Browsing by Author "Moorosi, Pontso."

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Policy and practice related constraints to increased female participation in education management in South Africa.
(2006) Moorosi, Pontso.; Kaabwe, Eleanor Stella Musanga.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.
This thesis examines South African policies addressing gender inequality in education management, and interrogates whether or not these policies made a difference to the career route of women principals of secondary schools. The under-representation of women in education management has been a long observed problem in many countries including South Africa. A number of initiatives have been put in place to address this issue but little improvement is seen in the South African situation in education management. The purpose was to understand why women are still under represented in school management and to learn from their experiences. The study used data from three sources. Firstly, policy documents and practices were analysed in terms of their symbolic, regulative and procedural functions. Secondly, the personal accounts of 28 women principals in KwaZulu-Natal who had been appointed after 1994 were collected through the use of extended interviews, and thirdly, interviews were conducted with key officials and members of School Governing Bodies that had participated in the selection of principals. The data generated were analysed at two levels in order to understand the factors constraining the participation of women in education management. At the micro level, I use the 'management route model' as an analytical framework that identifies the three phases women principals go through in their career route, namely anticipation, acquisition and performance (van Eck and Volman, 1996). The model reveals that factors influencing women's career paths into management are very complex and based firstly on the individual agency where women grapple with more internal issues such as professional qualifications and experience, aspirations, lack of ambition and family responsibilities. Secondly, these factors are at the organisational level where women suffer discrimination at the recruitment and selection processes, and lack of institutional support through mentoring and sponsorship. Thirdly, it is the social level, which involves the cultural discourses in which women operate. These discourses include sex role stereotypes that inform the social expectations about the role of men and women in society. On the macro level, I use feminist theory to interpret and understand the women's experiences and findings in general. The findings reveal that policy interventions put in place since 1994 to close the gender gap were mostly informed by liberal feminism that focused on affirming women in order to gain access into the school management without tackling the social practices that are defined by sex role socialisation and which therefore continue to work subtly and insidiously towards the discrimination of women. I conclude that although the liberal feminist interventions that have been put in place have been useful to some extent, the problems impeding women's full participation in education management cannot only be tackled at a policy level because this attempt leaves the most problematic social practices intact. However, I argue for policy and legal intervention as a starting point to combat the gender crisis in a society that has inherited so much inequality. While I acknowledge that women of all races in South Africa have all been negatively impacted upon by the historical and traditional values and expectations on the role of women and men in society, I argue that the situation has been worse for women of the Black African race, who suffered dual oppression in terms of gender and race. The study proposes the need to look beyond provision of legal and democratic reforms and more into social practices that prevent legal reforms from reaching the desired goals. Social structures and cultural practices that hamper the greater representation of women should be dealt with in order to allow women freedom to participate in discourses where their choice is not informed by gender subordination.
Women in management : barriers to accessing senior positions in the uMgungudlovu region of the Department of Education.
(2007) Rajuili, Eunice Nonkululeko.; Mbatha, Thabile Austaline.; Moorosi, Pontso.
The research interest is in the area of leadership and gender, with specific reference to promotion prospects of female educators in predominantly black schools. I seek to establish internal and external factors that contribute to women educators being marginalised. The investigation is carried out in the uMgungundlovu region of the KwaZulu-Natal's Department of Education. This region covers the rural areas of Vulindlela and the urban and peri-urban circuits of Pietermaritzburg. I made use of qualitative methodology to obtain data from a random sample of twenty one out of twenty five deputy principals from the two circuits. This was followed by a detailed interview of seven of the twenty one who formed the purposive sample The central thesis of this study is that constitutional laws which outlaw unfair discrimination and academic qualifications play a subsidiary role in the upward mobility of women. The study will seek to confirm or refute this claim. A major finding in this study indicates that hindrances to promotion among married women include family responsibilities of being mother and wife; disruption of career advancement as a result of husband relocating. Low self-esteem among some women also acts as a hindrance to promotion. However, the more intractable hindrances turned out to be external. Cultural conditioning and tradition both combine to relegate women to domestic responsibilities. There is the issue of unequal power relations between men and women in the work place and, in some instances, the failure to apply anti-discriminatory legislation during interview processes. It therefore made little or difference whether the research was carried out in an urban area like Pietermaritzburg or a rural environment like Vulindlela. Hindrances to female promotion were very similar. This study concludes by suggesting that women should form lobby groups to challenge unfair labour practices. They should also increase their visibility by placing their curriculum vitae in the hands of people of influence. A further suggestion is that they take an active part in professional bodies and publish academic articles. At the school level, they should resist all attempts at being treated in a condescending manner.
Women teachers' stories and experiences : a case study of the Ex-B. Ed. women students at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.
(2000) Moorosi, Pontso.; Kaabwe, Eleanor Stella Musanga.
The purpose of this study was to determine and explain the experiences as well as influences and other determinants on the careers of female educators who studied for the B.Ed at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. For some time, it had been observed that although women comprised the majority of part-time students in the B.Ed programme, most of the women experienced gender based problems which could only be addressed by research informed by evidence from these female graduate students' stories. Accordingly, when in 1999 the School of Education set out to determine the extent to which the B.Ed as a course was influencing change in educator practice, a focus on gender was initiated. In line with this, a mini study focusing only on some of the female educators was designed. The purpose was not only to determine the influences of the B.Ed on practice (as was for the main study), but locate these influences in gendered relations. This research report is based on this smaller study. By means of in-depth-interviews eleven women were studied. These women were part of the sample of the bigger study which comprised volunteered male and female educators. The interview schedule included questions relating to the women's background, putting a specific reference to the early lessons in their lives and the impact they (lessons) had on the choices they made about their careers. Women were further asked to relate their experiences of the constraints both during their B.Ed studies and at their workplaces, which are a result of the socially defined roles of the two gender groups. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for analysis which was done descriptively. The study revealed that their backgrounds determined their career choices, and that the B. Ed had a positive impact on their practices as educators. As women they had a lot of pressure from their studies that left them with limited time to spend with their families. Women are still under the influence of the gendered social expectations in terms of what they do at school and at home, hence some inconsistencies between their beliefs and practices were exposed. Through the feminist perspective, this situation ironically makes them unwilling promoters of gender inequality. These findings led to the conclusion that women are aware of the gender inequalities in education and within the society in general, but they need to accept them as anomalies, so that they can be given proper attention. A call for gender awareness programmes was therefore made. These programmes should be made part and parcel of the initial teacher training, so that gender biases within the education system are confronted and deconstructed.