and demonstrated resiliency as they
adapted positively within the contexts of significant life adversities and as they successfully
navigated barriers within academe. That is, the study’s participants’ competence, consisting of
their agency, self-efficacy and resiliency, enabled them to succeed in their own goals.

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Discussion of Results
Considering all of the study’s results comprehensively, this study found three broad
phenomena about black women academics’ experiences in their careers in post-apartheid South
Africa. These phenomena are closely inter-related. First, these academics’ narratives revealed
that the experiences in their careers are deeply embedded in their lives. Second, the degree to
which these academics viewed themselves as being successful in their careers and lives was
based on their personal definitions of success and was a function of their efforts to balance the
four domains that exert influence on their careers: context, community, commitment and
competence. Third, the relationship between these academics and their organizational work
environments were bidirectional, reciprocal and dialectical. Here I describe these phenomena
with reference to relevant literature. I also make specific recommendations about ways that the
academics’ success might be more fully supported by their institutions and institutional
leadership, among others.
Domains of Influence and Academic’s Success
Black women academics in post-apartheid South Africa do not define their career success
solely by advancements in title and rank or by achieving so-called higher positions in the
academy. Rather, the degree to which these academics viewed themselves as being successful in
their careers and lives was based on their personal definitions of success and was a function of
their efforts to balance the four domains that exert influence on their careers: context,
community, commitment and competence. In other words, career success was not a facile
definition; instead it was complex and unique to the particularities of every woman’s life.
Success defined in such a way is gendered and some would argue that it reflects feminist ways of
thinking about success. Further, this study raises the question of whether the particularities of

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culture and national context influence the lives and careers of female academics in other
countries whose institutions of higher education may or may not evaluate, reward, and
incentivize academics for their advancements in title and rank.
Black women academics in post-apartheid South Africa are one example of how talented
academics create and sustain successful and meaningful careers in ways that honor their work
and personal lives. This has particular implications for how to create a workplace that
accommodates personal and professional dimensions of the individual, providing the global
academic community another way to think about career success in the academy. Not
surprisingly, this notion of success reflects the spirit of uBuntu or as Archbishop Desmond Tutu
once said, “I am what I am because of who we all are.” In other words, this perspective defines
success relationally and communally, recognizing that success both derives from the matrix of
complex relationships in which we find ourselves at any given time and is the result of the
contributions of many over the course of several years, and has a reciprocal obligation to that
same matrix from which it was drawn. It sets the individual in the context of the community
rather than apart from or, against it, as some competitive western models do.
Next, success is defined by the academics’ commitments to various sets of ideological
values and the extent to which they are able to reflect their values at work. Spirituality was a
major influence on how some of the academics in this study created and sustained their careers, a
topic also noted in other studies (Chickering, Dalton, & Stamm, 2006; Lee et al., 2012;
Mayuzumi & Shahjahan, 2008; Palmer & Zajonc, 2010; Shahjahan, 2005b, 2010). Assisting
with the transformation agenda of their institutions and the development of the new South Africa
was central to the ideological values of most academics in this study. There were generally three
ways, broadly speaking, that these academics contributed to nation building: scholarly

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contributions through research outputs, engagement with scholarly and leadership activities
aimed at the betterment of South African society and/or assisting students to persevere toward
graduation. Although academics must manage these often competing goals, priorities and
responsibilities, contributing to nation building enhanced these academics’ sense of purpose in
the academy. Indeed, their scholarly work has the potential to span across local and global
arenas and to serve as the main engine for generating knowledge that contributes to national
development (Jamison, 2010).
Literature about careers has shifted from being an examination of a predicted linear
progression of job responsibilities within an industry (Hall, 1976; Schein, 1978) to being a
boundary-less, competency-based exploration of how careers may evolve in unexpected ways
(Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994). From this perspective, an individual is
self-aware and enacts “response-ability”– the ability to respond to changes, create new
opportunities for furthering one's expertise and finding ways to match current skills to an often
expanding stream of options (Bergmann Lichtenstein & Mendenhall, 2002). This study confirms
that academic career development in South Africa is both linear (i.e., the movement of an
academic into a more advanced position in the professoriate—e.g., junior lecturer to senior
lecturer, senior lecturer to associate professor) and non-linear (i.e., reflected in an academic’s
broadening of responsibilities throughout her career without necessarily changing position or
rank at the institution). Additionally, this study shows that successful individuals do not always
have traditional definitions of success and exercise agency in guiding their career development
(Baez, 2000; O'Meara & Campbell, 2011; O'Meara et al., 2008).
The academics’ perception of whether or not they were successful depended upon who
was in their communities, how these communities supported them and how they created

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communities of support. While this study is about academic women in South Africa, this study’s
findings are consistent with scholarship in other countries, particularly the United States, that
identifies the importance of a sense of community for faculty productivity and satisfaction about
workplaces (Gappa et al., 2005, 2007). The findings also confirm that female faculty of color in
particular value collegiality and community, as suggested by other studies (Sadao, 2003; Stanley,
2006; Turner, 2002; Turner & Gonzalez, 2008). The importance of community in academics’
lives and careers is a reason for leaders in South Africa to support and advance academics’ sense
of community in the workplace.
This study found that academics’ competence, which consisted of their agency, selfefficacy and resiliency, enabled them to succeed in their own goals. Perceiving that one has been
successful depended upon whether the academic felt she had a sense of self-efficacy and agency.
Additionally, success hinged on how the academic handled and navigated her past and present
contexts. For example, academics’ barriers to success included their personal backgrounds,
individuals, existing structures and themselves, such as childhood hardships and internalized
racism. However, exerting individual and relational agency, possessing positive self-efficacy
and exhibiting resiliency were paramount in how these academics overcame or managed
impediments that stood in the pathway toward their success. These findings are an illustration of
a broader point made by Baez (2000) and Masten (1994) that agency and resiliency enable
individuals to successfully navigate academic cultures.
Leaders in South Africa should strive to develop a positive work-life climate for
academics, attend to issues of person-department fit, and offer professional development
resources since these organizational factors are often predictors of faculty agency (O'Meara &
Campbell, 2013). The academic also has a set of responsibilities. She must organize her skills to

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serve her purposes and reach a level of performance she desires (Bandura, 1982; Hemmings &
Kay, 2009), and she must construct the contexts of her own learning and develop in intellectual
and professional ways (Neumann, 2009; Neumann et al., 2006).
Understanding the Relationship between Academics and their Organizational Work
Environments
Jansen (2005) has asserted that “studies on the interaction between race and gender in
institutional contexts are virtually unknown in South African educational and social research” (p.
324). This study provides perspective about the relationship between black women academics in
post-apartheid South Africa and their organizational work environments. I found that the
narratives of these academics’ career experiences revealed that their careers are deeply
embedded in their lives, connected to their inner commitments and competencies, and influenced
by the multiple contexts and communities to which they belonged. They bring who they are,
what they believe and value, past experiences that they have had, and their relationships with
others into the academy.
Broadly speaking, the organizational work environment for academics includes the
university in which they are employed and the unit(s) that serve as primary disciplinary homes.
This study advances the argument made by other scholars in higher education that the
relationship between academics and their organizational work environments is bidirectional,
reciprocal and dialectical (Antony & Taylor, 2004; Austin & McDaniels, 2006; Tierney &
Bensimon, 1996; Tierney & Rhoads, 1994). From this perspective, the interactions academics
have with their universities, including with peers, have the potential to both change the academy
and shape the academics’ experiences. A post-modernistic view on socialization also recognizes
that academics bring unique contributions to their universities. As such, universities should seek

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to honor academics’ contributions in ways that enable their presence to affect the academy
(Austin & McDaniels, 2006). Socialization processes also should encourage academics to bring
perspectives, values and ideas that interact with the expectations within the organization, to
engage with members to change the organization (Austin & McDaniels, 2006; Staton, 1990) and
to “retain their identities and come together in communities of difference” (Tierney & Bensimon,
1996, p. 19).
A similar idea, advanced by social-cognitive theorists, is triadic reciprocality (Lent &
Brown, 1996; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Lent and Brown (1996) argue that:
“There is a triadic reciprocality between personal attributes, such as feelings, attitudes,
gender, and aptitude, the external environment and overt behavior—these operate as an
interlocking mechanism that affect one another bi-directionally… the environment
influences an individual’s behavior and personal attributes and the same behavior and
personal attributes also influences the environment” (p. 379).
Here these scholars suggest that individuals’ identities, affects, attitudes, aptitudes and behaviors
interact with the external environment bi-directionally. Translated, this means the individual
actively contributes to shaping her environments while environments are shaping her.
Bronfenbrenner’s developmental ecology model (1979, 1993) closely parallels the
concepts of bidirectional socialization and triadic reciprocality. The basic conceptual premise of
Bronfenbrenner’s model is that individuals develop as the result of their reciprocal interactions
with a set of nested environmental contexts over time. Scholars such as Ingrid Philipsen (2008)
have used ecological systems theory to describe the relationship between female academics and
the US academy. In her study of a racially-diverse group of 46 female faculty members in US
institutions, Philipsen found:
“[Academics] do not live their lives in separate entities but rather move back and forth
between different parts of their environment, and what happens in one realm tends to
shape the others. One might call it an ecological relationship in which changes in one
arena are likely to affect all others” (p. 245).

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The findings of her study suggest that the relationship between these female faculty members
and their universities are bidirectional and reciprocal.
Colleges and universities and “indeed the broader society, require the knowledge, values,
commitments, and expertise of a widely diverse professoriate” (Austin & McDaniels, 2006, p.
415). A diverse group of academics helps higher education institutions respond to the clarion
call to meet the needs of its racially-diverse student demographic and the equity targets set by the
national government and higher education institutions in response to the need for historical
redress and transformation. The presence and successes of black women academics in postapartheid South Africa helps universities to support their racially-diverse students. Thus, the
success of black women academics should concern institutional leaders.
Statement of Significance
This study is significant in its implications from policy and practical standpoints. These
considerations are wide-reaching, including the role of these academics in contributing to the
quality of higher education, national quality of life and nation-building itself. South Africa is
striving to position more of its universities to attain international and national rankings, which
increase their reputations and prestige, a goal that requires greater research productivity and
research output. In turn, this research and innovation to which academics significantly
contribute directly and positively influences the reduction of poverty and the quality of life of
South Africans (No Author, 2002). From a practical perspective, there is a need to train and
develop the next generation of qualified academics so as to: (a) ensure an ample pool of talented
and qualified applicants to assume the vacated positions resulting from staff retirements or other
staff departures, (b) meet the needs for more teaching and learning as a result of rapid and large

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increases in student enrollments and (c) offer a high-quality public higher education system
(Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012; Tettey, 2010; Vithal, 2012).
In a sense, there are competing solutions to two distinct but related problems or goals.
These are South Africa’s desire to enhance its international reputation with respect to higher
education and its need to replace academics who are leaving higher education, primarily due to
age. These competing goals for higher education have created a very difficult double bind for
the academics who remain. That is, they are currently being asked to meet the basic educational
needs of people which would require more attention to teaching, developing human resources
and democratizing the state and society in ways that enables the nation to compete in a highly
global economy (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2012; Higgs et al.). They are
also being asked to be more productive in their research by engaging in internationally
competitive research and solving social problems locally through their research
(http://www.nrf.ac.za/index.php). Doing substantial research while also increasing attention to
teaching is a challenging, if not impossible responsibility. If they are to be supportive of the
success of academics while achieving their broader goals, the government, universities and other
stakeholders of South African higher education must recognize that there are system-wide
pressures that influence the work, workload and work-lives of the academic workforce. The
extent to which steps are taken to address these pressures through policy and practice will likely
influence South Africa’s growth and future through the level of vitality of the South African
professoriate.
This study’s findings are significant in increasing understanding of the factors that
facilitated and/or inhibited the development of the lives and careers of academic women of
African, Indian and Coloured (miscegenous) descents in post-apartheid South Africa. The study

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contributes to empirical data on black women academics’ experiences in the South African
academy, building on the work of Gwele (1998), Hemson and Singh (2010), Mabokela (2001,
2002), Mabokela and Green (2001), Pattundeen (2007), V. Pillay (2007), C. Potgieter (2002), D.
A. Potgieter and Moleko (2004), Rabe and Rugunanan (2012), T. Reddy (2007), Schulze (2005)
and Walker (1998). Several scholars have offered conceptual or theoretical contributions about
black women academics in South Africa (Abrahams, 2004; Gqola, 2004; Magubane, 2004b;
Prins, 2004). These contributions also enrich the existing scholarship. This study’s unique
offering is that it speaks directly to the numerous non-linear ways that academic careers develop
in South Africa, and it provides a different notion of career success in that a successful career
should accommodate and honor personal and professional dimensions of an individual.
Finally, this study is significant from a humanistic standpoint (Nussbaum, 1998; Palmer,
2007) as the lives and careers of black women academics in post-apartheid South Africa matter.
This study offers perspective on how these academics overcame hardships and challenges, past
and present, by focusing instead on career satisfaction, growth and self-actualization. As well,
the study describes strategies on how these academics created positive work environments
leading to satisfying and productive work-lives. From a humanistic perspective, this study
illuminates how black women academics in South Africa seek value and meaning in all that they
do, including how some of them integrated their ideological values at work.
Implications for Practice: Recommended Action Steps for Primary Stakeholders of South
African Higher Education
This section presents action steps for the primary stakeholders of higher education in
South Africa: (a) academics, (b) university administrators and leaders, and (c) government
officials and other policymakers. The steps for action may be worth considering by higher

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education leaders in other nations; however, it is beyond the scope of this dissertation to discuss
implications for academic women of color outside South Africa.
Individual-level Implications: Recommended Action Steps for Academic Women
and Retired Academics
The women in this study had much to say about their lives, including what worked and
what did not work for them as they pursued their careers. Implicit in much of that are directions
for change or ways in which their personal or professional lives could have been easier or more
integrated. Based on what these women said they needed, and in some instances what they said
would have been helpful to them, I offer suggestions for women entering the South African
academy, black women in the South African professoriate, and late-career or retired academics
in South Africa.
Academic Women Entering the South African Academy. A major finding of this
study was that most black women academics had mentorship and said it was very important to
their success, or essential at key points in their careers. Thus, building mentorship for women
seems a vital step. There is also considerable evidence elsewhere of the importance of
mentoring. Within the higher education sector, there is recognition that academics generally
benefit from mentoring (Blau et al., 2010; H. E. Savage, Karp, & Logue, 2004) and that
mentoring is especially critical in the careers of young scholars (Blau et al., 2010; Mathews,
2003). Formal mentoring is often an important tool to help academics new to the academy to
achieve professional socialization (Mullen & Forbes, 2000). As such, academics entering the
professoriate who receive mentoring are more likely to stay at the university (van Balen, van
Arensbergen, van der Weijden, & van den Besselaar, 2012).

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Black women academics in this study typically had multiple mentors that significantly
shaped their lives and careers. This parallels the assertion of Jackson et al., (2003) that “mentees
may find that many people, rather than one person, fill the mentoring role. The specific person
who becomes the mentor may not be as important as the functions that this person (or persons)
serves for the mentee” (p. 331). Additionally, it is not unusual to see situations in which the
same academic seeks counsel from an informal mentor and participates in a formal university
mentoring program (Leslie, Lingard, & Whyte, 2005; Mullen & Hutinger, 2008; H. E. Savage et
al., 2004). This appears to be the case for the academic women in this study. This contradicts
the findings by Mabokela (2004) and Tettey (2010) that suggest that female academics in South
Africa lack mentoring. This contradiction may be explained by noting that some studies have
sampled black women who have left the academy concerning reason(s) and rationale(s) for doing
so while this study focused on black women employed within the university. Nevertheless, my
findings support scholars’ assertions that female academics across racial and ethnic groups could
benefit greatly from participation in formal and informal mentoring (Mabokela; Tettey).
Recommended action steps for academic women entering the professoriate include
participating in formal university mentoring programs and, where those are unavailable, seeking
meaningful relationships with potential mentors, even if they are in other disciplines. These
steps may include: (a) reaching out to individuals who are already achieving the goals academics
hope to accomplish and asking mentors for how they might pursue a similar career path; (b)
asking knowledgeable mentors and colleagues for specific information concerning career goals
and for assistance; (c) keeping mentors apprised of progress, interests, goals and
accomplishments and expressing a genuine interest in the mentoring relationship; (d) accepting
offers for professional collaboration that will provide the experience(s) desired; and (e)

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remaining in contact with mentors and encouraging mutually supportive collegial relationships
(Zahm, 1998).
Through mentorship, mentees experience personal support and opportunities for career
development (Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennent, 2004). In addition, mentoring can influence
research productivity, self-efficacy, awareness of how to successfully obtain grants, and the level
of promotion and professional network of young or new scholars (Cameron & Blackburn, 1981;
Gardiner, Tiggemann, Kearns, & Marshall, 2007; Janasz & Sullivan, 2004; Paglis, Green, &
Bauer, 2006). Generally, it would be in the best interest of academics newly entering the
professoriate to develop an action plan for how they plan to participate in mentoring.
Black Women Academics in the South African Professoriate. The set of questions
that follow can serve as a guide that mentors or universities could offer to academics or can be
used by academics for the purposes of introspection and self-reflection about academic careers.
Since these questions emerged from the stories of the women in this study, the focus is on black
women academics in the South African professoriate. Among these questions are:


What does success mean to me? Do I define success by advancements in academic
rank, position and title? Is success defined by how I handle and navigate the university
while balancing my other responsibilities? Is success defined by my own commitments to
various sets of personal values and the degree to which I fulfill my values in scholarly
activities, such as through research, teaching, creative work, outreach and service? Is
success dependent upon whether I feel a sense of self-efficacy and agency as an
academic? Or do I define success as my ability to meet the personal and professional
goals and expectations that I have set for myself? How am I planning on communicating
my definition(s) of success to my supervisor so as to work collaboratively with them on

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setting career goals in ways that align with university expectations? How am I evaluating
my personal and career goals and aspirations regularly and periodically assessing whether
I am meeting these goals?


Who are the people or groups in my various communities who will support me as an
academic, as well as personally? In what ways do I receive support from individuals
and/or groups who are internal to the university in which I work and/or are in my external
communities? For example, is my husband or partner supportive of my career aspirations
and goals? Am I able to draw support from my family and friends? Is my supervisor
invested in supporting me with my work responsibilities and do they provide guidance
when needed? How am I nurturing my relationship with my supervisor and colleagues?
More broadly, how am I assembling a cadre of support from my personal and
professional communities so as to balance all of my responsibilities so that I can succeed
in the academy?



How am I seeking opportunities for career advancement as well opportunities for
professional growth and development? Are there opportunities at my university to
conduct scholarly work abroad? In what ways might international experiences expand my
understanding of who I am, as well as enrich my professional experience and scholarly
expertise? What are alternatives to international experiences that are within South Africa
that may equally contribute to my professional growth and development? How am I
prioritizing professional development opportunities and experiences with other work
responsibilities, such as teaching and research?



In what ways am I managing my time and working efficiently, maintaining worklife balance and allowing for work-life flexibility? What do I desire and seek in regard

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to work and life balance? What personal responsibilities do I need to attend to and how
do these responsibilities influence my work responsibilities (if at all)? What activities do
I participate in so as to maintain a healthy and grounded self? In what ways do I role
model work-life balance for myself and for others? In what ways am I nurturing my
health and spirit?


How and in what ways am I accelerating my growth and career advancement by
finding a mentor and forming mentoring relationships? How have I identified and
reached out to knowledgeable mentor(s) to invite them to form a mentoring relationship
with me? In what ways have I apprised my mentor(s) of my interests, goals, progresses
and accomplishments? How have I supported my mentor with their interest and goals?



How am I raising my awareness about gender-specific and other policies and
programs at my university? What programs are available at my university to support
my professional growth and scholarly activities? Am I aware of how to access and utilize
the supports available? Are there specific mentoring programs that support female
academics at my university and have I explored how these programs may benefit me?
Are there policies for leave, such as sabbaticals, teaching relief, maternity and
bereavement for which I can apply?



Do I have a positive outlook about my life and career, believe in my own capabilities
and utilize agency? In what ways am I creating a work context that is conducive to who
I am, what I value and what I hope to accomplish? Am I satisfied in my work
environment(s) and if so, why, or why not? What inspires and motivates me as an
academic? How am I advocating for myself and exerting my agency in handling
challenging situations? What are my intrinsic interests and how do these interests align

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with my role as an academic? Does this alignment matter to me? How am I organizing
myself, my capabilities and my time toward the advancement of my career? From what
sources do I draw energy and strength? In what ways do I engage in self-reflection and
introspection about my career?
Based on the themes that emerged from this study, addressing these questions seems to be an
important element of the self-reflection and planning needed for black women academics across
various positions and career stages to succeed on their own terms. They may also be applicable
to other groups of academics in South Africa, such as male academics across race and ethnic
groups and White female academics.
Late-Career Academics and Retired Academics in South Africa. An essential
resource in South Africa is likely to be the current wave of recent and pending retirees in
academe. Retired colleagues who desire to continue an intellectual life and to maintain
connections with their institutions could be assets to universities in numerous ways (Baldwin &
Zeig, 2012a, 2012b; Diamond & Allshouse, 2007), especially since the intellectual and social
capital they have built over a lengthy career does not expire with retirement (Baldwin & Zeig,
2013). This section offers suggestions for both late-career and retired academics in the South
African professoriate as they serve a critical role in shaping the future of the academy in South
Africa.
Late-career academics or retired academics in South Africa could use their extensive
professional networks to draw upon and connect junior colleagues who are beginning to form a
web of professional contacts with their cadre of colleagues (Baldwin & Zeig, 2013). For
example, they could offer to connect junior colleagues with: (1) a skilled grant writer who could
work closely with the junior academic on writing grant proposals and (2) a senior colleague who

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has a particular love of teaching and may agree to an overload teaching assignment to free up the
junior academic who likely has time-consuming research demands as she works to establish a
scholarly reputation (Baldwin & Zeig). The prospect of retired academics or late-career
academics working collaboratively with junior colleagues to support their professional
development represents a proactive approach– a much more “efficient use of time and effort in
comparison to the grueling and emotionally draining prospect of dealing with a new [academic
staff] member who flounders because he, she, [or ze] has not been prepared to function as an
effective citizen with the culture of the department and the campus” (Barry, 2012, p. 112).
Additionally, late-career or retired academics in South Africa can make contributions by
continuing to publish and write (J. Hartley, 2012; Thody, 2011). In doing so, these academics
can invite younger or newer academics to co-publish, thereby mutually benefiting all parties.
These late-career or retired academics can also serve as liaisons to the larger community by
offering enrichment courses, giving lectures on current issues and serving as expert consultants
(Baldwin & Zeig, 2013). In sum, late-career academics and retired academics play a critical role
in transferring their knowledge to colleagues, thereby decreasing the gaps of knowledge that may
exist between the generations of academics in South Africa.
Institutional-level Implications: Recommended Action Steps for University Leaders
University leadership in South Africa includes vice chancellors and deans, among others.
These senior leaders’ investments in the quality and excellence of their academic staff should
include learning about academics’ work experiences. This study offers such a perspective,
providing a glimpse into the career experiences of black women academics. Support for these
academics to a certain extent should occur on an individual basis.

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I offer two suggestions for vice chancellors, deans, and others in academic support
services. First, create collegial and supportive work climates that enable black women
academics to succeed. Second, continue to offer programs and resources to support the growth
and development of black women academics. Senior leaders are already offering numerous
programs at their universities, such as sabbaticals, teaching relief grants, writing workshops and
other professional development activities. These programs and resources significantly benefitted
black women academics (see pages 94-95, 101-103, and 129-131). Senior leaders may wish to
continue to support and fund these programs since such programs are mutually beneficial (i.e.,
sabbaticals which enhance the intellectual life of an academic and benefit the university by
helping it to achieve its mission of research innovation and academic excellence).
Jonathan David Jansen, one of South Africa's leading academics and intellectuals, now
serving as the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State, offers the
following observation about the climate in South African higher education from his perspective
as a past Black dean in the formerly all-White University of Pretoria: “South African universities
are beginning to realize that simply changing the structures of an institution is one thing;
changing the cultural essence of a university is a completely different challenge” (Jansen, 2005,
p. 324). Jansen’s observations provide a glimpse of the potential challenges facing university
leadership as they respond to the new dispensation in South Africa.
Encouragingly, most black women academics in this study had positive work
experiences. The exception is a handful of the academics who experienced one or more adverse
experiences in the academy. These experiences included interactions with colleagues and
supervisors that the academic perceived as racist and/or sexist or experiences that can be broadly
categorized as racial microaggressions “that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial

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slights and insults toward people of color” (Sue et al., 2007, p. 271). If university leaders would
like to change the equity profile of their academic staff, they may wish to consider how to
identify and find solutions for these apparently oppressive environments and work experiences.
University leaders should consider policies and practices that support black women
academics in the balancing of their personal and professional responsibilities. This suggestion is
based on the study’s finding that maintaining the balance between work and personal life
matters, which parallels findings from S. C. Clark (2000), Colbeck (2006), Rapoport et al.
(2002), and Ward and Wolf-Wendel (2008). Additionally, the study’s findings support the
argument made by O'Meara and Campbell (2011) that academics’ “sense of agency to make
satisfying work and family decisions is constructed in context” (p. 473). This study made some
of these contexts visible, including attending to domestic roles and responsibilities, raising
children, maintaining personal relationships with others, being alert to and proactive about
personal health and well-being and navigating full-time employment with full-time Ph.D. work.
Thus, this study supports the following recommendation made by Tettey (2010): “Sensitivity and
responsiveness to employees’ work-life circumstances are especially helpful in… retaining
female academics in South Africa whose careers otherwise might be significantly compromised
by the contending demands of home and workplace” (p. vi).
Important questions for university leaders to consider are: How are departmental norms
flexible and responsive to employees’ work-life balance needs? Do departmental meeting times
conflict with family responsibilities? In what ways is the university promoting honesty around
time needed for personal care-taking? How might paid parental leave and dual-career hiring
policies and practices contribute to long-term career satisfaction for academic staff? How does
investing in academics’ holistic lives benefit the individual and the institution?

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National-level Implications: Considerations for Government Officials and Other
Policymakers
Government officials and other policymakers in South Africa are concerned about
research productivity and research output as they consider the role of the nation in the broader
international context. A detailed argument of this point was offered in chapter four. Given their
concerns for greater research productivity and output, this study’s findings offer government
officials and other policymakers a way to think about progress toward that goal. That is, in order
to accomplish what they desire to accomplish (i.e., to have highly productive, excellent and highquality universities), leaders and policymakers may need to broaden their understandings about
the lives of the people who work in universities. Creating policies without an understanding of
their consequences may lead to inefficiencies or failures. Even though government officials and
other policymakers’ intentions may be to achieve excellence by way of greater research
productivity and output, their policies may place undue pressures on academics who already
have competing work priorities as well as personal responsibilities. If universities are to be
excellent, government officials and other policymakers must utilize the talent of all members of
the academic staff. However, doing so requires increased awareness and understanding of the
factors that facilitate and/or inhibit the development of these academics’ lives and careers. This
study suggests that optimizing performance for black women academics requires support for all
aspects of their lives, including their personal responsibilities.
Given the national agenda to increase the rank and prestige of its higher education
institutions, many universities in South Africa are now actively striving for greater research
productivity and research output. In these “striving environments,” there is typically pressure on
academics to publish more articles, bring in more external funding and achieve greater national

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and international recognition (O'Meara, 2007). In South Africa, these pressures also include
attracting more talented graduate students and helping them successfully complete their degrees.
This study confirms data from other studies by O'Meara (2007), O'Meara and Bloomgarden
(2010), and Ward and Wolf-Wendel (2008) that “striving environments” often become more
competitive and less work/family friendly; they are often “greedy” of faculty time and energy.
Plausibly, “striving environments” may move institutions toward planned policy goals but they
may also ironically create environments that potentially undermine those goals. If policies to
achieve scholarly productivity in South African universities drive black women academics to
leave the academy, the policies have failed. This could happen if such expectations for greater
research productivity and output are too great or if academics become disengaged and
dissatisfied in their careers as a result of such pressures. The very policy to enhance the quality
of the institution may inadvertently lead academics to feel as though they can no longer sustain
what is being asked of them.
There is some evidence in this study that policies may undermine moral. Generally
speaking, academics engage in some collaborative work, such as teaching and conducting
research, grant writing, and publishing in partnership with peers (Austin & Baldwin, 1991).
However, in South Africa teaching and research policies favor academic insularity and closedsystem disciplinary programs (Department of Education, 1997b; Higgs et al., 2010). The metrics
by which productivity is measured and rewarded in South Africa appear to discourage
collaboration. For example, many institutions in South Africa have teaching and administrative
policies that set quantitative targets for academics’ workloads in terms of hours in the classroom,
number of students to supervise and teach, the amount of time academics should set aside for
student consultation and percentage of students that need to pass examinations (Higgs et al.).

241

These productivity metrics were initially developed by government officials and other
policymakers as a motivation to encourage academic excellence, at least in research. However,
such policies unintentionally undermine academic collaboration by diminishing the collaboration
that leads to productivity. Thus, the very policy serves to diminish the ultimate goal of greater
research productivity and output.
Further Research
Here, I recommend three possible future research topics that build on this study. First, I
recommend research on how the particularities of multiple social identities and experiences (i.e.,
race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and family background and upbringing) influence the lives
and careers of academic women across African, Indian and Coloured (miscegenous) descents in
post-apartheid South Africa. The importance of understanding the historical predispositions for
and the complexities of identity and difference within the context of post-apartheid South Africa
is paramount (Govinden, 2008). While I have erred on the side of presenting data in aggregate,
much remains to be learned about the possible differences (and similarities) in black women
academics’ career experiences across their differing markers of social identity and are, therefore,
worthy of study. For example, researchers should explore how the academic careers of African
women in South Africa differ from the experiences of Indian South African women. Future
researchers should also examine the similarities and differences among career experiences of
White versus black women academics and how black women academics’ careers in South Africa
differ from the careers of academic women of color in other post-colonial or post-conflict
societies.
In addition, the two universities in this study have their own institutional mission, vision,
cultures, policies, practices, programs and histories. Future research should examine how these

242

institutional characteristics influence academic women’s careers and lives differently. The
findings from such studies, like this study, would likely contribute to a growing body of research
that seeks to understand how “scholars who are embedded within a particular national history
[relate their experiences] to the wider meta-narrative of academia. Understanding what
experiences they share with other academics, as well as how their particular context has shaped
their work lives can lead to ways of recognizing the contributions [they] have made to…
increasing opportunities for genuine intellectual exchange between African intellectuals at
African universities… and the wider global academic community” (Jamison, 2010, p. 195).
Another topic that would build upon this study’s findings is how mentoring programs
affect black women academics’ career progression and their advancements in positional
hierarchy and rank. The study’s findings suggest that black women academics greatly benefitted
from participation in mentoring programs and from mentorship overall. Future research should
explore what kinds of mentoring programs and models are most effective for advancing these
academics’ careers given that they have multiple responsibilities in their personal and work lives.
The third topic is to explore how and in what ways professional development abroad
enhances black women academics’ scholarly learning and how they integrate this learning into
their work. Evidence already shows that international experiences provide academics with life
enrichment and varied personal discoveries, as well as enhancement of social, emotional and
spiritual growth and self-awareness (Betts & Norquest, 1997; Vall & Tennison, 1991-1992).
Studies have also suggested that international experiences may change academics’ philosophies
of teaching as they adopt the best of two cultural systems (Vall & Tennison) and that
international experience globalizes academics’ teaching while broadening their world views and
global thinking (Betts & Norquest; Sandgren, Elig, Hovde, Krejci, & Rice, 1999). Moreover,

243

academics who incorporate global perspectives in the courses they teach are more likely to
perceive internationalization as important for their professional growth (Solem & Ray, 2005).
How academics re-prioritize life and scholarly goals as they re-enter into their home contexts can
also be growth-producing and a positive learning experience (Betts & Norquest; Vincenti, 2001).
Based on this study’s findings and the findings of other studies, future researchers should
explore how and in what ways universities can facilitate professional development abroad for all
employees, including for black women academics. For academic women who are unable to
participate in experiences abroad, perhaps because they are bound by other personal
responsibilities, what are alternative opportunities to gain international experience? Variables
such as length of participation in an international experience, location of the experience and
influence of the experience toward professional development goals and aspirations are also
important issues.

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APPENDICES

245

APPENDIX A
Dissertation Completion Timeline

May 2011 to October 2011
 Completed draft of chapters 1, 2, and 3
 Set up dissertation committee meeting for proposal defense
November 2011
 Defended proposal and made revisions recommended by committee members
December 2011
 Submitted Institutional Review Board (IRB) documents to MSU, UKZN, and NMMU
January to February 2012
 Made arrangements for interviews (after approval from all three institutions)
Mid-February to April 2012
 Collected data in South Africa
May to October 2012
 Transcribed interviews
 Coded and analyzed data
November 2012 to July 2013
 Wrote Chapter 5 (Aggregate findings)
 Wrote Chapter 6 (Disaggregate findings)
August to October2013
 Wrote Chapter 4 (Broader context findings and document analyses)
 Wrote Chapter 7 (Discussion)
 Set up date for oral exam
November 2013
 Oral Examination
December 2013 to March 2014
 Completed and submitted revisions specified from oral defense to chair
 Filled out graduation, copyright, and Michigan State University forms
May 2014
 Degree conferred

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APPENDIX B
Institutional Review Board Michigan State University

247

APPENDIX C
Ethical Clearance Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

248

APPENDIX D
Ethical Clearances from the University of KwaZulu-Natal

249

250

APPENDIX E
Email Inviting Potential Participants

The two universities that I will recruit participants from are: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University (NMMU– Port Elizabeth, South Africa) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal
(UKZN– Durban, South Africa). The primary recruitment method will be an email to all
academics advertising the study and also snowball sampling methods to identify academic staff
members who meet selection criteria for participation. Recruitment method for administrators
will include an email invitation sent to administrators as identified by the NMMU Principal
Research Person (PRP), and UKZN counterpart to the PRP.

Email Header: Call for Participants Mapping the Career Development of South African
Academics Who Are Women of Color at Research-Oriented Universities in South Africa (Ph.D.
Dissertation)
Body of the Email:
Purpose of the Study
The central purpose of the present study is to understand what characterizes the career
development of South African academics who are Women of Color. In other words, what do
these women deem as key characteristics of their careers, and what organizational and personal
dimensions contribute to their career advancement? Another purpose of the present study is to
identify the factor(s) that are likely to facilitate, and/or inhibit, the career development of these
women, and to understand how these factors interact with one another to influence the women's
experiences as academics and as people.
Selection Criteria
Academics who are interested in the study must, at minimum:
1. Self-identify as a woman.
2. Self-identify as South African and under the broad racial category Indian, Black African,
and/or Coloured.
3. Presently hold a full-time appointment (permanent or contract) as an academic staff
member at the university.
Members of management who are interested in the study must, at minimum:
1. Presently hold a full-time appointment as a member of management at the university, writ
large.

251

To Participate in the Study
Please contact Pamela Roy, visiting scholar from Michigan State University to arrange a formal,
in-person interview at roypame1@msu.edu.
Should you have any questions relative to your participation in the study, you may contact Dr.
Ann E. Austin Professor in Educational Administration, 419A Erickson Hall, Michigan State
University, by phone: (517) 355-6757, or email address: aaustin@msu.edu.
Additionally, if you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research
participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register a
complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the Michigan State
University's Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180, Fax 517-432-4503, or email irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 202 Olds Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.
You may also contact the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Research Ethics
Committee: Human (REC-H) at 27 41 504 2538, or regular mail at NMMU PO Box 77000
RCD Room 1308, 13th floor Main Building, South Campus, Port Elizabeth 6031.
or
You may also contact Sabiha Essack, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences, University of
KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, by phone: 031 260 8048, or email address:
essacks@ukzn.ac.za.

Best Regards,

Pamela Roy,
Doctoral Candidate Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education
Michigan State University

252

APPENDIX F
Participant Information Form

Please complete the following information below and thank-you kindly in advance.
Personal Information:
Participant Name:

______________________________________

Please select a pseudonym:
(I.e. Dr. Alias or Mrs. Alias)

______________________________________

Current Position Title:
(I.e. Lecturer, Professor)

______________________________________

Current Appointment Type:
(I.e. Permanent or Contract)

______________________________________

Name of the University
you are presently employed at:

______________________________________

Name of School & Discipline:

______________________________________

In what year did you begin?
as an academic at the university:

______________________________________

Address:
(For correspondence related
to the present study)
______________________________________
Phone Number:

______________________________________

Email Address:

______________________________________

Present Age:

______________________________________

Please identify the term
you prefer I use in reference to
your gender identity:

______________________________________

253

Please identify the term you prefer
I use in reference to your
racial/ethnic identity:

______________________________________

Educational Background:
Undergraduate Degree
Name of the University:

______________________________________

Type of Degree and Field of Study: ______________________________________
(i.e. B.Sc. in Chemistry)
Year of Completion:

______________________________________

Honors (if applicable) and Master’s Degree
Name of the University:

______________________________________

Type of Degree & Field of Study:
(i.e. MA. in Chemistry)

______________________________________

Year of Completion:

______________________________________

Doctoral Degree
(if applicable)
Name of the University:

______________________________________

Type of Degree & Field of Study:
(i.e. Ph.D. in Chemistry)

______________________________________

Year of Completion:
(or anticipated date)

______________________________________

Post-Doctoral Degree
(if applicable)
Name of the University:

______________________________________

Type of Degree & Field of Study:
(i.e. Ph.D. in Chemistry)
Year of Completion:
(or anticipated date)

______________________________________
______________________________________

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APPENDIX G
Protocol for Individual Academics

Participant (pseudonym)
Date/Time of Interview

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Note: The interview protocol below identifies the primary interview questions for the present
study, however there may be minor adjustments made to the questions based upon the flow of the
interview.
Once again, thank you for volunteering to participate and contribute your time and valuable input
to the research study. My plan is to report the results of this study in my doctoral dissertation,
present the results at educational conferences, and in publications.
As you are aware from our previous communication, I am interested in understanding and
learning about your individual story as an academic. I am particularly interested in how your
career has developed, and what factors have facilitated, or inhibited your career advancement. I
will ask you a series of questions related to your career in this interview, which will take
approximately 90-120 minutes. I will also audio record the interview.
I hope you had an opportunity to review the participant consent form I sent you in advance,
which discussed the terms of participation. No one, other than me, will have access to your
responses except for my dissertation advisor. On the participant information form, I ask you that
you select a pseudonym in place of your name, and the gender and racial/ethnic terms you prefer
I use in reference to your identities.
Feel free to stop the interview or skip a question if you feel uncomfortable. If you don’t have
any questions at this time, let’s begin the interview.

CENTRAL QUESTIONS:
1. Can you share three or four key moments as an academic that stands out as
important markers of your career journey?
The interviewer asked the participant to expand upon EACH of the key moments they identified,
which often led to then sharing stories about their work and life.

255

The following probes were used as necessary to further engage the participant in dialogue:
Probes:
What factors do you believe have contributed to your success and career advancement?
Tell me about the greatest challenges you’ve faced up to this point in your career as an academic.
You received your formal education in South Africa under apartheid, is that correct? Can you
tell me about that experience?
In what ways have you interacted with the international community throughout your career?
Please share your views regarding your experience working at the university.
What are your plans to pursue the Ph.D.? (if applicable)
What types of scholarly activities are you presently involved in?
What is your present workload?
Can you tell me a little bit about the personal dimensions of your life that you believe have
significantly contributed to your career?
What kinds of work-life and perceptions of work-life do you desire?
What level of support do you receive from people in your community, broadly defined?
In what ways have you sought the help of others to advance your career?
What factors motivate you to advance your career?
2. As the interview comes to a conclusion, I am interested in learning about your
ultimate career aspirations? Can you tell me a little bit about that?
3. As you know, this study is about the career development of Black/African,
Coloured, and Indian women academics in post-apartheid South Africa. Based on
your experiences, what would you like me to make sure I include about your story?
In other words, how would you summarize or characterize key elements of your
career development?
4. Do you have any questions for me at this time?
If you wouldn’t mind filling out the participant information form that would be greatly
appreciated.
Also, if I have any further questions, would it be okay if I set up another time to meet with you
briefly in person? If you prefer, I can also email you my questions, call your telephone, or set up
a Skype meeting.
Again, thank-you kindly for your time.

256

APPENDIX H
Protocol for Members of Management

Participant (pseudonym)
Date/Time of Interview

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Note: The interview protocol below identifies the primary interview questions for the present
study, however there may be minor adjustment made to the questions based upon the flow of the
interview.
Once again, thank you for volunteering to participate and contribute your time and valuable input
to the research study. My plan is to report the results of this study in my doctoral dissertation,
present the results at educational conferences, and in publications.
As you are aware from our previous communication, I am interested in understanding what you
believe facilitates, and/or inhibits the career advancement of Black/African, Coloured, and Indian
women academics at this university. I will ask you a series of questions related to the available
opportunities and potential barriers facing academics in this interview, which will take
approximately 45-60 minutes. I will also audio record this interview.
I hope you had an opportunity to review the participant consent form I sent you in advance,
which discussed the terms of participation. No one, other than me, will have access to your
responses except for my dissertation advisor. On the participant information form, I ask that you
select a pseudonym in place of your name, and the gender and racial/ethnic terms you prefer I
use in reference to your identities.
Feel free to stop the interview or skip a question if you feel uncomfortable. If you don’t have
any questions at this time, let’s begin the interview.

GENERAL QUESTIONS:
1. Can you tell me about your role as a (fill in job title) at this university? What are
your responsibilities?
Probe:
In what capacity and in what ways do you interact with academics at this university?

257

2. Can you tell me about the opportunities or policies that presently exist at the
university that likely support the career advancement of academics?

3. Can you tell me about what you believe may be potential barriers that are likely to
inhibit the career advancement of academics?
Probe:
Do you believe there are additional barriers for academics who are members of a
historically disadvantaged group?
How does the administration work to alleviate potential barriers?
4. Is there anything else that you haven’t shared already that you would like to share
now?

5. Do you have any questions for me at this time?
If you wouldn’t mind filling out the participant information form that would be greatly
appreciated.
Also, if I have any further questions, would it be okay if I set up another time to meet with you
briefly in person? If you prefer, I can also email you my questions, call your telephone, or set up
a Skype meeting.
Again, thank-you kindly for your time

258

APPENDIX I
Interview Data of Academic Participants Clustered
by Coding Similarity (Pearson Correlation)

259

APPENDIX J
Research Consent Form for the Academic Participants
at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Study Title:

Mapping the Career Development of South African Academics Who Are Women
of Color at Research-Oriented Universities in South Africa

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational Administration, Michigan State
University, 419A Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI 48823 *517-355-6757*
aaustin@msu.edu
Additional Researcher:
Pamela Roy, Doctoral Candidate, Michigan State University
*517-xxx-xxxx * roypame1@msu.edu
PURPOSE OF RESEARCH:


The visiting scholar/researcher from Michigan State University, Pamela Roy, is
conducting a qualitative research study about the career development of South
African academics who are Women of Color at research-oriented universities in
South Africa.



As the participant, please contact Pamela Roy (roypame1@msu.edu) to express
interest in the study and arrange an on-site, in-person, individual interview.



You must meet the following minimum criteria to be eligible for participation:
o Self-identify as a woman.
o Self-identify as South African and under the broad ethnic category Indian,
Black, or Coloured.
o Presently hold a full-time appointment (permanent or contract) as an
academic staff member at the university.



You will have an opportunity to schedule a mutually agreed upon time to participate
in an in-person interview lasting approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.



The results of the study will be presented in the researcher’s doctoral dissertation, at
scholarly conferences, and publications.

260

PROCEDURES:


You will be asked to answer semi-structured, open-ended questions regarding multiple
aspects of your career development and career experiences as an academic staff
member.
You will be asked to complete a participant information form at the conclusion of the
interview.
The researcher will provide a brief, summative report of results to Cheryl Foxcroft,
HEADS Dean Teaching and Learning/NMMU PRP. Additionally, given that the
participants are drawn from higher education institutions, the researcher will inform
participants that they may obtain the full dissertation through electronic resources from
the NMMU and Michigan State University libraries. The link to the full dissertation
will also be provided by the researcher to each participant via email.




POTENTIAL BENEFITS:

 Since this is a relatively new area of study, with little research or understanding, you



are contributing to enriching knowledge regarding how careers develop for academics
in South Africa.
By sharing your personal stories you may contribute to a greater understanding of
your own self-identities and validate your own experiences.
It is possible that you may not benefit from participation in the present study.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS:


You may experience the following risks or discomforts:
o There is a minimum risk for invasion of privacy since most of the communication
between the researcher and you as the participant will occur in person.
o Several precautions will be taken to protect your confidentiality as a participant.
For example, interview transcripts containing your responses will include your
selected pseudonym and devoid of any identifiable markers, such as name, race,
discipline, etc. You will have an opportunity to select a pseudonym to maintain
privacy of your identity.
o Only the researcher, Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E. Austin,
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Cheryl
Foxcroft, HEAD Dean of Teaching & Learning/NMMU PRP will have access to
a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with contact information corresponding to your
pseudonym. Such information will only be used to contact you in case of an
emergency. The participant information form, consent form, and transcriptions
(hard copies) will be stored for a minimum of 5 years in a secured cabinet in the
researcher’s home in the US, and in Ann. E. Austin’s and Cheryl Foxcroft’s office
location in a secured cabinet. The electronic spreadsheet and digital voice
recordings will be stored on the researcher’s, Pamela Roy’s personal password
protected PC for a minimum of 5 years.

261

o The protocol contains several questions regarding career development and career
experiences. Speaking about your career may illicit memories or feelings of
discomfort and vulnerability. As the participant you will have several
opportunities during the interview to reflect on your feelings; thus, telling your
story may be cathartic and provide comfort. You may be encouraged to contact a
local professional in the area or within the university for further support if you
experience discomfort.
o If you have experienced, racism, sexism, classism, or other ‘isms’, this interview
may trigger unwelcome feelings, thoughts, and memories about your experiences
with discrimination and oppression.
o There are no potential conflicts of interest that are known at the present time.
o There may be unforeseen risks that are not known at the present time.

PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY:

 Information produced by this study will be confidential and private to the maximum
extent allowable by law.

 As the participant, you will have the opportunity to select a pseudonym, and race and



gender markers of identity that you would like the researcher to use. Transcriptions
will be recorded on a separate electronic document (Microsoft Word) without any
personal identifiable markers, such as name, race, discipline, etc. Transcriptions will
only be accessible to the researcher Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E.
Austin, Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Cheryl
Foxcroft. The participant information form, consent form, and transcriptions will be
stored for a minimum of 5 years in a secured cabinet in the researcher’s home in the
US, and in Ann. E. Austin’s office location in a secured cabinet. The electronic
spreadsheet and digital voice recordings will be stored on the researcher’s, Pamela
Roy’s personal password protected PC for a minimum of 5 years. The actual files in
circulation are the "BLANK" participant information form, consent form, and
interview questions (protocol). Once responses are generated during the actual
interviews (in-person), responses will NOT be passed between the participant and the
researcher electronically. There is no confidential information being passed between
the researcher and participant electronically.
The data will be reported in the dissertation manuscript. The data will also be
presented at educational conferences, in publications, etc. The researcher(s) will only
use self-identified labels by participants and selected pseudonyms.

COSTS & COMPENSATION:

 You must have access to a telephone and/or email to initially set up a meeting with


the researcher. There are no additional anticipated personal expenses for this study.
You will not receive money or any other form of compensation for participating in
this study.

262

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION:








You are under no obligation to participate in this study. Participation in this study is
strictly voluntary.
By voluntarily entering this study, you do not waive any of your legal rights.
You may withdraw your participation at any time without prejudice. My information
will be discarded at the time of withdrawal.
You have the option to not answer any question you feel is not applicable or
inappropriate.
You have had the opportunity to ask questions and have received satisfactory
answers.
Total length of your participation will be approximately one interview (1.5 to 2
hours), and opportunities to participate in follow up interviews (in person, telephone,
or via Skype) upon mutually agreed interest.
You are aware that it is expected that 10-20 academic staff members and 2-5
administrators will be enrolled in this study for each university.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS:


Should you have any questions about anything relative to your participation in this
project, you may contact Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational
Administration, 419A Erickson Hall, Michigan State University, by phone: (517)
355-6757, or email address: aaustin@msu.edu.



If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research
participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register
a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180,
Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 207 Olds Hall, MSU,
East Lansing, MI 48824. You may also contact the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University Research Ethics Committee: Human (REC-H) at 27 41 504 2538, or
regular mail at NMMU PO Box 77000 RCD Room 1308, 13th floor Main Building,
South Campus, Port Elizabeth 6031.

INFORMED CONSENT AGREEMENT:


You are indicating your voluntary agreement to participate in this study by beginning
this interview and signing this consent form.
 You would like to be in this research study and agree to be audio recorded during this
interview.
_________________________________________ ___________________________
Signature and Please Print Name
Date

263

APPENDIX K
Research Consent Form for the Members of Management
at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Study Title:

Mapping the Career Development of South African Academics Who Are Women
of Color at Research-Oriented Universities in South Africa

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational Administration, Michigan State
University, 419A Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI 48823 *517-355-6757*
aaustin@msu.edu
Additional Researcher:
Pamela Roy, Doctoral Candidate, Michigan State University
*517-xxx-xxxx * roypame1@msu.edu
PURPOSE OF RESEARCH:


The visiting scholar/researcher from Michigan State University, Pamela Roy, is
conducting a qualitative research study about the career development of South
African academics who are Women of Color at research-oriented universities in
South Africa.



The study invites perspectives from current academics staff members who are
Women of Color and administrators at the university.



As the participant, please contact Pamela Roy (roypame1@msu.edu) to express
interest in the study and arrange an on-site, in-person, individual interview.



You must meet the following minimum criteria to be eligible for participation:
o Presently hold a full-time appointment (permanent or contract) as an
administrator at the university.



You will have an opportunity to schedule a mutually agreed upon time to participate
in an in-person interview lasting approximately 45-60 minutes.



The results of the study will be presented in the researcher’s doctoral dissertation, at
scholarly conferences, and publications.

264

PROCEDURES:


You will be asked to answer semi-structured, open-ended questions regarding what
you believe facilitates, and/or inhibits the career advancement of academics who are
Women of Color at this university. The researcher will ask you a series of questions
related to the available opportunities and potential barriers facing academics.
You will be asked to complete a participant information form at the conclusion of the
interview.
The researcher will provide a brief, summative report of results to Cheryl Foxcroft,
HEADS Dean Teaching and Learning/NMMU PRP. Additionally, given that the
participants are drawn from higher education institutions, the researcher will inform
participants that they may obtain the full dissertation through electronic resources from
the NMMU and Michigan State University libraries. The link to the full dissertation
will also be provided by the researcher to each participant via email.




POTENTIAL BENEFITS:

 Since this is a relatively new area of study, with little research or understanding, you



are contributing to enriching knowledge regarding the factors that likely facilitate or
inhibit the career development of academics in South Africa.
By sharing stories you may contribute to a greater understanding of your own role as
an administrator and validate your own experiences.
It is possible that you may not benefit from participation in the present study.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS:


You may experience the following risks or discomforts:
o There is a minimum risk for invasion of privacy since most of the communication
between the researcher and you as the participant will occur in person.
o Several precautions will be taken to protect your confidentiality as a participant.
For example, interview transcripts containing your responses will include your
selected pseudonym and devoid of any identifiable markers, such as name, race,
discipline, etc. You will have an opportunity to select a pseudonym to maintain
privacy of your identity.
o Only the researcher, Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E. Austin,
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program and Cheryl
Foxcroft, HEAD Dean of Teaching & Learning/NMMU PRP will have access to
a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with contact information corresponding to your
pseudonym. Such information will only be used to contact you in case of an
emergency. The participant information form, consent form, and transcriptions
(hard copies) will be stored for a minimum of 5 years in a secured cabinet in the
researcher’s home in the US, and in Ann. E. Austin’s office location in a secured
cabinet. The electronic spreadsheet and digital voice recordings will be stored on
the researcher’s, Pamela Roy’s personal password protected PC for a minimum of
5 years.
265

o There are no potential conflicts of interest that are known at the present time.
o There may be unforeseen risks that are not known at the present time.
PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY:

 Information produced by this study will be confidential and private to the maximum




extent allowable by law.
As the participant, you will have the opportunity to select a pseudonym, and race and
gender markers of identity that you would like the researcher to use. Transcriptions
will be recorded on a separate electronic document (Microsoft Word) without any
personal identifiable markers, such as name, race, discipline, etc. Transcriptions will
only be accessible to the researcher Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E.
Austin, Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Cheryl
Foxcroft. The participant information form, consent form, and transcriptions will be
stored for a minimum of 5 years in a secured cabinet in the researcher’s home in the
US, and in Ann. E. Austin’s office location in a secured cabinet. The electronic
spreadsheet and digital voice recordings will be stored on the researcher’s, Pamela
Roy’s personal password protected PC for a minimum of 5 years. The actual files in
circulation are the "BLANK" participant information form, consent form, and
interview questions (protocol). Once responses are generated during the actual
interviews (in-person), responses will NOT be passed between the participant and the
researcher electronically. There is no confidential information being passed between
the researcher and participant electronically.
The data will be reported in the dissertation manuscript. The data will also be
presented at educational conferences, in publications, etc. The researcher(s) will only
use self-identified labels by participants and selected pseudonyms.

COSTS & COMPENSATION:

 You must have access to a telephone and/or email to initially set up a meeting with
the researcher. There are no additional anticipated personal expenses for this study.

 You will not receive money or any other form of compensation for participating in
this study.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION:






You are under no obligation to participate in this study. Participation in this study is
strictly voluntary.
By voluntarily entering this study, you do not waive any of your legal rights.
You may withdraw your participation at any time without prejudice. My information
will be discarded at the time of withdrawal.
You have the option to not answer any question you feel is not applicable or
inappropriate.

266





You have had the opportunity to ask questions and have received satisfactory
answers.
Total length of your participation will be approximately one interview (45-60
minutes), and opportunities to participate in follow up interviews (in person,
telephone, or via Skype) upon mutually agreed interest.
You are aware that it is expected that 10-20 academic staff members and 2-5
administrators will be enrolled in this study per university.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS:


Should you have any questions about anything relative to your participation in this
project, you may contact Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational
Administration, 419A Erickson Hall, Michigan State University, by phone: (517)
355-6757, or email address: aaustin@msu.edu.



If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research
participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register
a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180,
Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 207 Olds Hall, MSU,
East Lansing, MI 48824. You may also contact the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University Research Ethics Committee: Human (REC-H) at 27 41 504 2538, or
regular mail at NMMU PO Box 77000 RCD Room 1308, 13th floor Main Building,
South Campus, Port Elizabeth 6031.

INFORMED CONSENT AGREEMENT:



You are indicating your voluntary agreement to participate in this study by beginning
this interview and signing this consent form.
You would like to be in this research study and agree to be audio recorded during this
interview.

_________________________________________ ___________________________
Signature and Please Print Name
Date

267

APPENDIX L
Research Consent Form for the Academic Participants
at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Study Title:

Mapping the Career Development of South African Academics Who Are Women
of Color at Research-Oriented Universities in South Africa

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational Administration, Michigan State
University, 419A Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI 48823 *517-355-6757*
aaustin@msu.edu
Additional Researcher:
Pamela Roy, Doctoral Candidate, Michigan State University
*517-xxx-xxxx * roypame1@msu.edu
PURPOSE OF RESEARCH:


The visiting scholar/researcher from Michigan State University, Pamela Roy, is
conducting a qualitative research study about the career development of South
African academics who are Women of Color at research-oriented universities in
South Africa.



As the participant, please contact Pamela Roy (roypame1@msu.edu) to express
interest in the study and arrange an on-site, in-person, individual interview.



You must meet the following minimum criteria to be eligible for participation:
o Self-identify as a woman.
o Self-identify as South African and under the broad racial category Indian,
Black, and/or Coloured.
o Presently hold a full-time appointment (permanent or contract) as an
academic staff member at the university.



You will have an opportunity to schedule a mutually agreed upon time to participate
in an in-person interview lasting approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.



The results of the study will be presented in the researcher’s doctoral dissertation, at
scholarly conferences, and publications.

268

PROCEDURES:


You will be asked to answer semi-structured, open-ended questions regarding multiple
aspects of your career development and career experiences as an academic staff
member.
You will be asked to complete a participant information form at the conclusion of the
interview.
You will have access to the final report upon request.




POTENTIAL BENEFITS:

 Since this is a relatively new area of study, with little research or understanding, you



are contributing to enriching knowledge regarding how careers develop for academics
in South Africa.
By sharing your personal stories you may contribute to a greater understanding of
your own self-identities and validate your own experiences.
It is possible that you may not benefit from participation in the present study.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS:


You may experience the following risks or discomforts:
o There is a minimum risk for invasion of privacy since most of the communication
between the researcher and you as the participant will occur in person.
o Several precautions will be taken to protect your confidentiality as a participant.
For example, interview transcripts containing your responses will include your
selected pseudonym and devoid of any identifiable markers, such as name, race,
discipline, etc. You will have an opportunity to select a pseudonym to maintain
privacy of your identity.
o Only the researcher, Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E. Austin,
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Dean
Sabiha Essack at University of KwaZulu-Natal will have access to a Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet with contact information corresponding to your pseudonym.
Such information will only be used to contact you in case of an emergency. The
participant information form (hard copies) will be stored for a minimum of 3
years in a secured cabinet in the researcher’s home in the US, and in Ann. E.
Austin’s office location in a secured cabinet. The electronic spreadsheet will be
stored on the researcher’s, Pamela Roy’s personal password protected PC for a
minimum of 3 years.
o The protocol contains several questions regarding career development and career
experiences. Speaking about your career may illicit memories or feelings of
discomfort and vulnerability. As the participant you will have several
opportunities during the interview to reflect on your feelings; thus, telling your
story may be cathartic and provide comfort. You may be encouraged to contact a
local professional in the area or within the university for further support if you
experience discomfort.
269

o If you have experienced, racism, sexism, classism, or other ‘isms’, this interview
may trigger unwelcome feelings, thoughts, and memories about your experiences
with discrimination and oppression.
o There are no potential conflicts of interest that are known at the present time.
o There may be unforeseen risks that are not known at the present time.
PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY:

 Information produced by this study will be confidential and private to the maximum




extent allowable by law.
As the participant, you will have the opportunity to select a pseudonym, and race and
gender markers of identity that you would like the researcher to use. Transcriptions
will be recorded on a separate electronic document (Microsoft Word) without any
personal identifiable markers, such as name, race, discipline, etc. Transcriptions will
only be accessible to the researcher Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E.
Austin, Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Dean
Sabiha Essack, University of KwaZulu-Natal. The transcriptions will be stored for a
minimum of 3 years in a secured cabinet in the researcher’s home in the US, and in
Ann. E. Austin’s office location in a secured cabinet. The digital voice recordings will
be stored on the researcher’s, Pamela Roy’s personal password protected PC for a
minimum of 3 years.
The data will be used for the dissertation manuscript, if the data is used in
publications or for teaching purposes, only self-identified labels by participants or
selected pseudonyms will be used.

COSTS & COMPENSATION:

 You must have access to a telephone and/or email to initially set up a meeting with


the researcher. There are no additional anticipated personal expenses for this study.
You will not receive money or any other form of compensation for participating in
this study.

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION:






You are under no obligation to participate in this study. Participation in this study is
strictly voluntary.
By voluntarily entering this study, you do not waive any of your legal rights.
You may withdraw your participation at any time without prejudice. My information
will be discarded at the time of withdrawal.
You have the option to not answer any question you feel is not applicable or
inappropriate.
You have had the opportunity to ask questions and have received satisfactory
answers.

270




Total length of your participation will be approximately one interview (1.5 to 2
hours), and opportunities to participate in follow up interviews (in person, telephone,
or via Skype) upon mutually agreed interest.
You are aware that it is expected that 30-36 academic staff members and 4-10
administrators will be enrolled in this study.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS:


Should you have any questions about anything relative to your participation in this
project, you may contact Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational
Administration, 419A Erickson Hall, Michigan State University, by phone: (517)
355-6757, or email address: aaustin@msu.edu. You may also contact Sabiha
Essack, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Westville Campus, by phone: 031 260 8048, or email address: essacks@ukzn.ac.za.



If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research
participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register
a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180,
Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 207 Olds Hall, MSU,
East Lansing, MI 48824

INFORMED CONSENT AGREEMENT:



You are indicating your voluntary agreement to participate in this study by beginning
this interview and signing this consent form.
You would like to be in this research study and agree to be audio recorded during this
interview.

_________________________________________ ___________________________
Signature and Please Print Name
Date

271

APPENDIX M
Research Consent Form for the Members of Management
at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Study Title:

Mapping the Career Development of South African Academics Who Are Women
of Color at Research-Oriented Universities in South Africa

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational Administration, Michigan State
University, 419A Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI 48823 *517-355-6757*
aaustin@msu.edu
Additional Researcher:
Pamela Roy, Doctoral Candidate, Michigan State University
*517-xxx-xxxx * roypame1@msu.edu
PURPOSE OF RESEARCH:


The visiting scholar/researcher from Michigan State University, Pamela Roy, is
conducting a qualitative research study about the career development of South
African academics who are Women of Color at research-oriented universities in
South Africa.



The study invites perspectives from current academics staff members who are
Women of Color and administrators at the university.



As the participant, please contact Pamela Roy (roypame1@msu.edu) to express
interest in the study and arrange an on-site, in-person, individual interview.



You must meet the following minimum criteria to be eligible for participation:
o Presently hold a full-time appointment (permanent or contract) as an
administrator at the university.



You will have an opportunity to schedule a mutually agreed upon time to participate
in an in-person interview lasting approximately 45-60 minutes.



The results of the study will be presented in the researcher’s doctoral dissertation, at
scholarly conferences, and publications.

272

PROCEDURES:


You will be asked to answer semi-structured, open-ended questions regarding what
you believe facilitates, and/or inhibits the career advancement of academics who are
Women of Color at this university. The researcher will ask you a series of questions
related to the available opportunities and potential barriers facing academics.
You will be asked to complete a participant information form at the conclusion of the
interview.
You will have access to the final report upon request.




POTENTIAL BENEFITS:

 Since this is a relatively new area of study, with little research or understanding, you



are contributing to enriching knowledge regarding the factors that likely facilitate or
inhibit the career development of academics in South Africa.
By sharing stories you may contribute to a greater understanding of your own role as
an administrator and validate your own experiences.
It is possible that you may not benefit from participation in the present study.

POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS:


You may experience the following risks or discomforts:
o There is a minimum risk for invasion of privacy since most of the communication
between the researcher and you as the participant will occur in person.
o Several precautions will be taken to protect your confidentiality as a participant.
For example, interview transcripts containing your responses will include your
selected pseudonym and devoid of any identifiable markers, such as name, race,
discipline, etc. You will have an opportunity to select a pseudonym to maintain
privacy of your identity.
o Only the researcher, Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E. Austin,
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Dean
Sabiha Essack at University of KwaZulu-Natal will have access to a Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet with contact information corresponding to your pseudonym.
Such information will only be used to contact you in case of an emergency. The
participant information form (hard copies) will be stored for a minimum of 3
years in a secured cabinet in the researcher’s home in the US, and in Ann. E.
Austin’s office location in a secured cabinet. The electronic spreadsheet will be
stored on the researcher’s, Pamela Roy’s personal password protected PC for a
minimum of 3 years.
o There are no potential conflicts of interest that are known at the present time.
o There may be unforeseen risks that are not known at the present time.

273

PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY:

 Information produced by this study will be confidential and private to the maximum
extent allowable by law.

 As the participant, you will have the opportunity to select a pseudonym, and race and



gender markers of identity that you would like the researcher to use. Transcriptions
will be recorded on a separate electronic document (Microsoft Word) without any
personal identifiable markers, such as name, race, discipline, etc. Transcriptions will
only be accessible to the researcher Pamela Roy, the dissertation advisor, Ann E.
Austin, Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program, and Dean
Sabiha Essack, University of KwaZulu-Natal. The transcriptions will be stored for a
minimum of 3 years in a secured cabinet in the researcher’s home in the US, and in
Ann. E. Austin’s office location in a secured cabinet. The digital voice recordings will
be stored on the researcher’s, Pamela Roy’s personal password protected PC for a
minimum of 3 years.
The data will be used for the dissertation manuscript, if the data is used in
publications or for teaching purposes, only self-identified labels by participants or
selected pseudonyms will be used.

COSTS & COMPENSATION:

 You must have access to a telephone and/or email to initially set up a meeting with


the researcher. There are no additional anticipated personal expenses for this study.
You will not receive money or any other form of compensation for participating in
this study.

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION:








You are under no obligation to participate in this study. Participation in this study is
strictly voluntary.
By voluntarily entering this study, you do not waive any of your legal rights.
You may withdraw your participation at any time without prejudice. My information
will be discarded at the time of withdrawal.
You have the option to not answer any question you feel is not applicable or
inappropriate.
You have had the opportunity to ask questions and have received satisfactory
answers.
Total length of your participation will be approximately one interview (45-60
minutes), and opportunities to participate in follow up interviews (in person,
telephone, or via Skype) upon mutually agreed interest.
You are aware that it is expected that 30-36 academic staff members and 4-10
administrators will be enrolled in this study.

274

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS:


Should you have any questions about anything relative to your participation in this
project, you may contact Dr. Ann E. Austin, Professor in Educational
Administration, 419A Erickson Hall, Michigan State University, by phone: (517)
355-6757, or email address: aaustin@msu.edu. You may also contact Sabiha
Essack, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Westville Campus, by phone: 031 260 8048, or email address: essacks@ukzn.ac.za.



If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research
participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register
a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the
Michigan State University's Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180,
Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 207 Olds Hall, MSU,
East Lansing, MI 48824

INFORMED CONSENT AGREEMENT:



You are indicating your voluntary agreement to participate in this study by beginning
this interview and signing this consent form.
You would like to be in this research study and agree to be audio recorded during this
interview.

_________________________________________ ___________________________
Signature and Please Print Name
Date

275

BIBLIOGRAPHY

276

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