The violence of inclusion in South African universities: The experiences of African early career women in STEM

Abstract

Thirty years into democracy and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields remain dominated by white men in South African universities. The government and higher education institutions (HEIs) are dedicated to transforming these fields to be representative of the African majority, yet they remain politicised, racialised, and gendered to systematically oppress African people, especially African women. African women in STEM are extremely underrepresented because academic structures do not facilitate successful outcomes for them, and this study highlighted their lived experiences as postdoctoral and early career academics in these disciplines in selected South African universities. Their experiences are important in order to understand the plight of African students’ recruitment, access, retention and attrition in these fields especially in postgraduate studies. This study involved interviewing 14 African women postdoctoral fellows and early career academics in five selected South African universities, within a qualitative methodology and a critically interpretivist paradigm, using the theory of intersectionality.

Contribution: The findings expose the violence of inclusion experienced by these African women in their STEM disciplines and how this violence manifests in various ways and that the exodus of African women in STEM contravenes the transformation efforts of South African universities. These women are significant because they have the potential to transform STEM disciplines in South African universities. Their experiences, strategies and recommendations are thus critical to universities in addressing the recruitment, retention, and success of African female academics in STEM.