Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa)
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Gender Barriers and Career Advancement Challenges : A Qualitative Study of Female Postdoctoral Researchers in China’s Higher Education
No full textFemale postdoctoral researchers in China’s higher education system face persistent gender-based barriers that hinder their career advancement. This study investigates these challenges through the lens of the glass ceiling theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 female postdoctoral researchers, aged 28 to 40, from diverse disciplines and institutions across China. The thematic analysis revealed that gender discrimination, limited access to leadership roles, and insufficient institutional support impede career progression. Cultural expectations often pressure women to juggle career goals and family duties, which makes it harder for them to advance in their academic careers. This study concludes that persistent barriers call for urgent policy reforms, including clear promotion standards and better support for work-life balance, to promote gender equality in academia. Addressing these issues can empower female researchers and enhance innovation within the higher education system
Teacher Educators in South Africa: Critically Examining Structural Inequalities and Sustainability through a Pedagogy of Discomfort
No full textEducation is seen as a key vehicle to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Teacher educators play a pivotal role in training teachers and UNESCO advocates that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is mainstreamed through teacher education to contribute towards achieving the SDGs. For education to contribute to a more sustainable future, a focus on root causes to inequality in society, such as structural racism, and how to dismantle these structures, should be central. Drawing on empirical data from reflective dialogue interviews with 10 teacher educators at three universities in South Africa, this article explores their pedagogical approaches to include the concept of structural racism in their praxis. Their strategies for critically examining structural racism, in the context of South Africa, are considered in relation to relevant literature on critical pedagogy. The article further reflects on how this work relates to ESD and its aim for education to contribute to transformation to a more equal and just world. Based on the empirical work, the article argues that pedagogies of discomfort (and love) are important approaches for education to contribute to societal transformation through critically examining the root causes of inequalities and injustices
The Trouble with Policy Development: A Case for an Indigenised Maputo Protocol
No full textIntroduction
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (‘Maputo Protocol’) celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2023, but women on the African continent still struggle to access the rights enshrined therein. The Protocol faces various challenges, including a lack of sufficient funding for effective implementation of the Protocol. Additionally, historical and contemporary factors—such as colonial legacies, ongoing conflict, economic recessions and public health crises like the recent COVID-19 pandemic—hinder progress of its implementation.
Another significant challenge is the persistent perception of women as inferior. African women, in particular, often experience what has been described as ‘double patriarchy‘. This is experienced by those who straddle two (or more) cultural contexts—such as Western and Eastern, or African and Western. The concept of double patriarchy comes both from coloniality and within women’s own cultures. The first stems from cultural norms and practices within their own communities, often reinforced through family dynamics, community, and religious customs. This form of patriarchy is typically more localised and traditional. The second originates from formal, often Westernised social institutions such as schools, workplaces, and places of worship. It may also manifest through globalised norms and systems. These patriarchies often bleed into each other, even when they clash with each other, and they create deeper layers of complexity when it comes to women’s rights. These and many other political, social and global reasons are all valid considerations as to why the Maputo Protocol has struggled to deliver on its promises.
This paper focuses on the Protocol’s emphasis on universality at the expense of indigenisation. Such universality is evidenced in several ways; for example, the document is available only in colonial languages: English, French and Portuguese. This point is important to underscore, because language has long been a barrier to accessibility and inclusion on the continent. Few solutions have been offered to address the language challenge, and the diversity of African languages is often cited as an economic barrier to translating policies and important resources. However, many African languages share similar dialectics, meaning people across countries and regions can understand each other. In theory, this linguistic overlap could allow states to share the costs of translation and public education on important resources like the Maputo Protocol, while also strengthening their relations.
Women are further isolated from policies like the Maputo Protocol as a result of language barriers. In many communities, it is often men and young boys who are given the opportunity to go to school, where they may learn and master colonial languages. Women, by contrast, may struggle with sometimes legal and technical language required to read, interpret and advocate for their rights. Yet, women remain the primary bearers and teachers of indigenous languages, playing a crucial role in resisting the colonial erasure of African linguistic heritage. Legal and policy documents such as the Maputo Protocol should be made available in indigenous languages to support the epistemological and revivalist efforts led by African women. Language is also a tool of power and control, and power dynamics between the speakers are actualised. Ali Al’amin Mazrui suggests that language is a gradual process through which communities construct their shared worldview. Prioritising Western languages in legal settings not only alienates Africans from important policies, structures and social institutions, but it also reinforces the idea that African languages, the people who speak them and their associated worldviews are inferior.
The Maputo Protocol also reveals its colonial influence by placing most of the control in the hands of the state. This presents several challenges in the African context, particularly given that the state itself is often a highly contested and sometimes unstable structure that has been informed by the West. At the same time, the West continues to undermine African states, keeping them in an infant-like position, unable to act on key policies without external involvement. Some argue that policymaking and implementation should instead be overseen by non-state actors, such as the African Union or regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community. However, this would require individual states to give up some degree of their sovereignty—a difficult prospect considering Africa’s colonial history, which stripped people of their independence.
The COVID-19 pandemic further illustrated these ongoing challenges. At different points, African states were compelled to act in accordance with directives from the World Health Organization or Western countries, even when such actions threatened state sovereignty, local economies or citizen welfare.
Beyond the African context, the very idea of the modern state is deeply patriarchal. It is often rooted in violence, war and conquest, which often violate women’s rights, police their dress and bodies and exclude them from participation in public life. It is a striking contradiction that the same institutions now responsible for protecting the rights of women are the very ones that had to oppress them in order to rise to power. Many state leaders, and leaders of various social institutions across the African continent and beyond, are men who remain either unwilling or unable to adequately protect women’s rights, often due to their own toxic masculinities.
Finding Solutions in African Women’s Lived Experiences
I want to be careful in suggesting African women, their strength and their resilience are the key. This is because two seemingly contradictory things can be true: African women are disempowered and oppressed, and at the same time, their resilience and lived experiences are central to their own emancipation.
In South Africa and across the continent, women often turn to informal labour when the colonial, patriarchal, capitalist economy fails them—marginalising them on the grounds of race, gender and socioeconomic status. They navigate the paradox of being othered and marginalised, while still being responsible for the survival and wellbeing of their families and communities, by extension. The village of Umoja in Kenya offers a powerful case study of what community-driven, and womanist-led social development and human rights protection could look like. Established in 1990 by fifteen women as a refuge from male violence and abuse, Umoja is a women’s only village that prioritises education, womanist freedom and self-reliance. The village addresses many of the goals outlined in the Maputo Protocol that states often struggle to meet—such as access to the communally shared land, a right enshrined in Article 19 on the right to sustainable development. The community also provides protection from harmful social and cultural practices and abuse, which align with several articles of the Protocol, including the rights to life, dignity, separation and the elimination of discrimination.
Umoja empowers women economically and their right to food security through small-scale farming and their arts and crafts which they sell locally and abroad. A portion of the money they make is sent back to support families in the communities they left behind. While state involvement remains important for policy implementation, it often overlooks the efforts of communities like Umoja and the lessons such communities offer for addressing similar challenges elsewhere. Much of Umoja’s success is rooted in the revival and preservation of indigenous knowledge, which helps the women to solve even some of their modern-day challenges.
Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni argues that mothers and women are the primary educators—we learn language from them, and they also share knowledge of the world through storytelling and everyday practices. In precolonial Africa, they were the main custodians of knowledge. Ndlovu-Gatsheni suggests that overlooking this fact is one of the missing links in both decolonial discourse and the current social order.
The lack of meaningful recognition of African women’s positionality in leadership and public life—especially within a framework of pluriversality—is one of the many reasons why the continent’s development remains stalled. Women occupy only 24% of parliamentary seats in Africa, despite the fact that many of the challenges facing African countries disproportionately affect women. This underrepresentation suggests that women are excluded from decision-making processes that directly impact their lives. The contributions of rural women, such as those in the Umoja village, are even more overlooked, despite their resistance and resilience offering hope and practical solutions for the harsh realities that women face daily.
Conclusion
Policymakers and those tasked with implementing gender-responsive policies must ask how these seemingly small, grassroots strategies with big impact can be multiplied, while ensuring that women remain the agents of their own empowerment. They also reflect on how they can remove the systemic obstacles in women’s paths, even through smaller actions like more regulatory leniencies for informal workers, most of whom are women. These efforts must be supported by broader macro-level efforts and initiatives; this discussion does not suggest we do away with them. But for many women, it is the ‘smaller‘ efforts that plunge them deeper into poverty or places their lives at risk. New regulations frequently hinder their ability to work or continue utilising strategies that have ensured their survival or success.
This is especially the case for women who make a living as street vendors, waste pickers, recyclers and in other informal, yet equally important, work. Removing the barriers they face is what many of them need, rather than Western-backed, patriarchal notions of what their empowerment should look like. The state plays a critical role in ensuring this and enforcing important policies like the Maputo Protocol, but in the face of leaders and states who lack the political will to protect their people, the experiences of women in communities like Umoja offer crucial lessons. The innovative ways that these women generate income and support their communities, especially when the future seems bleak, offer valuable lessons in how ordinary people respond to state failures and work to advance human rights and development
Reimagining Progress of Prehistoric Humans: Technological Adaptation and Ethical Complexity in Golding’s The Inheritors
No full textThis study reexamines William Golding’s The Inheritors (1955) as a critical meditation on the interplay between technological innovation and ethical responsibility within a prehistoric setting. Integrating literary analysis with archaeological findings and philosophical theory, the research challenges linear narratives that equate technological superiority with civilisational advancement. Golding frames the encounter between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens as an ethical confrontation between two modes of consciousness: the embodied, empathetic worldview of Neanderthals and the instrumental rationality of Homo sapiens. Through techniques of defamiliarisation and shifting cognitive perspective, the novel distinguishes between sensory-integrated understanding and the analytical, object-oriented cognition of modern humans. The adoption of a Neanderthal infant by a Homo sapiens mother emerges as the novel’s ethical fulcrum, symbolising the potential synthesis of technological capacity with moral awareness. Recent paleogenetic discoveries confirming Neanderthal DNA in modern humans lend scientific significance to Golding’s vision of cross-species integration. By deconstructing conventional progress narratives, this study illuminates Golding’s vision of ethical evolution—one that regards technological adaptation and empathetic understanding as complementary components of human advancement, offering timely insights into contemporary ethical dilemmas posed by accelerating technological change
Justice for the Survivors: Examining the Effectiveness of the Adopted University Policy in Serving Justice on Gender-Based Violence Cases at a Selected South African University
No full textIncidences of gender-based violence (GBV) on university campuses have become endemic. Although some universities developed policies to manage the scourge of GBV on their campuses, the effectiveness of such policies in serving justice to the victims of GBV remains controverted. This study examined the perceived effectiveness of an adopted policy and its implementation in serving justice for the victims of GBV at a selected South African university. A radical feminist perspective underpinned this research. A qualitative research methodology with semi-structured self-administered interviews was used to collect data from 10 purposefully sampled participants: two victims of GBV, two staff members from the GBV unit, the counselling unit and the HIV unit, and two members of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Using a thematic analysis, the study found that the implementation of the adopted policy at the selected university failed to ensure effective reporting of GBV incidents. It also did not serve the appropriate justice for the victims of GBV by punishing the perpetrators of GBV or by rendering adequate support to the survivors of GBV. The research recommends enacting multi-sectoral approaches, ensuring increased training on the processes to be followed, and evaluating the relevant policy management and implementation of the GBV policy at the university regularly. The university should change the sociocultural environment on campus to one of zero tolerance towards GBV and any other form of violence. Better implementation of the policy, collaboration with the SAPS and transparent dealings with perpetrators will lead to enhanced justice for victims
Comparing Infertility Stigma and Fertility Beliefs of Patients Seeking Fertility Treatment in Ghana and South Africa
No full textPatients with infertility face stigma and have varying beliefs about infertility. Both stigma and fertility beliefs may differ by setting, owing to personal, social and cultural factors. Infertility stigma and fertility beliefs may play an important role in the psychological well-being of patients with infertility. Although several studies have been conducted on psychosocial aspects of infertility in Africa, no cross-country studies have explored the differences in infertility stigma and fertility beliefs. This comparative study employed a cross-sectional design to determine if there were significant differences in stigma and fertility beliefs in patients seeking fertility treatment in South Africa and Ghana. The sample consisted of 119 participants from Ghana and 210 from South Africa. Data were collected using the Infertility Stigma Scale and the Fertility Beliefs Questionnaire. The questionnaires were administered at fertility clinics either online or in person by trained data collectors. Statistical analysis included analysis of variance, and Kruskal-Wallis and post-hoc tests. The findings revealed that female South African participants reported significantly more stigma than female Ghanaian participants and male South African participants. We found few differences regarding gender and country when comparing fertility beliefs. There were no significant differences between the groups in relation to fertility beliefs (p = .27), consequences (p = .07), causes (p = .31) and illness coherence (p = .12). There were significant differences between the groups with regard to personal control (p < .001) and timeline (p < .001). Future qualitative research is recommended to explore these findings further
Muslim Actors Countering Radicalisation Narratives Through Film video in Kenya
No full textThis study sought to bring out the voices of actors within the popular culture field of film video productions, which in Africa operates under the shadow of the more dominant cinema culture. The focus on film videos and their production of Islamic discourse, therefore, is an attempt to affirm the plurality of experiences and formats of expression within the emerging Islamic entertainment industry. The intervention of this article was to interrogate Kenyan Muslim actors’ attempts to use film video to counter narratives of division growing from perceived radicalisation of a section of the Muslim population in the country. The following questions were asked: How does film video give counter expressions to narratives on Muslim radicalisation and violent extremism? How do actors negotiate their citizenship as part of a Muslim minority population in a Christian majority country? Specifically, the article examined Islamic film video’s reconstructions of Kenyan national discourse on terror and radicalisation. This was done through an analysis of the discourse in Watatu, a recent Swahili language film video, and discussion of the thematic concerns. This article is situated within the broad outlines of the decolonial theoretical approach which advocates the need to confront colonial representations. The article challenged the unilateral consideration of specific geopolitical areas as naturally embodying knowledge, opening up the scope for the generation and validation of knowledges from Kenya’s Islamic film video industry, amplifying the voices of Muslim actors that can be considered marginal voices in national discourses about violent extremism and radicalisation
The Nature and Direction of Curriculum Transformation: The Case of Zimbabwe
No full textThis study examined the nature and direction of curricular reforms in Zimbabwean higher education, focusing on the opportunities and challenges in decolonising the curriculum. Using a critical paradigm, the research analysed educators’ difficulties in integrating diverse Indigenous perspectives into existing courses. A literature review methodology was employed to understand the decolonisation process and the efforts to address community needs. The study also investigated how institutional policies influence the inclusion of various languages in the curriculum. It highlights the importance of teacher training, community engagement, and collaborative curriculum development with Indigenous communities to create a more inclusive and decolonised educational framework in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The study found that integrating Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum is crucial for decolonisation. However, educators face significant challenges in this process, including a lack of resources and institutional support. The study draws on best practices from existing literature
Mapping Self-Care Behaviours Adopted by Family Caregivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review
No full textSelf-care behaviours are health-promoting activities adopted by family caregivers to maintain and sustain their well-being. Given the impact of COVID-19 on family caregiving, this article presents findings from a scoping review (2020–2023) examining the self-care behaviours adopted by family caregivers (FCGs) to cope with caregiver stress during the pandemic. The review was guided by the Arksey and O’Malley framework. It adopts the two-stage screening process to determine the eligibility of articles. From 4 679 articles initially screened, 10 were included in the review. From these, content related to self-care behaviours, activities, methods, interventions, models and strategies adopted by family caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic was extracted and analysed. The findings revealed that family caregivers participated in health promotion activities and disease prevention training sessions during the pandemic. These measures offered caregivers COVID-19-related guidance on supporting their sick or elderly relatives as well as strategies for managing their own stress, anxiety and depression. They also adopted psychological and mental health behaviours and activities, including physical exercise, healthy eating and other lifestyle changes. This study highlights the need for policymakers in family nursing and elderly care to develop policies that promote the use of technology-driven self-care activities, recognising that the health and well-being of family caregivers is essential for providing effective care to elderly and sick relatives. The review found a lack of studies conducted in resource-limited settings, such as in Africa, suggesting that future research should focus on including populations from these regions
Implementation Barriers in the Management of Maternal Syphilis by Midwives at Two Primary Healthcare Clinics in the Free State Province, South Africa
No full textThis study aimed to identify barriers to managing pregnant women and their newborns exposed to or infected with syphilis and propose solutions based on existing treatment guidelines. Conducted at two primary healthcare clinics in the Free State province, the study used a quantitative design and purposive sampling to survey healthcare professionals involved in antenatal, childbirth and perinatal services across two health districts. A questionnaire captured the knowledge, views and practices of 14 midwives, two operational managers and one district clinical manager regarding maternal and congenital syphilis. All midwives were knowledgeable and experienced, with access to various treatment guidelines, though most relied on the 2016 Guidelines for Maternity Care in South Africa. Barriers identified included inconsistent adherence to guidelines, irregular screening for syphilis and HIV, and a lack of serological testing in 64% of babies born to mothers with syphilis. Further challenges included inadequate training on new guidelines, lack of partner contact tracing, resource shortages and staffing inconsistencies. Despite their knowledge, midwives face implementation challenges that hinder effective practice. Regular training is recommended to support midwives and nurses in managing sexually transmitted diseases