Introduction
Dening concepts has direct implications for policy goals and their evaluative measurement. Policy goals are also the result of policy-makers normative frameworks; different
normative frameworks yield different policy goals (Walker 2010). For example, if the normative framework motivating policy goals for gender equality is solely focused on the
economic empowerment of women, it follows that measurement of progress would
target womens human capital development and their participation in the economy.
However, while advocating gender equality as a global developmental goal has
Correspondence Address: Sonja Loots, Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development, University of
the Free State, PO Box 339 (internal box 6), Benito Khotseng Building, Room 209 and 111, Nelson Mandela
Avenue, Bloemfontein 9301, South Africa. Email: lootss@ufs.ac.za
2015 Human Development and Capability Association
261
instrumental value in that the long-term growth prospects of countries are enhanced through
educationally and economically empowering women, it is also a matter of moral justice and
fairness to reduce discrimination against women, because women are more than economic
producers (Jtting et al. 2008; WEF 2013; UNDP 2014). Yet, somewhere between developing expansive policy goals and measurable evaluations of progress, the wider transformative intent of gender equality can be lost or obscured (e.g. see Journal of Human
Development and Capabilities special issue on the evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals 2014). This implies that the deeper meaning of gender equality is not adequately stipulated and/or evaluative measurement is limited through an exclusive focus
on simple quantiable indicators, while neglecting to address whether the qualitative,
every day, lived experiences of people have improved.
It is with these errors that this paper is concerned, that is how normative conceptual
policy goals impact on framing intervention strategies, and how implementation progress
is subsequently measured. Specically, our concern is with gender equality policy development in South African higher education. The absence of such a policy presents the opportunity to intervene for change, and to argue for a normative framework based on human
development and the expansion of opportunities as the foundation of gender equality.
We therefore propose that the capabilities approach (CA) could be an important evidence-based policy driver in higher education, provided that both conceptual and methodological considerations are sensitive to the deeper transformative intent of socially just goals,
and that conceptual richness is allied with a mixed-methods approach to capture both
numbers and narratives. Added to this, the eld of education is complex, and while
narrow numerical indicators of change in gender parity may be helpful, they cannot
easily capture the rich detail of lives and processes in educational settings.
The paper, therefore, rst explores how gender equality is commonly conceptualized in
(higher) education, and expands on this from a capabilities perspective. We then discuss
how a capabilities-friendly conceptualization of gender equality would impact on policy
development and evaluation. Our data collection methods are then presented, where we
identify which functionings and capabilities in relation to gender equality are valued by
those who will be subject to such a policy, in order to provide policy-makers and evaluators
with indicators worthy of the transformative intent of policy goals. Finally, we discuss the
implications of the identied capability-indicators for policy development, implementation
and evaluation.
Conceptualizing Gender Equality in Higher Education from a CA
The most common approach to measuring gender equality in education is based on numerical parity, including discrepancies in access and participation (David 2009; Unterhalter
2007; Chisamya et al. 2012). This implies that gender equality has a literal meaning of
equal representation between men and women. In this respect, there have been laudable
successes in getting women into higher education. The South African Department of
Higher Education and Trainings (DHET 2014a) Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) reports that in 2012, 58% of all student enrolments in South
Africas 23 public universities were female, while overall participation rates in relation
to national demographic representation were 15.9% for men and 22.6% for women
(DHET 2014a). The HEMIS database also shows that the participation rate of white1
males was 48.8% in 2012, while that of white females was 60.8%. For black (African) students, the participation rate was 13.1% for men and 19.1% for women. Considering that
national representation of white females and males consist of only 4.5% and 4.3%, respectively, while black (African) women and men represent 41% and 38.5% (South African
263
way, empowerment is also possible through enabling people, and especially girls and
women, to better shape their own lives for the better (Drydyk 2012, 32).
Figure 1.
265
Capability themes
Safety and bodily integrity
Voice
Valued functionings
To feel safe on campus (free from violent and nonviolent crimes)
To be able to freely express oneself verbal and nonverbal (e.g. through clothing)
Data examples
If you hear cases of people being robbed and people being raped and that,
you most certainly dont feel safe. (Sophia, black female, BSc, UG)
I feel that we should be in a society where you can wear anything you want
and be comfortable. Because its your body. Its modern times. You should
be able to wear your short mini skirt if you feel like it. (Thato, black female,
Law, UG)
To be free from sexual harassment and other forms of
When youre supposed to pass a group of guys, youre asking yourself, what
gender-based violence
are they going to say this time? Is this jean too tight? Is my cleavage
showing? So sometimes you become so self-conscious. And then, when its
winter, youre so free, youre so comfortable, youre wearing your long
coats and everything. (Thumi, black female, BCom, UG)
To be free from discriminatory behaviours and attitudes Im afraid of saying something wrong in English because its not my mothers
(including gender, race, ethnicity, disability or
tongue and Ill say something stupid and people will start laughing at me.
nancial status)
(Lifutso, black female, BSocSc, UG)
To be treated with human dignity
We are judged as women. Were seen as inferior. Weaker. But actually, were
not. (Mary, white female, Accounting, PG)
To uphold certain socio-cultural gendered norms and
Im Venda and in Venda, what we do is when you bring a meal, you kneel in
change others
front of your male counterpart or your father or your grandfather. And as
much as thats part of my heritage and my cultureand I still do practice it
for the love of my cultureculture is very uid and as time moves on,
people feel the need to change culture. But in the black communities, we
still practice culture relentlessly. (Jenny, black female, BSc, UG)
Id be disappointed in myself if my wife has more money than me. Thats
just how I feel. (Xander, black male, Taxation, PG)
To participate in class without being discriminated
My opinion, I dont know if it was because of my race or because of my
against
gender, was undervalued a lot of the time. (Jessica, white female, Political
Science, UG)
267
(Continued )
For women to be represented through the curriculum and This one lecture, I think no female spoke the entire lecture. Probably because
pedagogical practices
it was about sports. We were talking about sport contracts and it was all
about soccer. I think in that class they could have been more
accommodating to the females. Because, I mean, as much as we love Law
and contracts, we are not going to talk about soccer. (Thato, black female,
Law, UG)
To have identiable gendered and racial role-models to If you move higher up, will you nd that the females are found in the
look up to in university
elementary phases of our education and later on its just white males. It has
a big impact on the way that we see ourselves, on the way that we view
society and on the way that we learn as well. (Jenny, black female, BSc,
UG)
To have more platforms for discussions on social issues Girls dont want to mingle with guys because they feel so inferior and the guys
in university
feel superior. I think the mingling can help. And talking about these things
with each other can also help. Because it starts with us as human beings.
(Lerato, black female, Geology, PG)
To be independent (nancially)
Finding academic success or nding success in the working environment
would mean to be liberated. Would mean to be free of your male
counterpart or having to have a spouse to actually provide for you. (Jenny,
black female, BSc, UG)
To be independent (maturing and looking after oneself) Ive come to realise that things dont just happen, you have to make them
happen. And I think Ive also realised how small you actually are in a big
world. Because coming out of high school you think youre this hot shot.
(Chris, white male, Law, UG)
To have a broader knowledge base
Knowledge is very important. Sometimes youre in a taxi and youre arguing
with this lady. At rst I used to say, Jo, South Africa has this unemployment
problem. We are so poor. But know I can safely say, You know, Mama, yes,
we do have an unemployment problem, but this is how it is. Let me break it
down for you. (Thumi, black female, BCom, UG)
To contribute to society
It has helped me to be more socially conscious and to appreciate the work
that I do because it goes on to help somebody somehow. So knowing that
you put more effort in whatever work that you do, there is always
somebody benetting from what you are doing. And it has lessened my
desire for money. (Phil, black male, Philosophy, PG)
Capability themes
Valued functionings
To be exposed to diversity and learn from others
Data examples
I was shocked that Afrikaans and English students are separated and I saw
the big barrier that it creates in the students and it kind of bothered me. I
was fortunate enough to socialise with the Afrikaans students and I
realised that these students are actually quite cool and they think the same
of us and they actually want to get know more about us but the structures of
campus dont allow for us to get to know more about each other.
(Nthabiseng, black female, Law, UG)
Our lecturers ask us to be critical of the information that we get, just because
a theorist said it was this way, doesnt necessarily mean it is this way. We
learn about past examples and how they are being applied now, how they
are being interpreted by new theorists. So in that way we are being taught
to think critically and I do think critically about the way that things are and
can be changed or not changed. (Thutu, black female, Architecture, UG)
I came here to look for a career, and ended up nding that if you do the right
course, you end up actually developing as a person and nding yourself.
(TK, black male, Law, UG)
We dont think for ourselves anymore, there is only one lecturer that Ive had
in my three years here that makes me think for myself. If youre a critical
thinker you are more condent, youre more assertive. (Didi, black female,
BCom, UG)
What I learn here is what Im going to have to do there outside. And if its not
done properly here, I wont be good outside. So the skills wouldnt be right.
(Mary, white female, Accounting, PG)
Table 1. Continued.
269
voice, being able to participate and being represented through curriculum and pedagogical
practices (e.g. Brnnlund 2014; Molla and Cuthbert 2014); being treated equally with
dignity and respect (e.g. Kwesiga and Ssendiwala 2006; Pritchard 2010) and recognizing
the intrinsic and extrinsic values of higher education (e.g. Oketch et al. 2013).
% of sample (n = 840)
39
27
34
% of sample (n = 833)
58
42
% of sample (n = 832)
33
24
18
25
% of sample (n = 838)
47
1
4
3
41
4
% of sample (n = 841)
90
10
% of sample (n = 842)
64
36
% of sample (n = 829)
23
11
24
7
9
2
24
df
da
610.421
.001*
.26
668.070
.000*
.44
810
.050** .15
648.196
.014** .18
Cohens d (Cohen 1988) indicates the meaningfulness of the signicance and is interpreted as a small
effect size (<.20), a medium effect size (.2050) and a large effect size (>.50).
*p < .01.
**p < .05.
Gender
To determine whether there are differences between gender groups regarding the items
within capability themes, independent t-tests were conducted. The items revealing signicant differences between the gendered groups are reported in Table 3.
Under safety and bodily integrity, only one item revealed a signicant difference between
the genders, with women (M = 1.34; SD = .026) experiencing sexist comments more than
men (M = 1.21; SD = .029), and indicating a medium practical signicance (d = .26).
This, however, does not mean that all women experience this behaviour; it only indicates
a signicant difference between men and women. Of the women, 16% reported that they
experience this, while 7% of men reportedly experience this behaviour. The majority of
both men and women either do not experience this at all, or do not attend campus often
enough to experience this. Contextually, the undergraduate respondents (t = 2.309; df =
359.647; p = .022), who are on campus more often, as well as students who live on
campus (t = 3.794; df = 319.505; p = .000), signicantly experience this type of behaviour
more.
Two items under the capability theme of dignity and respect revealed signicant differences. Women indicate stronger feelings that they are sometimes disrespected by members
of the opposite sex (women: M = 1.83; SD = .373; men: M = 1.96; SD = 197). Women also
feel slightly more than men that they receive more respect at university than in their
traditional cultural roles (women: M = 2.10; SD = .593; men: M = 2.01; SD = .619).
The only signicant difference under the value of higher education theme is that men
feel they have learnt greater independence in terms of taking care of themselves (M =
1.37; SD = .601; women: M = 1.27; SD = .520).
Race
Because of South Africas racial segregation history and current attempts to rectify past disadvantages, it is important to also consider racial differences and how they intersect with
gendered differences. Table 4 reports on these racial differences. Only a very small
number of participants indicated that they identify with Indian, Asian, and coloured
df
B = 2.13 .643
W = 1.98 .358
.25
B = 1.65
W = 2.33
B = 1.62
W = 1.44
.93
B = 1.24
W = 1.39
B = 1.28
W = 1.47
B = 1.29
W = 1.40
B = 1.48
W = 1.60
B = 1.51
W = 1.68
B = 1.28
W = 1.57
B = 1.32
W = 1.54
B = 1.31
W = 1.54
.480
.616
.477
.566
.476
.564
.610
.654
.572
.643
.495
.640
.475
.560
.487
.582
.27
.27
.36
.21
2.482 737
.013** .19
3.913 780
.000*
.28
.51
.42
.43
271
a
Mean and standard deviation scores for the black group (B) and the white group (W ).
*p < .01.
**p < .05.
The campus provides an environment for me to freely express who I am and want to be
B = 1.14
W = 1.28
B = 1.12
W = 1.18
SD
272
racial groups; thus the analysis was adjusted to only represent two groups, namely white
and black groups, the latter of which include African, Indian, Asian, and coloured groups.
Several items revealed signicant differences between black and white students. Under
the safety and bodily integrity theme, black students felt safer from non-contact crimes
(such as theft) on campus than off-campus. They also felt more strongly than white students
that the campus provides a safe space for personal expression. Regarding dignity and
respect, the only item revealing a signicant difference is the black students stronger
feeling that they are respected more at university than as young people in their own cultures.
Under the capability theme of voice, the white students differed signicantly, and with a
large effect size (d = .93), in their lack of interest in participating in student discussions
on general social issues. An open-ended follow-up question reveals that racial sensitivity
and the fact that while this is a formerly white, Afrikaans campus, its student body is
now predominantly black and this might play a role in the white students reluctance to
take part in student discussions and feeling less able to freely express themselves. For
example, as a white male student said: Despite many advances made in the past, racial sensitivity still prevents honest debate in many aspects.
All statistically signicant differences in the value of higher education themes report that
black students place more value on the items listed in Table 4. These results might also
reect class and privilege differences, as 95% of white respondents attended school in
either previously white or well-established private schools (both proxies for high to outstanding quality in the South African context), while only 50% of the black students had
attended such schools and 44% of black students had attended schools in townships,
where for the most part the quality of schools ranges from low to completely dysfunctional
(see Veriava 2012). Moreover, a question on whether any member of the participants
extended family has obtained a higher education qualication also indicated a statistically
signicant difference between the racial groups (t = 6.346; df = 758.582; p = .000), with
24% of the black students being rst generation university students, compared to 9% of
the white students.
Discussion
Conducting a mixed-methods exploration with regard to gender equality provided us with a
more holistic picture of what is valued, and by whom. The capability themes of safety and
bodily integrity, dignity and respect, and voice are directly related to enduring inequalities
women have been subjected to, such as sexual harassment, being treated as second-class
citizens, and exclusion from political and other participation (Nussbaum 2000). Even
though the same capability themes apply to men, the long-standing gendered privilege
men have had changes in the interpretation of the capability themes. For example, our ndings show that women are the primary targets of sexual comments and men are the primary
perpetrators of such actions. Policy goals and interventions targeted at eliminating sexual
harassment in this form would then need to focus on both male and female roles in this behaviour. This would include clear conceptualizations of human dignity and rights, as well as
interventions challenging gendered stereotypes and attitudes. Furthermore, sexual harassment primarily targeted at undergraduate female students living in campus residences indicates that spaces beyond classrooms may be reproducing sexist attitudes, and that the
University in turn is not working, or not working hard enough, to interrupt these.
Our data also show that voice and participation take on a different meaning between the
genders. The women in our study generally feel underrepresented through curricula and
pedagogical practices. They would also like to see more racial and gendered representation
of women as lecturers. For example, the DHET (2014b) reports that female academic staff
273
represents 45% of all South African university appointments and black (African) staff comprises 46%. Even though these gures show only a slight variation in gender parity, the
majority of these women still occupy lower levels of academic appointments, as less
than 20% of female academics are full professors and only around 30% are associate professors (Riordan and Louw-Potgieter 2011). For the males in our study, voice and participation took on a different role, where they particularly commented on the value of
interactions and their learning with lecturers within and beyond classrooms (Loots and
Walker 2015). This does not imply that women do not value interactions with lecturers,
but it does show that the men in our study did not have to deal with issues of underrepresentation through the curriculum or feeling undervalued in class.
With regard to race, it is clear from our ndings that there are unresolved feelings among
the white students, with particular reference to their disinterest in discussions on social
issues and feeling that they cannot freely express themselves. The complex aftermath of
South Africas history of racial segregation intersects directly with gendered relations in
that equity attempts, such as afrmative action interventions, aim to shift power from
men to women and from white people to black people, but it also has the potential to
create resentment in groups considered to be privileged (Chant 2000). As Dlanga (2012)
points out, a young white man, who is too young to remember apartheid, may not understand why he has to be at the back of the queue when he seeks employment.
A sharp contradiction was found between the freedoms women and men value and the
different socio-cultural norms they value, as seen through Xander (black male) and
Jennys (black female) earlier comments noted in Table 1. Gendered norms stem from a
societys ideal values of what it means to be a woman or a man (World Bank 2013, 24)
and are not easily captured through numbers. Together with cultural practices, these
norms determine values and shape choices (Kabeer 1999, 457). Failure to conform to
socio-cultural norms and practices could result in social rejection or penalization, since
greater respect is awarded to those who conform to communal rules (Kabeer 1999;
World Bank 2013). From a human development and capabilities perspective, it would
seem essential, therefore, for universities to challenge potentially harmful norms and practices (e.g. Boni and Walker 2013). In this respect, higher education processes should
develop the capacity that Nussbaum (2006, 388) refers to as the examined life:
a life that accepts no belief as authoritative simply because it has been handed down by
tradition or become familiar through habit, a life that questions all beliefs, statements,
and arguments, and accepts only those that survive reasons demand for consistency
and for justication.
To challenge potentially harmful norms, policy goals and interventions should therefore
focus on expanding capabilities for critical thinking, including self-reection, practical
reasoning and access to knowledge to increase students ability to make informed
choices about their values (Vaughan and Walker 2012).
The capability theme of knowledge and education relates directly to this in that it highlights the intrinsic and extrinsic values students place on higher education. Women, in particular, benet from higher education through achieving economic independence, taking
part in decision-making, and having increased control over their lives (e.g. Deprez and
Butler 2007). Our data reveal a similar pattern in that women, particularly black women,
place more value on higher education contributing to their independence from male
counterparts. Furthermore, black students signicantly reported a greater value attached
to all the functionings identied under knowledge and education. Again, differences
between racial groups shed light on the long-standing effects of racial segregation and
275
We hope, therefore, through this work to inspire similar studies exploring gender equality
policies from a capabilities perspective in order to actively pursue social justice goals
through creating human development indicators beyond gendered representation and
participation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the authors
Funding
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation under the South African Research Chairs Initiative
(SARChI).
Note
1. Under the apartheid regime, South African racial groups were divided into Asian/Indian, black (African),
coloured and white. Currently, social redress interventions still differentiate between white and black, the
latter of which includes all non-white racial groups marginalized through apartheid. For this reason, we have
had to retain the use of these problematic racial descriptions.
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