Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore how women academics’ view their professional advancement at a higher education institution. From a South African perspective with its limited studies on this topic, revealed that women within higher education institutions felt isolated, alienated, and their ideas unheard. The challenge for South Africa remains the full empowerment of all women in higher education institutions ensuring gender equity, because it is within these walls that the solutions to our major challenges will be formulated. This empowerment must be about us, as women doing it for ourselves. However there are a number of barriers to women’s advancement in the academy, which resulted in women not being able to break through the “glass ceiling” and reach the pinnacle of their careers. Cultural restrictions placed on women often further aggravate these experiences. Undoubtedly, we have made great strides in attaining middle- management positions, but higher education institutions seems like a closed shop for women (Luke 1999) and lead to the description of the feeling of being outsiders in academia. My research essay was grounded within an interpretive paradigm and I employed qualitative methods for inquiry to demonstrate how women academics’ view their professional advancement at a higher education institution. Data for this study were collected via- semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twelve women from a South African higher education institution. I used the constant comparative method of data analysis to search for recurring themes and patterns.
Mrs. N.F. Petersen