EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Enabling and Constraining Environments Connected with Successful Women Academics in South African Higher Educational Institutions

Bongiwe Hobololo ()
Additional contact information
Bongiwe Hobololo: Directorate of Institutional Audits

Chapter Chapter 9 in Careers in Africa, 2025, pp 187-208 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In the past two decades, the number of women successful in postgraduate studies has increased significantly. However, this increase has not been matched by equal representation of women in senior academic positions. Women are less represented in senior academic positions, and gender parity decreases as one rises in the academic ranks to the professoriate level. To develop an understanding of the factors influencing the career development and progression of women academics, 13 women professors and associate professors in higher education institutions in South Africa were interviewed, using a constructivist grounded theory approach. From the analysis and interpretation of the in-depth interview data, themes such as intrapsychic factors such as grit, self-efficacy, determination to succeed, and looking for opportunities to succeed emerged. Another theme was enabling and constraining environments such as upbringing and expanding horizons, family support, work-life balance, and organizational support. The results showed that women with high levels of self-efficacy, grit, and determination cannot be limited by constraining environments. The study further confirmed that women’s career progression tends to advance quickly when there is a combination of intrapsychic factors and external support. However, this chapter will focus on the enabling and constraining environments associated with the success of women academics.

Keywords: South Africa; Higher education; Senior women academics; Enabling; Constraining; Career success (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-68214-8_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031682148

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-68214-8_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().

 
Page updated 2025-05-19
Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-68214-8_9