supporting lGBTQia+ people within the Higher education system 21

transformation; transformation by design; and how universities are remaking and transforming themselves by embedding their practices in local contexts.

within the context of such governance efforts, the TMf promoted gender equity and equality among staff and students and the need to address the issue of GBV within higher education institutions as key priorities in 2019. Myriad reports, including by the south african Commission for employment equity (Cee); the Commission for Gender equality, which called on universities to explain their lack of gender equity; the international labour Organization (ilO); the south african Human rights Commission (saHrC); and uN women, have delivered the verdict that too little is being done to address the broad discrimination that women face in the workplace and the society at large.

in the higher education sector, fewer than five of the 26 Vice-Chancellors of public universities were women in 2019, and the vast majority of the deans and heads of department were men. The underlying reality is that although men have shown that they are not particularly effective in managing universities, they remain unwilling to share this responsibility more equitably with women. in response, to these concerns, usaf has made a number of significant inputs into national policy on gender equity and equality, as well as in relation to policies to address the issue of GBV

an important aspect of usaf’s work in this area is its belief in the importance of promoting solidarity with women and situating this work within a south african context. it supports the establishment of a movement and campaigns that oppose violence against women and seek the dismantling of the structural and normative barriers and injustices that foster gender discrimination and marginalization. in particular, usaf supports womenled conversations about the forms of collaboration and action that are required to address gender inequity and GBV in universities more effectively.

in this regard, usaf is also addressing the issue of male dominance of academic positions at universities and the structural inequality that underpins this, which continues to be evident in the PhD and Masters pipeline. accordingly, CPuT is seeking to engage usaf on the kind of mentoring system that should be established to support disadvantaged students who are interested in professional academic advancement.

in seeking to promote greater gender equity at universities, usaf has identified the importance of dismantling the conservative institutional culture that threatens to maintain the inequitable status quo among academics for another generation, setting a bad example for the broader society which tends to take its cue from higher education. universities are notorious for being resistant to change and can behave like intransigent bureaucracies which are complicit in sustaining structural inequalities. However, if the institutional culture of these conservative spaces is not addressed, then the current generation of academics and managers will have failed in their duty to ensure that the higher education sector fulfils its mandate to operate on the cutting edge of innovation and social consciousness.