Abstract
This study explores the experiences of male and female university students in the contact teaching and learning space, as well as the online learning space. Specifically, the study investigates the gender norms and gender dynamics that exist in the university physical space and the virtual space. The study draws on the feminist geography approach to understand the ways in which space and gender are constructed in the higher education space in South Africa. Gender in the university space works in multiple ways that have varied effects for individuals that occupy this space. The reality of the Covid-19 pandemic shifted learning within higher educational institutions by introducing students to an unfamiliar learning environment. The online learning space in the context of the pandemic is thus an emerging space and the study aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on online learning during the pandemic. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of the concepts of gender and space within the various spaces that constitute university environments by interrogating learning spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study used qualitative methods to explore the gender norms and gender dynamics existing within the university’s physical and virtual learning space. The data analysis of the study revealed that space within the university context is fluid and constructed through students’ multiple gendered realities. The physical campus space was gendered in multiple ways that affected especially female students’ learning experiences during the contact teaching and learning period. The online space however provided an alternative way of understanding space and gender because students began to adopt ways that negotiated gender issues during the online teaching and learning period. The lack of physical appearance in the online environment meant that the gendered nature of the physical campus space did not translate into the online space. However, this phenomenon has consequences when it comes to the inappropriate behaviours in the physical campus. Therefore, this study describes the ways in which the university space is gendered, which has consequences on how students experience the campus space.